PSCR Is Excited to Announce the Launch of the Virtual Public Safety Test Environment Challenge

Up to $50,000 in prizes for the design of a physical measurement environment that uses immersive virtual reality tools for testing new first responder technologies.

New technologies, including wearable interfaces like heads up displays, smart watches, and biological monitors have the potential to increase first responder safety while enhancing performance. However, variability in current testing procedures/environments pose a challenge in assessing the effectiveness of emerging technologies. To assess the potential of new technologies and compare technologies against each other, NIST is crowdsourcing ideas that use virtual/immersive environments in conjunction with physical spaces to create accurate first responder scenarios and a repeatable test environment for technology evaluation.

Registration: To register for the challenge competition:

  • Go to HeroX.com
  • Register with a username and password.
  • Official entries are accepted only through the HeroX platform on or before 5 PM ET, May 3, 2017.

How do I Win? To be eligible for an award, your design proposal must, at minimum:

  • Satisfy the Judging Criteria requirements
  • Thoughtfully address the Submission Form questions
  • Be scored higher than your competitors!

Prize:  NIST will award a grand total of up to $50,000 in overall cash prizes:

  • The guaranteed minimum prize amount, per finalist, will be $5,000
  • Up to 5 competitors could share a $45,000 prize purse, as awarded by the judges
  • A popular choice award of $5,000, determined by crowd voting, will be given following the submission deadline.

Challenge winners will be announced at the annual PSCR Public Safety Broadband Stakeholder Meeting, June 12 -14 in San Antonio, Texas.

For more information, on the challenge and for the official rules and judging criteria, please visit Challenge.Gov.