Tyto Athene, LLC announced today that it has been selected as one of 26
industry partners participating in the Next Generation First Responder
(NGFR) – Birmingham Shaken Fury Operational Experimentation (OpEx).
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science
and Technology Directorate (S&T) has partnered with public safety
agencies in Jefferson County and the city of Birmingham, Alabama, and
industry partners for the Next
Generation First Responder (NGFR) – Birmingham Shaken Fury Operational
Experimentation (OpEx) set for August 19-23, 2019.
“At the end of the day, S&T strives to ensure that in the chaos of a
disaster, our communities are prepared, and our emergency responders are
protected, connected and fully aware of the situation on the ground,”
said William N. Bryan, DHS Senior Official Performing the Duties of the
Under Secretary for Science and Technology. “We achieve this by bringing
together the right partners and evaluating a range of technology
solutions so when the time comes, responders can take swift, decisive
action to mitigate loss of lives and property.”
This integration
demonstration for the NGFR
Program will help local emergency responders augment their public
safety capabilities before hosting the World Games in July 2021. The
OpEx will depict a scenario depicting an earthquake causing partial
structural collapse and a HAZMAT leak at the Legion Field stadium. Such
an incident would require significant public safety coordination for
search and rescue, stadium evacuation, HAZMAT decontamination and mass
medical care. The experiment also serves as the last in the series of FEMA
Shaken Fury exercises.
S&T and industry partners will evaluate how selected DHS-developed and
commercial technologies integrate with existing public safety systems
using open standards, and how those integrated capabilities enhance
operational communications, increase operational coordination, improve
responder safety and augment situational awareness. These interoperable
technology solutions will use recommended guidelines found in the Next
Generation First Responder Integration Handbook. The handbook, which
provides guidance for public safety agencies and industry on
standards-based interoperable technologies, will help to ensure
DHS-funded and commercial technology solutions can share information
with existing regional public safety systems, applications, processes
and procedures.
DHS S&T recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the local
agencies, as well as 26 Cooperative Research and Development Agreements
with industry partners to establish a collaborative relationship for
planning and executing the OpEx. Public safety partnerships include the
City of Birmingham, Jefferson County and the Birmingham Emergency
Communications District, the University of Alabama at Birmingham,
Alabama Emergency Management Agency, Alabama Law Enforcement Agency,
Alabama Department of Transportation, and Alabama National Guard, along
with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. These partnerships will
provide the opportunity to evaluate and demonstrate mission impact of
first responder communication, situational awareness, Internet of Things
(IoT) and on-body technologies in an operational environment.
Some of the technologies and capabilities used in the OpEx will include:
public safety IoT, Unmanned Aerial Systems, deployable communications,
stadium evacuation simulation tools, sensors that assess hazardous
gases, responder physiological condition and patient status; and
responder and incident commander situational awareness tools. Industry
partners include:
- AT&T Corporation
- BodyWorn
- CommandWear Systems, Inc,
- Easy Aerial, Inc.
- Field Forensics, Inc.
- FireHUD, Inc.
- 5VS LLC (Five Vital Signs)
- Image Insight, Inc.
- Kratos Defense and Security Solutions, Inc
- Metronome Software, LLC.
- MobileIron, Inc.
- Modern Technology Solutions, Inc.
- N5 Sensors, Inc.
- NC4 Public Sector, LLC
- PAR Government Systems Corporation
- Project OWL
- Regal Decision Systems
- Robotic Research, LLC
- SensorUp, Inc.
- Silvus Technologies, Inc.
- Sonim Technologies, Inc.
- SpectraRep
- Spectronn
- TRX Systems, Inc.
- Tyto Athene, LLC
- University of Alabama in Huntsville
DHS S&T is also coordinating with the First Responder Network Authority
(FirstNet) and AT&T Corporation to run many of these cutting-edge
networked devices on the newly-available FirstNet public safety
broadband network.
“Real-time information helps first responders make real-time decisions,”
said DHS S&T Program Manager and Birmingham Shaken Fury OpEx Director
Cuong Luu.
“This exercise provides the opportunity for first responders to provide
real-time feedback so that we may develop smarter, seamless and
state-of-the-art technologies that increase their ability to focus on
the mission, rather than distract from it.”
The OpEx aims to fulfill DHS S&T and regional first responder objectives
including supporting responder technology innovation, evaluating how
integrated technologies make responders safer and more effective,
fulfilling responders’ annual training requirements, and receiving
responder feedback on existing and emerging technologies to identify
areas for improvement and continued DHS S&T focus.
“We are proud to be a part of the elite group of integrators and
solution providers selected by DHS being tested through the Shaken Fury
operational exercises in Birmingham,” said Jeff Murray, CEO of Tyto
Athene. “We believe Acuity MDC will prove invaluable to first responders
ability to save lives by enabling real time information to First
responders operating in harsh connected and disconnected environments.”
About Tyto Athene
Tyto Athene is a full service systems integrator focused on helping
clients accelerate their ability to make decisions by providing
ubiquitous and secure access to enterprise information throughout their
operating environment. Tyto Athene uses a myriad of technologies,
innovative thinking, and proven processes to deliver successful outcomes
for its clients worldwide. To learn more about Tyto Athene please visit GoTyto.com.
About Acuity MDC
Acuity Micro Data Center combines best-in-class technology with mobility
and efficiency in a single form factor. This rugged, agile solution
provides 10 credit card servers, WIFI, and LTE connectivity while being
portable enough to fit in a commercial airline overhead storage
compartment. Acuity delivers mission-critical edge processing and
analytics capabilities, data security, and unified communications in an
easy to use, turn-key solution that only weighs 30 pounds.
With Acuity one person can set up critical communications within two
hours and run paramount applications anywhere in the world. Acuity can
be lifesaving for remote teams In the case of a natural disaster, acts
of terrorism, or harsh operating environments where the infrastructure
is damaged or not present.
Acuity’s versatility and processing power can be utilized as a portable
standalone data center or as an extension of your infrastructure on the
edge. Either implementation provides key data center capabilities such
as, identity management, session migration, load balancing and failover,
micro/hyper-segmentation, virtual machine deployment, container
deployment, private/public cloud implementation, and active directory
services.
To learn more about the Tyto Athene Acuity Micro Data Center solution
visit: GoTyto.com/acuity
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