April 17, 2007 — The V.I. National Guard this Tuesday tested a new high-tech communications system from the federal government that can be used following a major catastrophe, such as a serious hurricane.
Called a Joint Incident Site Communications Capability system (JISCC), the technology can facilitate police, emergency, government and private communications — even though power, television, telephone and cell towers may be out of commission.
All it needs is diesel fuel and the people who know how to operate it. The plan is for each U.S. state and territory to get one of these mobile communications centers within the next year or so.
Lt. Col. Daryl Jaschen of the V.I. Air National Guard 285th Communications Squad
said Tuesday’s test was preliminary, to work out bugs and to help establish procedures.
“In the guard, we say 'crawl, walk, run,'” said Jaschen. “We’re working together with our counterparts in the Army Guard, learning about the other’s equipment, working out technical issues, seeing what goes wrong and establishing priorities for what to work on.”
Last September, when it was first brought to the island, there was a brief training exercise with the JISCC. Tuesday’s test is the first independent, purely local test of the system, and another is scheduled for June to ensure the system, and staff, are ready for hurricane season.
Maj. Bill Sherrill, squad commander, said they were working with the Gov. deJongh as well, to clearly establish the chain of command — from the governor all the way to VING troops on the ground.
“One of the lessons from Katrina is that without unity of command, we are not as effective,” said Sherrill. “With lines of communication and command clear, the governor can get information and make good, quick decisions.”
The core of the system is a mass of computer communications hardware with a satellite uplink. It serves as a hub and repeater for any kind of emergency radio network, from police band to citizens band, facilitating police and emergency response systems. It is also a wireless hub and a center for Voice over Internet Provider (VOIP) telephone service. Within the military, the satellite uplink allows nearly instant teleconferencing with any U.S military installation.
But wait, there’s more: The system also includes 25 handheld UHF radios and a signal repeater that allows handheld radio communication up to 15 miles from its base, and three diesel generators, for redundancy. That’s not to mention 15 wireless computer links and a computer panel where other emergency responders can hook into their communications networks. The JISCC can link two different networks together, hook up two different radio users directly, run a Local Area Network or a Wide Area Network of personal computers and act as a dispatching unit and 911 system.
In addition to being highly portable, the system comes with a heavy-duty tent and environmental control unit.
“We can pick this up and go anywhere on the island, set up our antennas to connect with military and commercial satellites and serve as the communications hub,” said Jaschen. “We could even roll it onto a cargo plane and fly it to St. Thomas if we needed."
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