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| For communications, interoperability can be defined as the condition achieved among communications – electronics systems or communications – electronics equipment when information or services can be exchanged directly and satisfactorily between them and/or their users.
Communications standards are extremely important for national defense and in responding to emergencies and disasters. On September 11th, many emergency response agencies were unable to communicate due to the use of different communications equipment and frequencies.
"Because of the unfortunate lessons learned at the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, local, state, and federal emergency agencies are all looking for universally accepted interoperability standards and equipment [to enable] radio and telephone communication…between responding units." -
Mr. Allen W. Beckett, the Department of Defense's Principal Assistant Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Logistics and Material Readiness.
A number of federal agencies and standards developing organizations (SDOs) are involved in improving emergency communications, and they are coordinated through the Office of Homeland Security. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has established a Homeland Security Policy Council and has launched initiatives including promoting network reliability and interoperability and improving public safety by addressing spectrum issues such as redundancy.
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Field trips for this lesson:
- Review the recommendations from the Pentagon Study to see how important standards are to ensuring reliable public safety communications systems. (Opens as a PDF document)
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