The Internet of Things promises to provide a wide range of futuristic benefits, but what is often overlooked is how deeply IoT sensors and data analytics already impact how we live and how we conduct business. This is especially true of crisis communications. Here, IoT has far-reaching implications, both in the present and in the future. This whitepaper explores how IoT sensors powerfully expand the capabilities of networked crisis communication solutions. It also discusses typical scenarios for incorporating IoT sensor data within emergency preparedness scenarios. Finally, it demonstrates why AtHoc is particularly well suited for using IoT data to deliver faster, more accurate situational awareness in an intuitive manner, without inundating employees with excess data or forcing emergency management staff to become data scientists.

1. How the Internet of Things
Leads to Better, Faster
Crisis Communication
Accelerating Emergency Responses
and Enhancing Situational Awareness
White Paper

2. Executive Summary 3
An Introduction - Or Reintroduction -
to the Internet of Things 3
Networks Crisis Communication Take
Advantage of Both Models 4
Extremely Remote Environments 4
Industrial Operations 4
Mobile Monitoring and Tracking 5
Avoiding Data Overload 7
Real-World Examples 8
Port of Houston Authority 8
BlackBerry Radar 8
Secure, Data-Driven Design Meets
Streamlined IoT Extensibility 9
Conclusion 10
About AtHoc 10
Table of Contents
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3. The Internet of Things promises to provide a
wide range of futuristic benefits, but what is
often overlooked is how deeply IoT sensors
and data analytics already impact how we
live and how we conduct business. This is
especially true of crisis communications. Here,
IoT has far-reaching implications, both in the
present and in the future.
Networked crisis communication as practiced
by AtHoc is data-driven. Predefined templates
for addressing specific scenarios are the
key for automating emergency responses.
Triggers can be driven by IoT sensors just as
easily as by an individual pulling a fire alarm
or field personnel reporting an active shooter,
and inexpensive, automated transfer of data
enables organizations to recognize dangerous
situations sooner. This is especially useful in
remote or inaccessible areas, or when it is too
risky to send human beings to provide eyes-on
situational awareness.
This whitepaper explores how IoT sensors
powerfully expand the capabilities of
networked crisis communication solutions.
It also discusses typical scenarios for
incorporating IoT sensor data within
emergency preparedness scenarios. Finally, it
demonstrates why AtHoc is particularly well
suited for using IoT data to deliver faster, more
accurate situational awareness in an intuitive
manner, without inundating employees
with excess data or forcing emergency
management staff to become data scientists.
According to Wikipedia, the Internet of Things
(IoT) is:
. . . the network of physical devices,
vehicles, buildings and other items—
embedded with electronics, software,
sensors, actuators, and network
connectivity that enable these objects
to collect and exchange data . . .The
IoT allows objects to be sensed and
controlled remotely across existing network
infrastructure, creating opportunities for
more direct integration of the physical
world into computer-based systems, and
resulting in improved efficiency, accuracy,
and economic benefit … Experts estimate
that the IoT will consist of almost 50 billion
objects by 2020.
The costs of internet connectivity have plummeted,
as has the physical size needed for cellular, NFC,
WiFi, or other wireless radios and receivers. Almost
anything that collects digital data can now become
a sensor providing information via the Internet – and
almost everything that can be connected to the
internet is being connected to the internet.
Some of these applications are trivial, such as
refrigerators that sense when the household is
short on milk and alert homeowners to pick up a
fresh carton on the way home. Others are already
deeply embedded into everyday life, such as the
Smart Cities initiatives that use IoT data to improve
quality of life and operational efficiencies in major
metropolitan areas around the world.
There are two basic variants of IoT at work today.
The first is when data is collected and sent
automatically to central repositories for analysis, as
a prelude to being interpreted and used by people.
This is what most think of when they hear the term
“Internet of Things.”
The depth and breadth of data provided by IoT
sensors help uncover insights and patterns that
cannot normally be observed, leading to faster,
better, strategic and operational decisions.
Potentially risky situations can be recognized
sooner, with corrective action taking place before
the situation spins out of control.
