DRAFT-_SOO_3-_Emergency_Vehicle_to_Emergency_Vehicle_Warning_System.pdf

Emergency Vehicle to Emergency Vehicle Warning System Statement of Objectives

February 13, 2017 Science and Technology Directorate Department of Homeland Security

DISTRIBUTION NOTICE: Further dissemination only as directed by DHS Office of Policy DESTRUCTION NOTICE: Destroy by any method that will prevent disclosure of contents or reconstruction of the document.

Emergency Vehicle to Emergency Vehicle Warning System Statement of Objectives

Table of Contents

1.0 Problem Statement

2.0 Purpose and Scope

3.0 Background Environment

3.1 Mission Scenarios

3.2 Current Technology Shortfalls and Threats

4.0 Potential Solution Attributes

4.1 Concept of Operations (CONOPS)

5.0 Solution Capabilities and Requirements

5.1 Must Have Requirements (Key Performance Parameters, KPP’s)

5.2 Desirable Capabilities or Characteristics

6.0 System Support

6.1 Period and Place of Performance

6.2 Contract Deliverables

6.3 Transition Requirements

6.4 Regulatory/Legal Requirements

6.5 System Affordability

6.6 Support Concept

6.7 Training

6.8 Other Considerations

6.9 Storage and Maintenance

1.0 Problem Statement

Commonly, as emergency vehicles approach an incident scene, there may be several other emergency vehicles also responding to the same incident or en-route to nearby unrelated incidents at the same time. The potential for having more than one emergency vehicle approaching or passing through the same location from different directions significantly increases the chance of a collision. Currently, first responders communicate their location via their radios, and rely on their lights and sirens to alert others of their presence. A more streamlined and effective solution to inform each other is needed for improved responder safety and to decrease property loss resulting from these collisions.

First responders, primarily those in the emergency medical services (EMS), law enforcement (LE), and fire department communities need the ability to warn each other of their presence as they are driving in emergency mode. Today, there is a relatively short period of time available to alert others of an emergency vehicle’s proximity. This can result in limited time for drivers to react and can lead to collisions between emergency response vehicles and civilian vehicles, and between emergency response vehicles and other emergency response vehicles. This was recognized as a critical capability gap in the DHS Project Responder 4 (PR4) report where subject matter experts noted the need for the following communications and logistics requirement: “The capability to seamlessly and dynamically connect multiple persons/entities and convey meaningful and actionable information to all relevant parties”.1 This capability gap was reconfirmed and identified as high priority during the 2016 First Responder Resource Group (FRRG) Meeting held in July in Washington, DC.

2.0 Purpose and Scope

This technology solution shall notify emergency response drivers of other approaching emergency vehicles from a distance and in a manner that ensures they are aware of an oncoming emergency vehicle. It should continually update the drivers of other emergency vehicles of the initial vehicle’s proximity when they are within a specified distance from each other.

The solution shall have the ability to negate notifications that have no impact on the secondary emergency vehicle(s). For instance, if an emergency vehicle is responding on the northbound side of a divided highway, there is no need to notify emergency vehicles traveling on the southbound side. Additionally, the notification shall only be broadcast while the emergency vehicle is in “emergency mode,” while lights and/or sirens are engaged, or when it is specifically turned on.

3.0 Background Environment

The proposed solution will provide an emergency response vehicle warning for other first responders that will lessen the chance of collisions between emergency vehicles. Today, emergency response vehicles use lights and sirens as a way to communicate their proximity while navigating roadways to and from an incident site. Lights and sirens are limited as a means of communication as light does not bend around corners and can easily go unnoticed, or can cause confusion in source direction and location due to environmental conditions such as sun

1 Department of Homeland Security, Security and Technology Directorate, “Project Responder 4: 2014 National Technology Plan for Emergency Response to Catastrophic Incidents”, p. 11.

glare, mist, or fog. Sirens must compete with the masking noise generated by the road, car radios and ventilation fans, and must overcome modern sound insulation techniques.2 In other cases, some personnel may be unresponsive to certain frequencies of sound. This lack of awareness of an approaching emergency vehicle can lead to accidents and severely slow down response time. As such, traffic-based delays are mainly determined by the effectiveness of ambulance warning and traffic preemption.3

No comprehensive databases for Fire, LE, or EMS exist to identify factors involved in emergency vehicle crashes, worker injuries, or fatalities. However, information provided by the American Ambulance Association (AAA) collected through insurance organizations covering ambulance services shows that an estimated 10,000 or more ambulance-related collisions occur annually.4

3.1 Mission Scenarios

First responders need to get to incidents quickly and safely as they are responding to emergent situations. They must deal with traffic while travelling to an incident scene and, depending on the details of the emergency, some responders need to quickly leave a scene and move through traffic on the way to a hospital or another facility. Travelling with lights and siren to a hospital often requires traveling through a neighboring jurisdiction, which may need to be alerted if they need to attend to another incident. This is true for all emergency responders as they are expected to arrive in a timely manner while navigating in traffic.

