The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) and its research and development partners today selected 13 U.S. and international companies to develop smart cities technologies to assist public safety. The research and development work will focus on in-building sensors, unmanned aerial systems and on/off-body mobile SmartHubs, each of which will combine communications and sensors to increase responder situational awareness, building security and enhance mission-critical operations.

 

The awards are the result of the Request for Innovators (RFI) released earlier this year for the DHS S&T Smart Cities Internet of Things Innovation (SCITI) Labs program. The SCITI Labs program focuses on rapid commercialization of technologies, with the initial prototypes from the selected companies to be demonstrated this summer.

 

“We are excited to work with these innovative partners to quickly get tools into new commercial markets that benefit our first responders, DHS components and industry partners,” said DHS S&T Program Manager Jeff Booth. “Our goal here was to identify technologies already on the market that could be adapted to meet the very specific needs and challenges of those protecting and serving our communities. We are very much encouraged by the work already accomplished and look forward to what’s on the horizon.”

 

The funding was made available via the SCITI Labs program, a collaboration between DHS S&T, the Center for Innovative Technology (CIT), Smart City Works and TechNexus established less than a year ago. After a highly competitive selection process, these 13 companies were selected to develop initial prototypes in the following areas:

 

Unmanned Aerial Systems - indoor search and discovery:

 

Airgility, Inc., Reston, Virginia

Known Quantity Sensors, Inc., Atlanta, Georgia

University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio

Third Insight, Austin, Texas

 

Building Sensors - fixed in-building sensor suites for detection and situational awareness:

 

University of Dayton Research Institute, Dayton, Ohio

EcoDomus, Inc., Reston, Virginia

Honeywell International, Inc., Morris Plains, New Jersey

Mutualink, Inc., Wallingford, Connecticut

Wireless System Solutions, LLC, Durham, North Carolina

 

SmartHub - responder-focused mobile communication and sensor suites:

 

CommandWear Systems Inc., Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Coolfire Solutions, St. Louis, Missouri

Excession Technologies Ltd., London, United Kingdom

Zello, Austin, Texas

 

In coming months, the companies will refine and integrate capabilities to better meet use case requirements and demonstrate end-to-end connectivity between various sensor suites, building infrastructure and first responders.