Communications Interoperability Progress

Tony FraterDeputy DirectorOffice for Interoperability and CompatibilityScience and Technology Directorate June 1, 2006

National Association of State Chief Information Officers

2006 Midyear Conference

Office for Interoperability and CompatibilityThe Office for Interoperability and Compatibility (OIC) is managed by the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T). Its purpose is to strengthen and integrate interoperability and compatibility efforts to improve local, tribal, state, and federal public safety preparedness and response.

OIC addresses:

• Communications (SAFECOM and Disaster Management)

• Equipment

• Training

• Other areas as identified

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Wireless interoperability is the ability of public safety service and support providers to exchange information via voice and data communications:

• On demand

• In real time

• When needed

• When authorized

What is Interoperable Communications?

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Practitioner-Driven Approach

Lowest

Highest

Us

ag

e

Pri

ori

ty

Lowest

Highest

Local Agency-Specific

Regional Inter-Agency &

Inter-Disciplinary

State and Federal

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Disaster Management (DM) DM is an interagency initiative established by the Office of

Management and Budget as one of the President’s 24 e-Government Initiatives to:

• Meet the Nation’s need for a single access point to disaster management information for citizens and local, tribal, state, federal, and non-governmental authorities

• Improve incident response (all-hazards) and recovery by creating the ability to securely share information across the Nation’s emergency management community

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DM Program Components

• DisasterHelp.gov is an Internet-based portal containing information and services for the public and for the emergency response community (www.DisasterHelp.gov).

• Disaster Management Interoperability Services (DMIS) provides basic incident management software tools.

• Open Platform for Emergency Networks (OPEN) provides a supporting infrastructure to share incident information.

• Messaging standards initiative is a public-private partnership to create messaging standards for information sharing between disparate incident management systems and software applications.

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DisasterHelp.gov PortalProblem: No single source for disaster- and emergency-related information. Local, tribal, and state emergency responders lack automated tools to coordinate and prepare for disaster.

Audience: Emergency response community and citizens

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DisasterHelp.gov provides:

• A consolidated access point for information relating to disasters

• Collaboration capabilities and support tools (e.g., Readiness Assessment tool) for the emergency response community

Disaster Management Interoperability Service (DMIS) Tools

DMIS is a free software toolset that provides:

• The capability to securely manage incidents and exchange incident-related information between authorized parties.

• Basic tools and supporting infrastructure as a starter set of applications.

Problem: Local and state organizations lack interoperable incident management software tools.

Audience: Emergency response community.

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Johnstown PA VS Release- Health service coordination- Traffic control coordination

Washington, DC – IMF Protests- Continuous distributed situation awareness- Coordination among operations centers

Orangeburg, SC- Anthrax hoax: On-scene data capture and rapid incident reporting- Flooding (w/ threat to area dams): Tracking critical data for coordination and decision making

Ashland Boyd County, KY - Barge Sinking: Total response force coordination and map value demonstrated

- Hazmat event: Coordination among 10 local, regional, and state-level organizations

Frederick, MD – Blizzard Watch- Journal as action log tool- DMIS flexibility demonstrated

Alachua County, FL – Severe Weather- Severe thunderstorm included reported tornado touchdown- Rapid data capture for coordination of response actions.

41st WMD – Civil Support Team-Tracked incidents for situational awareness, in case of deployment

Washington County, MD – Flooding- Coordination across the county up to the State Emergency Manager

Examples of East Coast DMIS Use

Laurel, MD – Hurricane Isabel- Instrumental in determining the need to

evacuate apartment buildings in Laurel, MD in advance of Hurricane Isabel

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Open Platform for Emergency Networks (OPEN)

• OPEN is an interoperability data infrastructure designed to facilitate the sharing of incident information.

• OPEN is an immediate solution for data interoperability for DM standards-compliant software applications.

• 49 vendors have developed products that interface with OPEN, facilitating data sharing among customers.

Problem: Currently exchanging incident-related information between disparate systems is difficult or impossible.

Audience: Emergency responder community, industry, and citizens

OPEN enables secure data exchange through the use of standards-based messages.

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Messaging Standards InitiativeProblem: There is a lack of data messaging standards to enable emergency management software tools to share incident-related information.

Audience: The full emergency response community, industry, and citizens

Messaging standards will drive data systems to interoperability.

• Messaging standards are driven by practitioner-defined requirements and priorities, not federal agencies or industry.

• eXtensible Markup Language (XML) standards assist the emergency response community in sharing data securely while responding to an incident.

• DM works closely with industry to ensure resulting standards are implemented effectively.

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SAFECOMSAFECOM is a communications program of OIC. With its federal partners, SAFECOM provides research, development, testing and evaluation, guidance, tools, and templates on communications-related issues to local, tribal, state, and federal public safety agencies.

• SAFECOM is working to improve public safety response through more effective and efficient interoperable wireless communications.

• SAFECOM is not authorized to procure or provide funding for communications equipment.

SAFECOM is working to ensure a safer America through effective public safety communications.

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Interoperability Continuum

The Continuum helps the public safety community and policy makers plan and implement interoperability solutions.

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Statewide Planning – SCIP Methodology

The Statewide Communications Interoperability Planning (SCIP) Methodology is a result of the collaboration between SAFECOM and the Commonwealth of Virginia in the development of its strategic plan for improving statewide interoperable communications.

The SCIP outlines a step-by-step planning process for

developing a locally driven, statewide strategic plan to enhance communications

interoperability.

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National Interoperability Baseline

PHASE 1

Create and Develop a

Summary and Analysis of

Past Interoperability

Studies.

PHASE 2

Develop a Descriptive and

Measurable Definition forPublic SafetyInteroperable

Communications.

Develop aMethodology

forMeasuring the

State ofInteroperability.

PHASE 4

Field theExecution of the Survey.

PHASE 5

Formulate a Nationwide

Measurement That Can be Analyzed by

its ComponentDemographics

Down to theLocal Level.

We Are Here.We Are Here.

• The National Interoperability Baseline project is a five-phase process that will measure the current state of communications interoperability across the Nation.

• Establishes a coherent picture of current communications interoperability, which will offer a yardstick to identify and drive investment needs

• Includes operational, governance, and technical considerations

• Serves as an integrated component of SAFECOM’s approach to interoperability

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PHASE 3

Statement of Requirements (SoR)• Developed with public safety practitioner input, the SoR defines the operational and functional

requirements for public safety communications.

• The SoR is the first document that captures, in one place, a comprehensive set of communications requirements.

• Version 1.0 of the SoR was developed in 2003 and published in March 2004.

• Version 1.1 of the SoR was developed in 2005 and released in April 2006.

• The SoR will drive other SAFECOM activity, including identification of key interface standards.

Driven by public safety, the SoR captures communications requirements for effective emergency response.

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Public Safety Architecture Framework (PSAF)

• The PSAF serves as a tool to help the Nation’s emergency responder agencies understand the technical requirements and national migration path toward fully interoperable communications.

• The PSAF maps out the operational needs, technology, and standards for public safety communications into a framework that will help identify where gaps currently exist.

• Volumes I and II of the PSAF were released in March 2006.

Continuously evolving, the PSAF helps public safety agencies map their own system requirements.

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Federal Interoperable Communications Initiatives

Includes: Community Oriented Policing Services Grantees; Office of Grants and Training’s (G&T) Interoperable Communications Technical Assistance Program (ICTAP) sites, Interoperability Communications Equipment Grantees, and Statewide Efforts; SAFECOM sites; National Governors Association Policy Academies; Department of Justice (DOJ) Metro 25 Cities

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