WHAT CAN PROJECT MESA DO FOR PUBLIC PROTECTION, PUBLIC SAFETY, NATIONAL DEFENSE ORGANIZATIONS AND THE CITIZENS THEY SERVE?

Project MESA is the name of a cooperative process developing new and exciting specifications and standards for a series of revolutionary wireless platforms, for mobile broadband technologies and services. These platforms are intended to serve the needs of the world’s public protection, public safety, disaster relief and peacekeeping agencies or organizations.

Is your government agency or sector interested in advanced technologies? If your answer is “Yes,” then you must become involved in Project MESA. Every related public service agency is invited to participate in MESA because every agency has an important perspective to be seen and heard. Project MESA is based on the assumption that user input and participation is primordial within this project. In the Project MESA process, the importance of user participation cannot be overstated because their efforts are critical to the final success. Ultimately, their decisions on Project MESA’s technology requirements and their decisions to buy or not buy a Project MESA system will speak more to the success of the Project than the proposed standards and specifications ever could.

Law enforcement
Peacekeeping
Emergency Medical Services
Disaster response
Fire
Other?

LAW ENFORCEMENT

Worldwide, law enforcement officers need to be able to be in constant contact with their peers, subordinates and superiors and to have reliable wireless access to all of their command, control, and informational support systems and services.

A support for officers and the public

Law enforcement personnel represent a multitude of government services and agencies, from national police or law enforcement services to local police or constables. Their law enforcement specialties are as diverse as their agencies and individual titles. Some of them are prison guards or correctional officers, others are responsible for enforcing laws on public lands or waters, some are responsible for providing protection for the leaders and heads of their government, while still others perform the day-to-day activity of protecting the lives and property of the citizens they serve. These are dedicated professionals who risk their lives on a daily basis, shielding others from harm. While the image of law enforcement personnel serving the public is ever present, the tools they use and need are obscured by their public persona. Usually, when people think of a law enforcement officer, they think of someone with a badge, sometimes in a police car or sometimes on the street, some carry guns, others carry only strong wills, their authoritative presence and a nightstick. Most carry some form of wireless two-way communications.

Even though most people recognize the image, very few recognize the tools and support necessary to make the men and women behind that image a success. To be truly successful and able to perform their sworn duty, the officers in the field require a tool box of electronic service and support, many of which are not currently readily available and, in some cases, not available at all. Those tools may include instant voice communications with their peers, subordinates and superiors. They need immediate access to criminal history files, building and building structural plans, chemical analyzers, robotic devices, two-way, full-motion video links, high-speed data transport links, crime scene photos, mug shots and numerous other applications and services that could be better used to reduce crime, property loss, improve transportation safety and reduce morbidity related to transportation accidents or outright crime. While the demand for public protection and public safety services has increased, law enforcement’s ability to fully use the technology that could better serve their citizens remains elusive. Project MESA is designed to change the course of communications-related services from being reactive to proactive.

Project MESA focuses on making the law enforcement officer in the air, on foot, horseback, or bicycle as capable as an officer in a fully equipped law enforcement automobile. The goal is to make the level of service transparent to the type of service being provided. An officer walking a beat or in a building responding to a crime will have the more tools than a fully equipped specialized law enforcement service van of today.

Advanced mobile broadband based surveillance

Full-motion video surveillance will no longer be limited to special task groups with well-equipped communications and surveillance vans. The use of surveillance technology will be deployed in routine traffic stops, high-speed chases, criminal surveillance, and crimes against nature, such as poaching, and specialized search and rescue. With the advent of MESA technology, full-motion video will be available to all who have a need and the authority to access it.
Advanced pattern recognition technology
Law enforcement officers of the future will be able to take full advantage of the capability to transmit complex drawings, matrixes, and calculations to improve public protection and public safety, while significantly improving upon the ability to identify and capture criminals. Through the use of advanced pattern recognition, facial recognition programs and iris scans, public transportation officers will be able to protect the citizens they serve at large public events, or as they travel on land, sea or air. In addition, Project MESA will allow law enforcement agencies to control the movement of illegal goods, people or service between countries by conducting remote surveillance of land, sea and air shipping containers and analyze their content long before they are allowed to cross-between international boarders.

Wireless image/vapor/radiation detection

With the advent of the MESA technologies, law enforcement officers in the field will be able to remotely and automatically capture and decode against known patterns (faces, shapes, fumes, etc.), which could result in improved local, national and international security and a significant reduction in crime and the ever present threat of terrorism.

