New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Deploys the Socket Cordless Serial Adapter to First Responders in Case of Bioterrorism and Chemical Attacks
New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene 

“Environmental scientists are now armed with
information that they’ve never been privy to before, so they’re making decisions that are leaps and bounds beyond anything they’ve been able to do in the past.
So it’s almost a whole new lease on life for these
people, and obviously when you’ve got life decisions to
be made, this is a critical, critical benefit.”
Nimit Sabharwal, President and cofounder, Global Bay

Challenge: Access environmental data in the field in real time

Solution: Socket Cordless Serial Adapter with Bluetooth® Wireless Technology, Intermec Pocket PC, LinksPoint GPS receiver, environmental monitoring equipment, and HazardPoint software from Global Bay

Results: Real-time retrieval and communication of environmental data from anywhere, improving the ability to make life safety decisions. Greater accuracy and volume of environmental data. Improved mobility with the wireless connection enables faster equipment setup and data retrieval, as well as increased safety of first responders in potentially dangerous situations.

Bluetooth Provides Better Access to Environmental Data for Making Life Safety Decisions

When the GOP decided to hold the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City, the local government faced the awesome challenge of securing the city’s safety during the event. Not only was New York City the site of past terrorism attacks, 2004 was also a highly contentious election year, so the city’s public services wanted to be prepared for the worst.

To help ready the area for potential bioterrorism or chemical attacks, the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) equipped emergency personnel with a sophisticated mobile environmental monitoring system that features a Socket Cordless Serial Adapter with Bluetooth Wireless Technology, Intermec Pocket PC, LinksPoint GPS receiver, environmental monitoring equipment, and HazardPoint software from Global Bay.

Socket’s Cordless Serial Adapter was attached to environmental monitoring equipment such as radiation detectors and chemical sniffers so they could quickly and safely be deployed to potential hazard sites during the rush of an emergency. Global Bay, the New Jersey-based developer that created the system for DOHMH, used Bluetooth to increase the solution’s overall mobility. In dangerous situations, wireless technology also allowed personnel to receive diagnostic readings on their Pocket PC from a safe distance.

“These emergency responders collect maybe 50, 100 or 200 readings automatically via Bluetooth from the instruments, get a GPS location, and this was all being wirelessly transmitted back through either GPRS or Wi-Fi to a central server for realtime analysis,” said Nimit Sabharwal, cofounder and vice president of Global Bay. “With this information, environmental scientists could identify hot zones or warm zones, and make life safety decisions.”

Getting Data in Real Time
In the past, emergency responders gave reports over the phone. This process was slow, had a large margin of error, and communicated only a limited amount of data. The new wireless system has made a drastic improvement. “Environmental scientists are now armed with information that they’ve never been privy to before, so they’re making decisions that are leaps and bounds beyond anything they’ve been able to do in the past,” Sabharwal said. “So it’s almost a whole new lease on life for these people, and obviously when you’ve got life decisions to be made, this is a critical, critical benefit.”

Choosing a Wireless Solution
Global Bay chose Socket’s Cordless Serial Adapter primarily for its durability in rugged situations. The company also selected the adapter because of its compatibility with a variety of environmental instruments.

“Different instruments have different baud rates that need to be supported, and Socket’s Cordless Serial Adapter did support the majority of the devices, “ Sabharwal said. “We thought Socket had the best end-to-end solution.”