Given all the media attention, you have almost certainly heard that this is the year of wearable technology, which was the favorite of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last month and scored the coveted cover of Wired. Wearable tech—particularly those that provide for head’s up operation—are getting long-overdue publicity.

These technologies will be important to public safety in the near future, because the type of information provided by a body covered in sensors and communications devices can be very valuable to a first-response effort, especially when the capabilities have been fully integrated into a comprehensive interoperability plan.

Perhaps the best-recognized head’s up and wearable technology is Google Glass, which is designed to allow a user to view a small computer screen on a lens while looking forward. Wearable technology is said to be “head’s up,” if it delivers data and information to the user directly without the need to look down or away – as in head’s up display. There are also examples of wearable technology that are not necessarily head’s up but provide useful information from the user passively—for instance,  biometric sensors and detectors that measure pulse and location, as well environmental conditions.

The potential for wearable-technology implementations is staggering. Consider combining information from every member of a first-responder team at a scene or event. This collection of inputs will provide an unprecedented view of the operational environment. At the same time, the passive nature of most sensors will not require any special attention from the wearer.

In fact, some of these wearable technologies will be designed to provide two-way communications through text, voice message, colored lights, buzzers or vibration. In other cases, the wearable device will be directly wired or use a technology like Bluetooth to communicate through an intermediate radio back to the wider network.

Two-way communications could be directed at personnel in a danger zone, alerting first responders to specific changes in the environment, directing them to take cover, or ordering them to leave a building. Conversely, personnel in a building could use the technology to alert the commander outside the danger zone about their own condition or need for support.

Knowledge of a responder’s physical condition or whether he has been separated from his equipment—an axe, firearm, respiratory device, etc.—may cause a commander to order other responders on the scene to aid the individual while directing them to the proper location.