Public and private officials gathered in San Diego today to announce the activation of a dramatically expanded Area Situational Awareness for Public Safety Network (ASAPnet), bringing high-speed, wireless digital communications and new emergency response capabilities to 60 backcountry fire stations as the region nears the peak of its fire season. The system uses as its backbone UC San Diego’s High Performance Wireless Research and Education Network, or HPWREN, a network that is best known for its series of 360 degree mountaintop high-definition cameras that operate 24 hours a day.
The high-speed data transmission network of the UC San Diego-based High-Performance Wireless and Research Education Network (HPWREN) is once again showing its utility as a public safety asset as firefighters battle the 7,000-acre Chariot Fire near Mount Laguna, east of San Diego.