COORDINATORs: TAEMS Modeling and Interfacing for First Response

The number and kind of threats to life and property in an emergency situation is immense. Couple the magnitude of the potential threats with their typically rapid evolution from first detection to response, and the need for fast, coordinated response is apparent. This need is only increased by the threat of chemical, biological, or nuclear terrorist acts. The wide array of potential threats together with the dynamism of emergency situations shows the importance of efficient and effective emergency response team coordination and highlights the need for flexible, semi-autonomous decision support aids. This paper describes the application of TÆMS agent technology to the problem of coordinating distributed emergency response teams. We present the technology application through an emergency response scenario and offer thoughts on extending TÆMS agent technology to better suit the needs of today’s emergency responders.