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Enhanced Information and Communications for First Responders Large scale incidents, whether natural such as the Katrina disaster, tsunamis, and earthquakes, or human-caused such as the WTC incident, are becoming more frequent and more problematic. We have seen that people have been ill prepared to efficiently and effectively handle such incidents, largely due to lack of adequate information and communication at the incident scene. This project focuses on increasing safety and effectiveness at urban incidents by improving information and communication quality and quantity for first responders. This will allow responders to better understand the incident conditions, quickly make effective decisions, and clearly communicate these decisions to the required parties. Primary expected benefits to society include saving more lives through more efficient search and rescue, reducing infrastructure damage by improved incident conditions knowledge, and reducing injuries to responders through more efficacious and knowledgeable response capabilities. Secondary benefits include improved information visualization, communication, remote wireless sensing, and wearable computer interface ideas for the workplace, handicapped people, and recreational public use. Creation of smart building infrastructures for incident information and communication also creates an infrastructure for monitoring seismic activity, energy usage, and general security using the same sensor platforms.
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