Wearable Smart Gateway (WSG) is the world's first wearable communication gateway, enabling emergency services to securely transmit multimedia data over global networks in real time. The WSG device was developed by Mutualink using Intel technology. The WSG provides emergency service headquarters with access to operational situation data, including video, biometric data and environmental data. WSG capabilities significantly increase the speed of obtaining information and reduce the response time in rapidly changing situations. As a result, police, fire, and ambulance services can make informed decisions faster and overcome difficulties caused by lack of information.
This article describes the history of the development of the WSG and the technologies used in these devices. At the time of this writing, the WSG device was at the prototype stage, its commercial deployment is scheduled for 2016. Therefore, the article also describes the prospects for the development of the device. In addition, WSG technologies are discussed in the context of modern communication technologies.

The WSG is the first device developed as part of the Internet of Things for Public Safety (IoPST *) initiative, led by Intel and Mutualink. The goal of this initiative is to provide emergency services with modern communication technologies that help save lives. The joint initiative was awarded the Integrated Justice Information Systems (IJIS) 2016 Innovation Award.

Creating a WSG

Mutualink is headquartered in Wallingford, Connecticut, USA. The specialists of this company have more than 20 years of experience in developing communication technologies for the public security sector. IP-based Mutualink services are used by organizations in a wide range of areas, from defense and law to finance and healthcare. The existing systems of this company are equipment in mounting racks, high-performance programs, end-to-end standard encryption to provide internal access to video, voice and data.

One of the serious problems in the work of emergency services is the impossibility of interaction between communication systems: due to differences in the technical standards and protocols used, the exchange of data between different emergency services is a complex and slow process. Mutualink has been releasing solutions for many years to overcome similar boundaries. The developers first decided to implement their technology in a compact wearable device. Mutualink specialists, in collaboration with Intel, decided to create a universal system capable of creating a secure communication environment between the various technical solutions used by emergency services, their headquarters and promotional organizations.
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The result of this collaboration was the WSG device — a wearable communication gateway that uses Wi-Fi *, USB, and Bluetooth interfaces to connect to devices that have emergency services with remote headquarters. This establishes a connection over a secure virtual private network (VPN) to a server, which can be local or located in the cloud. Further, this information can be provided to any number of collaborating organizations and participants as needed.

Contribution of emergency services to the development of the WSG

Mutualink has a well-deserved reputation in emergency communications solutions. This situation has been achieved thanks to a deep understanding of the needs and requirements of the operational staff of the emergency services. Mutualink has several former employees of such organizations with decades of operational experience in the business development department. They help develop usage scenarios and know exactly what works and what does not.

In developing the concept of WSG, Intel and Mutualink went even further and turned to emergency services: using a series of detailed surveys, data were obtained on the necessary functionality of the new device. Internal discussions and brainstorming helped to correct the concept before proceeding to prototyping. Emergency callbacks have proven to be very helpful in identifying the capabilities of the staff user interface and the overall functionality of the devices.

As with all wearable devices, the size and weight of the WSG is of great importance: the device must be compact enough and light enough not to interfere in any way and not distract from the work of the operational staff that this device is designed to help. The developers decided to build a WSG device based on the Intel Edison module, since it is very compact and at the same time it is characterized by high performance and extremely low power consumption.

WSG prototyping

To move from the concept of WSG to the prototype, Mutualink experts began working with the Intel Edison module, equipped with built-in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and USB interfaces. Even with the battery, the device promised to be very small. The module’s built-in connectivity allows it to be connected to various devices used by the emergency services officer. For example, you can connect a camera, heart rate monitor, audio communication, etc. You can also use a Wi-Fi network to connect to the global network.

The main system on a chip of an Intel Edison board is the Intel Atom Z34XX processor, made using 22nm technology, containing two Silvermont microarchitecture cores operating at 500 MHz and one Intel Quark core operating at 100 MHz Wind River Viper time *). In the "system on a chip" integrated 1 GB of RAM. Also, a 4 GB eMMC flash memory card, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4 and USB controllers are installed on the board. The board is equipped with a 70-pin Hirose DF40 connector with USB, SD, UART and GPIO ports.


