2011 – Silver Medal for Successful Implementation of a Voluntary Project 25 Compliance Assessment Program that Increases Public Safety

A team of ten PSCR program staff received a group Silver Medal in the category of Leadership from the U.S. Department of Commerce at ceremonies in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, December 13, 2011.

Jeffrey Bratcher, Ronald Carey, John Ewan, Eric Nelson, Dereck Orr, Christopher Redding, Dr. Robert Stafford, Irena Stange, John Vanderau, and Andrew Thiessen received a group U.S. Department of Commerce Silver Medal for leading the inter-agency effort that developed and implemented the P25 (Project 25) CAP (Compliance Assessment Program) to meet public safety's need for objective evidence that specific LMR (land mobile radio) systems meet standards of performance and interoperability.

Previously, public safety did not have a consistent method to compare LMR based on rigourous testing for interoperability, conformance, and performance. Today, based on the efforts of the group and in cooperation with industry, the majority of P25 LMR products sold are represented in the P25 CAP.

From left: Commerce Secretary, John Bryson; Jeffrey Bratcher of NTIA/ITS (National Telecommunications and Information Administration/Institute for Telecommunication Sciences); Dereck Orr of NIST/OLES (National Institute of Standards and Technology/Office of Law Enforcement Standards); Eric Nelson, John Vanderau, Dr. Robert Stafford, and Ronald Carey of NTIA/ITS; Acting Deputy Secretary of Commerce, Rebecca Blank; Assistant Secretary of NTIA; and Director of NIST and Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology, Dr. Patrick D. Gallagher. (Not shown: John Ewan, Christopher Redding, Irena Stange, and Andrew Thiessen of NTIA/ITS) Click to enlarge image.

2010 – Bronze Medal for Public Safety Video Quality Initiative

Dr. Carolyn Ford (right) received a U.S. Department of Commerce Bronze Medal for Scientific/Engineering Achievement at ceremonies in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, December 1, 2010 in recognition of her initiative and leadership of the PSCR (Public Safety Communications Research) program’s PSVQ (Public Safety Video Quality) team and development of the VQiPS (Video Quality in Public Safety) working group.

Dr. Ford’s PSVQ team developed a VQiPS user guide (PDF (Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format) available here; web format available here) to help public safety agencies match their video needs to appropriate specifications, and to provide a communications framework between public safety agencies, researchers and industry for the development and dissemination of past, current and future research.

Please click here or the caption below for information about the other two ITS (Institute for Telecommunication Sciences) staff Bronze Medal winners.

From left: Carol VanStory, Robert DeBolt, ITS Director Al Vincent, Dr. Carolyn Ford. Click to enlarge image.

2008 – Gold Medal for Project 25 Inter-RF Subsystem Interface Test Tool Development

Three PSCR program staff received a group Gold Medal in the category of Scientific and Engineering Achievement from the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Department’s highest honor, at ceremonies in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, November 18, 2008.

Kameron Behnam, Mudumbai Ranganathan, and Stephen Quirolgico received a group U.S. Department of Commerce Gold Medal for their efforts to enhance public safety communications. The team received the award for developing the ITT (Inter-RF Subsystem Interface Test Tool) to test the P25 (Project 25) ISSI (Inter-RF Subsystem Interface) and CSSI (Console Subsystem Interface).

The ITT software tool is being used by industry to verify that communication interfaces between different emergency responder radio systems are working and that vendor products meet communication standards for interoperability. This accomplishment supports the Commerce Department’s goal of improving public safety communications to better serve Americans and protect American security.

From left: Commerce Secretary, Carlos Guiterez; Stephen Quirolgico (Mudumbai Ranganathan is not pictured) of NIST/OLES (National Institute of Standards and Technology/Office of Law Enforcement Standards); Kameron Behnam of NTIA/ITS (National Telecommunications and Information Administration/Institute for Telecommunication Sciences); NTIA Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information, Meredith Attwell Baker; Deputy Secretary of Commerce, John J. Sullivan; and Deputy Director of NIST, Patrick D. Gallagher. Click to enlarge image.

2006 – Gold Medal for Enhancement of Public Safety Communications

A team of ten PSCR program staff received a group Gold Medal in the category of Scientific and Engineering Achievement from the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Department’s highest honor, at ceremonies in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, November 8, 2006.

DJ Atkinson, Randy Bloomfield, Jeffrey Bratcher, Dereck Orr, Eldon Haakinson (retired), Eric Nelson, Val Pietrasiewicz, Andrew Thiessen, Ken Tilley, and Bruce Ward received a group Gold Medal for their efforts to enhance public safety communications. The team received the award for assisting government-wide planning, assessment, and standardization of technologies to achieve interoperable communications among emergency responders.

The team addressed technological advancements to improve radio coverage depended upon by police, firefighters, emergency medical personnel, dispatchers, and other first responders during local and national emergencies. This accomplishment supports the Commerce Department’s goal of improving public safety communications to better serve Americans and protect American security.

The Gold Medal award specifically highlights the team’s leadership in two areas: developing a national strategy for improvement of public safety communications, and assisting the development of technical standards to enable rapid deployment of a new generation of digital land mobile radio systems. Federal, state, and local public safety agencies are widely implementing these systems today.

From left: Commerce Secretary, Carlos Guiterez; Dereck Orr of NIST/OLES (National Institute of Standards and Technology/Office of Law Enforcement Standards); Bruce Ward, Ken Tilley, Val Pietrasiewicz, Andrew Thiessen, Eric Nelson, Eldon Haakinson (retired), Jeffrey Bratcher, Randy Bloomfield, and DJ Atkinson of NTIA/ITS (National Telecommunications and Information Administration/Institute for Telecommunication Sciences); and NTIA Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information, John M. R. Kneuer. Click to enlarge image.