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Emergency Communication

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st CAD-to-CAD Interoperability

Critical data is not available to all organizations (including fire, law enforcement, and EMS) responding to an emergency because the Computer-Aided-Dispatch systems that support each agency are unable to electronically exchange information. The Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) recognizes the national need for interoperability and is providing leadership to develop a viable solution. The overarching objective is to achieve a resilient public safety CAD-to-CAD ecosystem that is efficient, interoperable, and supports multi-discipline response to regional, multistate, and national events.

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st Creating a Cyber-Resilient Public Safety Infrastructure

The scope of this Science and Technology Directorate-backed project relies on predictive analytics that gather cyber analytics to build public safety answering points threat environment situational awareness. Predictive and cyber analytics are used to improve the detection and elimination of cybersecurity attacks against current and future emergency communications systems.

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st Information Sharing Safeguarding and Federated ICAM

Information sharing and safeguarding (IS&S) is a fundamental need of the U.S. public safety community. The community's IS&S requirements are substantial and increasing since it must respond to a wide-range of challenging, multi-agency emergencies such as opioid overdoses, school shooting incidents, and large-scale natural disasters.

Last Updated: | Press Releases

News Release: S&T Partnership Brings NICS Response to a Wider Response Community

DHS S&T is joining forces with the non-profit Beacon NGO to advance open source software capabilities for public safety.

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Feature Article: Hands-Free Comms Tech Breaks Through the Noise

DHS S&T partnered with the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and Think-A-Move to develop Automated Speech Recognition technology.

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News Release: S&T Expands Pilot of Cybersecurity Tech for Emergency Communications Centers

Cybersecurity defense solution provides near-real-time behavioral threat analysis of the traffic hitting an emergency communications center’s network.

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Feature Article: Pointing to the Future of Lifesaving Firefighting Technology

POINTER will soon allow agencies to pinpoint their firefighters to within centimeters, helping to navigate them quickly and safely out of potentially disorienting emergency scenarios.

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Feature Article: S&T Partnership Enhances Public Safety Spectrum Efficiency, Improves Interoperability

S&T’s work with APCO and NRPC is an ongoing effort that has helped enhance public safety communication capabilities; through this partnership, S&T will continue to support CAPRAD improvements to improve spectrum licensing efforts and training for public safety.

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Determination of a National Emergency Requiring Actions to Protect the Safety of Americans Using and Employed by the Transportation System

As reflected in numerous determinations by the Executive Branch, including the President’s March 13, 2020 determination that the outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) constitutes a “national emergency” under the National Emergencies Act and the nationwide public health emergency declared by the Secretary of Health and Human Services on January 31, 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose a threat to our health and security.

Last Updated: | Press Releases

News Release: DHS Awards for First Responder Emergency Alerts Technology Development

DHS S&T today announced it awarded more than $1.5 million to develop an Alerts, Warnings, and Notifications (AWN) Guidance Tool.