Figure 2. Intel Edison Modules used for a number of WSG prototypes

Currently, the WSG is not yet equipped with 4G / LTE * connectivity capabilities for self-connecting to cellular networks. Instead, the WSG can either connect to the 4G / LTE network indirectly (the WSG connects via Wi-Fi to a mobile phone, which in turn connects to the 4G / LTE network) or to a Wi-Fi access point. One of the prototypes was designed to connect to the Sonim * ruggedized telephone. The result was a compact and very durable pocket-sized unit. Such a “combined” WSG device is distinguished by good ergonomics and is relatively small: it can be carried in a pocket of a jacket or loose-fit cargo pants with large pockets, but it is still highly desirable to make the device even smaller. To this end, developers are exploring the possibility of embedding a 4G / LTE modem directly into the device.

Reduced power consumption

The power requirements of the WSG are very stringent, since the WSG can be used to connect to any number of devices capable of transmitting important real-time digital data anywhere and anytime. In addition, emergency services require that the device itself has clear and simple status indicators. Given these requirements, the battery life is extremely important for the successful operation of the device in the field. That is why the Intel Edison module was chosen, featuring low power consumption.

When choosing a battery, developers sought to find a compromise between capacity and size: the device must be portable. To power most WSG prototypes, a 3.7 V lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 1200 mAh is used. Depending on the destination for the WSG, you can use almost any battery, for example, with a capacity of 6000 mAh, although in this case, of course, the size of the device increases. During initial testing, WSG prototypes retained full performance for 12 hours or longer. It is important that when responding to an emergency, you do not need to worry about whether the devices are charged or not. Note that charging a WSG is as easy as charging any cell phone.

Detected limitations, workarounds, work on prototypes continues

One of the limitations of the Intel Edison serial modules is that, with a 3.7 V power supply, the USB OTG port does not provide power to the connected device. This causes a problem if the user needs to supply +5 V power to an external camera connected to the USB. The developers came up with a way to get around this limitation: connect an additional USB power cable between the WSG and an external peripheral device.


Figure 3. Workaround with optional USB cable allows power to the connected device.

As seen in fig. 4, the subsequent WSG prototype used a set of three Spark Fun * boards: one for the Intel Edison module, one for the battery and one for charging, and one for the I / O functionality.


Figure 4. Spark Fun * boards were used to create some of the WSG prototypes.

In the current WSG prototype, preference is given to the Intel Edison module due to its compactness and built-in functionality. At the same time, developers are trying to solve the problem of power supply via USB. The need for power supply via USB and the desire to implement a 4G LTE modem on the board have forced developers to start creating their own solution, which is currently under development. In addition, developers are negotiating with battery manufacturers regarding embedding WSG directly into the battery case. This will allow to achieve a more optimal ratio of power and size.

Flexibility of use

Flexibility and adaptability are the main ideas behind the design of the WSG. This device and its ecosystem should be able to evolve as hardware and software changes, as well as new usage scenarios. The WSG software is based on the Linux * operating system and is written in JavaScript *. It is an open and extensible solution that supports the convenient addition of new features.

In addition, the WSG device is equipped with two LEDs (see Fig. 5): the red indicator lights up continuously if a constant connection to the server is maintained, and the yellow indicator flashes according to the speed of the data traffic. Thanks to these indicators, the user can always determine the status of the device. However, these indicators can be programmed to provide any other visual feedback which headquarters may require.


Figure 5. LED indicators allow you to quickly find out the status of VPN and network traffic

User interface in the headquarters

In order to maintain the most flexibility, the headquarters interface is based on the Node.js * compact web client on the web application platform. Thanks to this, the client can be run on almost any device with a web browser, be it a smartphone, tablet, laptop, or an Intel Compute Stick device connected to any monitor with an HDMI connector. Managers may need to work remotely or on trips or organize a temporary headquarters during an operation, and this approach provides them with the necessary level of flexibility.


Figure 6. The WSG user interface for headquarters is based on a web browser and is modular.

