Later this week, goTenna will be joining an incredible list of respected technology companies and partners as sponsors for the 2023 TAKathon Public Sector event. This three-day, action-packed event will bring together senior leaders from the U.S. military, law enforcement organizations, public safety and emergency response organizations, and leading technology solution providers to discuss the communications and situational awareness requirements of public safety tactical operators, and how they can best leverage the TAK application to meet their needs.

The timing of this TAKathon simply couldn’t be better. As many on the east coast that have been dealing with intense haze and unhealthy air can attest, the frequency, ferocity, and severity of natural disasters have only increased in the past few years.

Today, we’re experiencing massive wildfires that cause billions of dollars in damage. We’re witnessing “hundred-year” storms make landfall every year. And we’re increasingly seeing public safety incidents that require coordinated responses from the military, federal law enforcement, state and municipal law enforcement, and other governmental organizations – from mass shootings to politically-motivated bombings.

TAK plays a foundational role in the collaborative, organized response efforts of disparate government organizations. This “off-the-shelf” solution developed by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) provides tactical operators with a way to share information, visualize data, communicate, and gain essential situational awareness in any situation or environment.

TAK plays a foundational role in the collaborative, organized response efforts of disparate government organizations. This “off-the-shelf” solution developed by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) provides tactical operators with a way to share information, visualize data, communicate, and gain essential situational awareness in any situation or environment. Also, its open source nature makes it possible for trusted application developers to create new, powerful capabilities that deliver new features and functionality to the TAK application. This ensures that TAK’s usefulness for users is constantly increasing and evolving.

Events like this week’s TAKathon are important for identifying the new capabilities and functionalities that tactical operators would like to see added to the TAK solution. They’re also essential for sharing best practices and identifying the most effective ways for military and public safety organizations to leverage TAK in their operations.

goTenna is excited to be a sponsor in this week’s TAKathon, and anticipate that there are three very specific challenges that we’ll hear discussed by the TAK users in attendance. These include:

Interoperability in operations
In many large public safety scenarios – including emergency and disaster response – multiple government agencies and organizations are often involved. This can include DoD security forces, federal government agencies, and federal, state, and local law enforcement organizations.

While TAK is a tremendous tool for tactical operators, it’s only effective if those operators are connected. This is why mobile mesh networking combined with the TAK application is such an essential tool for public safety.

Many of these scenarios can be chaotic, and an effective response requires that all first responders and tactical operators work from a single source of truth and can communicate. Without effective communication, the lives of tactical operators can be in just as much jeopardy as the people they’re working to save. And, without a common operating picture, decision-makers are effectively creating strategies and assigning resources with little information or insight into what the situation requires.

Utilizing applications, such as TAK, is an effective way to ensure that all tactical operators on the scene can communicate and work from the same source of truth. The application’s ability to work on practically any mobile device ensures that every tactical operator on the scene can access it – regardless of which organization they work with.

However, the application is only useful if network connectivity is available. This brings us to the next two challenges we expect to hear discussed at the TAKathon…

Connectivity everywhere…
TAK is a capable solution that can deliver incredible communications and situational awareness capabilities to users – but only if they can connect to each other. Unfortunately, many of the operations that are being conducted by military, law enforcement, and public safety tactical operators happen in locations that simply don’t have connectivity from terrestrial networks.

Whether it’s the harsh regions around America’s northern or southern border, or the middle of one of America’s majestic National Parks or National Forests, there are significant swaths of land that simply do not have coverage from cellular networks. In these locations, the use of the TAK application could help keep public safety tactical operators safe and connected, but the lack of connectivity undercuts its usefulness.

Events like this week’s TAKathon are important for identifying the new capabilities and functionalities that tactical operators would like to see added to the TAK solution. They’re also essential for sharing best practices and identifying the most effective ways for military and public safety organizations to leverage TAK in their operations.

There are a number of exciting use cases for TAK in off-grid environments if connectivity can be enabled. But austere, remote geographic locations aren’t the only locations and scenarios where connectivity may be unavailable to tactical operators.

Connectivity every time…
Many of the same natural disasters and emergencies that create a need for a coordinated government response also have the terrible side effect of destroying terrestrial network infrastructure. From wildfires to hurricanes, any disaster that can cause billions in damage to homes and businesses will invariably be capable of destroying cell towers and utility lines.

We’ve also witnessed large special events – such as the Super Bowl – causing connectivity issues simply by overloading networks. The presence of thousands of spectators all using digital services taxes existing network infrastructure. This can leave the organizations responsible for providing security services without the tools they need to communicate and coordinate efforts.

While TAK is a tremendous tool for tactical operators, it’s only effective if those operators are connected. This is why mobile mesh networking combined with the TAK application is such an essential tool for public safety. By leveraging mobile mesh networking in conjunction with TAK, tactical operators can create an ad hoc network that will work even when terrestrial networks are unavailable, denied, or degraded. This means that the benefits of TAK can be available to all tactical operators regardless of which organization they work for, what conditions they’re operating in, or their location.

To learn more about this week’s TAKathon click HERE. Also, be sure to check back for our recap of the event.