DENVER-While much attention at the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International show last week in Denver was given to interoperability, at least one inventor was pushing something else. Though his technology is not new, Joe Miller’s digital magnetic frequency transmissions have never been applied to wireless communications.
Born of the underground mining industry, Miller’s technology evolved throughout two decades of research and design focused on emergency warning and rescue of miners. In 1991, Miller said he sent an earth-penetrating signal to depths of 9,000 feet.
After the Sept. 11, 2001, tragedy, Miller said he realized that his technology had potential in rescue operations beyond mining. In 2002, Miller set up Rosseau, Ontario-based Vital Alert Communications Inc., providing engineering advanced technology systems and solutions for emergency rescue operations where 100-percent communications is essential.
“Sept. 11 was a communications disaster. Cell sites were lost when the towers went down; communications were cut off. Radios and walkie-talkies were useless. There’s not one operating radio system out there that can guarantee it will go through concrete, metal, debris and dust, and that you will have 100-percent communications 100 percent of the time,” Miller said. “There is none.
“This technology is not `radio’ and does not have the shortfalls of radio, which is a line-of-sight technology. EBN (emergency broadcast network) technology has the ability to penetrate the earth by sending vital information through the earth for several miles or through steel and concrete buildings. Rock, concrete, steel, debris and dust cannot stop the EBN communications signal. It is the real solution to radio failures that plague warning and rescue operations during bombing disasters and extreme environmental situations,” Miller continued. “Vital Alert’s EBN technology can save and protect the lives of first responders, like police, fire, ambulance and rescue, as well as the public during and after bombing attacks, fires, hurricanes, earthquakes-the possibilities are infinite.”
During the APCO show, Miller showcased the technology’s nonradio backbone, the emergency broadcast network, which he said is a “fail-safe pre- and post-disaster, digital, wireless, early-warning, emergency and evacuation network capable of sending two-way voice and text communications through earth, skyscrapers, subways, tunnels, oceans and more.”
Vital Alert’s EBN technology consists of a transmitter, Windows-compatible software and personal receivers for each individual connected to the system. Voice and text messages can be sent from wireless phones, or laptop computers can be used to send text messages. Preprogrammed warning messages can be sent to an individual or entire groups.
Miller said Vital Alert’s EBN overcomes the limitations that exist in radio and analog signals by tuning to a resonant frequency, whereby a unique system is created that discriminates against electromagnetic noise while still accepting the signal in the warning frequency range.
Vital Alert has an exclusive developmental license option agreement with Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Miller said the alliance with Los Alamos is enhancing Vital Alert’s urban network, designed for subway systems, skyscrapers, airports, refineries, power plants, tunnels, bridges and industrial buildings.
Miller said he received positive feedback from technical gurus at the APCO show and hopes to form partnerships with major vendors to develop products that combine Vital Alert’s technology with radio systems already in use by police, fire, and other first responders. He said he doesn’t see Vital Alert replacing radio systems, but rather as a backup system for use when radio fails.
“Disaster warning systems in use today rely on decades-old radio equipment and standards,” said Miller. “These inadequate systems have failed before and will fail again. When all other systems are down, Vital Alert’s technology could be implemented through mobile units as the primary emergency backup communications system.”
As the creator of EBN, founder and chief executive of Vital Alert, Miller said he’s driven not by the possibility of making big deals, but by “the possibility of helping our first responders save lives.”
