News Rural Colorado sheriff’s department uses Samsung, Visual Labs, FirstNet to provide an affordable body-cam solution 19th July 2019 Body-camera video has become an important—and sometimes expensive—tool for law-enforcement agencies in recent years, but a Colorado sheriff says he is leveraging Samsung smartphones, FirstNet connectivity and Visual Labs’ video platform to deliver an effective and affordable video solution for his rural department. Sheriff Tom Ridnour of Kit Carson County, Colo., said that some personnel […]
Video Univ. of Michigan: Hun-Seok Kim describes approach to low-cost, high-accuracy location solution 15th July 2019 Hun-Seok Kim, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Michigan, outlines the progress his team has made to develop an “infrastructure-light” location solution that is designed to leverage 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz Wi-Fi signals to deliver location data that is accurate within 10 centimeters. Kim spoke with IWCE’s Urgent […]
Video Univ. of Memphis: Lan Wang explains how LiDAR-based 3D mapping could work for public safety 15th July 2019 Lan Wang, chairwoman of the University of Memphis computer-science department, explains how LiDAR technology can be used to quickly build 3D maps of indoor locations that first responders can use to navigate unfamiliar facilities, even when visibility is impaired by smoke. Wang spoke with IWCE’s Urgent Communications Editor Donny Jackson last week during the […]
Video George Washington University: Chen Shen demonstrates application to optimize placement of mobile base stations 10th July 2019 Chen Shen, a student at George Washington University, explains and demonstrates how an algorithm-powered application could help locate mobile base stations–for example, cells on wheels (COWS) and aerial drones carrying LTE base stations–in a coordinated manner to maximize coverage for first responders operating in an area lacking normal terrestrial coverage. Shen and other members […]
News Newscan: Axon won’t link police body cameras to facial-recognition technology 3rd July 2019 Web Roundup Items from other news organizations Axon won’t link police body cameras to facial-recognition technology Florida city pays almost $600,000 ransom to secure records ‘We need to up our game’—DHS cybersecurity director on Iran, ransomware AT&T suffers nationwide 911 service outage Dutch emergency services restored after major telecoms outage Another massive outage takes down […]
Commentary Exciting times: When it comes to innovation, there is a lot going on in the public-safety sector 28th June 2019 A previous article examined the obstacles faced by those public-safety entities known as “early adopters” as they strive to bring forward technological and operational innovations intended to improve emergency-response outcomes, keep emergency responders safer and protect mission-critical assets. This article explores some of the innovations that were discussed during the Early Adopter Summit hosted last […]
News Rave Mobile Safety unveils support for live video streaming 26th June 2019 Rave Mobile Safety’s over-the-top software solution soon will support live video streaming, allowing 911 dispatchers or other public-safety officials to initiate a streaming session from a 911 caller or someone else with a smart device that is in the vicinity of an incident, according to a company CEO Todd Piett. Demonstrated earlier this month at […]
Audio PSCR: Dereck Orr previews annual stakeholder meeting July 9-11 in Chicago 21st June 2019 Dereck Orr, chief of the Public Safety Communication Research (PSCR) division within the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), highlights some of the notable keynotes, educations and technology demonstrations that will be part of the 11th annual Broadband Stakeholder Meeting. This year’s event will be conducted July 9-11 in Chicago.
News Avaya announces availability of MLTS location capabilities through integration with RapidSOS, 911 Secure 21st June 2019 Emergency calls from multi-line telephone systems (MLTS) can include better location and situational-awareness information, thanks to integration work between Avaya, RapidSOS and 911 Secure that is now commercially available to enterprises—and is available for use by other 911 vendors, if they want. Avaya recently announced the commercial availability of the location enhancement, which leverages Avaya’s […]
Commentary Help wanted: 911 sector needs more early adopters 20th June 2019 A small band of early adopters is working to lead the public safety sector into the future—but more are needed to accelerate the pace of innovation Nearly six decades ago, Everett M. Rogers, an assistant professor of rural sociology at Ohio State University, published a book in which he espoused his theory regarding how innovation […]
Latest 3GPP standards-development work includes new classes of HPUE, progress on mission-critical services 22nd April 2024
Is LMR the best solution for first responders? Should 4.9 GHz license go to the FirstNet Authority? 2 24th March 2024