The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) www.nist.gov is working with industry partners to integrate commercial technologies into a mobile wireless communications system. The system being developed is about the size of a large file cabinet with the platform offering more capabilities and faster setup then typical cell-on wheels systems.
NIST’s system called the “Rapidly Deployable Public Safety Research Platform” or referred to as “Nerdcart” on social media, enables more than 200 local users of broadband smartphones, wi-fi, data terminals, and older walkie-talkie radios to communicate with each other using voice, text, instant messages, video and data.
The system will also interconnect LTE phones with the public safety community’s traditional LMR systems. The nation’s estimated 5 million public-safety personnel are expected to use a mix of both of these systems.
NIST’s research and demonstration platform was developed through NIST’s Public Safety Communication Research (PCSR) program’s www.pscr.gov Broadband Consortium where more than 70 vendors provided equipment and support. The work was funded in part by the Department of Homeland Security’s www.dhs.gov First Responder Group.
The PCSR program will use the system to improve audio intelligibility amid crowds and background noise and develop a database to help communicate in high stress and loud noise environments. The platform enables research on how to establish Push-to-Talk capabilities over broadband systems.
The mobile system will be connected to the internet, a satellite, or a commercial cellular network to link users to a broader community. PSCR staff are currently exploring how to integrate sensor data and analytics into the system.
The staff is also developing requirements needed to link up with both personal area networks already in place, as well as a temporary incident area network which can expand as an incident develops, grows in size, and or increases in complexity.