The user interface itself displays any data sent by the field officer: it can be a video stream, pulse data, GPS coordinates, the status of agents connected to the network.

Use of any kind of networks, safety priority

The WSG prototype transmits data (via a Wi-Fi connection to a cell phone) to any commercial 4G network, and can also connect to FirstNet * broadband emergency services network, which is currently being developed for use throughout the United States. The system is designed to work across all available networks, but not at the expense of security.

A similar approach is used in the WSG and when data servers are transferred to headquarters and other participants over a virtual peer-to-peer network. Distributed nodes and application services on demand use private Intel servers, as well as Amazon Web Services *. Thanks to this modular, flexible approach, data integrity is fully preserved, and customers can choose the configuration that best suits their needs and matches existing resources.

Network security

System security is of paramount importance, especially given the fact that WSG devices can potentially be exposed to a variety of threats affecting any ordinary computer and network, from simple network outages to distributed Denial of Service attacks. To prevent substitution and unauthorized receipt of data by unauthorized devices, the system uses standard AES256 authentication based on certificates for each device in the network.

Developers strive to achieve an optimal level of security at all levels, starting with the equipment. It helps to maintain data integrity and allows you to implement powerful protection against malware, but not at the expense of data transfer speeds.
Data flows only through VPN tunnels with end-to-end encryption using open standards-based clients. Mutualink plug-ins are uploaded to the WSG and to the client; The WSG application on the client establishes a VPN tunnel and handles authentication.

WSG can not only work with any type of network, but also supports any kind of connection to servers. Through an encrypted VPN tunnel, a device can connect to a private server or to a public cloud server, such as Amazon Web Services. Maintaining data integrity is important when transferring data over any network, especially over a public network. This is where the long-term experience of Mutualink developers in organizing network connections using strong encryption and virtual private networks is manifested.

Data exchange between different organizations

Figure 7. The stream of data packets from the WSG (left) to the server and headquarters, and then to remote services

One of the advantages of the open flexible architecture of the WSG system is the ability to use the already existing Mutualink public safety nets and platforms for connecting remote headquarters with any number of participants and collaborating organizations.

The cloud system supports the dynamic provision of data access by any authorities using Mutualink systems for any eligible participants. The browser-based compact client simplifies access to the headquarters user interface on any device, including laptops, tablets and smartphones. In practice, this means that a remote employee in any given situation needs only a telephone and a Mutualink application to track all stages of the operation as it is deployed: video, sound and data are transmitted directly to the telephone.

Duplication

For the smooth operation of the WSG system in emergency situations for which this device is intended, duplication is applied. Failures can occur in different segments of the system: there may be equipment failure, connection disruption, loss of access to 4G and Wi-Fi networks, which often happens in emergency situations when many people immediately try to connect to the network at the same time.

On the server side, resiliency and duplication measures are implemented. For example, if the VPN tunnel becomes unavailable, the system automatically switches to another secure connection so that the data to the headquarters is not interrupted. With regard to field duplication for WSG gateways and local devices connected to them, a comprehensive solution is being developed to maintain the integrity of the system against virtually any possible network failures.

Introducing Mesh *

Mutualink specializes in decentralized data exchange solutions. Since the customers of the described device are emergency services, this model excludes the concentration of all possibilities in the hands of only one service: all participants have equal conditions. This principle of decentralized data flow was applied in the WSG architecture, and the Mesh * solution is a further development; This solution provides full network redundancy.

When Mesh is running, data packets are transmitted on any number of individual devices on the network, and not on the same path. This means that even if a device is disconnected from the network for any reason, the data will still be transmitted. In practice, this concept is implemented in a variety of scenarios: for example, a team of four people working alongside one another can use only one smartphone-based access point to transmit all four people to headquarters.

All WSG devices (including those described in the “Internet of Public Safety” section later in this article) can also be used to transfer data packets to their destination. Such devices may include emergency lighting lamps, fire alarm units, as well as ordinary lamps in which you can install WSG components with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and 4G interfaces. The system will automatically build a route for transmitting data over the network with a high level of reliability, while, from the point of view of users, there will be no interruptions in data transmission.