An Introduction – Or Reintroduction – to the Internet of Things
Executive Summary
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4. AtHoc’s data-driven, template-based design means
that input from IoT sensors can give emergency
managers deeper situational awareness sooner,
leading to more appropriate alerts and responses,
along with automated triggers that save critical
moments when human analysis is not necessary.
These IoT inputs also allow AtHoc to be deployed
across a number of unexpected environments. Two
practical scenarios follow, although the possibilities
for AtHoc’s value when paired with IoT is limited
only by cost or imagination.
Extremely Remote Environments
IoT sensors are excellent, low-cost detectors
for fire, smoke, acoustic, or seismic activity in
backcountry areas, especially when disasters in
these remote locations carry the potential to impact
populated areas. Data from IoT sensors that meets
specific criteria can deliver accurate advance notice
of what is likely to be a fire, earthquake, volcano or
flash flood.
AtHoc can automatically issue the appropriate alerts
when these criteria are met. This automated system
is especially important when it takes a long time
to get human confirmation of a situation, but early
intervention can minimize the threat.
A backcountry area near a suburban population
center during the summer, when conditions are
favorable for wildfires, is one example. IoT sensors
can measure humidity in the air and soil, as well
as rapidly changing barometric pressure which
together indicate a situation where the forest is at
high risk for wildfire and a thunderstorm is imminent.
Other sensors that track heat and smoke can
provide confirmation that a fire has begun.
This automatically collected information can trigger
an AtHoc alert for a wildfire scenario, contacting
the governmental agencies responsible for fighting
wildfires in that area. Responders can be placed on
call and equipment can be mustered and prepared
while staff members or drones fly over the affected
area to confirm the crisis.
Since responders know about the situation sooner,
they have the ability to react before the wildfire
ranges out of control. By containing the situation
to a relatively small event, the threat to people and
property is minimized.
Industrial Operations
Another application for AtHoc and IoT sensors is
within inaccessible areas of industrial facilities. A
large, complex plant has many sectors that are
conducive to dangerous equipment failures, or
locations that are dangerous for human beings
to inspect. Often, the organizations that manage
them operate across massive areas with extended
perimeters that are difficult to observe physically on
a 24/7 basis.
An excellent example is the array of sensors being
built into cars which detail operating conditions,
tire pressure, excessive speed, other cars in blind
spots, lane drift, following distance and other
elements that make safe driving easier to achieve.
The other mode of IoT is machine-to-machine
(M2M). In this form, the data provided by IoT
sensors generates autonomous action by other
internet-connected machines or devices. These
actions may be monitored by staff, but specific
processes and corrective measures are generally
automatic in nature. The inputs from one form of
automated system inform and direct actions taken
by other machines.
For example, a simultaneous spike in operating
temperature and energy use within a key piece
of machinery may trigger an automatic shutdown
inside that part of a manufacturing plant in advance
of what is almost certainly an imminent and
damaging component failure. Neither condition
alone warrants a shutdown, but the combination
indicates a serious problem and initiates an
automated reaction.
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Networked Crisis Communication Takes Advantage of Both Models

5. Consider an oil refinery. This extremely complex
infrastructure is impossible to inspect with 100%
coverage on a daily basis. Likewise, it is extremely
difficult to ensure that access to the plant or to
specific areas within it is limited solely to authorized
personnel at all times.
AtHoc can provide coverage and alerting that is
impossible to achieve solely with human staff,
monitoring conditions that indicate an imminent
threat, such as:
• Perimeter intrusion
• Unauthorized presence in dangerous
or prohibited sections of the plant
• Unexpected variations in temperature
• Radical spikes or drops in energy usage
• Noises that indicate explosions or
structural collapse
As with the previous example, IoT sensors feed
information to the networked crisis communication
solution, triggering an automated response.
Faster recognition of the threat helps send staff to
investigate intrusions as they occur, or evacuate
staff to safety significantly sooner. Responders can
be alerted and organized faster, and the situation is
more likely to be contained.
