Georgia Tech Applied Research wins DHS contract to upgrade public safety information network

Georgia Tech Applied Research Center (GTARC) received a $704,000 research and development contract from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) to help improve the public safety community’s information sharing and safeguarding (IS&S) framework.

The GTARC project will address the need for mature software tools to support emergency communications interoperability. GTARC will upgrade the framework’s Federated Identity, Credential and Access Management (Federal ICAM) capability. This would help advance public safety IS&S communications across agency boundaries.

GTARC previously designed and built the existing framework that provides standards, artifacts, software tools, and methodologies for the IS&S.

“There are tens of thousands of emergency response entities in the public safety community. This project aims to significantly enhance the ability of multiple agencies responding to an emergency to share information securely and communicate effectively,” Vincent Sritapan, S&T Program Manager, said. “This R&D project, part of the S&T Mobile Security R&D Program’s new emergency communications project area, supports the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which ensures federal, state, local, tribal and territorial agencies have the necessary plans, resources, and training to support operable and advanced interoperable emergency communications.”

Robert Dew, senior technologist advisor for CISA, said this project will make the public safety agencies stronger and better able to communicate and coordinate with each other while managing emergencies.

“Trusted communications between multiple public safety agencies that respond to an emergency scene is essential to ensure a coordinated response that maximizes their abilities to quickly and efficiently contain the situation and minimize loss of life and property damage,” Dew said.