WSG supports FirstNet *

FirstNet * is a dedicated public safety network in the LTE range. At this time, this network is undergoing consultations before a nationwide deployment in the United States. This network was developed in accordance with the final recommendations of the 9/11 Commission and is a nationwide wireless network intended only for emergency services. The use of this network avoids the communication problems that emergency services encountered during overloads of public networks.

A number of FirstNet Early Builder projects are already in use. Among them is the mobile network JerseyNet in New Jersey, this network was used in 2015 during the visit of the Pope of Rome. Also, the FirstNet project is implemented in Harris County, Texas: Mutualink technologies are already being used by emergency services . Intel and Mutualink took care of the security of the WSG at all levels, ensuring data integrity and reliable protection against malware. At the same time, the necessary speed and efficiency of devices designed for public safety nets is maintained.

WSG field test

For the successful implementation of any new technology, it is important that users are comfortable, especially when it comes to wearable devices for emergency services working in tense situations. Employees of such services have no time to worry about the intricacies of the work of the next device. Field testing of the WSG is what helps improve the WSG usability and facilitate wider adoption of these devices. Currently, the WSG remains a prototype and is not yet available for use in real emergency situations, but at the Urban Shield exercises in September 2015, developers were able to test the system and test its convenience in conditions close to real ones. This made it possible to get feedback on the actual difficulties encountered in emergency situations.

Urban Shield is an annual exercise of 48 hours in North Carolina. Emergency services teams from different countries (mainly law enforcement forces, but also fire brigade and ambulance) are involved in a series of realistic exercises. At such exercises, teams work out operational tactics and conduct various tests for new technical solutions, one of which in this case was the WSG system.

In the course of the study, before the exercises, the developers consulted with the emergency services staff from the city of Sunnyvale (California, USA) and released several WSG prototypes based on the Intel Edison module. These prototypes were designed to work efficiently with FirstNet phones, which were used as Wi-Fi access points for connecting to a 4G mobile network. During the exercise, the WSG device transmitted video, console data and locations to headquarters.
Exercise scenarios included abduction and a mined bus, while police forces used paintball guns to paintball instead of military weapons. The problem that the developers sought to solve with the help of the WSG was to provide the operational headquarters of the emergency services to the staff with more accurate and up-to-date information about the events taking place during emergency situations. The extra data provided by the WSG system helps to better coordinate the work and increase the overall efficiency and safety of the operational teams. In the course of these tests, important and useful conclusions were obtained, but in general, the WSG system worked in accordance with expectations: the managers received new operational information, which they did not have before.

Learning lessons

User interaction is a major factor in creating a WSG. Emergency services require the ability to smoothly integrate devices into the work environment. In the case of wearable devices, this means that emergency workers will literally “carry devices on themselves.” If the WSG device even in the slightest degree hinders or hinders the work, they will simply not be used. Therefore, it is important to ensure the compactness of the device, its low weight and ease of use.

Speaking of compactness, the WSG prototype used in the Urban Shield exercises was not equipped with a 4G modem, therefore, to connect to the Internet, it was necessary to connect the WSG to a mobile phone wearable with this device (which worked as a Wi-Fi access point). The WSG prototype, created for these exercises, was created specifically to connect to Sonim * phones that support FirstNet. Together, these two devices formed a relatively compact unit about twice the thickness of the phone itself. The emergency teams that participated in the Urban Shield exercise did not object to wearing this device with the rest of the equipment.

From a technical point of view, the simplicity and reliability of the WSG met the expectations of users. In this case, the tests in a real situation allowed us to draw useful conclusions for the further improvement of the device. One of the problems found (the fact of its detection emphasizes the importance of testing in real field conditions, and not in the laboratory) is associated with an irregular increase in delays in the video stream, which led to out-of-sync video playback at headquarters. This is quite a serious problem. Based on the data obtained, the WSG software has been improved. Now it automatically detects a decrease in network bandwidth and in accordance with this reduces the frame rate of the video. Because of this, video playback becomes less smooth with reduced bandwidth, but the video remains completely synchronous.
In addition, Mutualink developers are considering replacing the existing Motion JPEG video compression algorithm with H.264 format to further improve video performance. Another area of ​​improvement is the embedding of the 4G LTE modem in the device itself, so that it does not need an access point implemented by a cell phone to connect to the Internet.