Iris scanning as identification measure

Scientists are working with law enforcement and national defense personnel on developing new and more exact individual identification technologies. Some of these technologies, such as iris scans, are fairly unobtrusive, while others, such as remote DNA testing, will be more intrusive. The key is to move the technology from the laboratory or centralized environment to the individual officer in the field. Project MESA will help build that technology bridge and may provide some of the tools necessary to protect individual rights privacy through the advanced encryptions algorithms used for transport encryption.

Under the right circumstances, using a remote iris scan, which analyzes the patterns of an iris, can be a very precise and accurate measurement of individual identification. The use of this technology and other more traditional identification processes, such as fingerprint identification, will require very high bit-rates, even with compression techniques, if they are to become an effective tool to the officer in the field who requires an instant response.

PEACEKEEPING

Recent history has shown us that the world’s military needs include a wide variety of data intensive telecommunications requirements that can be remotely deployed and interconnected as the demand and situation requires. These services and applications require instant interconnect, a rapid transport network, high security, application transparency, and a high degree of mobility. To achieve all that, the telecommunications transport device must be small, rugged, and capable of integrating into either a hand-held device or a mobile subscriber unit.

Obviously, the success of Project MESA can be greatly enhanced and the schedule accelerated with the potential participation of organizations such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Project MESA’s leadership and Statement of Requirements are based on taking full advantage of existing international agreements, such as NATO’s applied Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) procurement procedures. By working toward using existing understandings, we have the potential in MESA to improve upon both the MESA process and those of the participants, especially when organizations like NATO are able to become more active and involved in sharing some of their experiences.

MESA’s participants envision a suite of specifications and standards that will open a virtual floodgate of technologies and greatly enhance the viability of existing applications and services currently available on fixed network host processors. The vision is to develop specifications and standards that create a wireless network that is transparent to most of the existing or proposed public protection / public safety applications or services, which require a high-speed network to move information from point-to-point or from multiple points to one or more points. These specifications and standards should allow dynamic allocation of bandwidth, priority access and both fixed and hot-spot service as the situation demands. Inherent in those specifications and standards will be the requirements for extremely high levels of security and redundancy.

MESA & mobile robotics

The Project MESA transport specifications and standards will be written specifically to allow for the interconnection of advanced robotic devices that will be created to improve the efficiency of public safety agencies and to keep public safety personnel out of harm’s way. The Project MESA Statement of Requirements envisions wireless robotic devices capable of moving into areas containing hazardous materials, chemicals, or explosive devices. It is anticipated that the robotic devices will be capable of performing a number of specific functions, including sending back video of where it is going and the obstacles it faces. More importantly, it is expected that these devices will be capable of being remotely controlled with regard to direction, moving around or over obstacles, performing complex manual tasks, analyzing specific chemicals or odors, and lifting or moving objects as commended.

Project MESA envisions robotic devices will be used in law enforcement, disaster responses, hazardous material response and cleanups, by bomb squads, fire protection, and defense applications. They could also be used for such specialized services as Customs, where multiple robotic devices can be used to physically and chemically check multiple storage or shipping containers long before they arrive on shore, transmitting both video and other analytical information back to the primary control center.

All of these potential service applications will require a secure, high-speed terrestrial and extraterrestrial transport network that can provide bandwidth on demand, on a priority basis with minimal interruption of service. The proposed Project MESA specifications and standards should accommodate all of those requirements, plus much more.

Robots designed to function on both micro- and macro-scale may be used to assist such applications as the following:

Rescue of people from hazardous areas
Automated inspection of bridges or other structures that are damaged or suspected of being sabotaged.
Anti terrorist actions
Land mine clearing
Disarming of bombs
Remote detection of contraband
Remote diction and analysis of hazardous chemicals
On-site, on the ground surveying of forest and grass fires
Inspection and rescue services in tunnels, mines, damaged buildings, or in other areas unsafe or inaccessible to a human

For obvious reasons, the wireless technology applied in the public protection and public safety field must be designed with special attention given to minimizing the potential of external system jamming or unauthorized interception. The Project MESA Statement of Requirements recognizes these potential weaknesses and calls out for innovative solutions.

Ad Hoc networking capability

Another important characteristic is the ad hoc networking capability.

The ad-hoc networking principle can be defined as the ability of a terminal to automatically work as a small “base node” in the absence of fixed infrastructure. In this way, a local system may configure itself and be “self-healing” in case some nodes are lost or a network failure occurs.

