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VisiNet Mobile™ seamlessly extends CAD to field personnel with real-time incident details and integrated mapping
San Diego Fire-Rescue sought to replace archaic mobile display terminals in hundreds of city fire trucks, ambulances and other emergency vehicles. The agency was able to accomplish this through a grant financed in part by the Urban Area Security Initiative grant funding, issued from the Federal Office of Homeland Security, to help urban areas enhance their overall security and preparedness level to prevent, respond and recover from acts of terrorism, and credible threat information. The 2003 Cedar Fire, which destroyed more than 2,000 homes in San Diego County, emphasized the city's critical need for a better mobile communications system.
Challenge
The mobile equipment firefighters and paramedics utilized in their vehicles were text-based "dumb" terminals dating back to 1981. These mobile data terminal systems and technology were obsolete, users could not modify the screens, they were no longer supported and parts could not be obtained to repair them. The data screens were not configurable enough to accommodate the operational changes of San Diego Fire/Rescue, and personnel did not have the ability to add new features and fields. In addition, they delivered only limited incident information. The solution did not provide fire personnel with access to pre-plan information, hazmat data, position and location of other units, or the ability to enhance situational awareness for the responders.
Solution
TriTech's VisiNet Mobile™ solution provides San Diego Fire/Rescue with a seamless extension of their VisiCAD Command and Control solution, which when fully deployed will augment the City's 200 fire and EMS units. Field personnel will have superior functionality with rapid, complete incident details for increased situational awareness, extensive messaging and query capabilities, robust GIS mapping with integrated GPS, with an easy- to- manage commercial, wireless infrastructure. The flexible, comprehensive solution facilitates quick on-scene decisions, enhances personnel safety and improves operational efficiency.
"Our personnel are very excited to have real-time incident updates and detailed mapping at their fingertips," says Susan Infantino, Communications Manager for San Diego Fire/Rescue. "Our old system did not provide any premise history or hazmat information and now this information is available before the unit arrives at scene, to help the responders decide in advance the best course of action."
San Diego firefighters and paramedics used to rely on wall maps to locate the address of the incident. Now, VisiNet Mobile's integrated mapping capability has greatly enhanced their ability to allocate the right resource, quickly locate the address and respond to calls in various types of terrain. "San Diego's topography is particularly challenging", says Infantino. "Canyons and mountains criss-cross our service area and make it difficult to coordinate multi-unit responses. VisiNet Mobile allows us to view a satellite overlay of the scene which provides depth of detail that enables us to proactively dispatch the appropriate resource for response, in addition to being able to view any access points for evacuations." Work is also underway to integrate voice navigational instructions directly into the headsets worn by personnel in the vehicles to allow drivers to more easily find the incident. Routing instructions are integrated with the CAD's powerful navigation engine to take into account road closures, traffic patterns and the City's changing road network.
VisiNet Mobile provides a new level of user flexibility for San Diego Fire/Rescue with the ability to interface to their Fire RMS solution for the creation of reports, and also link to hazmat data. As crew members complete their call data, the system instantly transfers the data to the Fire RMS system and allows them to complete their NFIRS reports on-line the moment they return to station.
The VisiNet Mobile system utilizes the commercial, wireless data network provided by Sprint. Infantino says they made the decision because the City was running out of bandwidth on their private 800 MHz system. "The decision to go with a commercial carrier turned out to be a good one. We are experiencing a tremendous increase in bandwidth, and the system is very reliable."
The City will be installing wi-fi hotspots over the next two months that will facilitate automatic software and GIS updates. When the Mobile clients sense they are within range of a hotspot, they automatically take advantage of the increased bandwidth to do housekeeping. This means that the cost of ownership to the City is very low. "On our old system we had to constantly bring the MDT's in for diagnostics or updates. With VisiNet Mobile the software, GIS, and pre-plans are updated automatically without a technician needing to gain access to the unit," says Infantino. "We expect this to reduce our maintenance cost considerably."
Utilizing a commercial network has had other unexpected advantages for the City. Recently, the agency deployed a strike team near the wild fires, which scorched nearly 24,000 acres northwest of Los Angeles. Personnel were still able to use VisiNet Mobile's detailed mapping functionality to view San Diego events, as well as make strategic resource allocations for the fire in Los Angeles. Additionally, they utilized the extensive messaging capability to communicate in real-time the latest updates on the situation for dispatch and communication with other connected units.
Infantino is excited to see how the system will positively impact field performance and morale. "VisiNet Mobile is a big step forward in the evolution of our department. It puts the power of information into the hands of the people who need it most -- field personnel."
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