These alerts also give emergency managers the
ability to turn off equipment earlier, ideally before
infrastructure is damaged or dangerous chemicals
are released. Surrounding areas outside the facility
can be placed on alert, granting more time for
orderly evacuations, enforced shelter-in-place
commands, and clearance of roadways to allow
external responders to access the facility. The IoT
sensors also help AtHoc and emergency managers
monitor active crises when heat, chemical spills,
toxic clouds, or damaged infrastructure make it
too dangerous to send human beings into that
environment.
They can then call in the appropriate lower-risk
response, such as water cannons or airborne fire
suppression rather than fire personnel with hoses.
Response can begin immediately based on local
situational awareness, with headquarters brought
into the loop as quickly as possible.
The time saved translates directly into protection
of people and property from harm as well as faster
restoration of operations. Once again, automated
intelligence delivered at the speed of the internet
provides critical and accurate situational awareness
that increases the chances of minimizing the threat.
Mobile Monitoring and Tracking
Mobile situations, such as trucking, rail
transport, and water-borne shipping are another
ideal application for AtHoc and IoT sensors.
On-board sensors can monitor the precise
condition of hazardous materials being transported,
providing real-time monitoring of conditions that
might indicate:
• Wrecks or derailment
• Cargo or transport moving outside authorized
geographical areas
• Improper usage of vehicles and equipment
• Theft or tampering of cargo
Other situations are less intuitive but equally
important. Consider a commuter train entering
an area in which an evacuation or shelter-in-
place order is in effect, a situation which actually
happened in California in 2003. The rail operator
had no way to inform two passenger trains that
the area had been declared off-limits because of a
suspected toxic cloud. Passengers were stranded
inside the affected area, with no way to exit.
A networked crisis communication system using
IoT technology allows the location of each train
to be monitored in real time. When an emergency
situation is declared, the rail operator can be alerted
immediately as to which trains are at risk of entering
the evacuated area.
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6. (IoT is) the network
of physical devices,
vehicles, buildings and
other items—embedded
with electronics,
software, sensors,
actuators, and network
connectivity that enable
these objects to collect
and exchange data.
Source: Wikipedia

7. The networked crisis communication system could
reach each train automatically, informing conductors
to stay clear of the area. Track managers would also
be alerted, so that they could guide at-risk trains
and passengers to a safe location.
Expanding on the above, a similar scenario involves
alerts based on IoT sensors that indicate that there
is a problem with an item being shipped. Sensors
could provide advance notice of a derailment –
high speed, followed by unusual lateral motion,
loud noise, and stillness are sure warning signs.
Heat and smoke sensors would provide additional
evidence, enabling AtHoc to issue an alert indicating
potential fire, as well. If that train is known to contain
hazardous chemicals, that information would
be part of the AtHoc alert, enabling responders
to gauge their actions accordingly, and order
evacuations to protect civilians in the area.
As with the previous situations, the IoT sensors
provide the data that enables AtHoc to issue alerts
for specific scenarios sooner, even in advance
of calls from the field. This combination enables
responders to gather critical information rapidly,
without requiring human intervention. The result is
dramatically enhanced situational awareness, and a
faster, more appropriate response.
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What do emergency managers do with all that IoT
data? That same question has been asked of any
advanced data analytics methodology, from “data
mining” to “business intelligence” to “Big Data.” A
massive increase in data volume is only a net gain if
it helps an organization make better, faster decisions.
It leads to wasted time and effort when it bogs down
normal operations instead.
One of the key IoT advantages of AtHoc is that the
complexity of gathering, interpreting, and using the
data is hidden from emergency management staff.
The application of automated triggers becomes
part of the normal workflow for creating emergency
preparedness plans and crisis communication alert
templates. AtHoc receives the data from the sensors,
and acts according to the triggers programmed into
the system. The same criteria that must be entered
for human-centric confirmation of an event also
applies to situations defined solely by data, including:
• What are the conditions surrounding this event
that identify it as an emergency?
• What sensors do we have in place to send
us data?
• What are the data conditions that indicate that
this emergency is taking place?
• Do we have eyes-on confirmation from
the field?
• Have the conditions been met to issue this
alert and response plan?
