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B-APCO Autumn Event 11-12 November – what to expect

Published: 
03 October, 2014

B-APCO is sharing a venue with the Airbus Defence and Space SAFECommand User Group during its annual user meeting, which takes place in St James’ Park – what can visitors expect?

‘The Autumn Event aims to be very much coal-face type approach of what is happening now and what will happen in the future of public safety communications,’ explained B-APCO President Sue Lampard: ‘That is one of the main benefits of a user-led event  - another being that this is very much a networking opportunity for people to learn from each other.’

Day 1: 11th November

Day 1 will begin with a keynote presentation on the significant developments in technology employed by Inmarsat during the search in the Indian Ocean for the missing Malaysian Airline MH370.

The open streams will comprise an update on MAIT, Next Generation 999, and spectrum for the emergency services. A demonstration of Project Hydra will take place in the car park of St James’ Park too.

Project HYDRA is a satellite-backhauled, portable, self-contained 4G/LTE network. As a compact technology, it can be quickly deployed anywhere that doesn’t have mobile phone communications coverage. HYDRA is a product of a strategic partnership between satellite operator Avanti Communications, Quortus and B-APCO.

Running alongside the open streams will be a CCS- run Symposium for Telecommunications Sub Groups, as well as a separate stream for emergency service control room managers. Sue Lampard explained: ‘At our last Manchester event we hosted the Police Command and Control Group – whichw was formed in order to come to B-APCO 2014, as well as the Fire Mobilising Group and Ambulance Emergency Operations Centre managers. They all had their separate meetings during the course of one morning, but then all met together in the afternoon, which was quite successful. This time they want to come together for a whole day, and as part of their meeting we are running sessions around understanding the implications of next generation 999, run by On Star and Avaya, with a BT presence.

‘During the course of the day experts will join the control room managers to highlight how technology can help them in their roles. We’ll run some scenarios and ask them what they would do in different situations; how they could be improved; and how technology could help with real 999 calls. So it is to give control room managers a vision of what the world might look like in five years’ time.’ Areas such as the impact of telematics, enhanced location information, and e-call, will all be included in these discussions.

‘There will also be sessions on GIS. My view is that there is still no real understanding of how powerful geospatial technology could really be; Ordnance Survey and Landmark will provide a thought-provoking session on the potential benefits.’

Delegates will also receive an update on the JESIP programme, with a focus on control room training and interoperability.

After the formal sessions, there will be the opportunity to tour St James’ Park and relax at the networking drinks and dinner.

Day 2: 12th November

Day 2 will contain similar streams but with a slighter heavier focus on the knowledge needs of ICT and procurement managers. ‘We’ll also be looking at the comms developments in Scotland and Wales, as well as further afield in Europe,’ commented B-APCO President Sue Lampard.

The EU perspective will be provided by Dutch research and analysis company RB&W, which for over 10 years has been active in the areas of public safety cooperation and communications.

Briefings will also take place on public safety technology developments in Wales and Scotland, as well as nationally by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, which is currently preparing to take full responsibility for all UK search and rescue helicopter operations from 2015. ‘The MCA has undergone some significant changes in their technology – they have really moved on, so their presentation will be particularly insightful,’ predicted Sue.

Other highlights of Day 2 will include a closed session on body worn video both for end users and suppliers, chaired by Paul Kinsella, and a focus on the use of weather-related information in order for planning, presented by Mark Braggins and Sasha Taylor.

For more information on attending or exhibiting, click here.

Pre-event: one-day communications training course on the 10th of November

New for this year is a communications training course that will pull together interoperability, resilience and all things related to communications.

The one-day course (not half day, as previously reported) will provide updated knowledge on the latest policy and practice in emergency communications across the emergency services, category 1 and 2 responders.

The audience includes control room managers and staff, emergency planners and telecommunications/ICT leads. Trainers and speakers will bring the latest case studies and practice which are relevant to radio, data, satellite and mapping for responder communications.

The course is accredited by the CPD Service and enables attendees to go back to their organisation afterward with the confidence and competence to champion resilient and interoperable telecommunications.

For further information, or to book a place, please email  tracey.langmaid@bapco.org.uk or geoff.naldrett@bapco.org.uk, or call 01522 548325.

For more information about the Autumn Event, click here.




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