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Public safety

Public safety communications research

SOCIAL SPOTLIGHT: PSCR HAPTICS CHALLENGE

A phone mounted on a metal arm shows a thermal image of several people standing in demo area.
Credit: S. Trunnell/Corner Alliance

Sensing through the smoke — in a dangerous environment with low visibility, firefighters can’t always rely on their eyes alone. That’s where haptic feedback comes in, a technology that leverages sensory cues (like a cellphone’s vibration) to communicate with its users. This could be the next frontier in situational awareness for first responders, so NIST is on an expedition to find out more.

Recently, NIST’s Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) Division put haptic solutions to the test as part of the final phase in our Haptic Interfaces for Public Safety Challenge. Our team used the thermal tick camera shown above to keep track of what was going on in the demo area, which was otherwise filled with smoke and not visible.

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News and Updates

A drone flies against the setting sun.

Top 5 NIST PSCR Articles of 2021

From technology development to prize challenges and engagement across the country, 2021 was an immensely productive year for NIST's Public Safety Communications
A web banner of a firefighter in smoke with text that reads, "Public Safety Innovator Acceleration Program 2022 (PSIAP-2022). Application Deadline January 18, 2022"

PSCR Announces $7M Award Program

NIST’s Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) Division recently released the Public Safety Innovation Accelerator Program - 2022 (PSIAP-2022) funding

Events

Industry Impacts

Photo of NIST scientists with the PSCR Deployable LTE Cell-on-Wheels

First Responder Communications

First responders must be able to communicate during an emergency. Too often in critical situations, communications among public safety agencies are hampered by

Projects and Programs

Public Safety Communications Research

Ongoing
The primary objective of the Public Safety Communications Research program is to lead the development of wireless telecommunications and information technology

Publications

2019 Public Safety Broadband Stakeholder Presentations by NIST Authors

Author(s)
Richard A. Rouil, Tom Henderson, Marco Mezzavilla, Michele Polese, Jaden Pieper, Chunmei Liu, Silas Thompson, David W. Griffith, Christopher Walton, Christopher D. Dennis, Fabio C. da Silva, John S. Garofolo, James M. Horan, Samuel Hood, Julie Stroup, Christine Task, Terese Manley, Sam Ray, Alison Kahn, Maxwell Maurice, Hien V. Nguyen, Frederick R. Byers, Kristen K. Greene, Mary Theofanos, Yee-Yin Choong, Sandra Spickard Prettyman, Pamela J. Konkol, Jeffrey Cichonski, Bill Fisher, Gema Howell, Mike Dolan, Adam Lewis, Michael Ogata, John Beltz, Michael Bartock, Sarah Hughes, Santosh Rajvaidya, Craig Connelly, Scott Ledgerwood, Megan Waldock, Dereck R. Orr, Donald Bradshaw, Jeb Benson
2019 Public Safety Broadband Stakeholder Presentations by NIST Authors

PSCR 2021: Overhead! Cybersecurity and Public Safety UAS

Author(s)
Michael Ogata, Raymond Sheh, Randall Nichols, Teague Forren
In recent decades, Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) have become vastly cheaper and more fully featured. Public safety has begun to incorporate these devices into

Software

PSCR Mission Critical Voice QPP SIM

QPP Sim is a simple discrete event simulator aimed at helping and accelerating the study of Quality of Service (QoS), Priority, and Pre-emption (QPP) mechanisms

Tools and Instruments

LTE Coverage Tool

This experimental application was developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Public Safety Communications Research Division (PSCR)