New Communications Tools Tested to Help Emergency Responders (CNN) “From placing equipment inside soon-to-be-imploded buildings to testing a robot’s ability to send audio and video in abandoned mines … researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology are working to improve the devices that emergency workers rely on,” reports CNN. “The institute conducts research in places that are notorious for rough emergency communications, from tunnels to collapsed buildings to oil refineries filled with metal that interferes with radio signals.… Creating ‘smarter’ robots may also help improve disaster communications. ‘A [smarter] robot will monitor its own received signal strength, so it will know when it is beginning to lose communication with its operator, and it will automatically deploy a little repeater [a device that can amplify and rebroadcast a radio signal] behind itself,’ [electronics engineer Kate] Remley said.” NIST “labs in Boulder, Colorado, have some intriguing facilities that also assist researchers in understanding how radio waves move.” [View article]

Google Initiative Aims to Detect Epidemics Before They Start (Wired) Google.org’s Predict and Prevent Initiative (see the Website of the Week) is “a global health program” that aims to “draw on Google’s search acumen to predict hot spots before the first case of some imminent calamity hits the hospital,” reports Wired. The initiative’s director, Mark Smolinski, “plans to lend Google’s in-house technology expertise to companies and nongovernmental organizations already at work in the developing world.… Google.org is also looking at for-profit companies inventing and manufacturing low-cost medical diagnostic tools.” [View article]

Minnesota’s Hospital on Wheels (Minnesota Public Radio) “Minnesota’s newest hospital has just eight beds,” reports Minnesota Public Radio. “But it’s got 18 wheels.… It’s called the Minnesota Mobile Medical Unit and it’s designed to offer emergency medical care away from regular hospitals.… The unit is based on a conventional semi tractor-trailer unit, and expands into a small but fully functional hospital. It’s meant to serve patients at the scene of large incidents, like forest fires or floods, or in case a small regional hospital can’t take patients.” [View article]

Data Mining Maps Terrorism Info (Silicon.com) British “law enforcers are picking apart terrorist gangs and criminal networks using the brute power of computing,” reports Silicon.com. “Mountains of news, intelligence and crime reports are being moulded into detailed maps of underground organisations within minutes, using data mining.” [View article]

Customs Drone Aids in Hurricane Damage Assessment (NextGov) Last week “the Customs and Border Protection bureau used [Predator] drones to collect video of damage caused by Hurricane Gustav”—“the first time the bureau used the Predator in response to a natural disaster,” reports NextGov. “… The bureau provided real-time streaming aerial video of damaged levees, roads, bridges and oil terminals over a secure Internet feed to 1,200 personnel from multiple federal agencies who worked” in Baton Rouge, LA, “at the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s joint field office.” [View article]

Army SUVs Assist FEMA in Hurricane Response (NextGov) Ten emergency response vehicles loaded with communications gear and used by Army North in working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency provide “access to the Defense Department’s classified and unclassified networks, commercial cellular networks, and first responder radio networks,” reports NextGov. [View article]

1918 Flu Epidemic Discoveries Help with Bird Flu Research (Yahoo! News; MSNBC) “Nearly a century after history’s most lethal flu faded away, survivors’ bloodstreams still carry super-potent protection against the 1918 virus, demonstrating the remarkable durability of the human immune system,” reports the Associated Press. “Scientists tested the blood of 32 people aged 92 to 102 who were exposed to the 1918 pandemic flu and found antibodies that still roam the body looking to strangle the old flu strain. Researchers manipulated those antibodies into a vaccine and found that it kept alive all the mice they had injected with the killer flu, according to a study published online [August 17] in the journal Nature.” Another discovery was that “bacterial pneumonia may have killed most people during the 1918 flu pandemic, and antibiotics may be as crucial as flu drugs to fight any new pandemic, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday,” according to Reuters. “Samples of lung tissue taken from soldiers who died in the pandemic, the worst of the 20th century, showed evidence of damage both by the flu virus and by pneumonia-causing bacteria. Such so-called co-infections also cause many influenza-related deaths today.” [View AP article] [View Reuters article]

Grant Funds Massive Data Analysis and Visual Analytics The Georgia Institute of Technology has received a $3 million five-year grant from the National Science Foundation and the Homeland Security Department to lead and coordinate an initiative that will develop foundational research in massive data analysis and visual analytics. This emerging research field helps sift through mountains of information—generated in health care, computational biology, homeland security and other areas—to find and put together individual pieces of a picture. [View press release]

