Publication

Abstract : We present a public safety system that (1) redefines how emergency calls are presently made (2) has been designed to be fully context aware. First, we describe Rover 2.0, a context aware framework which caters to the development of mobile applications. The framework uses a paradigm for handling context information, which could be user specific context, combined with the general context of the system and the environment, to provide relevant functions and support to the users through the applications. More importantly, we present M-Urgency, a public safety application, developed on the Rover 2.0 platform that redefines the way an emergency call is made to the PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point). M-Urgency enables mobile users to stream live video from their devices to local PSAP along with the audio stream, the real time location information and any personal relevant information about the caller. We are in the process of deploying the M-Urgency system at the University of Maryland Police Department for a pilot.