Abstract: An emergency system for a vehicle integrates many disparate equipment into single housing. In one embodiment of the invention, the emergency system is a light bar. The light bar houses various modules for monitoring and responding to events. Example modules include license plate recognition systems and chemical agent detection sensors. The light bar also houses at least one transceiver for wirelessly connecting the light bar to a wide area network, allowing the modules in the light bar to communicate data to and from a remote site. A data terminal in the vehicle is connected to the light bar and receives and displays data to the vehicle operate generated by the modules in the light bar and also from data received over the network.

Abstract: Embodiments of the invention provide a networked system and management console for visualizing, identifying, and handling municipal or other regional events of interest as they arise. The management console is communicably linked via a wide area wireless network and/or other network or communications facilities to a number of data sources (e.g., contamination sensors) and management resources (e.g., alarms, traffic control devices, etc.). The management console provides, in embodiments of the invention, a simple and clear picture of the current health of a monitored area, such as a municipality, being, and provides an interface for responding to incoming data.

Abstract: A communications infrastructure is upgraded to a public safety network that supports wireless communications of emergency information. Communities have installed public safety communications systems such as community warning siren systems that rely on point-to-point communications systems. Each site in the system is upgraded to a node in a wireless network that provides the communications infrastructure for a network-enabled public safety communications system that enables trusted resources such as warning sirens to access the network and communicate with other trusted resources across the network. Additionally, the public safety network may be patched using mobile transceivers to form an ad hoc network in the event part of the infrastructure supporting the emergency response network is lost. Additionally, the upgrading of the communications system may include a public access network that relies on at least some of the same communications sites or nodes employed by the public safety network.

Abstract: A communications system for one or more of a community's public safety resources is upgraded to include a public safety network. Assets owned by one of the public safety resources may be controlled over the network from a remote command center that compiles information from the network-enabled resources in the community to enhance the ability of the assets to effectively deployed in an emergency situation. The upgraded communications system at the public safety resources also enables trusted resources, such as the assets owned by the public safety resources, to access the network and communicate with additional trusted resources throughout the community. Additionally, the public safety network may be extended using mobile transceivers to form an ad hoc network in the event part of the infrastructure supporting the network is lost.

Abstract: A networked system of addressable alarms notifies citizens of conditions within a community, A control center is communicably linked via the network to alarm devices such as smoke detectors in controlled environments such as buildings in order to alert citizens of conditions outside of the controlled environment, which may be situations requiring an emergency response. The alarm devices may also be capable of sending local status information (e.g., fire alarms, security alarms, etc.) to the control center so that the control center can respond as necessary to any local emergencies.

Abstract: An emergency system for a vehicle integrates many disparate equipment into single housing. In one embodiment of the invention, the emergency system is a light bar. The light bar houses various modules for monitoring and responding to events. Example modules include license plate recognition systems and chemical agent detection sensors. The light bar also houses at least one transceiver for wirelessly connecting the light bar to a wide area network, allowing the modules in the light bar to communicate data to and from a remote site. A data terminal in the vehicle is connected to the light bar and receives and displays data to the vehicle operate generated by the modules in the light bar and also from data received over the network.

Abstract: Embodiments of the invention provide a networked system and management console for visualizing, identifying, and handling municipal or other regional events of interest as they arise. The management console is communicably linked via a wide area wireless network and/or other network or communications facilities to a number of data sources (e.g., contamination sensors) and management resources (e.g., alarms, traffic control devices, etc.). The management console provides, in embodiments of the invention, a simple and clear picture of the current health of a monitored area, such as a municipality, being, and provides an interface for responding to incoming data.

Abstract: A lighting system and method for broadcasting colored lights as emergency warning signals from a light source. A centralized continuous light source is coupled via a fiber optic transmission medium to an external display location such as a lens or the like located on a vehicle. The color and the relative intensity of each color is periodically modulated to alternate between at least two states such that the contrast between these alternating states is perceived by observers to be a flashing source of light with no off-time. The frequency and the duty cycle of the repetition rate of alternating between the states may be further controlled to better draw attention to the light source.

Abstract: A warning system for alerting a person to an emergency situation which includes a transmitter responsive to a visual or acoustic alerting system for transmitting an alarm signal on an RF carrier and a control signal on a sideband of the carrier. A tuneable receiver for receiving commercial broadcasts in a normal operating mode transfers to an emergency mode upon detection of the control signal and converts the alarm signal to an acoustic signal. In one embodiment, the visual or acoustic alerting system is a siren and light system of an emergency vehicle. In this embodiment, a transceiver is preferably included for dedicated communications among emergency vehicles. The range of both the transmitter and transceiver complement and are substantially the same as the effective range of the visual or acoustic alerting system.