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Secure Networks
for First Responders and Special Forces
Public Safety
Originating Technology/ NASA Contribution
When NASA needed help better securing its communications
with orbiting satellites, the Agency called on Western
DataCom Co., Inc., to help develop a prototype Internet
Protocol (IP) router.
Westlake, Ohio-based Western DataCom designs, develops,
and manufactures hardware that secures voice, video,
and data transmissions over any IP-based network. The
technology that it jointly developed with NASA is now
serving as a communications solution in military and
first-response situations.
Partnership
In early 2000, Glenn Research Center approached
Western DataCom to develop the prototype IP router.
This was part of NASA’s “IP in Space” initiative, which
looked to employ commercial off-the-shelf products
to support reliable, fast, and secure communications
between NASA and its orbiting satellites. The company
signed a Space Act Agreement with Glenn and delivered
a prototype device that met the three requirements
set by the NASA research center, namely speed, security,
and reliability. The router employed advanced data-
compression techniques (to improve throughput and meet
the speed requirement) and encryption (to meet
the security requirement), and operated with commercial
protocols (to meet the reliability requirement).
Because of the work it had done for Glenn, Western
DataCom was approached by Cisco Systems, Inc., in 2001,
to participate in the development of an IP encryptor
for the Cisco Mobile Access Router (3200 Series), for
military use. According to Western DataCom, it offered
Cisco two distinct advantages: 1) Western DataCom had
leading encryption and compression technologies, from
working with NASA, as well as the National Security
Agency; and 2) Western DataCom code developers
possessed the military clearances needed to perform
the work required. Cisco created its “Advance Technology
Partner” classification and named Western DataCom the
first
of such partners. Cisco also joined Western DataCom
in working with Glenn to develop the reliable, fast,
and secure mobile router system for military and first-response
use.
The technology was not commercially available at the
time that the September 11 attacks took place, but
will prove invaluable to emergency and rescue personnel
in averting any potential future threats.
Product Outcome
In the hours and days after September 11, communications
between first responders and emergency-
management officials from Federal, state, and local
agencies were severely disrupted. New York City’s Emergency
Operations Center, designed to coordinate rescue efforts
in a major terrorist attack, was housed in the 47-story
“7 World Trade Center” building
and destroyed.
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This
van served as the mobile test bed when the
IP router technology was field-tested at Glenn
Research Center. |
The World Trade Center was a node of central communications
for all forms of voice and data traffic and was utilized
by business and private customers, as well as the city’s
first responder and emergency-management agencies.
Communications systems for the police and fire departments
were temporarily disabled as a result of the damage
caused by the collapsing of the building and senior
emergency-management officials were unable to contact
first responders in the early hours of the tragedy.
Because police and firefighters could not communicate
directly with each other, many firefighters within
striking distance of safety never received a police
warning on the impending collapse of the South Tower.
A report from the University of New Hampshire* concluded
that this lack of interoperability between the police
and fire communications systems were “at least, partially
responsible for the loss of 343 firefighters at the
World Trade Center.”
Much of New York City’s landline and cell phone infrastructure
was also damaged or destroyed during the attacks. Moreover,
the disaster generated so much communications traffic
in and around the city that the remaining intact landline,
cellular, and two-way pager systems became too congested
to be of use to first responders and emergency-management
personnel.
The experiences of September 11 have driven many organizations
and individuals to realize that new communications
systems are needed to secure our country and improve
our ability to respond to terrorist attacks. In addition,
the ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq have
broadened the need to provide a mobile, interoperable,
and secure communications system solution for the U.S.
military and first responder personnel, such as U.S.
Army National Guard, firefighters, police, and emergency
medical services (EMS).
In 2004, the secure mobile router system co-developed
by Western DataCom and NASA was successfully used by
the Army for an aerostat (balloon)-based radar, called
the Persistent Threat Detection System, in Operation
Iraqi Freedom. The system permits military technical
operations centers (TOCs) in Iraq to send secure, high-speed
voice, video, and data communications to the field
through tactically deployed mobile units. This was
the first use, during war, of technology enabling TOCs
and mobile units to send secure voice, video, and data
communications, according to Western DataCom.
First responders from Cook County, Illinois; the New
York Port Authority; and the New Jersey Port Authority
are currently utilizing the company’s secure system
in preparation for natural or man-made disasters. Also,
in 2004, Western DataCom developed a secure-
communications modem to be utilized primarily by first
responders for homeland defense operations. These products
were successfully deployed during the Republican National
Convention and the presidential inauguration.
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Western
DataCom Co., Inc.’s Executive Travel Case sets
up connections automatically to the Internet,
Secret Internet Protocol Router Networks (SIPRNETs),
and Non-secure Internet Protocol Router Networks
(NIPRNETs), for use by the U.S. Joint Forces
Command. |
Recently, Western DataCom received a $100,000 Glenn
Alliance for Technology Exchange (GATE) award from
Glenn and Battelle, an organization that helps bring
NASA technology to companies outside the traditional
aerospace industry. The award, in the form of $50,000
in cash and $50,000 in Glenn engineering time, will
be used to design a small personal computer encryptor
card for commercial markets. This card is anticipated
to act as a shield outside of a computer, protecting
its hard drive from outside “attacks,” such as worms
and viruses, as well as “middle-man” and “spoofing”
threats. (A “middle-man” is someone who unwittingly
spreads a virus by simply opening or forwarding an
e-mail, while “spoofing” is a technique used to gain
unauthorized access to computers. A user receives e-mail
that appears to have originated from one source when
it actually was sent from another source, in an attempt
to trick the user into releasing sensitive information.)
The two NASA engineers assigned to this project have
experience with Western DataCom, in that they were
involved with the 2000-2001 “space router” project
that culminated in the basic technology platform utilized
in the company’s current encryptor product line.
Once the commercial personal computer card is operational,
Western DataCom plans to design a top-secret military
version. The company intends to have the commercial
card designed and operating, and to have work started
on the military version, by the end of 2005.
*Lund, Donald A., The Lessons
of Non-Interoperability in Public Safety Communication
Systems. University of New Hampshire,
April 2002.
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