Tactical Voice Communications Interoperability for FEMA USAR Teams October 4, 2012 Briefing Seamless radio communications with other federal public safety.

Tactical Voice Communications Interoperability for FEMA USAR Teams

October 4, 2012 Briefing

Seamless radio communications with other federal public safety assetsincluding National Guard CST, CERFP, and FSRT,

and state/municipal emergency responders

Incident Commanders’ Radio Interface ICRITM

®

Made in the U.S.A

A Veteran-Owned Small Business

The ICRI Solution to a multitude of FEMA USAR team tactical problems…

Rapidly interconnects FEMA with (a) National Guard and other federal asset radios, (b) municipal/state public safety radios, (c) land-line/cell/satellite telephones, even when power and computer infrastructure are unavailable.

ICRI provides a rugged, highly portable, radio cross-band (HF, VHF, UHF, 7-900MHz), cross platform (digital/analog, trunked /talk-around, AM/FM) capability for mutual aid operations including with those having different encryption “keys.”

Enhance the radio link between USAR team members working in areas of poor RF propagation (inside-outside buildings, tunnels) and remotely located Leaders by serving as a rapidly field-able “repeater.”

The Equipment (Patented)

Small, rugged package/circuitry Highly portable Rapidly deployable (under 5 minutes) Multiple radio interconnect without adding technical complexity Minimal “operator” training Wide range of power sources (including “AA” batteries) Low cost in equipment , allocated manpower, sustainment

requirements

A component of the multiple USAR and all WMD-CST ADVON caches since 2002

ICRI…as a rapidly deployable repeater…

…using a team’s existing cache radios in support of tunnel and large structure entries where RF propagation is poor or non-existent

5.5 lbs Tactical Repeater - water-proof, no over-

packing required 8”x 12” x 11” Two Radio I/O ports + telephone or IRIDIUM port + handset Internal “AA” battery housing provides a 24+ hour duty cycle

Repeater/relay Functional Diagram

2-way radio connected to

repeater/relay transmitting

frequency “B” or trunking

assigned channel to radios at ground

level

Entry team 2-way radios

frequency “A” transmitting to one

another and to radio on reel

2-way radio on reel receiving

frequency “A

2-way radios receiving

frequency “B” or trunking assigned

channel

Automatic gain controlAutomatic gain control

Audio buffer/delayAudio buffer/delay

VOX with tail

timer

VOX with tail

timer

MutingMuting

BLUE: RF*GREEN: AUDIO LEVEL and BUFFER*GREY: ‘KEYING’ LOGIC/CONTROL*

LT. RED: SQUELCH TAIL BLOCKING** adjustable

ICRI

Rapidly deployable, reliable radio communications from confined spaces-to-BOO…up to 5000’ into a tunnel…

Cache radio on conventional channel

…or rapidly configured as an intra-team range extender for the vehicles in a long task force deployment caravan

”Isaac-ready” ICRI…

7.0 lbs 10.5” x 9.5” x 6.0” WATERPROOF, SAND-PROOF Internal housing for eight (8) “AA” alkaline/primary

batteries provide an 24+ hour duty cycle; also uses external DC (7-31V)

Five Radio I/O ports + telephone or IRIDIUM port + handset

ICRI-E (DoD Guardian II Force Protection selection)

o All versions of the ICRI can be connected to a G2 terminal via G2’s RJ45 handset port.

o The G2 headset connects to an RJ45 jack on the ICRI interface cableo No external power source requirement

Multi-agency radios linked to LightSquared MSAT-G2 through ICRI

Model LMR-G2… connects a cache radio to MSAT-G2

FEMA USAR personnelEncryption key “X”

CST/CERFP/HRFEncryption key “Y”

RC FlexNet

ICRI-WFM

ICRI Capabilities…LOS and BLOS Encrypted Radio Communications with National Guard Personnel and FEMA HQ

Equipment not shown to scale

MSAT G2

XTL5000

Extending Situational AwarenessLine-Of-Sight Radio Communications Link to Beyond-Line-Of Sight Using commercial satellite

2-wire connection

Commercial BGAN terminal

ICRI Gateway

To ICRI’s 2-wire audio I/O port

2-wire RJ-11 port

All versions of the ICRI can be rapidly connected to a BGAN terminal via the analog telephone jack (a parallel connection with the phone. Alternately, the ICRI can be configured with an internal PSTN circuit and a keypad.

