[GA ARES] D-Star Test results from FEMA and US Army

[Paul Pescitelli]

I did not receive a post verification the first time...trying again..


FOR PUBLIC DISSEMINATION:

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Report from Ray Novak, Icom America:

I wanted to share with you information from our demonstration for FEMA
and the US ARMY.  This can be forwarded to the group if you feel it is
important.



Well, I think it is about time to let the cat out of the bag.

Early in 2006, Icom and several other vendors were asked to participate
in a demonstration for FEMA and the US Army.  The demonstration was
designed to illustrate possible solutions to some of the communications
issues experienced during responses to hurricanes Katrina and Rita last
year.

In mid-February, the vendors and some volunteers gathered discretely to
show the capabilities of an integrated communications design that
included high-speed network connectivity via satellite, multiple
mechanisms to transport network data, WIFI, and  interconnected voice
capabilities via VOIP, standard FM, and digital voice with D-Star.

The premise of the exercise was to illustrate a group of 1st responders
actually being deployed, then having that team relay vital tactical and
strategic information to other team members hundreds to thousands of
miles away, and provide a seamless integration of this information into
existing networks.  The operation required full integration of voice and
data networks, along with adding significant data capability to
individuals in the response team.

While there were many items covered in our demonstration, I will focus
just on the Amateur Radio portion of this demonstration.

Demonstration Overview:

Both tactical and strategic communications relayed to the proper
authorities through an integrated voice and data network.

Long Haul Communications:

For the long haul communications, both FEMA and the US ARMY requested
that our focus shift from HF to new and more robust communication
methods.  One comment that was made during the demonstration was "Why
say it, when you can send it"?   This underscored the importance of
concise, accurate communications capabilities.

Thus the primary focus was data, data, and more data.  The government
agencies obviously have satellite data solutions.  The most recent
solution to come on line is Hugh's R-BGAN Satellite solution.  For those
that are interested, here is a great resource of information on the
R-BGAN technology:  http://www.aosusa.com/bgan.html

With the bandwidth that was available with the R-BGAN technology, there
was a lot of normal, everyday type communications being provided via
network as well as VOIP communications.  I realize that none of this
really pertains to amateur radio, but this needed to be shared so you
see how D-STAR integrated seamlessly into the local communications
network.

Now to the core of the D-STAR demonstration!  There were some specific
requests from FEMA and the US ARMY that needed to be addressed for the
1st Responder's.  Here are some of them, and how we were able to
immediately meet the requirements with D-Star's simultaneous voice and
data capabilities:

*      1st Responder communications identification

D-STAR's Automatic Callsign TX with voice communications

*      1st Responder location (when landmarks are either below water
level or no longer standing)

D-STAR GPS/callsign along with voice communications

*      1st Responder assessment data

Transmission of data files using same site repeater structure as voice
communications

*      Last mile (really 30 mile) data coverage

Combination of 1kbps and 128kbps data

1kbps = small data files from "in-field' responders
128kbps = mobile officials retain data connectivity for E-Mail or WLAN
network
128kbps = level 2 communications networks outside WIFI range (connected
to SATCOM data)

While some laughed at the 1kbps data, it was really effective in moving
FEMA incident type reports.  What we did was store the data locally,
then pushed a CSV file over the 1kbps data stream.  Once the file was
received, the server expanded and populated a website with the details.

>From the comments heard at the exercise, it was apparent that our
traditional thoughts of providing "out of area" communications with HF
should shift to providing "in-area" augmentation of data and voice
capabilities.  These functions won't replace our existing agreements and
relationships with served agencies.  But if we can add these new
capabilities to our offerings, our services become much more attractive
to some of the federal agencies.

We all agreed that the exercise was a huge success.  While we can't
share any of the specific details about the exercise and we don't know
anything about future government directions, we do know that there is
significant interest in expanding data communications capabilities for
Emergency Communications.  We were proud to be able to quickly respond
and satisfy the requirements of the exercise organizers.  We
successfully demonstrated the capabilities of both the D-Star
technology, and the spirit of the Amateur Radio community.


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73 - Paul    K4UJ / FS, KP2, KP4, PJ6, PJ7,VP2E, ZF2UJ
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