A software platform streamlines emergency response

Lincoln Laboratory developed the Next-Generation Incident Command System (NICS) to enable first responders across different jurisdictions, agencies, and countries to effectively coordinate during emergencies of any scale. This web-based information-sharing tool was originally intended to help U.S. firefighters respond to wildfires. NICS has since evolved from an R&D prototype into an open-source operational platform adopted by emergency-response agencies worldwide not only for natural disaster response but also search-and-rescue operations, health crises management, public event security, and aviation safety. The global community of users cultivated by NICS and spinouts inspired by NICS have maximized its impact.

A woman speaks in front of two screens displaying a map and wildfire.

Wildfires set acres ablaze. Earthquakes decimate towns into rubble. People go missing in mountains and bodies of water. Coronavirus cases surge globally.

When disaster strikes, timely, cohesive emergency response is crucial to saving lives, reducing property and resource loss, and protecting the environment. Large-scale incidents can call into action thousands of first responders from multiple jurisdictions and agencies, national and international. To effectively manage response, relief, and recovery efforts, they must work together to collect, process, and distribute accurate information from disparate systems. This lack of interoperability can hinder coordination and ultimately result in significant failures in disaster response.

To enable coordinated emergency response, MIT Lincoln Laboratory developed the Next-Generation Incident Command System (NICS). At the core of the web-based software tool is an incident map overlaying aggregated data from various external and internal sources such as first responders on the ground, airborne imaging sensors, weather and traffic reports, census data, and satellite-based maps; virtually any data source can be added. Emergency personnel upload the content directly on a computer or mobile app and communicate in real time through voice and chat functions. Role-based collaboration rooms are available for user-defined subsets of first responders to focus on a particular activity — such as air drop support, search and rescue, and wildlife rescue — while maintaining access to the comprehensive operational picture.

A software screenshot displaying a topographical map and information about a wildfire in California.

With its open-standards architecture, NICS interoperates with organizations' existing systems and allows internal data to be shared externally for enhanced visibility and awareness among users as a disaster unfolds. The modular design of NICS facilitates system customization for diverse user needs and changing mission requirements. The system archives all aspects of a created incident and can generate reports for post-incident analysis to inform future response planning.

Partnering with first responders

As a federally funded research and development (R&D) center, Lincoln Laboratory has a long history of conducting R&D of architectures for information sharing, situational awareness, and decision-making in support of the U.S. Department of Defense and other federal entities. Recognizing that aspects of these architectures are relevant to disaster response, Lincoln Laboratory's Technology Office initiated in 2007 a study focused on wildfire response in California. A Laboratory-led research team partnered with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), which annually responds to thousands of wildfires in collaboration with police, medical, and other services.

"CAL FIRE provided firsthand insight into what information is critical during emergency response and how may be best to view and share this information," says NICS co-developer Gregory Hogan, now associate leader of the Laboratory's Advanced Sensors and Techniques Group.

With this insight, the Laboratory developed and demonstrated a prototype of NICS. Noting the utility of such a system, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) began funding the R&D of NICS in 2010. Over the next several years, the Laboratory team refined NICS, soliciting input from an organically formed users' group comprising more than 450 organizations across fire, law, medical, emergency services and management, border patrol, industry, utilities, nongovernmental organizations, and tribal partners. Thousands of training exercises and real emergencies employed NICS to coordinate diverse emergency-response activities spanning disaster management, law enforcement, and special security.

In 2014, CAL FIRE — which had been using NICS to respond to wildfires, mudslides and floods — officially adopted NICS statewide. That same year, the Emergency Management Directorate of Victoria, Australia's largest state, implemented NICS (as the Victorian Information Network for Emergencies, or VINE) after a worldwide search for a system to manage large-scale crises like bushfires.

In 2015, NICS was transferred to the California Office of Emergency Services. The California Governor's Office of Emergency Services deployed NICS as the Situation Awareness and Collaboration Tool (SCOUT) for emergency responders and law enforcement officials statewide in 2016.

Creating an open-source community

NICS also spawned an initial spinout company formed by personnel from CAL FIRE, the Worldwide Incident Command Services (WICS), which received a license for the system's software code in early 2015. WICS is a California-incorporated nonprofit public benefit corporation and the official DHS S&T Technology Transition Partner created to transition the NICS R&D project to a robust operational platform, which was named Raven. Later that year, DHS S&T made NICS available worldwide at no cost to first responder and emergency management agencies through an open-source release of the software code base on Github.