Navy Civil Affairs Teams Aid Long-Term Humanitarian Projects (DefenseLink) “The Navy’s budding civil affairs force will help sustain U.S. military humanitarian efforts in developing countries,” reports American Forces Press Service. “… Many past humanitarian missions were completed with little thought to how the country would maintain the project.” So with help from the Army, the Navy created a course that “familiarizes sailors with the 16 functional areas that form the basis of civil affairs work. Sailors also receive training in foreign languages and port assessment, and they complete a month-long expeditionary combat skills course.” The civil affairs force will “provide strategy and planning for humanitarian projects and … advise combatant commanders and Navy component commanders.” [View article]

Cellphone Alert System Protects Alabama Social Workers (Government Computer News) “The Alabama Department of Human Resources has launched a pilot project” outfitting “social workers sent into the field with cell phones that can track their location and send alerts if they stay longer than expected,” reports Government Computer News. Concern was raised by a social worker’s abduction in Tennessee. “If the worker arrives at an appointment and doesn’t leave within two hours, an automatic alert will be sent to supervisors. A supervisor will try to call the worker, and if the worker doesn’t respond, emergency personnel will be dispatched.” [View article]

New York City Wireless Network Connects Agencies (New York Times) New York City’s “new $500 million high-speed wireless secure data network … known as Nycwin, was built by Northrop Grumman and by summer’s end will include about 400 cellular antennas covering 95 percent of the city,” reports the New York Times. City agencies will “use network-connected hand-held devices and tablet computers to increase efficiency and flexibility: Soon, police officers will be able to view photographs of suspects from their cars, fire chiefs will be able to watch live video of fires taken from traffic helicopters above, and housing inspectors will be capable of looking up building plans while on location.… The need for a shared and secure network has been a priority since at least Sept. 11, 2001, when police and fire officials could not communicate at the World Trade Center because their radios operated on different frequencies. Though Nycwin does not yet handle voice calls, it sends data about 50 times faster than the networks now used by emergency workers and lets all city departments share information more easily.” [View article]

Weather Forecasting Could Help Fight Disease (Yahoo! News) As “disasters draw attention to weather hazards, which many fear could be exacerbated by climate change, scientists are working to be able to better predict health dangers as they forecast the weather,” reports the Associated Press. “… forecasts of the Pacific Ocean phenomenon known as El Nino … might also be used to forecast cholera.… changes in vegetation and moisture can help forecast outbreaks of malaria … an outbreak of anaphylactic shock in Alaska” was traced “to stings from a type of bee that … had moved north as the climate became milder and wetter.” But “researchers must also use information on population changes, transportation, migration, epidemiology and social and behavioral factors.” [View article]

London Police Use Airport-Type Scanners to Find Knives (International Herald Tribune) “A surge in violent knife crimes prompted London police to introduce a new program Thursday that will rely on mobile, airport-style scanners and hand-held metal detectors for use against people suspected of carrying concealed weapons,” reports the Associated Press. [View article]

Drug Protects Mice and Monkeys Against Radiation (Reuters) “An experimental drug help[s] protect mice and monkeys from the damaging effects of radiation … in a finding that may lead to less toxic cancer treatments or an emergency treatment for radiation exposure,” reports Reuters. “… the drug protect[s] animals’ bone marrow and cells in the gut from being destroyed by radiation without interfering with radiation therapy’s ability to fight cancer.” [View article]

ASA Electronics Donates Camera System to Air Force (Metro Magazine) “Elkhart, Ind.-based ASA Electronics donated its Voyager Observation/Back-up Camera system to the U.S. Air Force to aid its Iraq-based Weapons Intelligence Team,” reports Metro Magazine. “The system, complete with a heavy-duty [liquid crystal display] monitor, backup camera and accompanying cables, will be utilized to increase visibility and safety while backing up and maneuvering the Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicle used in the field.” The system is commonly used on buses, trucks, and other large motor vehicles. [View article]

Blimp Provides Backup Communications in Alabama Disaster Response Test (Government Computer News) “In Alabama, as part of a wider state homeland security response exercise, state and federal officials have been testing blimps to provide a backup infrastructure when normal telecom infrastructure services collapse,” reports Government Computer News. “… officials from several agencies lofted a 70-foot-long aerostat equipped with a camera and Wi-Fi transmitter to an altitude of 3,000 feet.… The airship project supports two missions: providing high-resolution imagery to ground installations and restoring communications to areas where natural or man-made disasters have disabled existing telecom facilities.” [View article]