This solution will increase the awareness of other emergency vehicles on the road as well as on scene of approaching vehicles and communicate their proximity while within a preset distance to each other. The arrival and departure times can have life or death effects if medical care is not provided in a timely manner, LE does not arrive in time to mitigate an incident, or firefighters are delayed in responding to a fire, are among many scenarios where safe arrival of first responders is vital. By allowing additional notifications to other vehicles on the road, travel times may be significantly reduced allowing for an increase in the number of lives saved and property protected.

3.2 Current Technology Shortfalls and Threats

Presently, the primary way to notify other drivers of an emergency vehicle’s presence is through lights and sirens; however, the effectiveness of warning lights is limited by the proximity of the vehicles, whether there is line of sight and/hearing (i.e., able to see the flashing lights and hear sirens/horns), by certain atmospheric conditions, and by any obstructions to the other emergency vehicle operator’s ability to see the emergency lights (i.e., sunglasses). Additionally, as sound projects linearly, it is difficult for other emergency vehicle operators to hear sirens when approaching an intersection perpendicular to the direction of travel of the initial emergency vehicle, especially if there are buildings at the corners of the intersection that further block residual sound. It is even more difficult for other emergency vehicle operators to hear approaching sirens if they have their own sirens activated and if they are wearing sound-blocking headsets for hearing protection and for more effective radio communication.

2 https://www.emergencydispatch.org/articles/warningsystems1.htm.

3 https://www.wpi.edu/Pubs/E-project/Available/E-project-042513-003855/unrestricted/SNLK3-FINAL.pdf.

4 https://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/fa_336.pdf.

https://www.emergencydispatch.org/articles/warningsystems1.htm https://www.wpi.edu/Pubs/E-project/Available/E-project-042513-003855/unrestricted/SNLK3-FINAL.pdf

4.0 Potential Solution Attributes

This technical solution shall alert other first responders of approaching emergency vehicles that are employing their lights and sirens to notify others of their presence when in close proximity.

Each vehicle will communicate the proximity of the other vehicle as it is captured and relay that information to the driver of each respective emergency vehicle.

This solution shall decrease the number of collisions that emergency vehicles are involved in with each other. The technology solution is not necessarily meant to be integrated or built into the vehicle, but rather something that could be added post-production and can over time be integrated into new emergency vehicles. It should not interfere with land mobile radio/long term evolution (LMR/LTE) communications that are currently being used to transmit warnings to first responders in the field. This solution should be embedded in the current lights and sirens system and activated via the same systems that are in place now. It should provide situational awareness across disciplines to emergency vehicle drivers as to the proximity of other emergency vehicles moving quickly through the same area. The device should have the capability to retrofit and can be built-in in for future products.

4.1 Concept of Operations (CONOPS)

The activation of this technology solution should not alter the current CONOPS of first responders; however, the information that it will pass on should allow for improved navigation and awareness of other emergency vehicles. The additional information regarding proximity of other first responders will allow for increased awareness therefore increased safety of all first responders arriving or departing from an incident scene. If it is deemed necessary that there should be an additional switch or button added to the current system that first responders use to alert others, it should be simple and easy to use. The solution shall include CONOPS change details as needed. Additionally, the solution should communicate with the vehicle operators only.

5.0 Solution Capabilities and Requirements

5.1 Must Have Requirements (Key Performance Parameters, KPP’s) The proposed solution must include:

• The ability to be integrated into (pre- and post-manufacture) with all standard emergency vehicles, including those for EMS, LE, and Fire;

• The solution must last the entirety of the life span other emergency lighting or siren equipment, and ideally the lifespan of the emergency vehicle;

• The ability to have a customizable signal strength that can continually communicate an emergency vehicle’s proximity to other emergency vehicles when they are within a minimum radius of one half mile in an urban environment:

o This must be configurable to permit the emergency vehicle operator to adjust the signal strength to set the desired approximate alerting radius, which will be affected by the topography and whether the vehicle is in an urban or rural environment; and o It is desirable that vehicle operators be provided guidance to assist in correlating between the signal strength setting and the alerting radius in various environments:

This guidance may be in the form of printed documents, or expanded configuration settings on the device itself.