Emergency managers already prepare this information
as part of their crisis planning – and as part of the
initial setup and ongoing evolution of their networked
crisis communication systems. IoT sensors, because
they are providing digital information via wired and
wireless networks, simply provide another means to
recognize that an emergency has occurred, often well
before human beings are aware that a dangerous
situation is imminent. In short, AtHoc leverages the
advantages that come from billions of IoT sensors
without forcing emergency managers to become data
scientists, or customers to have to make massive
investments in advanced analytics in able to use IoT
sensors for emergency alerting and communications.
Avoiding Data Overload

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Port of Houston Authority
The Port of Houston Authority uses AtHoc to manage
emergency alerts and crisis communication across
the breadth of its region of responsibility, ranging from
the Galveston-Houston shipping channel into the
City of Houston itself. Multiple oil, gas, chemical, and
steel plants either use port facilities, or operate on its
periphery. The Authority uses AtHoc to coordinate
these organizations, as well as surrounding
communities, into an integrated emergency
response system.
One of the key elements in the AtHoc solution is
the result of a joint project with eMerge Systems.
eMerge’s technology automatically tabulates the
hazardous materials in use at the industrial facilities
operating within the purview of the Port of Houston
Authority. When a threatening situation occurs, the
quantities and types of dangerous chemicals involved
in the affected areas of a facility are linked directly
from eMerge Systems’ deployment to the AtHoc
networked crisis communication solution.
This information is used to automatically escalate –
or de-escalate – the situation, based on the severity.
For example, a small spill of a volatile compound now
generates a localized, minimal response, rather than
forcing closure across a broad area of the plant. On
the other hand, an explosion that releases a toxic
cloud causes a much higher level of alert, across
a much broader geographical area.
This process happens automatically. As a result,
response can begin immediately, and no time is
lost trying to determine if a hazardous substance is
involved, identifying that substance, and determining
the threat it poses. Personnel and responders are
no longer at risk due to insufficient information – if a
hazard exists, they can be notified immediately.
BlackBerry Radar
BlackBerry Radar is an advanced IoT trucking
solution, which embeds sensors in objects being
shipped, shipping containers, and the trucks
themselves. These sensors constantly monitor
temperature, vibration, humidity, speed, location, and
other key indicators to deliver real-time insight into:
Where cargo is at any given point in time
• Early recognition of potential theft (outside
expected location; door opened when supposed
to be closed)
• Early warning of shipping delays
• Potential mistreatment of valuable cargo (very
important to cargo owners & insurers)
Current operating condition of cargo
• Possible crashes, derailments, or other worst-
case scenarios
• Emergency alerts based on dangerous events
or operating conditions
• Damage to the cargo necessitating
special handling
Real-World Examples

9. Location and handling of the transportation
vehicles themselves
• Located where they are expected to be,
especially off-hours (geofences)
• Documentation of safe driving to protect against
liability issues and to minimize
insurance expenses
• Data to help all drivers improve their safety,
performance, and efficiency
This data and its automated analytics, presented
in a user-friendly interface that can be accessed
by authorized desktop or mobile web browsers,
delivers material benefits for BlackBerry transportation
customers, including:
• On-time delivery/shipper accountability
• Reduced operational costs
• Reduced insurance costs (proper handling of
cargo; proper operation of transportation)
• Reduced opportunity for theft/faster recognition
of theft (increases likelihood of recovery)
AtHoc combines with Blackberry Radar to deliver
real-time alerts when conditions indicate a serious
deviation from expected norms, such as a possible
wreck or suspected theft. This combination of IoT
and networked crisis communication gives trucking
companies the ability to intervene sooner, which helps
maximize revenue and minimize operational loss.
These advantages go farther than conditions
inside a truck or shipping container. As with the rail
transportation cited above, AtHoc alerts can reach
shipping companies to inform them of dangerous
conditions before valuable cargo enters the area
and is put at risk. One scenario might be when a
toxic cloud leads to evacuation or shelter-in-place
orders. AtHoc can connect with industrial facilities,
shipping companies, transportation providers, and
other concerned parties to ensure that valuable
or hazardous materials or operations are properly
secured, and that people do not travel into the
affected areas.
