DHS S&T National Conversation Open Ideation Forum

The emergence and adoption of wearable and embedded technologies has the potential to produce widespread and deep impacts on society in the U.S. and across the globe. These changes are not set to begin in a distant, science fiction-inspired future. Their impact has already influenced the way some people interact with one another, interact with their environment, and protect their health. The last 10 to 15 years alone... more »

A Unified and Adaptive Emergency Response requires good solid technology, which has been implemented for the operation. Everyone has a different system and always will. Communicating data is always going to be a challenge, especially from the field as decision makers, at all levels, need quality ground truth information to make good decisions. See Hierarchical Distributed Decision Making (HDDM) for emergency response... more »

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What happens if all the Root DNS servers get compromised? How is anyone going to know that any particular site is legitimate - including those in charge? Everything is done by URL now these days. Between IP6 addressing and not knowing what IP belongs to which address, I can't tell if anything is the real McCoy.

What type of biometric fabrics and sensors can be integrated with responder uniforms and personal protective equipment in order to track and communicate responder health?

- What will the technology achieve?

- How can health data be transmitted among responders? Between responders and dispatch? Between responders and incident command?

- What environmental factors (temperature, moisture, etc.) do devices need to be able... more »

A reserve corps of citizens' animals (pets) that can be trained to perform certain tasks when needed or continuously as in monitoring for certain chemical agents or drugs. Examples: Animals equipped with wearable electronics to search for victims of a building collapse or lost children; trained to alert to drug activity or bomb making materials. Alerts, audio, and geo-locating information would be transmitted automatically... more »

Crowdfunding has become one of the great enabling platforms of our generation. Much like the internet it should be thought of more as a platform or an ecosystem, that allows for others to build on top of. Communities like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo may have started off as places for products to be funded, but now they are place for ideas to come to life. I believe DHS S&T needs to get ahead of the curve and tap into this.... more »

Mobile Robotic Perimeter/Border Weapon
Eagle System, the simplest way to move materials from one point to another. Suspend a cable in the air, attach it at both ends and put my machine on it, remote control or automated, climbs a 20% slope. Cable is energized with DC power.
My machine Eagle System runs on a single cable, can make turns, and travel from tower to tower to tower for long distance. Eagle can be weaponized.... more »

Coastal Acoustic Sensors which would alert agents regarding illicit activity at or near the international boundary. The primary objective of this project would be to develop, test, and deploy a maritime coastal oriented acoustic monitoring system (MCOAMS). This system would listen for specific vessel traffic which could be involved in cross border illicit activity. In addition, this system could be linked to the current... more »

When Katrina struck I remember the images of survivors waving from their rooftops tops during the day and I got to thinking what do they do at night? Then it struck me, use the night to work reverse cycle. Basically let's improve how the 12 of the 24 hours that are dark, are utilized. With new technologies like drones & smart phones we can do much better than SOS which was first recognized in 1905. SOS only tells you... more »

Conducting/supporting a study that compares all currently available triage tagging tools (different styles of paper tags, triage ribbon, reflective slap wrap wrist bands, colored clothes pins, chemical lights, single colored chemlight alternatives, triage lights and paper tags with RFID) in daytime, nighttime and adverse condition scenarios. There are several studies that compare triage methods but I have found only one... more »

Over the last few years several National ESF-9 Nighttime Trainings have utilized color coded illuminated markers to identify location and responsibilities of responders. Here is a link to a letter from one of the trainers stating it contributes to overall situational awareness & security, http://triagelights.com/pdf/providing-a-form-of-security.pdf .

During the most recent exercise teams were broken down into the red... more »

Would the recognition & adoption of a standardized national illuminated color coded system for triaging MCI patients 24/7 contribute towards a patients "Golden Hour" and a responders overall safety & performance? Today different States & organizations use different triage cards and tapes for triaging patients. The one thing they all have in common is not the language or format of the triage cards but it is the color given... more »

Installation of a mechanical/electronic device to twart and capture a person from entering the institution for the purpose of causing harm or mass destruction.

Responders of the future are likely to have similar needs to responders today - the ability to communicate with each other across agencies (interoperability), knowledge of their surroundings and assets available to them (situational awareness), availability when needed of basic tools like chainsaws. Ten years after Katrina, these basic capabilities are still far from ubiquitous.

Drone and sensor technology could be an amazing boost to emergency response capacity - from high altitude phone repeater and mobile emergency broadcast antenna to infrared debris search agent, helping to locate trapped casualties. Another way to re-purpose early generation military equipment, and also employ former members of the military in a vitally important support role.