• Safety profiles protect people, pets, and emergency responders

    Sixty-three percent of all U.S. households have a pet, the highest level in two decades; there are 78.2 million dog and 86.4 million cat owners, with more than half stating they would leap into action for an injured pet; registering pets in the owner’s safety profile would allow for safer, and more successful, rescue by first responders during emergencies

  • Rescue dogs from across U.S. to participate in certification exercise

    Rescue dogs and their handler teams must be re-certified every three years; the certification includes command control, agility tests, barking alert skills, and willingness to overcome fears of tunnels and wobbly surfaces under the guidance of the handler

  • Private, public partners in Illinois CBRN emergency drill

    First responders and authorities in Lake and Cook counties, Illinois, joined Army Reserve units to conduct Exercise Red Dragon 2012, a chemical, nuclear response exercise

  • Harris awarded DHS communications contract with a $3 billion potential value

    Harris has been awarded a 5-year, IDIQ DHS contract to support tactical communications for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and its partner agencies; the contract has a $3 billion ceiling

  • Space Data, partners test high-altitude disaster communication

    Since 2004, Space Data has logged more than 250,000 flight hours in near space altitudes between 65,000 and 90,000 feet in conducting more than 20,000 flights of its balloon-borne platforms; near space technology has become a critical communications relay capability for the U.S. military, particularly for deployed forces overseas; the FCC wants this technology to be available for first responders

  • High altitude-based emergency communication system

    Oceus Network will conduct a test of its emergency communication system in high altitude: it will place its 4G LTE Xiphos portable 4G LTE broadband network on a balloon which will carry Xiphos to near-space altitude; by placing an emergency communication system on an airborne platform, a zone of coverage is created to restore critical communications in the first hours after a catastrophic event

  • Movie-like emergency training system for law enforcement

    Raytheon’s VIRTSIM law-enforcement training system employs licensed motion-capture technology similar to that used in movies such as “Lord of the Rings,” “Avatar,” and, most recently, “The Avengers”; the system is being offered to the law enforcement community as an affordable, twenty-first century alternative to outdated training practices that do little to replicate real-life situations

  • LoJack technology helps in two rescue efforts

    Two services from LoJack allow police to rescue two young kids in a stolen car, and locate an 82-year olf man who wondered away from home

  • Hughes shows Emergency Networking Solutions ahead of hurricane season

    According to the National Hurricane Center, the 2011 hurricane season’s biggest event — Hurricane Irene — caused more than $15 billion in damage and killed forty-nine people; this year, projections are mixed, as meteorologists predict fewer named storms but greater proximity to the U.S. coastline

  • Improving fast-moving mobile networks

    Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) allow people in multiple, rapidly-moving vehicles to communicate with each other – a useful technology in for emergency-response situations or soldiers under fire; researchers have devised a method to improve the quality and efficiency of data transmission in these networks

  • Direct-mail list company adds emergency responder mailing lists

    The growing attention to preparing for, coping with, and recovering from natural and man-made disasters means that more government and private funds are allocated to emergency services, and more professionals are trained and hired to perform emergency-related services; direct-mail companies have noticed this trend

  • Aussie emergency services industry continues to grow

    Over the past five years, emergency services funding in Australia has been driven by population growth, which has led to an increase in demand for emergency services; emergency services industry will generate revenue of AUS$20.2 billion in 2011-12, an increase of 4.5 percent on the previous year

  • City of Seattle Fire Department improving firefighter, EMS responses

    New communication system allows Seattle Fire Department to use new voice, video, and wireless by providing secure and fast switching between multiple networks

  • AT&T selected as TacCom prime vendor

    AT&T Government Solutions has been selected as a prime vendor under the Tactical Communications Equipment and Services (TacCom) contract; the contract, administered by DHS, is a multiple award, Indefinite Delivery-Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract with an overall value of $3 billion and a base contract period of two years and three, one-year options

  • Las Vegas first responders testing next-generation LTE broadband

    Public safety officers in Las Vegas, Nevada, are on the air with a 700 MHz Band 14 LTE (Long Term Evolution) solution through a pilot program that demonstrates the potential of next-generation wireless broadband technology