Sept. 11, 2006 — In the minutes, hours and even days following the disasters of 9-11 and Hurricane Katrina, rescue workers struggled with the simple task of communicating.
The problems were many and varied, but can be blamed in part on old fashioned, incompatible technology and a fragmented infrastructure.
At least two plans to update public safety communications are before the Federal Communications Commission — one from Verizon Wireless and the other from Cyren Call, founded by Morgan O'Brien, co-founder of Nextel.
Both plans propose a partnership between private and public sectors to establish a broadband wireless national network that would stimulate technological innovation to make communications compatible.
"We're, right now, at a total paradigm shift that is being driven by the wireless industry," said Ron Haraseth, director of Daytona Beach, Fl-based Automated Frequency Coordination, which provides licensing-related services for public safety.
Broadband would give tens of thousands of public safety agencies the ability to transmit text, images, files, even streaming audio and video from a disaster or crime scene.
Can You Hear Me Now?
The current system was designed with key factors in mind, but it has major drawbacks.
Most of the time, rescue workers need to speak only with other members of their team, so they use a radio channel dedicated just to them. They also need a network that won't get overloaded with calls during an emergency. So they lease radio spectrum on a local network guaranteed to be wide open at all times.
But because emergency workers use a dedicated radio channel, they usually don't know what channels other responders use. Plus, a local network devoted to local units doesn't work if those people are asked to respond to a disaster in another country or, in the case of Hurricane Katrina, another state.
Responders use two-way "walkie-talkie" radios since they need the ability for one person, such as a fire chief, to speak with many at once.
The problem is the commercial market for walkie-talkies is small compared to other devices, such as cell phones. There are about 2.5 million first responders in the United States compared to more than 200 million cell phone subscribers.
The small market drives prices sky-high. As a result, departments keep their equipment for decades. And a lack of manufacturing standards means that older systems are often incompatible with newer ones.
This kind of incompatibility, as well as channel overload, made it impossible on September 11 for police officers and firefighters in the North Tower to receive radio calls that the South Tower had collapsed, according to the 9/11 Commission Report.
