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Panel Discussion Command, Control and InteroperabilityScience and Technology Directorate November 6, 2007

Disaster Management

Communicating with Standards Office for Interoperability and Compatibility

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Agenda

• A panel discussion on the value, implementing and role of local, tribal, state and federal groups in the standards process

• A live demonstration of the Emergency Data Exchange Language (EDXL) Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) and Distribution Element (DE)

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The Panelists• MODERATOR

– David Lamensdorf, Chairman, Emergency Interoperability Consortium (EIC)

• PANELISTS– Denis Gusty, Director, Office for Interoperability and

Compatibility, Department of Homeland Security– Elysa Jones, Chair, OASIS Emergency Management

Technical Committee – Xenophon (Yo) Gikas, Captain, City of Los Angeles Fire

Department– Donna Roy, Director, Enterprise Data Management Office

and National Information Exchange Model (NIEM)) Executive, Department of Homeland Security

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OIC Background – Denis Gusty• Established the Office for Interoperability and Compatibility (OIC) in 2004.• Managed by the Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate, OIC is assisting in the

coordination of interoperability efforts.• Purpose to strengthen and integrate interoperability and compatibility efforts in order to

improve local, tribal, state, and Federal emergency preparedness and response. • OIC is committed to developing tools—methodologies, templates, models, and

educational materials—that effectively meet the critical needs of emergency responders in the field.

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Practitioner-Driven ApproachOIC advocates a unique Federal approach:

“Bottoms-up” approach

Practitioner-driven governance structures benefit from the critical input of the emergency response community

Local, tribal, state, and Federal policy makers and leaders

Input ensures that OIC resources are aligned with responders’ needs

Lowest

Highest

Us

ag

e

Pri

ori

ty

Lowest

Highest

Local Agency-Specific

Regional Inter-Agency &

Inter-Disciplinary

State and Federal

Creating the Emergency Data Exchange Language suite of standards

DM’s Practitioner Steering Group ensures that initiatives and tools effectively meet practitioners’ information sharing priorities and requirements.

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Emergency Interoperability Consortium

The EIC is made up of organizations that share the same goals for interoperable emergency communications. The Executive Committee leads the consortium which participates in educational and outreach activities to the public and federal communities on incident and emergency management issues.

David Lamensdorf ChairmanEmergency Interoperability Consortium

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EIC Role in Standards

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• The Consortium's primary objectives are to:

• Create a national approach for data interoperability through an public-private consortium

• Promote the development of Web services / XML data interoperability standards necessary to support the timely and accurate exchange of incident information throughout the Emergency Management community

• Ensure every responder has appropriate access to whatever information they require - when and how they need it

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National Information Exchange Model – Donna Roy

• NIEM is partnership of the U.S. Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security

• Purpose to develop, disseminate and support reusable enterprise-wide information exchange standards and processes for all levels of government

• NIEM defines data-exchange standards for information that is commonly shared across the broad justice, public safety, emergency and disaster management, intelligence, and homeland security enterprises

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NIEM• NIEM embraces collaboration with preexisting

standards• Reuse of standards allows organizations to

reduce the costs of developing information sharing capabilities

• Information Exchange Package Documentation (IEPD) provides all the technical resources to quickly develop and deploy interoperable standards

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Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards

• What is OASIS?– International Standards Body founded in 1993. – Not-for-profit consortium that drives the development, convergence

and adoption of open standards for the global information society.

• Standards are Free– There is no charge to use any of the Standards. All completed works

can be found at www.oasis-open.org.

• Standards are Open– The OASIS process allows input from any person or organization

during the public comment periods. All communication among the technical committees are open for the world to monitor and review during the standards development process.

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Emergency Management Technical Committee

• Charter– The mission of the EM-TC is to create incident and emergency-related

standards for data interoperability. • Current Standards

– Common Alerting Protocol (CAP), a simple message format encapsulating for all information needed for alert and notification

– Emergency Data Exchange Language Distribution Element (EDXL-DE), a content based header used for defining the routing assertions for the attached payload

• Standards in Development– EDXL Hospital Availability Exchange (HAVE)– EDXL Resource Messaging (RM)

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• Goals:

• Open Platform – Standards Based (CAP/EDXL)

• Internet Protocol – World Wide Connectivity

• Interoperable – Regional, Multi-Discipline, Common Operating Picture

Captain Xenophon (Yo) Gikas

Emergency Communications Los Angeles City Fire Department

LA Region Interoperability Project

Mission Statement:

DELIVER MISSION CRITICAL INFORAMTION TO EMERGENCY DECISION MAKERS

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LAFD Standards Based Projects

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Tactical Information Program (TIP)

• Regional Communication (Radio IP, EDXL & CAP)

• Police, Fire, EMS & Military using GIS/AVL/CAD

• Information Sharing, Common Operating Picture

Hazardous Materials Interoperability Project (HMIP)

• Wireless Interoperable Handheld Sensor Data Collection

• Data Sharing & Alert notification (CAP, DE & EDXL)

Area Wireless Reconnaissance & Evaluation (AWARE)

• Pre-Deployed Large Event/Venue CBRNE Detection

• Data Sharing & Alert notification (CAP, DE & EDXL)

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