Tests at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are helping to ensure that alarm beacons for firefighters and other emergency responders will operate reliably in the presence of other wireless devices.PASS devices sense movement and activate an alarm if a firefighter remains motionless for too long. Newer Personal Alert Safety Systems (PASS) systems also have a wireless link connecting incident command base stations and portable units, allowing emergency recall signals to be sent to firefighters or “firefighter down” alarms to be sent to the base. Because firefighters also may carry RFID tags for location tracking, or may be in warehouses or other buildings using RFID inventory systems, there is potential for significant interference.NIST is providing technical support for industry consensus standards by developing test methods to evaluate how well these devices work under realistic conditions. The latest NIST study focused on interference between PASS with wireless alarm capability, and radio-frequency identification (RFID) systems. The methods developed in the study can test interference in other wireless devices such as radios, hands-free cell phone headsets, local area networks, and urban search and rescue robots.Learn more from NIST.
Tests Help Ensure Reliable Wireless Alarm Beacons for First Responders
