CISA to pilot new tech to advance emergency communications
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) announced it will pilot a new technology in support of the Next Generation Network Priority Service (NGN-PS) Phase 2 program, which provides first responders and emergency managers with priority voice, data, and video communications during emergencies and widespread outages. This pilot is part of CISA’s ongoing development of priority services for voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)-based networks. The pilot uses a technology known as Comm³, which employs multimodal mesh network technology to breakdown barriers to connectivity between different platforms and protocols.
CISA will use Comm³, which is managed by Crius Technology Group, to demonstrate how national security and emergency preparedness (NS/EP) communications signals can be routed to the electric grid as an alternative communications pathway in a way that prioritizes first responder traffic over all other traffic, utilizing the electrical power infrastructure as a backup to existing communications infrastructure.