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M-LA Technical Developments
8
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF EMERGENCY ALARMS AND CALLS
by Ajazunnisa Nayeem, Armando Vera, Arthur Fumarolo and Heidi Hattendorf
Radio users have the ability to establish emer- gency alarms and calls within a communication sys- tem. Dispatch operators can handle these emergen- cies through their console positions. A console position typically monitors several radio channels/ talkgroups, and typically sounds an audible alarm tone if an emergency alarm is received on any ofthe channels/talkgroups being monitored. It is possible for more than one emergency alarm to be pending on any specific channel/talkgroup, and a differentia- tion between these multiple emergencies should be displayed to the dispatch operator.
Since the emergencies being reported at the con- sole usually represent dangerous, and even life- threatening situations, it is important for the dis- patch operator to differentiate between emergency situations that are currently handled by other oper- ators, and those still needing attention.
designed to be loud and annoying, in order to cap- ture the attention of the dispatch operators. Unfortunately, because these alarm tones are annoy- ing, they may be extinguished (by a dispatch opera- tor) for the purpose of stopping the tones, even when the dispatch operator has no intention of actually taking responsibility for handling the emergency sit- uation. Consequently, the emergency remains active, but no warning tones are present to alert other dis- patch operators of the emergency situation. Other dispatch operators may erroneously assume that who- ever turned off the tones may be handling the emergency.
Additionally, when several emergency alarms and/or calls occur simultaneously, an operator may elect to handle one of these emergency alarms or calls, but other operators may not know exactly which ofthe emergency alarms/calls is being handled. Con- sequently, operators do not know which emergen- cies are currently being handled, or by whom. In some cases, when multiple emergencies are reported on the same radio channel/talkgroup, dispatch oper- ators must listen to the audible conversation on the emergency channel/talkgroup to determine which of the multiple eme...
