PracticeCom Training for Rural Communities Emergency Workers

This Phase I SBIR conducted research on the feasibility of a web-based virtual radio platform called PracticeCom. The PracticeCom platform aims to deliver an enriched training environment for scenario based first responder incident command and radio communication skills development. inXsol, an award winning eLearning developer, has industry experience in the fire service, disaster response, defense and aerospace which are all markets which can benefit from this technology.

The Phase I goal was to advance prototype technology of a training platform and innovate on the learner experience. The prototype foundation was a self-funded project developed during Covid to address ongoing training needs for first responders unable to attend live in person events. The essence of the platform is to:
Provide realistic simulated radio communications capability around scenario based role play exercises.
Enhance the training with automated transcripts and evaluation tools.
Integrate purpose built scenario based visualizations for role play and incident evolution exercises.

The Phase I Specific Aims were:

Specific Aim 1 (SA1) “Refine Functional Prototypes of Virtual Radio Technologies.”
This research and development was focused on eliminating browser specific sensitivities and bandwidth optimization by migrating to a centralized cloud service for the machine learning based speech recognition, recording and speech recognition optimization/learning.

Specific Aim 2 (SA2) “Create Instructor Scenario Control for participants & Feature Set.”
This research and development is focused on the non radio learning environment. To support practice in role play exercises each participant needs to visually experience their view of an incident.In Phase I the basic authorability of multiple roles and use of signalR will be iterated to create the learning environment.

Specific Aim 3 (SA3) “Conduct Pilot Tests and Refinements.”
The project stakeholders include the FireFighter union the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) and lead instructor/ member departments of Blue Card Incident Command training system (www.bshifter.com). The officer level population who are instructors provide the validation and feedback to the project iterations.