New communications tools help first responders

By Marsha Walton
CNN.com

BOULDER, Colo. — It is a problem that scientists and engineers have been grappling with since the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks: How can emergency responders' communication tools be improved?

At ground zero in New York, first responders deployed search-and-rescue robots to help find survivors. The robots were supposed to be controlled via radio signals that never reached their targets.

"One of the things that became very clear was that the radio signals were lost rapidly between the transmitter, the robot and the person controlling the robot," electronics engineer Kate Remley said. "So, as a result, the robots were not able to go very far into the rubble pile to look for victims or for survivors."

From placing equipment inside soon-to-be-imploded buildings to testing a robot's ability to send audio and video in abandoned mines, Remley and other researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology are working to improve the devices that emergency workers rely on.