ROADMAPPING: Deep Dives into Key 

Public Safety Communications 

Technology Areas 

1) Indoor Mapping, Pre-Incident Planning, and Data Policies

Facilitator: Joe Grasso, NIST PSCR

Pre-Incident Planning can lead to data products that could be considered sensitive (maps of critical 

infrastructure, images inside manufacturing facilities, etc.). Adoption of 3D mobile mapping 

technologies will lead to an increase in the amount of data being collected and the number of sites 

for which data is available. You are invited to help brainstorm challenges associated with developing 

and maintaining 3D indoor building maps and to share lessons learned based on current pre-incident 

planning processes. Join in a high-level discussion to identify opportunities available for the R&D 

community supporting public safety such as the development of new location-based services best 

practices, data policies, or 3D / indoor mapping technologies.

2) It’s Any O’clock...Do You Know Where Your First Responders Are?: A deep

dive into Location-Based Services (LBS) for public safety operations

Facilitator: Randy Kerr, First Responder Network Authority

This session focuses on the operational benefits of technologies that can locate first responders, in 

real time, when they are out of their vehicles. We will prioritize features these solutions could include 

to make them more desirable for public safety operations. 

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3) Transition of Land Mobile Radio to Broadband: Evaluating Mission

Critical Device-to-Device (D2D) and Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X)

Communications for Public Safety

Facilitators: Chunmei Liu, Yishen Sun, NIST PSCR

This session seeks to better understand stakeholder interest in research opportunities and mission 

critical communications applications supported by device-to-device (D2D) and Vehicle-to-Everything 

(V2X) networks. NIST PSCR Mission Critical Services (MCS) researchers will describe current research 

capabilities within the context of recent 3GPP activities supporting D2D and V2X broadband services 

for first responders. Participants are invited to provide feedback on recent MCS research projects to 

inform future planning and brainstorm new D2D and V2X communications capabilities within landmobile radio, long-term evolution, and NextG network environments that would provide the largest 

operational impact to public safety. 

4) What’s Stopping You?: A deep dive into current blockers and obstacles to

adopting mission critical push-to-talk (MCPTT) solutions

Facilitator: Jennifer Harder, First Responder Network Authority

This session gets to the heart of the next immediate additions, improvements, or changes needed in 

MCPTT solutions to make them adoptable by personnel in various roles across primary public safety 

disciplines, and extended primary entities, or those who have other public safety roles. We will 

prioritize features in these solutions to make them more desirable for public safety operations. 

5) Leveraging User Interface / User Experience Technology from an

Operational Perspective

Facilitator: Scott Ledgerwood, NIST PSCR

Communications tools used by first responders during an emergency response must be designed 

around their specific context, tasks, and operational constraints. Stakeholders are invited to 

brainstorm how low-burden user interface technologies, such as vocal interaction/engagement, could 

improve public safety’s use of advanced communications systems during a response. Help identify 

how first responders could effectively interact and obtain information from various data sources— 

through next-generation user interface technology—to increase situational awareness and response 

effectiveness while accounting for operational challenges inherent to future emergency scenarios. 

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6) Agency-Deployed Mobile Applications

Facilitator: Shawn Shahidi, First Responder Network Authority

This session will dive into how public safety agencies use mobile applications, both ones they choose 

from the ecosystem at large and those they choose to create or design in-house. We will discuss the 

decision process agencies use to select their mobile applications. 

7) What’s with Wearables for Public Safety?

Facilitator: Travis Hull, First Responder Network Authority

Explore the intersection of wearables and public safety as we delve into the potential benefits they 

bring. Gain valuable insights into the ways in which wearables can revolutionize public safety 

operations by optimizing the user experience and improving overall efficiency. Join this discussion to 

unlock new perspectives on leveraging wearable technologies for enhanced public safety outcomes. 

Don't miss this opportunity to be at the forefront of cutting-edge advancements in UI/UX and 

contribute to the evolution of public safety practices.

8) Security Impacts on Public Safety Operations

Facilitator: John Beltz, NIST PSCR

Security controls are necessary to protect sensitive public safety data but can sometimes be viewed as 

a hinderance to efficient operations. This discussion will focus on possible negative impacts of 

security controls and how to reduce those negative impacts or even provide positive impacts. This 

session will begin by defining several key concepts related to NIST PSCR’s recent research into 

Identify, Credential, and Authentication Management (ICAM) technologies such as mobile single signon, federation, multi-factor authentication, encryption, and Identity as a Service (IDaaS). After 

defining these concepts, participants will be asked to brainstorm technologies that public safety 

wants—but cannot use—due to security concerns. This will inform future portfolio planning. After 

identifying common security barriers to technology adoption, help us identify high-value security 

capabilities that would make the adoption of new communications technologies more convenient. 

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9) How can FirstNet Make it Easy for the Ecosystem to Innovate for Public 

Safety? 

Facilitator: Anu Appaji, First Responder Network Authority 

This session provides a comprehensive exploration of the key pain points faced by innovators during 

the development of solutions for the FirstNet. It offers a deep understanding of the challenges 

encountered throughout the process, allowing all participants to gain valuable insights into the 

experiences of these creative minds. Additionally, the session focuses on unraveling the critical pain 

points experienced by public safety decision makers, including IT professionals and leadership 

personnel, as they navigate the evaluation and adoption of FirstNet solutions. By gaining a thorough 

understanding of these challenges, participants can foster a collaborative environment and advance 

innovative solutions within the FirstNet ecosystem. Join this dynamic session to broaden your 

knowledge and contribute to the evolution of public safety communication technologies. 

10) Integrating Uncrewed Aircraft Systems into Tomorrow’s First 

Responder Toolbox 

Facilitator: Terese Manley, NIST PSCR 

Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) have the potential to supplement public safety operations under 

dangerous and life-threatening circumstances by increasing network coverage, capacity, and 

resilience; collecting situational awareness data; and enabling first responders to focus on highimpact operational tasks. This session will identify UAS applications that would increase the efficiency 

and effectiveness of public safety operations, and brainstorm how UAS technologies must evolve to 

integrate into future first responder communications systems. For example, first responders may 

operate with greater autonomy and reduced cognitive burdens by leveraging goggles rather than a 

handheld device to control uncrewed aircrafts, or by automating flight plans with methods such as 

machine learning to increase their ability to focus on the incident. Other possible use cases include 

taking vital health scans using a drone after locating the victim or locating missing persons using zaxis coordinates collected from multiple drones. This session will focus on exploring new UAS 

applications for public safety and identifying the technologies required to make these applications a 

reality. 

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11) FirstNet Coverage for Public Safety Incidents and Events: Adhoc 

Solutions for On-scene Coverage 

Facilitator: Chuck Murph, First Responder Network Authority 

Open to all, this session would focus on gathering public safety feedback regarding the use, 

capabilities, procedures, and effectiveness of utilizing a range of available FirstNet deployable assets. 

The session would also solicit public safety feedback on ideas to make FirstNet deployable assets 

better meet their mission requirements. 

12) Multi-Access Edge Computing and the Potential Impact on Public Safety 

Operations 

Facilitator: Arshad Syed, First Responder Network Authority 

Explore Multi-Access Edge Computing as a way to enhance and evolve communications for first 

responders in a 5G environment. The discussion will revolve around the public safety benefits of 

reduced communication latency, increased data processing, expanded access to IoT devices, and 

integrated applications. 

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