NFPA TECHNICAL COMMITTEE ON ELECTRONIC SAFETY EQUIPMENT March 18-19, 2014 Fort Lauderdale, FL AGENDA Tuesday, March 18, 2014 1. 8:00 a.m. Call to Order - Chairman Bob Athanas 2. Introduction of Members and Guests 3. NFPA Staff Liaison Report - Dave Trebisacci 4. Approval of the Minutes of the December 10-12, 2013 TC meeting, San Diego (attachment 1) 5. Chairman s Remarks 6. Task Group Reports 1982 RF PASS Gordon Sletmoe Intrinsic safety Steve Townsend Physical properties - SCBA interoperability Mike McKenna Environmental testing Mike Feely Feature Set Mike Worrell Investigating new device compatibility Steve Makky Definitions Tim Wolfe Certification Gerry Tarver 7. Presentations 8. Breakout sessions 9. New Business Next meeting July 9-10 or 22-23, 2014 San Francisco (tentative) 9. Adjourn at close of business on Wednesday, March 19, 2014.
NFPA Technical Committee on Electronic Safety Equipment Pre-First Draft Meeting New Document on Land Mobile Radios San Diego, CA December 10-12, 2013 Principal Members in Attendance: Robert Athanas (Chair) Kamil Agi Joel Berger Matt Bowyer Matthew Busa John Facella Michael Feely Wayne Haase Steve Makky, Sr. Brian Martens Michael McKenna John Morris Kevin Roche Gordon Sletmoe Gerry Tarver Steven Townsend Jose L. Velo Steven Weinstein Timothy Wolf Bruce Varner (via Phone) William Forsyth (via Phone) FDNY/SAFE-IR Inc. K&A Wireless Kenwood USA NIOSH Motorola, Inc. RCC Consultants Boston FD Summit Safety Inc. APCO Harris Corporation Michael McKenna & Associates ISG Infrasys Phoenix FD Medford Fire-Rescue Tulsa Fire Department City of Carrollton Fire Rescue San Francisco FD ISEA Scottsdale FD B H Varner & Associates U.S. Forest Service Alternate Members in Attendance: Craig Gestler John Jarboe Tim Rehak James Rose Matthew Shannon Gregory Vrablik Mike Worrell MSA Grace Industries NIOSH SEI Tyco ISEA Phoenix FD 1
Guests in Attendance: Tim Adam Chris Anaya Dennis Camell Paul Carter Michelle Donnelly Dan Fowler Sandy Florence Beverly Gulledge Bill Haskell Simon Hogg Tim Houston David Jenks Paul Kelly Ken Link (via Phone) Rebecca Norwood John Oblak John Rehayem Rex Strickland Bill Young Michael Gomez (via Phone) FM Approvals CA State Fire Fighters NIST Whitney Blake Company NIST Fire-Talk Motorola Solutions Scott NIOSH Draeger Motorola Solutions Tait Radio UL LLC Harris EF Johnson Technology Otto Engineering Fairfax County Fire & Rescue NIST FDNY 1. Chairman Bob Athanas opened the meeting at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, December 10, 2013. 2. Attendees introduced themselves and stated their affiliations. 3. The Minutes of the August 6-7, 2013 meeting in Denver were approved by unanimous consent with one addition. 4. Staff Liaison Dave Trebisacci provided the NFPA report. An overview of NFPA rules and regulations was presented, the new Public Input process was demonstrated, a timeline for submittal of task group reports was discussed, and a proposed timeline for the development of the new radio standard was provided. 5. In his Chairman s remarks, Bob Athanas discussed the timetable for producing the new radio standard and TC goals. 2
6. Task Group Reports RF PASS Task Group William Young of NIST provided an overview on a reverb chamber to simulate RF Multipath environments, this information may also be of use in the radio standard. Dennis Camell of NIST also reported on multipath environment reflections and RF PASS, PASS to Base (alarm) and base to PASS (evacuation) testing. Intrinsic Safety Task Group Paul Kelly and Tim Adam presented a report on intrinsic safety. This task group is studying intrinsic safety with respect to hazardous atmospheres and the classification systems used. Steve Townsend is also participating on a project being conducted by the Fire Protection Research Foundation on the same topic. Physical Properties Task Group Mike McKenna reported that the task group had conducted several conference calls and has developed a rough draft of requirements for the device and the speaker attachment. There are several interface issues that need to be discussed with the Programmable Feature Task Group. Environmental Testing Task Group Mike Feely discussed the applicability of 23 tests that are part of the TIC, PASS, SCBA, and several other tests (such as the common chemical exposure test from NFPA 1971). These will need to be considered related to the impact of certification on the requirements of the standard. Programmable Features Task Group Mike Worrell discussed the necessity for coordination between the task groups and certification labs. Task groups were encouraged to have NFPA-format requirements ready for the committee s next meeting. 3
