Mason research and smart technology enhance emergency response

Teams of first responders from Northern Virginia carried out active threat response training at George Mason University’s EagleBank Arena on the Fairfax Campus on April 29, testing innovative smart technology solutions designed to improve response efforts and enhance communication, interoperability, threat detection and situational awareness.

The technology included interoperable video and audio security and communication systems, in-building location-based sensors, two- and three-dimensional building digital visualization and biometric sensors. These systems are designed to help provide critical logistical information to first responders before and after they arrive on scene, resulting in safer and more efficient response efforts.

Brenda Bannan, associate professor with Mason’s College of Education and Human Development, led the event. Bannan is a nationally recognized leader in research involving the intersection of internet of things (IoT) technologies and digitally mediated team learning. She is also co-chair of the National Institute of Standards and Technology-sponsored Global City Teams Challenge Public Safety Supercluster. She has fostered a community of peers in both the private and public sectors who share in the belief that smart technology has the potential to greatly impact public safety, workplace learning, environmental sustainability and quality of life in cities and communities across the globe

David Ihrie, chief technology officer for the Center for Innovative Technology (CIT), is one of those partners who demonstrated IoT technology innovations and gathered feedback from first responders at the event.

“The goal is, can we help people, not just show cool stuff,” Ihrie said. “We want to actually demonstrate the possibilities for a revenue-generating technology that makes sense for whoever the user is, that makes sense for the business, and creates jobs.”

Simulations and pilot projects can help innovators demonstrate the validity and potential of their products, said David Heyman, former assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and founder and CEO of Smart City Works.

“George Mason University, with their urban planning, their engineering, their behavioral organizational psychology—all of the research capability they have that studies how technology and processes can be improved within a community and where the challenges are—is unique and one of the main reasons why we're partnering with them, in effect as a living laboratory,” said Heyman.

Partnerships with CIT, Smart City Works and others are the key to the future of this research, Bannan said. Some of her research includes tracking locations of first responders in real time.  By outfitting first responders with body-worn sensors (furnished by TRX Systems Inc.), research team members and first responders were able to see real-time and posthoc visualization of their movements.

Mason’s Facilities Management, Information Technology and Police and Public Safety also provided support for the training exercise, through problem-solving intricate engineering challenges and collaboration with several Mason services.

For example, Information Technology Services installed interoperable communications technology from Mutualink for the exercise. Mutualink developed the sensor platforms deployed in the exercise as part of a program with DHS, CIT and Smart City Works.

“We look forward to supporting the collaboration between Mason, DHS, CIT, Smart City Works and first responders in order to transition new ideas into practical systems that make a real difference,” said Mutualink vice president of innovation Mike Wengrovitz.

“Our goal here was to identify technologies already on the market that could be adapted to meet the very specific needs and challenges of those protecting and serving our communities,” said Jeff Booth, program manager for DHS’s Science and Technology Directorate.

Julie Zobel, assistant vice president for safety, emergency, and enterprise risk management at Mason, said events like this one show the benefits smart technology can bring to a campus community.

“I think not only of the possibilities for leveraging smart technology for emergency response, but for all aspects of university operations, from building maintenance to student experience, environmental sustainability, and beyond,” Zobel said. “Mason is already recognized for our exceptional tech talent, and I’m eager to explore how our bright and innovative community can leverage this emerging technology to not only better our university, but to show the world what’s possible when academia, public institutions and private corporations come together for the betterment of society.”