How Emerging ISR Technologies Supported by Mobile AdHoc Networks Enhance Emergency Response Operations
Real-time emergency management centers utilizing ISR technologies play a growing role in how stakeholders across multiple first response agencies are kept informed and updated on their situational awareness to reduce response time, casualties, and property losses.
An underlying technology that is rapidly emerging to share information across areas in which conventional communications infrastructure has been compromised is mobile ad hoc networking (MANET).
MANET networks and other ISR technologies forged in hostile environments and situations supporting the global war on terror (GWOT) are reshaping emerging technologies that support emergency management agencies across the spectrum of natural and man-made catastrophic incidences.
Emergency management agencies (EMAs) have their hands full as the intensity, frequency, and volatility of natural and man-made disasters rise across the United States. According to the National Centers for Environmental Information, the U.S. sustained 16 weather and climate disasters during 2020—including droughts, severe storms, tropical cyclones, and wildfires—resulting in damages and costs that researchers at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) say exceeded $22 billion in that year alone.
With disasters mounting while most EMA budgets remain flat, leaders are exploring technologies that can optimize the capabilities of first responders while better protecting the health and safety of their teams. In this context, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) technology is receiving increased attention.
“While ISR technology has been embraced by law enforcement for a while now, the past couple of years have seen greater interest from the fire community and other emergency response agencies that are starting to adopt it as well,” says Greg Dunbar, director of sales for federal and state public safety agencies at Silvus Technologies, in a podcast interview with BizTechReports.
Greg Dunbar, Silvus Technologies
“ISR is increasingly being seen as a way to provide a complete picture for incident commanders, allowing them to make better tactical decisions more quickly. The objective is to have more successful missions, better protect personnel, and minimize property loss,” he says.
Beyond providing eyes in the sky, however, ISR also plays a crucial role in creating communications networks in places where infrastructures have been compromised or environments in which none existed in the first place—such as remote wildfires.
This, explains Dunbar, is where mobile adhoc networks (MANETs)—a waveform technology that has been primarily used for military, law enforcement, unmanned systems, tactical, and other commercial/industrial applications—are playing a growing role in supporting emergency management agencies.
These solutions can transmit video, voice data, and apparatus in remote locations with no reliable communications infrastructure and are capable of going through or around objects, into canyons, pipelines, and even tunnels—places traditional radio transmissions can’t go.
“In addition, it allows ’Fusion Centers’ to better gather data, information, and intelligence in real-time and then share that information with multiple stakeholders at federal, state, and local levels. This ensures every player is informed and can move quickly,” says Dunbar.
A great example of how these technologies work in the face of natural disasters is the recent response to the California wildfires. Silvus’ MANET technologies were used to harvest data on the wildfires and connect law enforcement, medical first responders, health departments—even utility personnel—to make the data inputs available to everyone in real-time.
“The data inputs included voice, data, GIS mapping, live video, audio, text messaging, and more. This wealth of information gave every sector a detailed grasp of the event as it unfolded, resulting in better decisions, faster reaction times, and reduced casualties,” concludes Dunbar.