Visit the RespondComm website at www.respondcomm.com

From the tragic events of September 11, 2001 came stories of fire fighters rushing up a stairwell as policemen were rushing down. The police had been told the first World Trade Center tower had fallen and they should evacuate immediately. When the police passed this information to fire fighters in the stairwell, the fire fighters conveyed they had been given no such information – and continued selflessly and heroically up the stairs to perform their duties.

The result was the catastrophic loss of many lives, lives that may have been saved if the various communications systems in use that day would have been able to interoperate.

While 9/11 exposed critical interoperability gaps in emergency response communications infrastructure, an even larger set of issues became apparent during the 2004 Asian tsunami and again with Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

These catastrophes, which destroyed key infrastructure backbones over vast areas, required temporary communications systems to be deployed and to operate without interruption for months on end. And while these temporary networks themselves can operate indefinitely, the refueling efforts required to keep thousands of diesel generators running became prohibitive – and many communications networks were rendered useless due to lack of diesel-generated power.

About RespondComm
Funded by National Institute of Justice, RespondComm is addressing how to serve emergency responders with interoperable, self-sustaining crisis communications systems.

Specifically, RespondComm is focusing on two important areas:

• Evaluating emerging Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) standards and their potential application to public safety, law enforcement and emergency response communications. By doing this, RespondComm will determine the advantages and impact this type of network provides to public safety and emergency response communications; and
• Expanding the project to include rapidly deployable mobile tower platforms with integrated alternative power sources – solar, wind, and hydrogen fuel cells – to establish critical response networks that can operate indefinitely without concern for power generation.

WiMAX Backbone
WiMAX provides a means to address current problems with effective communications among first responders. To that end, RespondComm is researching, defining, designing, developing, implementing, and testing a WiMAX wireless network as a stationary or deployable communications infrastructure.

Current emergency response communications systems are deficient in three primary areas – interoperability, capacity, and functionality – not to mention being rendered completely useless if power is unavailable.

Interoperability is hampered by the use of multiple frequency bands, incompatible radio equipment, and a lack of standardization in repeater spacing and transmission formats. Capacity is limited by the fact that radio frequencies allocated for public safety use have become highly congested in many areas. Functionality is often compromised because the amount and type of data that can be shared through wireless communications is limited with current solutions.

By using WiMAX as a crisis communications infrastructure, those issues can be resolved.

Powered by Alternative Energy
Another key component of RespondComm is its embrace of alternative energy as primary sources for powering crisis site communications systems. RespondComm has design a platform that integrates flexible communication packages coupled with non-traditional power systems.

For RespondComm and the emergency response community, alternative energy is seen as the most reliable, cost-effective option with unlimited potential.

RespondComm partners include HCS Technologies, Information Research Corporation, Critical 1 Consulting, Critical Power Solutions, West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, and local 911 centers.