Situational awareness
Heightened awareness
Broadband LTE and technology such as video analytics and machine learning are giving
the emergency services a ‘bigger picture’ view of incidents in real time. This enables a
faster, more efcient response and keeps personnel safer, argues James Atkinson
Maintaining good situational awareness is
enormously important for emergency
services personnel in the eld and for
control room operators. Voice, messaging
and GPS-based location data have
traditionally been the key aids. But new technology is
beginning to enhance situational awareness in ways that were
unthinkable before now.
Video analytics is the most obvious change, but local
sensors, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), articial
intelligence (AI), machine learning and predictive policing are
also starting to contribute. ese can provide a much wider
and more accurate real-time common operating picture across
the response team, enabling commanders to deploy their
resources faster, more eciently and with greater precision.
Ken Rehbehn, founder and principal analyst at CritComm
Insights, notes: “We are still in the very early stages of
leveraging mobile broadband capabilities in the hands
of emergency services. So much of it is an extension of
the desktop. Today’s capability provides ways of entering
information into electronic forms, or it uses computer aided
dispatch (CAD)-based solutions. It solves a big problem by
making more information available to the eld force, but it is
far short of delivering a broad graphic picture of the incident
status. Situational awareness is all about understanding what
is going on at the scene of an incident. However, the good
news is that the foundation is in place.”
Drones are one obvious technology that can provide a
‘bigger picture’ view. Rehbehn cites New York City Fire
Department’s use of a tethered drone placed strategically
around an active reground, which can be left unattended
to transmit visual images and thermal signatures. “In the
future we will see that extend to beyond visual line-of-sight
drone capability,” adds Rehbehn. “ere have been eorts in
Germany to take advantage of this capability using LTE as a
way to command the drone vehicles from a controlroom.”
Rehbehn also foresees the possibility of body-worn cameras
transmitting over the LTE network in real time. “e latest
Axon Body 3 bodycam is designed to do this. What it
points to is the potential of the control room or incident
commanders having a view from multiple perspectives.”
Even more radical is the deployment of tactical throwable,
360-degree cameras such as that developed by Bualo-based
Bounce Imaging. “e product is shaped like a ball and tted
with multiple cameras, which can be thrown into a hazardous
area such as a collapsed building or hostage situation and ow
360-degree visuals,” says Rehbehn.
Video analytics
Familiar video analytics applications that aid situational
awareness include facial-recognition technology, and the
ability to spot unusual events or behaviour.
AI is promising further extensions to these capabilities,
as Tunde Williams, head of marketing, EMEA at Motorola
Monitoring crowds
of people while
keeping an eye
out for known
troublemakers
is cognitively
demanding, while
restricted views
and high levels of
background noise
all work to hinder
a rst-responder’s
situational
awareness
14 www.criticalcomms.com January 2019
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