The U.S. Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) awarded $2.3 million over three years to the NYU Wireless Research Center at the New York University Tandon School of Engineering, which will work with Italy's University of Padova, the Austin Fire Department, and NYU Wireless industrial affiliates to create a research platform for public safety communications using frequencies above 6 GHz in the mmWave spectrum. Lead researchers from NYU, the University of Padova, and the Austin Fire Department met in San Antonio to launch their NIST-funded project to bring the ultra-fast possibilities of 5G millimeter wave wireless technology to first responders. Left to right: Coitt Kessler, Marco Mezzavilla, James Zottarelli, and NYU Tandon Professor Sundeep Rangan. Courtesy of NYU Tandon. The researchers convened in San Antonio to begin executing their plans to greatly reduce the time to bring mmWave technology to public safety communications. Within three years, they aim to develop fundamental research on the behavior of the radio waves, channel measurements and models and public safety-specific findings for technology such as antennae and testing equipment, as well as an end-to-end system simulation of a complex public safety scenario. The researchers plan to develop the first free and open-source channel sounding, emulation and simulation tools for designing and testing public safety communications equipment. "Our team is grateful for this NIST grant, which will allow us to expand the knowledge we have been building about millimeter wave technology into a new area that is not just intellectually challenging but one that will ultimately save lives," said Sundeep Rangan, director of NYU Wireless and project lead. Not only must emergency communications cover land and air, they must also occasionally build their own networks, for example, when a hurricane takes down cell towers. "We plan to apply the lessons we learned at NYU Wireless in accelerating the pace of 5G cellular technology to this new project and demonstrate novel use cases not possible with earlier 4G systems,” said Marco Mezzavilla, an NYU Wireless research scientist and program director for the NIST project. In the first phase of their work, the researchers will develop special channel soundings for these emergency systems including peer-to-peer and aerial and vehicular links not required for cellular and Wi-Fi systems. "As 5G gets closer to becoming a commercial reality, there is still a lot of work to be done when it comes to making 5G ready for public safety communications," said James Kimery, director of radio frequency research and sales development marketing at affiliate National Instruments. "We have a long history of collaboration with NYU Wireless on pushing the boundaries of mmWave research and as an Austin-based company, we're doubly excited to work with them on research that could ultimately impact our local community in emergency situations."