BGAN INMARSAT terminal with analog handset

Certifications and Approvals

JFCOM ’05 CWID recommended for immediate deployment

RCMP Qualified Products list USAF Force Protection Battlelab USMC Warfighter Lab DICE Certified EPG CEDAP selected technology EPF CTAC selected technology AEL/SEL approved SAFECOM Rapidcom 9/30 SoR

V1.0 and 1.1 (draft version)

Comments from the Field…

14

The ICRI is easy for first responders to use unlike other gateway devices that must be set up by a trained Comm-t or radios shop personnel.LeRoy SisleySeattle Fire Department, WATF-01 USAR Communications Technician

Our team conducted a training LANES at a harden bunker with 12 inch reinforced concrete walls. We were task with conducting a CBRNE RECON of the downstairs of the bunker. Additionally, due to the possible communication challenges that can arise with using line of sight two ways radio in this type of building the ICRI-2P was deployed. Compared to the similar systems I have used in the passed, I found the ICRI-2P to be easier to deploy in Personnel Protective Equipment. It was compact and light weight; no one on the team had any problems carrying the equipment down range. Likewise, while in the building the RECON team was able to effectively communicate back to the Survey Team Command Trailer.   SFC Robert Phipps ([email protected])Commo Chief 23rd WMD-CST Christiansted, VI 00820

The Incident Commanders’ Radio Interface (ICRI) from Communications-Applied Technology was found to be a useful communications tool for the taskforce. The ICRI is light, small, and easily packed in the cache. Its phone patch capability could provide first responders with direct communications to resources that would be available only by phone to radio relay. This could prove valuable in the WMD environment. It also allows connection to other agencies or operations with very little setup time or communications knowledge. All tests, on usable radio/phone systems, with the ICRI provided good reliable communications

DHS Emergency Response Technology Program Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) Operational Test and Evaluation. This report summarizes an evaluation of the ICRI by Fairfax County Virginia Urban Search and Rescue FEMA Task Force 1.

Comments from the Field…Coalition Warrior Interoperability Demonstration

“In all, CWID '05 had 49 trials with 39 of them applicable to USNORTHCOM and its HLS/D coalition partners’ missions. This After Action Report (AAR) details the assessment results for 26 trials we identified as most promising from a HLS/D perspective. Of the 26 trials, USNORTHCOM recommends 3 trials for JFCOM consideration as input to the Transformation Change Proposal (TCP) process for further evaluation and funding. The nominated trials highlighted in this AAR are:

Weapons of Mass Destruction Common Operational Picture (WMD COP) Multi-level-secure Information Infrastructure (MI2) Incident Commander Radio Interface (ICRI)

…Use of ICRI will enhance relationships between USNORTHCOM, its subordinate JTFs, the National Guard and local and state emergency operations centers by providing the ability to rapidly link the communications systems used by civil agencies and those systems used by military first responders.”

HQ USNORTHCOM, CWID ’05 After Action Report

Additional HLS/HLD activities…

• To minimize in-suit and ambient “noise” beingtransmitted over XTS an accelerometer-based“microphone” is used. An accelerometer is sensitiveto mechanical vibration versus acoustic sounds thattraditional dynamic elements pickup.

• To enhance user speech for improved listenercomprehension, a multi-stage, speech audio shapingcircuit was developed for this application.

• Based on USAF bio-acoustic studies, Bi-aural audiovia two, non-occluding miniature speakers are provideto improve speech comprehension in Level “A”.

• To eliminate single point failure that would preventuser voice transmission, three, redundant radio“keying” switches are used instead of a single switch.

• Five sizes of neck straps are available toaccommodate 99th percentile male/female users;range 15” to 25”. . The neck straps are removable forcleaning.

• A “moleskin” solution was developed to secure themicrophone without the use of a strap around theneck.

• To eliminate battery replacement, and storage issuesthat could result in devices damaged by a leakingbattery, power to circuitry is supplied by the radio;current drain does not exceed 10mA.

• PTT “button” size, location, pressure required to “key”the radio, and stability inside a Level “A” were allconcerns and successfully addressed

Compatible with Level A/B/C PPE SCBA/M-4x/M-50 masks/PAPRSDeveloped by C-AT from 30 years of chem-bio demil experience for the CST Recon and CERF-P “hot zone” entries

CBRNe PPE radio interface/P-T-T

Communications-Applied Technology www.c-at.com 800-229-3925A veteran-owned, small business, made in the USA

For Additional Information…

G. Seth LeymanCommunications-Applied Technology

11250-14 Roger Bacon Drive, Reston, VA, 20190

Voice: 703-481-0068; Fax: 703-471-4428 e-mail: [email protected]

Website: www.c-at.com

CAGE Code: 0EEY2, TIN: 54-1215868DOL Veteran-owned, Small Business SIC 3669

MADE IN THE U.S.A