Patent ID: 7263379

Claim:
A communications network for emergency personnel, comprising: a base station configured to communicate bi-directionally with first and second personal communication systems (PCS) to be carried by respective first and second firefighters in a hazardous environment, wherein each of the first and second personal communication systems includes an onboard data gathering device and at least one wireless transceiver, the wireless transceivers of the first and second PCS being configured to communicate with one another over a peer to peer mesh network and to communicate with the base station over the peer to peer mesh network, the onboard data gathering device in the first PCS collecting PASS data from a PASS system carried by the first firefighter, the transceiver in the first PCS broadcasting the PASS data associated with the first firefighter over the peer to peer mesh network to the second PCS, the transceiver in the second PCS broadcasting the PASS data associated with the first firefighter to the base station.