Mechanical Systems and Controls Group

Standards for Building Information Exchange with First Responders

---

Building Information Exchange With First Responders

The Mechanical Systems and Controls Group leads a collaborative research and standards development effort focused on providing critical building information, including real-time sensor data, to emergency responders.

Today, when first responders arrive at a building in response to an emergency they typically have very little information about what is happening beyond a high-level summary such as, a fire has been reported, a break in has occurred, there is a medical emergency, etc. As a result, valuable time must be spent determining the nature of the emergency, details of the building and its systems that are relevant to a response, and the number and type of emergency personnel who may be needed to carry out an effective response. Modern building automation systems increasingly involve integration of HVAC, fire, access control and other systems that contain a wealth of sensor data and other information that could be helpful to first responders. Our research is focused on providing a technical basis for industry standards and commercial tools that will give first responders secure and timely access to critically needed building information.

It is envisioned that this will be implemented through a special building information server that links the building automation system and repositories of static building information to public safety networks. This will make the building site, floor plan, and construction details available to first responders along with real time sensor and alarm data before they arrive at the building and throughout the incident.

Conceptual representation of building system integration with public safety networks

There are several technical aspects of this research including:

• Identifying the critical information needed by first responders and ways in which it can be presented so that it is understandable and without information overload,
• Extending industry standard building information models (BIM) to include the kind of details needed by emergency responders,
  
• Developing algorithms and tools that can extract site and construction details from a BIM for use in information displays and decision support tools,
  
• Developing building data analysis techniques that enable the creation of expert decision support tools for first responders,
  
• Determining critical features and capabilities for a Building Information Services and Control System (BISACS) that can provide building information to both emergency responders and public safety officials, and
  
• Developing authentication and authorization approaches to keep building information and systems secure.

This research is being conducted in close collaboration with industry organizations such as the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) committee SB30. This collaboration should speed the development of commercial products and appropriate revisions to the national fire codes.

Program results:

• Building Information Services and Control System (BISACS) building interface to public safety initial specification published. The system implements building alerts encapsulated in the OASIS Common Alerting Protocol (CAP).
  
• Presentation on the role of In-Building Wireless (IBW) in serving the needs of public safety at the IBW Solutions conference, June 2007.
  
• Publication of simulation results of first responder communications carried over building networks, “Building Information for Emergency Responders”, presented at the 2nd International Symposium on Knowledge Communication and Conferences (KCC 2007), June 2007.
  
• High-Rise Building and Complex Incident Emergency Responder Communications Workshop held June 20-21, 2006 at NIST, and workshop report.
  
• Fire Chief Magazine article (“Smart Talk”, August 2006) communicating NIST first responder project objectives and the future of emergency response to the fire community.
  
• The “Intelligent Building Response” project and demonstration videos, widely distributed at fire conferences and in use by the National Fire Academy.
  
• NEMA standard SB 30-2005, Fire Service Annunciator and Interface, implementing NIST recommendations.
  
• Project phase I final report published as NIST IR 7314.
  Workshop to Define Information Needed by Emergency Responders during Building Emergencies, held at NIST in May 2004, and workshop report that documents for the first time the needs of emergency responders for building information during building incidents.

Privacy Policy/Security Notice/Accessability  |  Disclaimer  |  FOIA NIST is an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce