Natural disasters uncover ongoing emergency communications problems.

• Author: Insinna, Valerie
• Position: Communications

Recent natural disasters such as Hurricane Sandy and the Washington, D.C., metro--area derecho revealed vulnerabilities in first responder communication networks and equipment.

Sandy knocked out wireless phone services in major metropolitan areas. As many as 25 percent of people in affected locations lost cell phone service. Agencies in different jurisdictions have long sought interoperable radios, but Sandy showed what happens when the infrastructure those agencies rely on is destroyed.

Ten years ago, the situation was even worse. First responders struggled with inoperable devices and a lack of interagency communication during the Sept. 11 attacks and Hurricane Katrina in 2005, prompting the Department of Homeland Security to develop a National Emergency Communications Plan that established a minimum level of interoperability.

Although there have been improvements since then, emergency communications remain challenged by commercial outages that sometimes leave the public without a way to call 911.

Satellite company executives said they are eager to step up and offer their products as an alternative to terrestrial wireless networks and cell towers. They contend that such services would give existing infrastructure added resiliency.

"In the federal world, I find so many agencies feel they have solved the problem by ordering a circuit from Carrier A and then a circuit from Carrier B," said Tony Bardo, assistant vice president of government markets for Hughes Network Systems, a satellite service provider. But "Carrier A [and] Carrier B [are located] right next to each other. Completely vulnerable. ... You have no [real] diversity. You have vendor diversity."

First responders, however, point out that satellite services are prohibitively expensive and have more rigid service plans.

Massachusetts Task Force 1 's urban search and rescue team uses an assortment of satellite technology, but maintaining a relationship with vendors is key, said Chad Council, a technical information specialist with the task force. "If you need somebody to increase your bandwidth at 3 o'clock in the morning, you need to have a phone number that you can call and know that someone is going to be on the other end of that."

Because no single system is glitch proof, its important to have a layered approach. Each 80-person team in the force breaks into smaller squads to conduct operations, which creates fractured communications requirements, Council said. Though the teams...