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Security is one of the most significant concerns with
any internet-based, data-driven technology. AtHoc is
built to exceedingly strict security standards, including
information it receives from outside sources such as
IoT sensors. It exceeds SSAE-16 certification, and
is one of the few vendors providing a hosted crisis
communication service certified as compliant with
government and DoD security mandates via NIST SP
800-53 Rev4 at FIPS 199 moderate classification.
AtHoc is also the only supplier of personnel
accountability and emergency mass communication
solutions to receive the Support Anti-Terrorism
by Fostering Effective Technology (SAFETY) Act
Designation, and is recognized by DHS as a Qualified
Anti-Terrorism Technology (QATT) based on its reliable
software and infrastructure.
By design, AtHoc synchronizes effectively with
other secured systems, such as Radar’s end-to-
end encryption, to ensure that the IoT data stream
is protected against attack or misuse. The same
extensibility that enables AtHoc to work with almost
any communications modality, such as police or
marine radios, also ensures that AtHoc can establish
secured data transmission with other software
solutions, either via API or via custom integration.
AtHoc’s secure operating model extends to how
users access its capabilities, too, and it can function
as a hosted, Cloud, or hybrid solution. As a result,
alerts and communications continue to take place
even if headquarters or centralized operations centers
are unavailable, using any authorized web browser
running on a desktop, laptop, smartphone, or tablet.
This ability to enable field-driven response gives staff
the flexibility to act on rapidly changing conditions that
demand an extremely urgent response, without the
delays inherent in waiting for orders. The availability of
data from IoT sensors accelerates this functionality,
making the combination of AtHoc and IoT sensors a
powerful combination for smarter, faster response.
Secure, Data-Driven Design Meets Streamlined IoT Extensibility

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Networked crisis communication works best
when emergency managers receive fast, accurate
information, either immediately before or at the onset
of a serious event. IoT sensors provide this type of
cheap, ubiquitous data, whether across an industrial
facility or in remote backcountry areas.
The combination of AtHoc with these sensors
provides insight and intelligence where human beings
rarely visit, or where it is dangerous for people to be
present. That, combined with automated emergency
alerting scenarios, accelerates response to urgent
situations and significantly improves situational
awareness. Based on predefined templates, AtHoc
uses IoT data to determine whether to trigger an
alerting scenario and whether the situation requires
human intervention.
AtHoc’s embracing of IoT capabilities represents the
next step in emergency response, one in which the
system helps emergency managers focus more on
resolving the situation at hand, and less on seeking
data that shows them what is happening when the
crisis hits. The ability to deliver more comprehensive
information sooner saves critical minutes, protecting
both people and property.
The IoT is the future of emergency preparedness and
response, and AtHoc is already there to support your
organization’s adoption of these essential tools.
For more information on how AtHoc and the Internet
of Things can enhance emergency communication
infrastructure, please visit the AtHoc website, or
request a free demonstration of AtHoc’s advanced
automation capabilities.
Tel: +1-650-685-3000
www.AtHoc.com
Conclusion
AtHoc, a division of BlackBerry Limited, is the
pioneer and recognized leader in networked crisis
communication, protecting millions of people and
thousands of organizations around the world. AtHoc
provides a seamless and reliable exchange of critical
information among organizations, their people,
devices, and external entities. A trusted partner to the
world’s most demanding customers, AtHoc is
the leading provider to the U.S. Departments of
Defense and Homeland Security, and safeguards
numerous other government agencies and leading
commercial enterprises. Headquartered in Silicon
Valley, the company operates around the globe.
For more information about AtHoc, please visit
www.AtHoc.com.
About AtHoc
©2016 BlackBerry Limited. All rights reserved. Trademarks, including but not limited to BLACKBERRY, EMBLEM Design, BBM and BES are the trademarks or registered trademarks of BlackBerry
Limited and the exclusive rights to such trademarks are expressly reserved. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Content: 2016-16-Aug-BB-IoTWP-0920