2022 Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Communications Technology Laboratory (2023) / Chapter Skim
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6 Public Safety Communications Research
6 Public Safety Communications Research
Pages 40-51
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From page 40... ...
research focus area is facing a budgetary challenge distinct from the other research focus areas -- the Public Safety Trust Fund (hereafter referred to as the Trust Fund) funding that has supported much of the research is expiring.
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From page 41... ...
Establish a research plan, and direct research, that addresses the wireless communications needs of public safety entities beyond what can be provided by the current generation of broadband technology; (4) Accelerate the development of mission critical voice, including device-to-device "talkaround" capability over broadband networks, public safety prioritization, authentication capabilities, and standard application programing interfaces for the nationwide public safety broadband network, if necessary and practical; (5)
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From page 42... ...
The Mission Critical Voice, Location-Based Services, and User Interface/User Experience research areas have been identified as the highest priorities for continued PSCR funding in FY 2023. GENERAL DISCUSSION CTL's PSCR Division is a unique national resource for the public safety community.
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From page 43... ...
ASSESSMENT OF TECHNICAL PROGRAMS The assessment of PSCR technical programs is complicated by the expiration of the Public Safety Trust Fund in FY 2022 and the necessity of aligning any recommendations with the future funding situation. The PSCR Division's technical programs focus on developing, expanding, or influencing research capacity, disruptive approaches and technology, standards, products, and public safety methods.
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From page 44... ...
The process is modeled as a mouth-to-ear user measure with evaluations grounded in quality of experience -- availability, intelligibility, and total time of transmission. The PSCR Division has created a unique interdisciplinary nexus of user-centered computing, working with first responders as its users and providing communications expertise to evaluate and enable the systematic migration of Mission Critical Push-to-Talk communications from traditional handsets using land mobile radio to a complex broadband environment.
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From page 45... ...
Direct-mode communication is considered a required feature by first responders to fully transition from land mobile radio to LTE. The PSCR Division contributed to the 3GPP standards support for LTE direct mode through device-to-device communication and off-network Mission Critical Push-to-Talk, but LTE direct mode has performance limitations and is not widely available.
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From page 46... ...
Through workshops with government, public safety, and industry stakeholders, the PSCR Division identified an inability to track first responders indoors when there is no pre-existing communications infrastructure as a key technology gap. To address this gap, the PSCR Division has awarded $8 million to the Crisis Technologies Innovation Lab at Indiana University to implement the First Responder Smart Tracking prize competition.
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From page 47... ...
Usability Evaluation Framework: The Case of Public Safety Communications Research, 4 which provides guidance on planning user-based usability evaluations throughout the augmented reality development cycle. The User Interface/User Experience team has leveraged the building of the public safety community and stakeholder engagement to improve the interaction of public safety personnel with technology.
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From page 48... ...
Challenges and Opportunities The primary challenge faced by the PSCR Division is obtaining the funding necessary to maintain leadership and continuity in key research and development areas with the expiration of the Public Safety Trust Fund. Funding from the Trust Fund has enabled the PSCR Division to broaden and invigorate the public safety research and development community through internal research and grants, engage with a broad technical community through prize challenges, and help innovators learn how to bring public safety innovations from the laboratory to the market through commercialization efforts.
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From page 49... ...
The continuing development of protocols, hardware, and above all the changes in the threat environment require sustained investment. The PSCR Division will continue to play a role in research and development of new Mission Critical Voice technologies along with developing the measurement capabilities necessary to deploy new features and applications in FirstNet.
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From page 50... ...
Recommendation 6-4: The PSCR Division should continue this integrative approach to User Interface/User Experience, involving participants from the broad range of the public safety community, in ongoing and future projects. Commercialization Due to the expiration of the Public Safety Trust fund, the future of the PSCR commercialization programs is not clear.
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From page 51... ...
The PSCR Division currently has 15 full-time staff who are aligned with the three research portfolios that have been identified by CTL as having the highest priority: Mission Critical Voice, Location-Based Services, and User Interface/User Experience. The PSCR Division has been able to successfully accomplish its mission with the current 23 full time federal staff, together with the temporary personnel and leveraging of outside collaborators.
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