NIST Launches Challenge to Improve Technology for First Responders

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has announced a new four-phase competition challenge, called the Chariot Challenge, aimed at using innovative technologies to provide first responders with more accurate and immediate information when responding to public emergencies. The competition includes an Augmented Reality (AR) challenge and an Internet of Things (IoT) challenge.

According to the NIST competition announcement, more than 70 billion devices will be connected to the IoT by 2025.

“We're trying to get people to think innovatively and out of box,” NIST’s Public Safety Communications Research Division Chief Dereck Orr recently told Nextgov.

Currently, first responders rely on devices similar to common commercial technology.

“You don't give a firefighter a cellphone that has maps of the building and expect them to walk into a building with their cellphone in their hand—they can't see it in front of their face and they can't touch it with a glove. A SWAT team member can be interacting with their cellphone either. They have their hands preoccupied with a rifle,” Orr explained.

The challenge offers up more than $1 million in prize money for contestants who utilize AR or IoT technology to assist first responders.

For AR technology, the contest seeks contestants who can use AR to “improve a first responder’s situational awareness allowing them to more effectively plan and respond during incidents.” For the IoT, the contest requests contestants provide first responders “access to IoT devices’, smart buildings’ and smart cities’ data streams.”

The competition landing page also provides contestants with scenarios to consider when innovating their solutions. These situations include active shooter, flood, mass transit accident, and wildfire scenarios.

Interested contestants can view a webinar on the challenge to learn more.