A Digital-Twin-Enabled Testbed for Public Safety Communication Technologies

Overview

In June 2022, Texas A&M University was awarded $1.2M for the Public Safety Innovation Accelerator Program 2022 (PSIAP-2022) funding opportunity.

This project aims to build a digital-twin-enabled testbed with state-of-the-art user interface/user experience technologies and advanced simulation models to provide a photorealistic virtual reality environment for first responders and emergency managers to engage, experience, and explore the latest sensing and communication technologies.

As shown in the overview diagram below, at the center of this project is a digital twin created for the training sites in the Disaster City®, a 52-acre training facility managed by the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) to deliver the full array of skills and techniques needed by today’s emergency response professionals.

In addition to serving as a virtual testing and training facility for first responders, the testbed can also function as an open platform for researchers and entrepreneurs worldwide to collaborate with first responders and emergency managers to develop next-generation sensing and communication technologies and devices for public safety usage. We envision the testbed as an attempt towards a systematic plan to fill critical technology gaps identified by stakeholders and to build a public safety-focused R&D ecosystem with a long-lasting impact.

Figure 1. The overview diagram of a Digital-Twin enabled testbed for public safety communication technologies. The development of an online market and collaborations with research labs and device providers (shown in dashed boxes) are not in the scope of this proposed project.

Team

Texas A&M University – Key Personnel

Jian Tao, PI, PVFA/TAMIDS
Walt Magnussen, Co-PI, ITEC
Nick Duffield, Co-PI, ECEN/TAMIDS
Andre Thomas, Co-PI, PVFA
Narasimha Reddy, Co-PI, ECEN
Anjuli “A.J.” Renold (formerly Joan Quintana), Project Manager, ITEC
Michael E. Fox, SI, ITEC

Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) – Key Personnel

Ray Ivie (formerly Jason Moats), Director, TEEX Testing & Innovation Center
Mike Avolio (formerly Ray Ivie), Technology Evaluation Manager, TEEX Testing & Innovation Center
Client Arnett, Training Manager, Rescue Programs, TEEX Emergency Services Training Institute

Aggies contributed to the project

Role	Name	Degree/Status	Department/School	Graduation Year
UI/UX Development	Nicole Hatch	M.S. Graduate	School of Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts	2023
UI/UX Development	Alyssa Cassity	M.S. Student	School of Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts	–
Radio Coverage Map Development	Hieu Le	PhD Student	Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering	–
Network Infrastructure Development	Hernan David Santos	PhD Student	Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering	–
IoT & Virtual Sensor Platform Development	Harikrishnan (Hari) Raghukumar	M.S. in Data Science (MSDS) Graduate	Department of Computer Science, College of Engineering	2024
Lead of Technical Asset Development and Engine Implementation	Dylan Florence	B.S. Student	School of Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts	2024
3D Asset Development	Macey McCuller	B.S. Student	School of Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts	2023
Technical Asset Development and Engine Implementation	Vy Lam	B.S. Student	School of Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts	2023
3D Asset Development	Samantha Braswell	B.S. Student	School of Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts	–
3D Asset Development	Genevieve Marenco	B.S. Student	School of Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts	2023
3D Asset Development	Emmanuel Tabb	M.S. Student	School of Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts	–
Technical Asset Development and Engine Implementation	Leah George	M.S. Student	School of Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts	–
Technical Asset Development and Engine Implementation	Bryn Shellenback	B.S. Student	School of Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts	–
3D Asset Development	Ethan Laird	B.S. Student	School of Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts	2024
3D Asset Development	Veronika Minina	M.S. Student	School of Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts	–

Reference Model for Demonstrative Digital Twin

MQTT/Unreal First Responders Demo – Prototyping

Created by: Nicole Hatch, M.S. Student, School of Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts Advisor: Dr. Jian Tao, Section of Visual Computing & Computational Media, School of Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts

Minimap and Menu for Unreal + MQTT Demo – Mockup Scenario with Minimap and UI

Created by: Nicole Hatch, M.S. Student, School of Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts. Advisor: Dr. Jian Tao, Section of Visual Computing & Computational Media, School of Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts.

UI VirtualCam Demo + MQTT – Mockup Scenario with Virtual Camera

Disaster City + Weather System Demo – System Integration

Created by: Alyssa Cassity, M.S. Student, School of Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts. Advisor: Dr. Jian Tao, Section of Visual Computing & Computational Media, School of Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts. 3D Assets by Learning Interactive Visualization Experience (LIVE) Lab led by Andre Thomas.

Live Demo at Interop 24 – Public Demonstration

The demonstration video captured at Interop 24 (https://www.interop2024.com/) showcases the latest status of the project as of May 1st, 2024. Created by: Alyssa Cassity, M.S. Student, School of Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts. Advisor: Dr. Jian Tao, Section of Visual Computing & Computational Media, School of Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts. 3D Assets by Learning Interactive Visualization Experience (LIVE) Lab led by Andre Thomas.

NIST – Digital Twin