FEMA
Demonstrating communications for Domestic Operations (DOMOPS) at Patriot 24
Every year, the Air National Guard holds its Patriot Exercise event. This training exercise brings together personnel from the Air National Guard, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and multiple local, state, and federal partners for a series of simulated scenarios designed to test their ability
The communication challenges faced by FEMA during natural disasters
Americans know the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for helping citizens respond to and recover from emergency situations and natural disasters. The agency has the incredibly essential job of helping Americans recover from things like wildfires, hurricanes, mass flooding, and other devastating occurrences that destroy property, lives, and communities. When
Empowering a more effective, proactive government with data
In today’s increasingly network-enabled, digitally-transformed government, one of the greatest resources that the government has at its disposal is data. As David Egts, the Chief Technologist for North America Public Sector at Red Hat recently explained in an interview, “It’s clear that data has the power to revolutionize the government.
Video | Decentralizing emergency communications networks
When we look back at recent wildfires, earthquakes, and other disasters, we remember the critical loss of cell sites, RF towers, connectivity to 911 dispatch centers, broadcast stations, and public alerting systems. We know that our centralized communications infrastructure is never invincible. So, how do we avoid these communications challenges
Top 5 takeaways from Craig Fugate’s keynote address at IWCE 2020
Last week’s IWCE 2020 conference featured 48 breakout sessions on everything from broadband to deployable networks, and even featured keynote speakers such as former FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate. In his keynote address, Fugate addressed hundreds of virtual attendees on an often overlooked area of critical communications — interoperability with disaster
Top off-grid communications sessions to attend at IWCE Virtual 2020
The International Wireless Communications Expo, also known as IWCE, is an annual conference that brings together professionals from the communications field to discuss critical issues ranging from 911 funding and modernization to spectrum management, interoperability, and more. This year, IWCE is going virtual with 48 online breakout sessions from August
Can mesh-enabled smartphones solve disaster response communications challenges in the COVID-19 era?
Former Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate recently published a whitepaper on disaster response communications in the COVID-19 era. During his career at FEMA, Fugate heralded the use of mobile technology and social media as more and more communities — and their first responders — relied on wireless cellular
Six DHS preparedness grants to help fund resilient communications equipment
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,