• This solution will be integrated into the circuitry activated when the emergency lights and/or sirens are activated via the same systems (switches) that are in place now but should also have the ability to be turned on or off separately. A retrofitted option should also be made commercially available;

• If first responder CONOPS changes are required, the operational changes must be detailed and provided with the delivery of the system;

• This solution must not interfere with LMR/LTE communications that are currently being used to transmit warnings to first responders in the field;

• Have applicable Underwriters Laboratory (UL) certifications;

• Have applicable Federal Communications Commission (FCC) certifications;

• This solution must not be dependent upon any other voice or data communications systems in the emergency vehicle, but may optionally use them;

• This solution must not require users/departments to obtain any frequency licensing or operator authorizations from the FCC;

• This solution must not be dependent upon any display or visualization devices currently found in the emergency vehicle, but may optionally use them; and

• The solution must be capable of conveying very basic information, such as the type of emergency vehicle approaching (i.e., Fire, EMS, Police).

5.2 Desirable Capabilities or Characteristics

Desired characteristics include:

• This solution should meet the requirements of the OASIS Emergency Data Exchange Language (EDXL) Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) Standard;

• The solution should enhance the information provided about approaching vehicles with sub-type breakdowns (i.e., fire heavy apparatus, fire chief command car, EMS transport unit, EMS chase car, police cruiser, police armored vehicle); and

• The solution should have the ability to have a more sophisticated alert display that indicates the specific direction of approach of the other emergency vehicle(s).

6.0 System Support

6.1 Period and Place of Performance

The length of time of the contract shall be between 12-18 months, and shall not exceed the latter.

All developmental activities will be performed at the contractor-designated site(s). DHS may require the contractor to perform critical design reviews and/or product presentations at DHS-specified locations.

6.2 Contract Deliverables

DHS is committed to ensuring the success of their technology by requiring the project performer to provide DHS a minimum of eight (8) prototype deliverables which will be used for post-contract testing and evaluation.

6.3 Transition Requirements

DHS is also committed to ensuring the use of their technology by the first responder community by documenting metrics regarding product sales and estimated production costs for the first three years after commercialization. Additionally, to promote first responder technology awareness DHS may participate in operational exercises, demonstrations, and conferences for the first three years after commercialization.

6.4 Regulatory/Legal Requirements

There may be regulations or requirements from the FCC regarding transmitting devices, from Department of Transportation, from UL for safety considerations, or from several others depending on the path chosen. The offeror will detail what certifications and/or standards apply and will be required based on the proposed solution. Further, if the solution to this problem is to include 5.9 GHz, the solution may need to include the Intelligent Transportation System licensing. The solution may fit among the licensed uses of the FirstNet network; they might use unlicensed spectrum (e.g. 2.4 GHz), however, this is risky as it subjects the warning system to interference and may interfere with other uses (e.g. municipally supplied Internet access).

DHS is committed to providing information regarding the availability of their technology to the first responder community by requiring the project performer to submit applications to be added to the DHS Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Authorized Equipment List (AEL) and the InterAgency Board for Equipment Standardization and Interoperability (IAB) Standardized Equipment List (SEL) as a final deliverable.

6.5 System Affordability

First responders’ budgets are limited and should be taken into consideration when developing and determining a price per unit cost model. Attempts should be made to maintain simplicity of the requirements with the intent that this would also limit the cost of the solution.

6.6 Support Concept

The only technologies that are required to support this system are already in place; the currently installed lights on emergency vehicles.

6.7 Training

No additional training would be required for first responders as the CONOPS would not be affected. Should an additional switch or button be used it should be simple enough to train on in less than an hour. Training material shall be available initially in hard-copy, and subsequently in soft-copy format.

6.8 Other Considerations

Human Interface Requirements: The target users for this technology solution are all emergency responders; but especially those from the EMS, LE, and Fire disciplines that are most often responsible to navigate vehicular traffic to arrive swiftly to an emergency scene.

Logistics and Readiness: This technology could be a switch that would be embedded into the current lights and sirens system and activated by the emergency vehicle operator. It can be flipped on using the same motion as the other switches currently being utilized in the field but shall be separate as to operate independently from the lights and sirens.

6.9 Storage and Maintenance

The contractor shall identify all necessary maintenance requirements for the proposed solution including the required maintenance schedule, identification of the specific components of the ensemble that requires the maintenance, the type of maintenance required, and whether the maintenance can be performed in the field by operational personnel or if it will be required to be returned to the manufacturer for the required maintenance.

Maintenance of this technology should be relatively low as it should be embedded or retroactively added to current systems. Maintenance should include software updates as needed by the manufacturer.