Risk vs Reward of the Use of Technology Task Group Gordon Sletmoe provided a task group report on RF hazards. The TG investigated the potential risks of RF being used by responders triggering an explosive device, such as an improvised explosive devices (IED s) or other hazards. The TG suggested that is unlikely that an LMR can trigger an explosive unless the IED is in an area that is already very hot, and advises responders to use short transmissions and keep a safe distance from any known IEDs. The work of this task group has been completed, and the TG was discontinued. Commonalities Task Group Jose Velo and Rebecca Norwood reported that there has been a discussion of user ID issues, current, desired, and future. Fire departments want a radio capability to transmit ID s with an appropriate number of characters to understand which radio is transmitting and enough ID s to cover larger systems. There should be uniform ID across analog and digital. John Oblak indicated that there is a steering committee for P25, and that the TIA can move this issue forward. Within an AHJ, ID transmission is possible. Brian Martens and Mike Worrell will develop draft language. 7. Presentations A review of Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) Standards was provided by John Oblak. Steve Makky provided a presentation on the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC) which included an overview of the National Public Safety Broadband Network (NPSBN), a launch statement of requirements for FirstNet that was issued in December 2012, and the Mission Critical Voice Communications Requirements for Public Safety from NPSTC. Steve Weinstein will contact an expert in the area of Speech Transmission Index (STI) to attend a future technical committee meeting. Mike Worrell provided an update on FirstNet. Over the near term, FirstNet s focus will be on data capabilities, and mission critical voice has been established as a subcommittee of the LTE group. Kamil Agi provided a presentation related to FCC requirements for the communications industry on incorporating FCC testing into the NFPA Standard. The discussion included an FCC prerequisite to submit radios for certification and the application to international users. 4
Gerry Tarver provided a presentation on vocoders and the need to certify the vocoder as a part of this standard. Some manufacturers process radio audio input prior to the arrival of this signal at the vocoder. The discussion also included the possibility of a requirement for a universal connector for the radio to interface with an SCBA or other item. Bluetooth or wireless connections are also possible. 8. Task Group Breakout Sessions 9. New Business Chairman Athanas appointed a task group and asked for a presentation at the committee s next meeting to help the members of the committee understand the certification process and the impact of certification requirements on innovation and product changes once a product is certified to the standard. Gerry Tarver will chair this TG with members John Oblak, Joel Berger, Matt Busa, David Jenks, Brian Martens and Jim Rose. Others are welcome to participate. The Chairman also established a Task Group on Definitions to be chaired by Tim Wolf. Paul Kelly, Matt Busa, Matt Bowyer, Beverly Gulledge, Brian Martens and John Oblak were also appointed to the task group. Chairman Athanas also appointed committee members and alternates to act as liaisons to the following organizations and projects: Mike Worrell John Oblak Steve Makky Gordon Sletmoe John Facella Steve Townsend FirstNet, IAFF Telecommunications Industry Association APCO/NPSTC IAFC/NPSTC NFPA 1221 Technical Committee, IAFC, NPSTC EMS group IAB A conference call related to CBRNE testing for SCBA s was conducted during the TC meeting. CC Chair Bill Haskell led a discussion of an issue that came to the attention of NIOSH related to the testing of SCBA to comply with the NFPA SCBA standard. Bruce Varner discussed the pace of change in technology and the impact on the scope of the standard. Changes to the document title, scope and several definitions were discussed. These recommendations will be processed during the preparation of the draft document and the subsequent revision process according to the NFPA Regulations Governing the Development of NFPA Standards. 5
Proposed Meeting dates for 2014 are as follows: March 19/20 - first choice Fort Lauderdale, Savannah July 9/10 first choice San Francisco, Vancouver, Seattle November 18/19 first choice Austin Chairman Athanas noted an NFPA project funded by NIST to look at technologies that are currently available that may be applicable to the fire service. A workshop will be held in 2014 looking for participants to help draft a roadmap for smart firefighters, to be completed in 2014. More information is available at smartffworkshop@nfpa.org The NFPA Technical Committee on Respiratory Protection Equipment plans for the next edition of 1981 to include a task group on communications will coordinate with this committee on SCBA communications devices related to SCBA. Steve Weinstein is on both committees and will act as the liaison on this and other common issues. Chairman Athanas appointed a subgroup to the Physical Properties Task Group to include Steve Weinstein, Craig Gestler, Simon Hogg, Matt Shannon, and Shane Bray. This subgroup will provide recommendations to the Electronic Safety Equipment committee and the Respiratory Protection Equipment committee in order to garner support of both committees and direct the coordination of future work. Chairman Athanas requested that Tim Wolf s Task Group on Definitions prepare a draft set of definitions for the March 2014 meeting. With no old business or additional new business, the meeting was adjourned passed by Chairman Athanas at 11:38 a.m. on Thursday, December 12, 2013. 6