WASHINGTON-The National Institute of Standards and Technology said engineers have developed a new “ad hoc wireless network” for emergency communications, a breakthrough in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that addresses interoperability problems for first responders.
NIST said the architecture consists of personal digital assistants equipped with wireless local area network cards.
Small video screens can display the names of workers and their roles, and in buildings equipped with radios at reference locations, the network would determine the locations of first responders and track their movements, NIST said. In addition, according to the agency, the wireless devices could receive information from smoke, heat or vibration sensors embedded in smart buildings that could be transmitted by wireless sensor networks or distributed by first responders during emergencies.