Instant Command Center Solution

A valuable lesson was learned in the Urban Shield exercise: it was noticed that so much space was needed for the computers of the headquarters, which required the installation of an additional tent in addition to the tents used for emergency teams. At the same time, emergency services teams were separated from headquarters and additional resources were required. Minimizing such resource-intensive operations in rapidly evolving and tense emergencies will provide tangible benefits to emergency services teams, and improving efficiency will contribute to their wider adoption of new technologies.
These observations lead the WSG developers to the idea of ​​using an Intel Compute Stick device with quad-core Intel Atom processors instead of full-size PCs at headquarters. Using the Intel Compute Stick in headquarters provides a number of advantages over both full-size PCs and laptops. The Intel Compute Stick is much smaller than most mobile phones, and is therefore extremely portable. In addition, it is equipped with interfaces Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and USB, so that it can be easily connected to any network.

If you install the WSG emergency services software on such a device, the operator simply needs to insert the Intel Compute Stick into any monitor or TV equipped with an HDMI connector in order to get a valid headquarters system in seconds. Imagine, for example, an emergency situation in a hotel: any room with a TV can be instantly transformed into an emergency services headquarters and provide complete control over the situation, for which in other cases it would take more time and resources.


Figure 8. At the headquarters for testing WSG on the exercises of Urban Shield in 2015

Internet of Things Public Safety

A lot of materials, including those prepared by Intel, are devoted to such a direction of development of modern devices as the Internet of things, and its importance for further development. In 2015, a significant amount of modern technical solutions came into everyday life - from smart home devices to Bluetooth stores for stores . Intel and Mutualink saw an opportunity to apply the technology and the concept of the Internet of Things to the field of public safety, which resulted in the initiative “Internet of Public Safety of Things” (IoPST *).

WSG was the first device created in the framework of cooperation of these companies. Other modern security solutions will follow. One of the main ideas is that the miniature components inside the WSG are not necessary to be used only in wearable devices, you can create a whole range of stationary “smart devices” with them.

For example, at Intel's booth at Maker Faire in New York, Mutualink demonstrated a prototype device that is embedded in fire alarm units. The idea is not to send data to headquarters, but to deploy a dedicated Wi-Fi network for emergency services (called WiFi911 *), which is activated when an alarm is triggered. Access to this network is automatic when you enter a simple password known to emergency services.


Figure 9. The Intel Edison module inside the fire alarm unit as an example of the implementation of the Internet of Things for Public Safety (IoPST *) initiative at Maker Faire in New York in 2015

This solution avoids two major communication problems that emergency services face in emergency situations: first, a sharp drop in network capacity due to panic and overuse caused by panic, resulting in communication networks that are unstable or cease to work. work; secondly, the inability to use any available Wi-Fi networks anywhere, since these networks are protected by passwords.

WiFi911 * network access points can be built into any electrical equipment, such as lighting lamps. Such additional compact devices can be easily integrated into modern energy-saving lamps. In addition, all the benefits of the Edison platform, which inspired Mutualink developers to create communication solutions, are being realized here. Mutualink specialists have already successfully integrated the Intel Edison module into the lamp prototype when developing the WSG *.

Awards for modern solutions

For their groundbreaking work under the Internet of Things Public Safety initiative, Mutualink, Intel, and law enforcement, San Mateo won the 2016 Integrated Justice Information Systems (IJIS) Innovation Award . This award is intended for technical innovations that are important for the development of integration and interaction in the decisions of law enforcement agencies, public security and state security. The IJIS institute committee provided full support to the WSG tests at the Urban Shield exercise and thanked Mutualink and Intel for their success.

Next steps

The WSG * device is currently still under development. Its commercial release is scheduled for 2016. Intel and Mutualink use this time to improve the design of the device and add new useful features to it, such as the ability to connect to cellular 4G LTE networks and the ability to compress video. .
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