Launch Meeting for Version 2 Update of Standardization Roadmap; Register by September 3

New York, July 22, 2019: The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) announced today the opening of registration for the 2019 meeting of its Unmanned Aircraft Systems Standardization Collaborative (UASSC), scheduled for September 12 in Washington, DC. The meeting is the official kickoff  to support the development of a version 2 update of the Standardization Roadmap for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (December 2018).

Launched in September 2017, the UASSC’s mission is to coordinate and accelerate the development of the standards and conformance programs needed to safely integrate UAS into the national airspace, with particular emphasis on civil, commercial, and public safety applications. The UASSC itself does not develop standards but, rather, helps to coordinate the efforts of standards developing organizations (SDOs) and those who participate in standards development. Goals for the roadmap version 2 include expanding the content to include topics such as spectrum, urban air mobility, and recreational operations, etc., bringing in subject matter experts not previously involved, identifying potentially overlooked gaps, tracking progress to address the roadmap recommendations, reviewing priorities, and otherwise incorporating feedback. The target date for publication of version 2 is the end of June 2020. working groups (WGs) will convene twice a month conference calls starting in October to update the document.

The UASSC meeting will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. EDT on September 12 at the AAMC Learning Center, 655 K Street, NW, Room LC 200 (2^nd Floor), Washington, DC, followed by a networking reception. Participation is open to UAS stakeholders that have operations in the United States. There is no fee to participate but advance registration by September 3^rd is required. The draft agenda is posted on the UASSC website. Meeting attendees are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the roadmap, review the topics covered by each WG, and return the sign-up sheet.

Sponsorship opportunities are available with recognition benefits at the meeting, on the web, and in print collateral. All sponsorship revenue is directly applied to help offset ANSI’s costs of operating the UASSC. ANSI extends its appreciation to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science & Technology Directorate, and others, for their generous contributions in support of the UASSC. The UASSC is co-chaired by Jay Merkle, the FAA’s executive director of UAS integration, and Matt Zuccaro, president and CEO of the Helicopter Association International.

“We are pleased to hear that the UASSC roadmap has been well received by the FAA, industry, SDOs, and others. The planned revision of the roadmap offers an opportunity for UAS stakeholder engagement to help develop and refine recommendations on standardization’s role in helping to safely integrate UAS into the national airspace,” said ANSI president and CEO S. Joe Bhatia.

More information is available at www.ansi.org/uassc.

About ANSI
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is a private non-profit organization whose mission is to enhance U.S. global competitiveness and the American quality of life by promoting, facilitating, and safeguarding the integrity of the voluntary standardization and conformity assessment system. Its membership is made up of businesses, professional societies and trade associations, standards developers, government agencies, and consumer and labor organizations. ANSI represents and serves the diverse interests of more than 270,000 companies and organizations and 30 million professionals worldwide.

Washington, DC – The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) recently joined the Integrated Justice Information Systems (IJIS) Institute and Google to host the Text-to-911 Translation TechFest at the Google campus in Kirkland, Washington. The TechFest was designed to encourage nationwide efforts to improve technologies in support of public safety communications and response, particularly for people with limited English proficiency. The event included participation from technologists, public safety leaders, language service providers, and trade associations.

When DHS S&T and IJIS began the project in February of 2015, less than three percent of the nation’s 6,000 Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs), also known as 911 call centers, had implemented Text-to-911. Since then, not only has the number of PSAPs using the platform increased to 30 percent, but federal, state, and local laws have required call centers to ensure that the platform is available to the Limited English Proficient (LEP) population. Currently, almost 28 million people across the United States are identified as LEP and need to be accommodated as more PSAPs implement the technology in their respective communities.

“We anticipate the end result of this joint project will be a national standard for implementing Text-to-911 to LEP populations as well as operational, business, and training protocols that will ensure consistent national implementation,” said DHS S&T program manager Denis Gusty.

The TechFest provided insight to the advancements in currently available translation technology and also highlighted restrictions in translation, such as colloquial terminology and text shorthand. Overall, the TechFest revealed the need for further research and development to ensure 911 calls are answered efficiently and first responders are provided the correct information to respond.

Presently, DHS S&T and IJIS are researching best practices as well as interviewing experts in emergency communication, next generation 911 technology and public safety to develop standards that will be implemented nationally. DHS S&T and IJIS anticipate pilot tests with Arlington and Prince William counties in Virginia to test the protocols as well as determine estimated costs of nationwide implementation. These test pilots will begin in late summer of 2019.

A radiological dispersal device (RDD), or “dirty bomb,” detonation in a local jurisdiction will have significant consequences for public safety, responder health and critical infrastructure operations. First responders and emergency managers must quickly assess the hazard, issue protective action recommendations, triage and treat the injured, and secure the scene in support of the individuals, families and businesses in the impacted community. This is why, in 2017, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) National Urban Security Technology Laboratory (NUSTL), in partnership with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Department of Energy (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) published guidance for first responders and emergency managers on how to plan for the first minutes of an RDD detonation response.

The Radiological Dispersal Device Response Guidance Planning for the First 100 Minutes is the result of years of scientific research and experimentation conducted by DOE laboratories – Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) and Sandia National Laboratories – coupled with S&T NUSTL’s direct conversations with first responders about operationalizing and documenting the scientific recommendations. The Guidance includes five missions and ten tactics to address initial response efforts. It is intended to be engaging and easy to use, allowing communities to plug in their specific assets, agencies and response protocols.

“The Guidance provides emergency planners and first responders across the nation with a playbook of best practices to start from in planning for a RDD detonation response,” said Ben Stevenson, Program Manager at S&T NUSTL.

Now that the Guidance is published, S&T’s NUSTL is leading efforts to make it accessible to the responder communities who will need to incorporate it into their planning efforts and to state and federal partners that will support the response.