The ability to create an ad-hoc network is particularly important for public safety personnel who are responding to large-scale emergencies or natural or man-caused disasters. For example, such a network would allow a firefighter in a high-rise building to establish a complete network between him/herself and the other firefighters on the scene, ensuring that each had the full capability to not only send voice communications, but, at some future time, video, complex graphics, firefighter’s individual vital signs and much, much more. The ad hoc network could operate as a robust independent network or be interconnected with an existing Project MESA network. It would once again be highly reliable and secure and assure the field personnel that everything possible was being done to protect their lives and the lives and property of others.

EMS / MEDICAL ASSISTANCE ON THE SCENE

An important aspect of crisis and disaster management is the need to ensure on-site triage and medical care to the injured citizens they serve. Timely and correct treatment of all patients is of the utmost importance in stabilizing and treating injured patients, while concurrently creating an environment that may ensure their successful long term recovery. The key is to provide comprehensive protocols and interoperable communications links from the field to experts, doctors and other bio-medical practitioners and scientists at centralized medical and emergency response locations.

The remote medical expert

As medical measurement technologies are continuously improving, the demand for wireless bandwidth continues to increase in order to ensure the remotely located rescue teams can transmit and receive the correct medical diagnosis and the advice needed to protect the patient and mitigate long-term potential medical problems. It is extremely important that they be able to adequately stabilize the patient before they remove them from the rescue site. Cardiographic data, temperature, blood pressure and other medical and biological data need to be transmitted in parallel with video and IP voice channels. On-site technicians may need to perform remote chemical analysis or transmit complex medical information in extremely adverse conditions. Direct remote access to on-scene patient scanning and real-time video could assist the remote practitioner in defining a detailed map of the medical treatment to be provided.

High capacity mobile technology

It is anticipated that a standard system design may include an emergency response or rescue vehicle, designated to serve as an on-scene concentrator of the terrestrial mobile broadband data streams and provide the switching to the global terrestrial fixed network through one of the new planned broadband satellite constellations.

The concept of remote patient monitoring continues to be the subject of intense studies in the civil peacekeeping and disaster relief sector. Reliable and very high capacity mobile technology will be needed in order to immediately address important medical activities on the scene of the incidence.

In the emergency medical response field, real-time information needs should be accommodated on a single MESA carrier in a mobile environment. That carrier must be capable of transporting voice, video, complex graphics and detailed information from chemical and bio-medical terminals that may be used to improve and expand the on-site triage capabilities of tomorrow’s first responders.

DISASTER RESPONSE

Future interconnection of a Project MESA broadband mobile-satellite service will be essential to ensure a stable and expansive communication path from remote areas where terrestrial infrastructures may be unavailable or unusable due to natural or man-caused disasters.

MESA & mobile robotics

MESA technology will enable remote command and control of all types of on-scene rescue efforts.

A specific area of interest for Project MESA users is mobile robotics and they remain a subject of study in both the public safety and military sectors. Project MESA is also depending upon the creation of highly reliable and broadband wireless technologies, applications and robotic technologies that currently exist or are under development, or being considered for future development.

The Project MESA vision moves the functionalities and capabilities of today’s centralized and distributed data centers to the first responder in the field. It envisions the use of electro-mechanical robotic devices that can move or gather material, perform complex and/or difficult mechanical tasks, provide remote audio information from dangerous or obstructed areas, provide detailed analysis of chemicals, environmental or hazardous materials and, in general, serve as a real-time extension to the first responder.

Robots designed in both micro- and macro-scale may be used to assist such applications as the following:

Rescue of people from hazardous areas
Remote chemical analysis
Excavation of material in hazardous areas
Movement, or dismantling of structural material
Remote mapping and analysis of dangerous structures or areas such as damaged buildings, bridge structures, tunnels, mines or caves
Remote search and rescue
Automated inspection of non-accessible areas
Anti terrorist actions
Land mine clearing

For obvious reasons, the wireless technology applied in this field has to be designed with special attention given to the prevention of external jamming, security of the transported traffic, and the prevention of unauthorized interception, all of which will be duly covered by the MESA work.

