By Gregory L. Rohde
We can learn something from the meerkat — an African mongoose-like creature that protects itself by always perching on a high point on the prairie watching for predators. The meerkat relies on its visual capabilities to protect itself and its herd. It remains perched on a mound, always looking and watching, using its visual senses as its first line of defense. Vision is its strongest sense. Like the meerkat, the public-safety community could make better use of the visual capabilities made possible by technology. Emergency communications is locked in blindness, relying solely on audio communications. If we embrace all that modern communications has to offer, emergency communications can benefit from senses beyond voice and see through video and data.
If it is true that 80 percent of the information we receive is visual, then why should the communications systems that respond to emergencies and protect us be limited to voice communications? At home, work or on vacation, we can communicate with relatives, colleagues and friends through video, texting and the Internet, in addition to traditional voice telephone calls. Video cams and cameras on cell phones are commonplace to most Americans. However, when it comes to an emergency, our 9-1-1 call is limited only to voice.
When first responders rush to the scene of a crisis or accident, it can be difficult to talk to each other, let alone access video and data communications tools that teenagers use in their social networks. The technology exists that allows people to communicate through video and data applications in the commercial sector, yet the communications systems that we trust to save our lives and protect us have yet to embrace all these technological advances.
About 130 years ago, Alexander Graham Bell made the first phone call, and it was a call for help: “Dr. Watson come here, I need you.” From that first call, it took about 100 years for the United States to establish a three-digit emergency call number: 9-1-1. Television and data communications, in its earliest forms, have been around for a generation, but the ability to communicate using video and data in addition to voice has been in the commercial sector for only about a decade. However, communications between citizens and public-safety answering points (PSAPs), as well as between first responders, seems locked in the Bell era of voice-only communications.
Overcoming Obstacles
There is no technical reason why the U.S. emergency communications system can’t embrace the richness of video and data applications, in addition to voice. Funding limitations and the inability to resolve political and jurisdictional issues are stifling these advancements. We also have to overcome our fears of learning new technologies and embracing change and innovation — not running from it. Before we can reach the day when we can text 9-1-1, participate in a video call with a first responder or have photos and complex graphics assist first responders in an emergency, we need to:
• Secure a stronger commitment at the federal and state levels for more financial resources for emergency communications, and
• Overcome the myopic local jurisdictional approach to emergency communications systems that has locked us into a 19th century era of communications.
A good example of how video has been fully embraced as a vital component of the emergency response system is in southern Spain. In Murcia, Spain, an emergency call to the local PSAP from a 3G phone over a 3G network can be turned into a conference call, initiated by the PSAP. This enables a live video feed from the scene, which can be seen by the PSAP and distributed to those responding to the crisis. Not only has the Murcia PSAP embraced the use of video for more than 1-1-2 calls from citizens, its police, fire and EMS personnel routinely use video and data communications — all over a commercial 3G wireless network.
The future is not only visual; it is driven by data as well. In the mobile commercial sector, data traffic outpaces voice traffic by a 3:1 ratio. Device-to-device communications or device-initiated communications is expected to outpace person-to-person communications for the first time this year. We are living on the cusp of a second wireless revolution where machine-to-machine (M2M) or machine-initiated communications will dominate communications traffic. Cars and heart defibulators can call 9-1-1, yet a deaf person in a crisis can’t text 9-1-1 for help in the same way she can text a friend from her cell phone. If such efficiencies can benefit consumer and business communications, why can’t we manage to embrace these advantages in emergency communications?
Progress Under Way
The next-generation 9-1-1 (NG 9-1-1) project led by the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has helped pave the way for the next generation of emergency communications services for the 9-1-1 community and emergency response services in general. The technical issues aren’t the problem. The last barrier is the human element. Political leaders and public-safety officials must generate the will to provide sufficient resources and overcome parochial hang-ups to allow emergency communications to move into the 21st century.
The public-safety community must continue working to resolve standards and information management issues so that video and data services are presented in usable forms for emergency response. In addition, greater network capacity is needed. If phone lines get jammed when call volume spikes, adding data and video into the mix will create even greater demand on bandwidth. For this reason, the unique needs of public safety should be central to the national broadband debate.
As the federal government distributes the $7 billion in broadband funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, providing a stimulus for fixed and mobile broadband designed for emergency communications is essential. It is imperative that the unique needs of public safety — PSAPs, police stations, fire houses, EMS and other emergency response entities — are central to the debate over distribution of these funds and not a sideshow. In particular, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) have an historic opportunity to finance and help foster the deployment of the kinds of advanced mobile and fixed broadband networks for public safety necessary to build the next generation of emergency communications. Further, the $350 million set aside for broadband mapping under the ARRA should be required to depict a comprehensive map for public-safety broadband needs.
Also, the FCC needs to advance the creation of a nationwide 700 MHz joint use network that will foster interoperability for first responders as well as introduce mobile 4G services affordably into public safety. The U.S. may never have the unique opportunity again that exists to create a true nationwide network in prime spectrum. It will take a new kind of public/private partnership to make this a reality.
The solution lies within our grasp. We need to embrace the model of public/private partnerships to create joint-use networks deployed and operated by commercial operators, yet are dedicated to serving public-safety needs first. There is no reason why the public and the emergency-response community can’t share networks. In fact, as we see in Murcia, there is tremendous benefit to sharing a network. It provides an affordable solution for public safety and emergency responders and gives citizens many alternatives for that vital link to emergency responders.
Some say, “Seeing is believing.” I believe that one day, public safety will be able to “see” and soon grow out of the blindness of voice-only communications. The technology exists — we just have to embrace it and put it to work to save lives.
Gregory L. Rohde is the executive director of the E9-1-1 Institute and president and founder of e-Copernicus, a telecommunications and broadband financing firm with expertise in rural and public-safety communications. Rohde also served as the administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) during the Clinton administration and worked as a senior aide to Sen. Byron L. Dorgan. E-mail comments to glr@e-copernicus.com.
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