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Enhancing communications - with mobile mesh network
PacketHop, working with the Lakewood, New Jersey Police Department and the New Jersey Institute of Technology, successfully deployed the state’s first 4.9 GHz broadband mobile-mesh network. The PacketHop Communications System was utilised to enhance police communications, coordination and video surveillance during a music festival and a mock HAZMAT incident, in addition to ongoing patrolling and tactical response activities...
Lakewood Township is located near the Atlantic coast in central New Jersey, about equidistant from New York City, Philadelphia and Atlantic City. Home to about 80,000 residents, Lakewood has a longstanding reputation as a “melting pot” because of the many cultures found in the township including European, Jewish, African-American, Hispanic and Asian peoples. Because of possible implications relating to homeland security, representatives from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, New Jersey Homeland, Security Technology Systems Center, the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Lakewood Police and Fire and Emergency Medical Services Departments, observed the PacketHop deployments.
Working with PacketHop, Lakewood’s Police Department deployed the Communications System at Wingstock ’06, a music festival held at the township’s FirstEnergy Park on September 23, 2006. Over 6000 people attended the event.
The solution was used at the music festival to improve security, communication and co-ordination. PacketHop was installed on Lakewood’s existing Datalux Tracer rugged computers in its police cruisers and Dell computers in its command post and instantly created a 4.9 GHz broadband mobile-mesh network. Officers communicated and shared tactical information distributed over the network via a fully-integrated suite of server-less multimedia communications applications.
Lakewood’s police cruisers were strategically positioned around FirstEnergy Park using Aware’s GPS resource tracking, white boarding and multimedia instant messaging applications. Each police cruiser contained an L-3 Communications MobileVision analog video recording system. PacketHop’s software converted the analog video captured by the systems into digital video and distributed it across the 4.9 GHz broadband mobile-mesh network via Aware’s real-time multicast video application.
Use of video was a key component of the deployment:
• An unmanned police cruiser was positioned at a major intersection outside the park that is prone to car accidents. It enabled real-time video surveillance of the intersection, reduced the number of speeding cars and improved officer utilization since the police cruiser was unmanned.
• A police cruiser was positioned to provide surveillance of police K-9 units checking attendees for explosives.
• Two police cruisers patrolled the parking lot outside FirstEnergy Park providing real-time video surveillance.
• A laptop and camera were placed atop the park to provide real-time video of the crowd in front of the concert’s main stage.
• Several police cruisers were positioned at FirstEnergy Park’s main entrances and exits to provide surveillance and manage the flow of attendees entering and exiting the park.
All of the video feeds were simultaneously streamed to each of the officers on the 4.9 GHz broadband mobile-mesh network and to the command post. This provided the command team with a more comprehensive and live view of the event from a single location and enabled the commanders to better co-ordinate officers in the field.
HAZMAT incident scenario
During the Wingstock festival, the Lakewood Police, Fire and Alert Medical Services Departments, and the Ocean County Sheriffs Department also ran a mock HAZMAT incident to ascertain how PacketHop could be used if a disaster occurred during the event.
The scenario involved an explosion of a propane tank. The mock explosion scorched the concession area, injured 22 attendees and released a large cloud of propane into the air surrounding FirstEnergy Park. Police, fire and EMS teams were instructed to utilise standard operating procedures to evacuate the area, attend to the injured, perform triage, and secure the area.
The PacketHop Communications System was used by the first responder agencies to quickly secure the area surrounding the explosion, establish a local aid area, and create a landing zone to treat and MEDIVAC injured attendees. In addition, PacketHop enabled the police to optimize the positioning of police officers to co-ordinate traffic and direct concert attendees to several exit locations leading to safe areas.
patrol and tactical applications
The Lakewood Police Department also used the PacketHop Communications System the day prior to the Wingstock festival in response to a gang shooting. Even though the officers had not yet been trained. Subsequently, Lakewood has been utilising PacketHop to support ongoing patrol and tactical operations including video surveillance of suspect residences prior to drug raids.
results
“Wingstock marked the first successful deployment of a 4.9 GHz broadband mobile-mesh network in the state of New Jersey,” according to Bill Marshall, the deputy director of the New Jersey Homeland Security Technology Systems Center at New Jersey Institute of Technology. “PacketHop quickly deployed the network, which enhanced officer co-ordination and improved crowd control, increasing the overall safety of the music festival attendees and the officers.”
The PacketHop Communications System provided first responders with robust, reliable and secure communications. The existing narrowband cellular technologies that are typically used for public safety agencies communications are not able to effectively support this high amount of data, limiting their effectiveness.
About The PacketHop Communications System
The PacketHop Communications System is a software-based, infrastructure optional mobile-mesh networking communications system that proactively routes information device-to-device enabling both peer-to-peer communication as well as access to cellular and broadband backhaul.
The PacketHop Communications System is a software-based, infrastructure optional mobile-mesh networking communications system that proactively routes information device-to-device enabling both peer-to-peer communication as well as access to cellular and broadband backhaul.
