Keep Comm and Carry On
The tragic events of September 11, 2001, taught emergency services an important lesson: the need to improve communication between the various forces during an emergency. So what has changed in this field since then?
Itamar Banayan
| 19/10/2018
Damage from the floods in Japan, June 2018 (Photo: AP)
On the morning of September 11, 2001, after the two hijacked aircraft crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, the local emergency services rushed to the scene to save the people trapped in the two high-rise towers. Among them were 343 firefighters who entered the second tower (2 WTC). The firefighters had handheld radios they used to communicate with one another inside and outside the building. However, their radio sets were not connected to the communication system of the New York Police Department (NYPD). Consequently, when NYPD officers in the police helicopters realized that the second tower was about to collapse and warned the police forces about it, the NYPD personnel left the building immediately. Unfortunately, the warning never reached the firefighters – outside and inside the building, and the 343 firefighters who had entered 2 WTC lost their lives when the building collapsed.
As a lesson learned from that tragic event, municipal authorities are currently doing their best to develop municipal resolve and improve the communication between the forces operating on the ground during an emergency. This effort is welcome, as interoperability, namely connectivity between communication systems that use different technologies, frequencies, and communication protocols – improves the level of synchronization and coordination between the various forces operating on the ground by several degrees, and enables maximum control and effective management of the emergency.
This translates into a significant contribution to the municipalities' ability to save human lives, among the civilian population as well as among the personnel of the emergency, rescue, and security services. In such events, the municipal authorities aspire to manage all of the forces involved from a central location, where they can monitor the developments in real time. Consequently, many municipalities plan and implement – as part of their emergency and rescue equipment – mobile cellular communication networks that utilize fourth-generation LTE infrastructure (4G LTE). These tactical networks provide interoperability – they can link together all of the different forces and the different frequencies their communication systems use, and provide them with direct, uninterrupted real-time communication, even in locations where communication problems emerge in emergencies owing to the collapse of infrastructures and networks.
Following the tragic events of 9/11, 2001, the tactical control system installed, for example, in towers #1 and #3 of the World Trade Center in New York included the assimilation of LTE and RoIP technologies as integral elements. Today, these elements make it possible to synchronize the communication systems of different emergency services that use different systems and frequencies, including cellular devices, UHF and VHF radios, independently of the networks of the cellular vendors. The system interconnects different emergency services in a standardized format, through a heterogenic radio environment enabling the users to communicate with elements outside the network – even elements using traditional radio communication systems.
In this way, the police officer who uses a radio transceiver operating on the police frequencies, or the forward command post of the fire department that operates on different frequencies, can communicate with one another and with other users sharing the same network. They can do so with no need for any changes to the standard communication procedures of each agency.
The 4G LTE technology makes it possible to interconnect sensors of various types, like security/surveillance cameras, helmet-mounted cameras or other cameras carried by the rescuers and producing video streams, still images or infrared imagery, monitoring microphones or thermometers for detecting fires. Additionally, the bandwidths available to the users of the independent and mobile LTE networks are substantially higher than the bandwidths of the public networks, owing to the relatively small number of users and through unique configurations that enable more effective control and enhancement of the bandwidths.
These characteristics enable the transmission of video streams, still images and files at high rates for such purposes as caring for casualties, reporting to and synchronizing operations with rear-area elements or professional authorities not present at the scene and media elements. External elements such as specialist health professionals or commanders of fire stations, as well as the decision-makers, located remotely, may receive visual information from the emergency services by monitoring video streams in real time, and respond promptly as to how the rescuers on the ground should handle specific cases.
The fact that the communication utilizes the infrastructure of a data network provides an additional administrative tier, as it makes it possible to install and use tactical applications, thereby making the communication even more efficient and adapting it to the communication needs of the forces on the ground. For example, users may download a PTT application that simulates a radio transceiver and enables immediate bilateral communication between network subscribers during the event. Other possible functions are chat, immediate messaging or file sharing applications – all in real time. Additionally, a data network offers the option of using a map layer that provides each force with a visual display of its location on the map relative to the other emergency forces on the ground, along with the option of directing and commanding each force.
The process of assimilating the mobile 4G LTE networks as part of the municipal emergency and rescue equipment is – among other things – the result of the directions of the national emergency authorities. These directions compel the municipalities to conform to guidelines regarding municipal preparations that would provide a prompt response to various emergency scenarios, like terrorist attacks, natural disasters, or mass-casualty accidents.
In this way, municipalities currently succeed in managing more effectively and even saving lives during such events as natural disasters, where the networks of the communication vendors collapse physically, or in terrorist attacks where the communication network can collapse owing to the excessive load of private cellular phone users.
***
Itamar Banayan is VP Sales, Security & Technologies Division at the MER Group
The tragic events of September 11, 2001, taught emergency services an important lesson: the need to improve communication between the various forces during an emergency. So what has changed in this field since then?
Damage from the floods in Japan, June 2018 (Photo: AP)
On the morning of September 11, 2001, after the two hijacked aircraft crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, the local emergency services rushed to the scene to save the people trapped in the two high-rise towers. Among them were 343 firefighters who entered the second tower (2 WTC). The firefighters had handheld radios they used to communicate with one another inside and outside the building. However, their radio sets were not connected to the communication system of the New York Police Department (NYPD). Consequently, when NYPD officers in the police helicopters realized that the second tower was about to collapse and warned the police forces about it, the NYPD personnel left the building immediately. Unfortunately, the warning never reached the firefighters – outside and inside the building, and the 343 firefighters who had entered 2 WTC lost their lives when the building collapsed.
As a lesson learned from that tragic event, municipal authorities are currently doing their best to develop municipal resolve and improve the communication between the forces operating on the ground during an emergency. This effort is welcome, as interoperability, namely connectivity between communication systems that use different technologies, frequencies, and communication protocols – improves the level of synchronization and coordination between the various forces operating on the ground by several degrees, and enables maximum control and effective management of the emergency.
This translates into a significant contribution to the municipalities' ability to save human lives, among the civilian population as well as among the personnel of the emergency, rescue, and security services. In such events, the municipal authorities aspire to manage all of the forces involved from a central location, where they can monitor the developments in real time. Consequently, many municipalities plan and implement – as part of their emergency and rescue equipment – mobile cellular communication networks that utilize fourth-generation LTE infrastructure (4G LTE). These tactical networks provide interoperability – they can link together all of the different forces and the different frequencies their communication systems use, and provide them with direct, uninterrupted real-time communication, even in locations where communication problems emerge in emergencies owing to the collapse of infrastructures and networks.
Following the tragic events of 9/11, 2001, the tactical control system installed, for example, in towers #1 and #3 of the World Trade Center in New York included the assimilation of LTE and RoIP technologies as integral elements. Today, these elements make it possible to synchronize the communication systems of different emergency services that use different systems and frequencies, including cellular devices, UHF and VHF radios, independently of the networks of the cellular vendors. The system interconnects different emergency services in a standardized format, through a heterogenic radio environment enabling the users to communicate with elements outside the network – even elements using traditional radio communication systems.
In this way, the police officer who uses a radio transceiver operating on the police frequencies, or the forward command post of the fire department that operates on different frequencies, can communicate with one another and with other users sharing the same network. They can do so with no need for any changes to the standard communication procedures of each agency.
The 4G LTE technology makes it possible to interconnect sensors of various types, like security/surveillance cameras, helmet-mounted cameras or other cameras carried by the rescuers and producing video streams, still images or infrared imagery, monitoring microphones or thermometers for detecting fires. Additionally, the bandwidths available to the users of the independent and mobile LTE networks are substantially higher than the bandwidths of the public networks, owing to the relatively small number of users and through unique configurations that enable more effective control and enhancement of the bandwidths.
These characteristics enable the transmission of video streams, still images and files at high rates for such purposes as caring for casualties, reporting to and synchronizing operations with rear-area elements or professional authorities not present at the scene and media elements. External elements such as specialist health professionals or commanders of fire stations, as well as the decision-makers, located remotely, may receive visual information from the emergency services by monitoring video streams in real time, and respond promptly as to how the rescuers on the ground should handle specific cases.
The fact that the communication utilizes the infrastructure of a data network provides an additional administrative tier, as it makes it possible to install and use tactical applications, thereby making the communication even more efficient and adapting it to the communication needs of the forces on the ground. For example, users may download a PTT application that simulates a radio transceiver and enables immediate bilateral communication between network subscribers during the event. Other possible functions are chat, immediate messaging or file sharing applications – all in real time. Additionally, a data network offers the option of using a map layer that provides each force with a visual display of its location on the map relative to the other emergency forces on the ground, along with the option of directing and commanding each force.
The process of assimilating the mobile 4G LTE networks as part of the municipal emergency and rescue equipment is – among other things – the result of the directions of the national emergency authorities. These directions compel the municipalities to conform to guidelines regarding municipal preparations that would provide a prompt response to various emergency scenarios, like terrorist attacks, natural disasters, or mass-casualty accidents.
In this way, municipalities currently succeed in managing more effectively and even saving lives during such events as natural disasters, where the networks of the communication vendors collapse physically, or in terrorist attacks where the communication network can collapse owing to the excessive load of private cellular phone users.
***
Itamar Banayan is VP Sales, Security & Technologies Division at the MER Group
