Super Vehicles: Connected Fleet IoT Solutions for Fire, Police, and Emergency Services

Sci-Fi movies aren’t the only place you’ll find the coolest gizmos and gadgets. Remember the face scanner from the movie Minority Report, or the mapping orbs from the movie Prometheus? I was recently at a Fleet Show in Sacramento, CA, where the show floor was filled with latest and greatest technology for Police, Fire and Emergency Vehicles. It was attended by officials and personnel from law enforcement, Police department (PD), Fire Department (FD) and emergency services across Northern CA. I was amazed to see the blurring of sci-fi and reality, when I saw the amount of technology being used by law enforcement and emergency services. One can immediately see the possibilities that Internet of Things (IoT)  opens up for this space, specifically around fleet capabilities to solve problems for officers, firemen and crew, on-the-go, in mission-critical situations and in hostile environments.

What are some of the challenges, and areas where they are looking to make investments, in order to provide enhanced public safety and fight crime? Time is money, and in case of an emergency, it is most vital – it is the difference between rescue and loss, life and death. These organizations are looking for ways to respond very quickly to incidents, capture all the incident-scene information and evidence (video, license-plate info, suspect’s image), and transmit it back to the central office, or instantly compare the face or license plate scans against their database. They are interested in increasing their fleet utilization, with a goal to optimize task force and reduce costs.

What if…police had a simple, integrated system inside the vehicles, which gave them access to all communications(voice, video, data), anytime, anywhere, and in a cost effective way? What if…ambulances could capture and transmit vital statistics of a critical patient in real-time to the doctor or the hospital while still in motion? What if…PDs could  analyze data gathered from past incidents, for predictive and preventive ways to reduce burglaries, robberies, theft and other crime.

Internet of Things (IoT) solutions for fleet hold the answers to the above questions, and without a doubt, law enforcement, fire and emergency organizations will adopt IoT to better serve and protect communities.

Cisco IoT solutions for connected fleet solves these challenges by automating key processes and providing highly secure and reliable connectivity to all sensors and devices on the vehicle. There are several devices inside the vehicle, such as Dash-cam, license-plate reader, gun sensor, tough-pad/PC, CAD/AVL systems and a separate cellular link for each device is expensive. Cisco’s Connected Fleet solution powered by Industrial ruggedized router IR829 provides a high speed, resilient and redundant cellular link for vehicles, while at the same time provides precise location and tracking.

Similarly, Cisco Connected Fleet solution  saves significant maintenance costs over the life of vehicles, ambulances and fire engines. Tracking the location, speed, fuel consumption and other statistics can be monitored to ensure all vehicles are running at their optimum levels.

According to me, solutions for public safety and emergency services is by far the best use case of IoT; after all, what is greater than saving lives and protecting communities!

For more information on Cisco’s IoT solutions for fleet and law enforcement, please visit Cisco Connected Emergency Response and Public Safety, and join Cisco Internet of Things Group at Cisco Live US.