5. Interoperable communications
The ability to maintain interoperable communications with responders in any environmental conditions
CAPABILITY GAP 5: „THE ABILITY TO MAINTAIN INTEROPERABLE COMMUNICATIONS WITH RESPONDERS IN ANY ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS”
The ability to communicate with responders in any environmental condition is crucial because communications enable safe and effective incident response. Coordinating the efforts of responders, commanders, emergency managers, civic leaders, and the public depends on timely, reliable and effective modes of communication.
Addressing this capability gap may involve a system of devices, network software, and infrastructure equipment that can provide interoperable communications during incident response operations.
TARGET OBJECTIVES AND POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS
The target objectives for this gap are:
- Interoperable communication of voice, audio, video and data among authorized responders and command, regardless of agency, service, and/or jurisdiction
- Communication through all environments, including inside buildings, underground, and through physical barriers
- Disaster-resilient or rapidly-deployable communications systems to support incident operations regardless of location or incident effects
Potential solutions should:
- Provide voice, text, image, and video communications
- Rely on software to encode, transmit, and decode voice, audio, video, and data from the sender to the intended destination
- Include transmitters, servers, gateways, routers, etc. These hardware components are necessary to encode and transmit the voice, audio, data, and video essential for incident response
- Ensure the authenticity, integrity, and confidentiality of communications on the incident scene
- Provide real-time transmission of voice, audio, video and data among responders, command, dispatch, and other intended destinations
- Use a non-proprietary power source that provides sufficient power for the duration of the incident response and recovery operations
- Be easy to operate, calibrate and maintain throughout the service life
- Operate within multiple environments (e.g., smoke, humidity, temperature extremes, precipitation)
- Be designed to minimize price of system, consumables, training, and maintenance
CAPABILITY
Responders’ ability to communicate with each other has a significant impact on operational efficiency and safety. Message transmission or clarity can be substantially reduced when operating in certain environments, particularly inside buildings, tunnels, underground spaces or over long distances.
