Wildfire fighter with goTenna Pro and Pro App
Resource Center

Wildfires are proving to be more deadly and destructive than ever, making real-time situational awareness and communications increasingly critical for wildland fire crews. Recent federal legislation passed in the United States even requires new location tracking technology to improve individual firefighters’ safety on the fire line — but what happens

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U.S.S. Comfort sailing in front of Statue of Liberty
Emergency Response

In 2014, I was serving as the Senior Strategic Homeland Security Planner for the Brazos Valley Region in East Texas, and tasked with coordinating the Ebola response in the 7,320-square-miles surrounding the Bryan-College Station metropolitan area. Acting as a federal liaison between hospitals, public safety, and state government officials, many

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Field hospital
Emergency Response

The global COVID-19 pandemic has left many state and local governments, hospitals and first responders scrambling to find the medical equipment, hospital beds and resources they need to keep up with the incredible influx of sick patients. With so many new cases and hospitalizations, these organizations are turning to temporary

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ATAK operator near border
Emergency Response

In my last article on The Last Mile, I looked at the unique communications challenges that exist at the northern border between the U.S. and Canada, which is increasingly important right now with the border closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. But it’s not the only border in need of

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Image of mountain range in canada
Emergency Response

Earlier this month, in an attempt to slow the spread of the COVID-19, the United States and Canada took the unprecedented step of shutting down the border between the two countries. While this sounds like a reasonable and rational step towards stemming the spread of a disease that has —

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Hardware Engineer Lead Raphael Abrams
Military

For this month’s spotlight, we interviewed Raphael Abrams, the lead of hardware engineering at goTenna. As the company’s first employee, he developed goTenna’s two generations of consumer hardware  and has since led the transition to their tactical-grade goTenna Pro line.  Today also happens to be the one year anniversary since

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Capitol Building
Emergency Response

As government agencies across the United States respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, there are several new and existing sources of funding to support these rapidly evolving, multi-agency efforts where communications will undoubtedly play a key role.  Earlier this week, the Senate passed a new emergency funding package totaling $340 billion,

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JTAC soldier in field
Military

Having served in the United States Air Force as a Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC), I understand the importance of situational awareness for conventional and special operations forces missions. During my twenty years of service, I contributed to countless missions in austere environments attached to U.S. and coalition ground forces,

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police officers with smart phones
Law Enforcement

Public safety agencies and organizations across the globe are becoming increasingly smartphone-centric. In a recent webinar hosted by the International Public Safety Association, panelist Dale Stockton said, “When you consider the sheer utility and overall functionality, [smartphones] have become the tech equivalent of the proverbial Swiss Army knife.”  It’s this

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water rescue from helicopter
Resource Center

Mobile devices and applications are increasingly critical to day-to-day public safety operations, but many organizations are unprepared in the event cell phone connectivity — and access to these new tools — becomes unreliable or unavailable. New advancements in mobile and wireless communications are now allowing emergency response and recovery teams

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