Interoperation with future broadband satellite systems

During the very early stages of the Project's feasibility studies, it was proposed that interoperation with future broadband satellite systems will be required in order to overcome the limited range of a terrestrial broadband fixed radio system designed to serve a specific geographical area and operating in the GHz frequency range. History has shown that the world’s disasters and emergencies are not restricted to modern urban centers with extensive communications capabilities. Project MESA specifications will be written to ensure their technology platforms can be used when and where they are needed, regardless of established wireless infrastructure.

This extra-terrestrial mode of operation is therefore an integral part of the study as well as a priority in our work effort. Concurrent with our specification work is a concerted effort to increase the global awareness of public protection and the public safety agencies’ need for additional allocations radio spectrum that can be optimized for the technology developed from the Project MESA specifications.

FIRE

Online monitoring

MESA technology will enable firefighters to secure their own peers and save the lives of citizens by using technology developed to comply with the proposed Project MESA specifications. Functional capabilities, such as the real-time monitoring of the vital signs of working firefighters, will ensure they remain safe and able to operate at peak performance.
When on site, Project MESA could allow the simultaneous operation of large fire fighting crews which could be managed and controlled through a single system capable of full-motion video surveillance; infra-monitoring, fire, chemical and smoke monitoring and IP-voice communications. This dynamic network could be rolled out, on an expanded basis, to serve as either a fixed hot-spot emergency response communication system for other first responders. These core Project MESA communications technology requirements, coupled with the proposed wireless robotics and dynamic online monitoring of the firefighters’ body temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, pulse, breathing and other cardio pulmonary and respiratory activities, will ensure both the safety of the firefighters and their ability to save and protect the citizens they serve. All of these capabilities will ensure there will be full Command, Control & Communication (C3) on site.

Interoperation with future broadband satellite systems

During the very early stages of the Project's feasibility studies, it was proposed that interoperation with future broadband satellite systems was required by the users in order to overcome the limited range of a broadband radio system operating in the GHz frequency range. History has shown that fires and particularly wild land and forest fires often occur outside the traditional framework of day-to-day public protection and public safety communications systems.

Also under consideration in the Project MESA process is the potential of using the Project MESA technology platform to provide multi-dimensional individual location systems (the ability to locate a fire-fighter or other first responders in a specific place on a specific floor of a high-rise building), or Geographical Positioning Systems (GPS). Since any potential solution will require using a combination of technologies and applications now in place, and some that do not currently exist, the resolution of the problem will go well beyond the actual Project MESA specifications. In spite of that, Project MESA is committed to attempting to resolve this very complex and potentially life-saving issue.

Project MESA specifications will be written to ensure each of their technology platforms can be used when and where they are needed without regard to established wireless infrastructure.

The combined use of terrestrial and extra-terrestrial modes of operation is therefore an integral part of the overall project study and a high priority in our work. Therefore, the Project MESA team is also placing a high priority on increasing the global awareness of the spectrum needs of public protection and the public safety agencies’ need for additional allocations of radio spectrum that can be optimized for the technology developed from the Project MESA specifications.

Fire-fighting vehicle

The Project MESA SoR uses as a core assumption that a fire-fighting or other first responder vehicle may be equipped to carry an integrated broadband satellite transponder to create an “island” or “hot spot” of coverage around, throughout and above the scene of the incidence. In this way, firefighters and other first responders will be able to use Project MESA’s advanced technology equipment to be defined in this process, coupled with airborne and other types of transport service, to protect lives and property in both urban and extremely remote areas.

TRANSPORTATION AND OTHER GENERAL GOVERNMENT APPLICATION

The advent of Project MESA technology will allow transportation engineers to expand upon the concept of “Intelligent Transportation Systems" (ITS) through enhanced command and control. It will improve and enhance their ability to monitor and control transportation problems and at the same time greatly expand their ability to inspect tunnels, bridges and other structures in both the normal operational and disaster assessment mode. It will provide them access to advanced robotics during emergency conditions and provide greater safety and security to the traveling public.

MESA specifications for a mobile broadband data system could also be used for other general government applications, such as flood control, dam and river monitoring, water and air quality monitoring. The envisioned technology could also be used under disaster conditions to monitor and control the impact or clean-up of hazardous materials, conduct the emergency inspection of buildings and perform inspections of other man caused on natural disaster areas.

All public and private organizations with a need for a high-speed wireless transport system and the distribution of rate-intensive data, digital video and digital voice could benefit from participation in the MESA work. In addition, all public agencies and private organizations that can bring all or part of the solutions being sought by the public protection and public safety community could also benefit from active participation in the Project MESA process.