Ezenia Looks to Commercial Sales of InfoWorkSpace (Manchester, NH, Union Leader) “Ezenia is positioning itself to move beyond” the homeland security and defense markets “into other public agencies and the private sector,” reports the Union Leader. “… Ezenia’s primary product is called InfoWorkSpace. The software allows companies to collaborate and communicate over a secure network, including audio and video capabilities. When the military went into Iraq in 2003, InfoWorkSpace went with it.” [View article]

DARPA Prosthetics Pique Widespread Interest (DefenseLink) The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Revolutionizing Prosthetics 2007 program has sponsored “researchers at DEKA Research and Development Corp. in Manchester, N.H.,” who created “a ‘strap-and-go-arm’ that users activate with the flick of a switch,” reports American Forces Press Service. “… volunteers in the test program reported strong acceptance … they can cycle through five different gripping actions to match the task at hand … The Department of Veterans Affairs, National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration have all shown interest in the program and are expected to join forces with the Defense Department in the months ahead to move it forward.” [View article]

San Diego TV and Radio Station Became Center for Wildfire Response (Global Guerillas) KPBS, a small public TV and radio station in San Diego, “used creativity and some Web technologies (Google maps and Twitter) to become the” center of community response to last year’s wildfires, writes Global Guerilla John Robb. He cites a two-part series by blogger Robert Paterson describing KBPS’s “use of technology” and “changes in the station’s culture that allowed [it] to respond effectively.” [View article] [View Paterson blog]

Japan Will Use Cell Phone Technology for Earthquake Response (Tokyo Asahi Shimbun) “The Tokyo metropolitan government said it will spend 1 billion yen to create Japan’s first emergency information integration system using mobile phone technology,” reports Asahi Shimbun. “Under the planned system, to be put into operation by the end of fiscal 2010, firefighters and municipal government officials in charge of disaster countermeasures will carry special mobile phones containing software that can send pictures and damage assessments from stricken areas … The images and information will reach the disaster countermeasures headquarters within seconds and be displayed on a screen 16 meters wide and 3 meters high.” [View article]

Chinese Satellite Will Monitor Disasters (China View) “China will expand the use of its Cbers-2B satellite to gather more information on land, forests and farmland to help itself and more countries to deal with natural disasters,” reports the Xinhua News Agency. “… The high-definition Earth-observing satellite with a designed lifespan of two years, was first designed to gather resources data and send images to China, Brazil and other countries, for use in agricultural production, environmental protection, city planning and land resources.” It was launched September 19 and became fully operational January 24. [View article]

Cell Phone Sensors Detect Radiation Researchers at Purdue University are working with the state of Indiana to develop a system that would use a network of cell phones to detect and track radiation to help prevent terrorist attacks with radiological “dirty bombs” and nuclear weapons. Such a system could blanket the nation with millions of cell phones equipped with radiation sensors able to detect even light residues of radioactive material. Because cell phones already contain global positioning locators, the network of phones would serve as a tracking system. [View press release]

Los Angeles Police Test Multilingual Announcement System (Los Angeles Times) The Phraselator “enables officers to translate and broadcast thousands of prerecorded phrases in a multitude of languages,” reports the Los Angeles Times. There are “224 languages spoken in the immigrant-rich city.… The Phraselator doesn’t attempt voice-to-voice translation. Instead, the LAPD’s bilingual officers—32% of the 9,600-member force has some foreign language proficiency—translate and load standard police commands and questions into the device’s computer memory. The translations can be retrieved and broadcast by a simple English-language text or voice word search.” [View article]

Horizons-2 Satellite Boosts U.S. Coast Security (United Press International) “Intelsat has launched a new Horizons-2 satellite to aid U.S. East Coast homeland security operations …” reports UPI. “‘Through a specialized capability, the satellite will support a number of comms-on-the-move applications for government customers. Its unique boomerang beam will support littoral water operations off the U.S. eastern seaboard for homeland security, ship-to-shore communications and cargo tracking,’ Intelsat said.” [View article]

Homeland Security Institute
Weekly Homeland Security Newsletter

Send Questions and Comments to
Editor-in-Chief
Alan Capps

Copyright 2008. The Weekly Homeland Security Newsletter, Analytic Services Inc. All rights reserved.

Assistant Editors: Noëlle MacKenzie and Steve Dunham


View Analytic Services Inc. DMCA Copyright Notice

In accordance with Title 17 (USC), Section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment and is intended for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.

PRIVACY POLICY
Analytic Services Inc. does not share, publish, or in any way redistribute subscriber email addresses or any other personal information. Content provided in the Weekly Homeland Security Newsletter does not reflect the viewpoint(s) of Analytic Services Inc.