Security vehicle links first responders with state, feds.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: InfraLynx, military truck - Brief Article

A Hummer truck equipped with state-of-the-art communications technology served as a command and control hub for U.S. government agencies responsible for security operations at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Although many vehicles in the marketplace today advertise high-tech communications features, this particular truck is touted as the only one that "integrates" all the technologies needed for local first-responders to remain connected to state and federal agencies when the conventional communications infrastructure is destroyed in a terrorist attack.

The vehicle, called the InfraLynx, was designed by engineers at the Naval Research Laboratory, in Washington, D.C. There are currently only two InfraLynx trucks, but NRL expects to receive funding from federal agencies to build up to 12 vehicles, said C. Chris Herndon, head of the tactical technology development office at NRL.

The truck has a rigid shelter, with a satellite dish mounted on top. The idea is to be able to "land the satellite signal right into the hot zone," Herndon said.

"We can provide 96 phone lines, multiple simultaneous cellular calls, radio channels from high-frequency (2 Mhz) through 800 Mhz," he said. "We typically put one radio operator in the vehicle and the first responders in tents or temporary shelters."

Multiple vehicles can be linked to expand the capacity, he added. The main satellite link supplies global coverage. Radio communications are limited by the line of sight--approximately five to 10 miles around the vehicle, depending on the frequency. "First responders can have telephone, fax, land mobile radios, within 100 feet [of the scene], as opposed to blocks or miles away, as it's done today," said Herndon. There is also a video-teleconferencing system.

The InfraLynx program was kicked off after September 11, he said. Its original purpose was to provide a communications unit so police, firefighters, medical technicians and other authorities--which typically talk on multiple radio frequencies--could have a consolidated command and control center. According to NRL briefing charts, six vehicles would cost about $10 million.

The funds for the first two vehicles came from a supplemental appropriation Congress approved for Defense Department antiterrorism programs.

Herndon recognized that many companies today are offering similar "homeland security" vehicles. "We don't want to look like we are competing with industry," he said. In his opinion, the NRL...