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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

Rendering of a building made by a 3D point cloud

Using Lasers to Save Lives

Scenario: you’re driving to your new job at a university campus and using your Global Positioning System (GPS)-enabled smartphone to tell you—and your car—how
This image shows the text "PSCR 2020: Most Watched" over a blue background

PSCR 2020: Most Watched Sessions

PSCR launched The Digital Experience on July 27 and during our first week - over 1,000 people got their first glimpse of the content we've been preparing all

Events

A web banner prompting users to register for the upcoming "Using Lasers to Save Lives" webinar on December 9 at 11:00 AM.

PSCR Webinar: Using Lasers to Save Lives

Wed, Dec 9 2020, 11:00am - 12:30pm MST (11:00am - 12:30pm MST)
This December, NIST’s Public Safety Communications Research division will host a webinar featuring the award winners of

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

Wildland firefighter

Public Safety Communications

To provide the public safety community with a better understanding of what to expect from new and emerging networking technologies, and accelerate the

Public Safety Communications Research

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

Publications

PSCR 2020_Making an Impact: Experiences of PSCR's Awardees

Author(s)
Jeremy E. Glenn, Fidel Liberal, Solmaz Kia, Heather Sittig, Rajarathnam Chandramouli
This session seeks to explore the impacts of the PSIAP program on award recipients. Our diverse panel of awardees will discuss their experience including how

PSCR 2020_Non-ISSI LMR to LTE MCPTT

Author(s)
Christopher J. Walton, Chic J. O'Dell
This presentation explores a low-cost method to bridge analog public safety Land mobile radio (LMR) systems into a standards based Long Term Evolution (LTE)

PSCR 2020_Expanding the SIM Card Use Prize Challenge Overview

Author(s)
Michael J. Bartock, Conor Patrick, Matt Lourie, Shane Weeden
PSCR and a few partnering entities finished a recent PSCR sponsored prize challenge, the Expanding the SIM Card Use for Public Safety. The challenge requested

Software

LTE Coverage Tool

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

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)