Digital Barriers helps speed up emergency response

When you’re working on the frontline – in fast-paced, sometimes dangerous, environments – you need technology that can keep up.

Emergency operations demand live access to video feeds, so the record-only, body-worn cameras used historically don’t provide the accurate information in real time for decision making.

Edge intelligence provider, Digital Barriers has changed that. It’s using low-bandwidth live video streaming and analytics to give its customers immediate intelligence and – with the aid of Distributed Multi-Access Edge Computing – real-time situational awareness, wherever the location. Its solutions enable time-critical decision-making, and help keep mobile workers safe and secure.

The Challenge

When Digital Barriers started out 10 years ago, its key public sector customers needed tech solutions to consistently stream video and perform AI analytics from remote, large and often hostile locations.

Today, Digital Barriers works with various other emergency services – and when every second counts, the demand for reliable intelligence is as crucial as ever.

For first responders attending an incident, improving their emergency response is essential – any delays could be life-changing. They need technology that can help them overcome key challenges such as:

• Getting an accurate picture of the situation in real time, so those watching on the other end can be better prepared to deal with the incoming situation.
• Providing fit-for-purpose cameras for first responders, which are small and light enough to be body-worn but with a reliable battery life and maximised memory capacity.
• Transmitting and analysing all data collected, quickly and within budget.

The Solution

Using Vodafone Business Distributed Edge with AWS, Digital Barriers are helping first responders to overcome these challenges. This ground-breaking technology is helping to:

• Deal with critical events in milliseconds.
• Reduce time it takes emergency services to access incidents.
• Combine live video streams from multiple cameras and sensors from various locations to gather a multi-dimensional view of a situation.
• Process more data at the edge to reduce disruption to service.
• Extend running times of wearable cameras, while still providing quality live video and GPS information which is important for busy shifts – Distributed Edge Computing uses less power and storage than the traditional process of streaming data back to a central cloud.
• Control costs, without compromising the analytics, latency and quality.
• Generate customer facing analytics and reports in absolute real time with no need for on premises server hardware. 

The benefits

Vodafone Business’s collaboration with AWS brings to life Distributed Edge Computing by locating AWS infrastructure at the edge of the Vodafone 4G and 5G network. Vodafone Distributed Edge powered by AWS Wavelength brings a broad portfolio of powerful cloud services enabling Digital Barriers to connect first responders with immediate intelligence in the vicinity of incidents or emergencies, empowering them to make better critical decisions.

Hospital staff can prepare better for a patient’s arrival if vital information about their condition is made available. The capability allows clinicians and trauma teams to make informed decisions by obtaining a full picture of the situation as events unfold. This information can also be shared at local, regional and national levels across multiple agencies for real-time situational awareness, as well as a coordinated and timely response to any incident

Having a view of officers on the ground and their location allows command and control to allocate the most appropriate person based on location and the skills required. In any scenario when milliseconds matter, this can all make an incredible difference.