Periodic Report Summary 2 - REDIRNET (Emergency Responder Data Interoperability Network) Project Context and Objectives:The REDIRNET project introduces an interoperability system that provides seamless interoperability for participating agencies at a minor investment but with great flexibility via a REDIRNET socio-professional web.The call for greater cooperation and interoperability between different emergency services at scenes of major crisis events has been present for some time. With the increasing level of complexities of events and the greater developed specialism of experts this need for interoperability will continue to grow and require more effective communication and information exchange - facilitated and supported by a range of sophisticated modern technologies and IT systems.The REDIRNET idea is based on the unification of a meta-data interface with socio-professional networking where agencies can configure all the attributes of their interoperability with other agencies.The idea of free and secure interoperability connection of communications originates from the FREESIC project; REDIRNET significantly extends this interoperability to other IT areas.The overall vision of the REDIRNET project can be summarized in the following concepts:• The building of a socio-professional network of emergency responder agencies, including across state borders, prior to major event activation• The interconnection of responder agency communication systems without major investment and close to zero operational costs• Agencies being readily able to join REDIRNET, stay connected without major investments and configure interoperability connections as operational needs demandThis project aims technically to provide the communication solution of exchange and sharing, data, images, video, CCTV and remote sensor information. The REDIRNET consortium offers public safety agencies the capability to interconnect their communication infrastructures regardless of state borders; REDIRNET provides a platform, configuration interfaces and generic system gateway (open source) that can be modified by the ICT integrators that support responder agencies to connect their system to this platform. The REDIRNET platform, in accord with individual agency protocols, enables organisations to set which data fields are visible to selected partners; each agency can also search and browse the profiles of other agencies and request interoperability in line with agreed multi-agency contingency plans for various types of incidents; dynamic agency inter-connectivity and configuration during events is also achievable. REDIRNET ObjectivesObjective 1: Provide a register of interoperability issues and needs (legal, cultural, organisational, commercial and technical) based on end-user elicitation and documentary research of the past critical eventsObjective 2: Definition of interoperability framework in term of procedures and technology standardsObjective 3: Bring the Interoperability platform to lifeObjective 4: Integrate the first usersObjective 5: Establish Europe wide cooperation and awareness about REDIRNET with ambition of the standardisation of its conceptProject Results:During this first reporting period the performed works focused on analysis of all kinds of requirements gathered from end-users, their identification (WP2) and validation (WP3). All consultations which were made with relevant public authorities in EU member states (WP3) were used for the creation of procedures, guidelines and recommendations (WP3).Technical works focused on identification of all technical requirements and specifications which were collected and used as the basis for the draft version of the REDIRNET functional design (WP2). This document became the basis for the system architecture document (WP3) and for the whole phase of implementation of the interoperability platform, the gateway and the appropriate tools (WP4). Even though the integration phase of the project is at an early stage (WP5), the potential of the technologies used for REDIRNET system (WP6) were shown during the mid-term demonstration. Significant efforts have been dedicated to REDIRNET dissemination activities since the project launch. The project was exhibited and presented at its own stand during the BAPCO exhibition in April 2015, the project results were presented at several conferences in 2014 and 2015. One of the principal drivers of the activities of the project is the end-user focus. The consortium is determined to maximize the added value that REDIRNET brings to its potential end-users. Therefore, the consortium is approaching potential stakeholders to shape the solution as well as to validate the initiatives (process definitions, design options) proposed in the course of the project. These stakeholder approaches are partially used to present the REDIRNET idea as the dissemination activities are also used to gather information. Thus each contact with external communities is used for two-way information flow, on one side general awareness about REDIRNET is augmented, on the other side useful feedback information is collected and later considered in the project. The project consortium has managed to consult end-users in eight European countries: Belgium, Czech Republic, Luxemburg, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and UK. For the validation phase, experts from countries outside the EU (e.g. Canada, USA and Australia) were involved too. The table in the appendix presents the details of all these engagements up to the end of Month 15.The consortium has also started vital cooperation with three other EU projects addressing similar topic areas as REDIRNET. Even though the cooperation has just started, it seems that it will be possible to create synergies and develop productive cooperation in several areas.Potential Impact:The final results are expected for August 2016. The expected impact will be described in the REDIRNET Exploitation plan document (D7.3)List of Websites:www.redirnet.eu Other report summaries Periodic Report Summary 1 - REDIRNET (Emergency Responder Data Interoperability Network)
