The IJIS Institute supported the Next Generation First Responder (NGFR) project of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate. Because first responders are the frontline of emergency response, the NGFR program was initiated to support the nation’s first responders—law enforcement, firefighters, and emergency medical personnel—in carrying out their duties.
IJIS helped identify, validate, and address first responder capability gaps using existing and emerging technology needs of first responders, and selected the Internet of Public Safety Things (IoPST) to ensure that First Responders are: Protected, Connected and Fully Aware.
A series of technology demonstrations identified areas where technology can be adapted to meet specific first responder needs. The goal was to provide insight to industry on how technology can be applied to meet operational scenarios and how industry can support future first responder requirements. To guide industry in development, design, test, and integration of responder technologies, IJIS created the Next Generation First Responder Integration Handbook, which outlines a plug-and-play, standards-based environment that enables commercially-developed technologies to integrate with existing first responder infrastructure.
The IJIS Institute also supported the White House Information Sharing and Access Interagency Policy Committee’s Incident Management Information Sharing Subcommittee (IMIS-SC). The IMIS-SC, comprised of federal, state, and local emergency management practitioners, was chartered to identify requirements to leverage new or existing information sharing standards and processes to improve data exchanges among all members of the emergency management sector.
