When a first responder enters a building during an emergency, they count on being able to communicate with their team at all times. Their safety and their ability to carry out the mission relies on knowing they can reach help and support anywhere that they need to go within a structure. The key objective of this effort is to provide the public safety communications community with a tool to characterize in-building coverage for first responder radios and cellular broadband networks.  This solution employs a sensor to measure the radio-frequency (RF) signal strengths for land-mobile radio system as well as the cellular broadband systems (e.g., FirstNet) throughout a building’s interior spaces. Through a partnership, the solution further employs a web-based RF signal mapping tool to capture collected sensor data and uploads signal data to a cloud-based signal visualization tool to display interior coverage map for first responder radio and broadband service throughout the interior floors of a building.

DHS and its partner organizations including the International Association of Fire Chiefs need to better understand the behavior and consequences of large-scale releases of toxic inhalation hazard (TIH) chemicals. Millions of tons of TIH chemicals are transported in bulk every year, often through urban areas. These chemicals in transport are at risk of being accidentally or deliberately released.  DHS S&T initiated These field trials and follow-on studies filled critical data gaps for toxic inhalation hazard (TIH) chemical release modeling and emergency response procedures. DHS S&T’s Jack Rabbit project consists of large-scale outdoor chlorine release trials.  These field trials and follow-on studies filled critical data gaps for TIH chemical release modeling and emergency response procedures.

Visit room W232-B on Thursday, March 28 for a large scale demonstration of the Jack Rabbit technology!

Cellular network providers are starting to provide Mission Critical Services (MCS or MCX) to their customers in the form of Mission Critical Push To Talk (MCPTT), Mission Critical Video (MCVideo), and Mission Critical Data (MCData). However, communications and interoperability among users on different carriers, or on different vendor furnished applications, can be limiting. MCS services consist of both end point applications on user equipment and the servers that provision and manage those services. Currently, there is no test equipment that can perform server conformance test cases. And there is no unified process and methodology to conduct interoperability testing for MCS server-to-server communications. This Small Business Innovation Research Program effort is attempting to meet this challenge.

First Responders are carrying more electronic devices than ever before.  As first responders choose the devices that they need they wind up with a collection of devices with different charging voltages and currents; ranging from 2.5A @ 3V (7.5W) USB all the way to the 3A @ 14V (42W) Land Mobile Radio and beyond.  To simplify battery maintenance and charging for all on-body electronic devices, it would be beneficial to have an On Body Power Module (OBPM) that would service all the current and emerging requirements of their on-body devices. 

P25 Compliance Assessment Program (P25 CAP), a voluntary program, allows suppliers to publicly attest to their products' compliance through P25 CAP testing at DHS-recognized laboratories. As proof, suppliers are required to submit Summary Test Report (STR) and Supplier’s Declaration of Compliance (SDOC) documents. These documents are available on the Approved (Grant-Eligible) Equipment page.

Please join us for our next P25 CAP Open Meeting scheduled for Thursday, March 28, 2024, from 9:40am - 10:40am ET. For those already attending IWCE, please join us in the Orange County Convention Center in Room W232-B. During the meeting, attendees can expect to hear a discussion of the Testing Requirements CAB and its impacts as well as a discussion on newly proposed P25 feature tables to accompany P25 CAP listed equipment.

One of S&T’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II solicitations is the Broadband Push-to-Talk Interoperability Platform. The Broadband Push-to-Talk (PTT) services are offered by a diverse group of vendors. These PTT services provide important communication services for the first responder community during public safety incidents and events. Federal, State, Local and Tribal (FSL&T) agencies may utilize different PTT services which can result in obstacles to inter-operable communications. The broadband PTT interface will develop a method to interface these diverse communication platforms while maintaining critical meta data is needed to insure that first responders maintain interoperable communications during critical incidents and planned events.

Meet one of S&T’s SBIR PTT companies, Catalyst Communications, at booth #1323.