Sponsorship of NICS by DHS S&T is ongoing, with contributions over the years from the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Research and Development Center and the NATO Science for Peace and Security (SPS) Programme. In 2015, the USCG funded the development of the cross-platform mobile app Portable Handset Integrated NICS (PHINICS), which enables first responders to access NICS with or without cellular coverage.

A U.S. Coast Guard responder located offshore uses a smartphone.

In 2016, Lincoln Laboratory and DHS S&T launched a four-year partnership with the NATO SPS Programme to extend NICS to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Croatia, North Macedonia, and Montenegro for enhanced emergency collaboration among and within these Western Balkan nations. Under this Advanced Regional Civil Emergency Coordination Pilot, NICS was demonstrated in dozens of field exercises and applied to real-life incidents, including wildfires in BiH and a 6.2-magnitude earthquake in Croatia. In 2019, North Macedonia adopted NICS as its official crisis management system. And, when COVID-19 struck, NICS entered a new application space: public health. In North Macedonia, emergency institutions used NICS to not only coordinate emergency response but also inform residents about infection cases and health resource locations. The Laboratory team worked with North Macedonia's Crisis Management Center to enable national public access to NICS.

A map containing information on number of COVID-19 cases and the red-cross icons indicating the locations of health resources in North Macedonia.

Increasing global impact

NICS' reach continues to grow. In 2021, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation Aeronautics Division and the U.S. Department of Transportation Volpe National Transportation Systems Center collaborated with Lincoln Laboratory using the baseline NICS system to field a new web-based tool: the Commonwealth aiRspace and Information Sharing Platform (CRISP). Integrating sensor feeds, airspace information, and resource data, CRISP enables a robust counter–small uncrewed aircraft systems (CsUAS) mission for the safety and security of aviation and aviation-related activities throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

"The NICS project has demonstrated the power of collaborative development, in which each partner lends their expertise, resulting in a meaningful contribution to the global disaster response community," says Stephanie Foster, who was the lead developer and program manager of NICS.

In 2023, Foster co-founded the spinout company Generation NYX to increase access to NICS, renamed NYX DEFENDER, and create a community of users who work together to advance its capabilities. Generation NYX offers services to existing users established during the Laboratory's R&D work, and provides a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution for all new users. NYX DEFENDER improves the ability of local emergency management organizations to manage events such as parades and festivals; supports decision-making during floods and other natural disasters; and expands awareness among community stakeholders such as police, fire, and state officials.

Two individuals look at a laptop screen.

"NYX DEFENDER offers an innovative tool for local emergency management and public safety agencies and departments to create a common operating picture and foster interoperability, improve communications, and develop and maintain situational awareness during preplanned and no-notice events," says Clara Decerbo, director at the Providence Emergency Management Agency. "Our use of NYX DEFENDER during major City of Providence events has allowed us to integrate situational awareness between multiple public safety entities, private security, and event organizers and assisted us in ensuring our teams have the information they need to provide well-organized and coordinated public safety services to members of our community and visitors."

Generation NYX was recently subcontracted to provide support for a new three-year project that NATO SPS and DHS S&T kicked off earlier this year with the Laboratory to establish NICS as the national disaster management platform in BiH. Foster has experience in this area, as she not only led the Laboratory technical team who successfully adapted and deployed NICS in the Western Balkans under the 2016 SPS pilot but also coordinated teams across the four nations. Though BiH participated in the 2016 SPS pilot, this latest effort seeks to expand NICS' adoption more broadly across the country, working within its complex multilevel government structure. NATO SPS is funding a second project, which began in October 2024, that will bring NICS to Albania and Georgia for use in search and rescue, particularly in response to chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear events. For both projects, the Laboratory team will enhance the open-source NICS code to operate on the edge (i.e., in disconnected communication scenarios) and integrate wearables for monitoring the health of first responders.

A man inside a tent sits near a computer screen.

Since NICS was released open source on Github, NICS' worldwide usage has continued to grow for a wide range of applications. NICS has been used to locate missing persons in the Miljacka and Bosna Rivers in BiH; to direct ambulances to hypothermic runners at the Los Angeles Marathon; and to provide situational awareness among the National Guard for the Fourth of July celebration in Boston, Massachusetts. NICS has also proven its utility in mine and unexploded ordnance detection and clearance activities; in BiH, an estimated 80,000 explosive remnants of war pose a direct threat to the country's residents. Envisioned applications of NICS include monitoring of critical infrastructure such as utilities.

In recognition of its broader humanitarian impact, NICS was awarded a 2018 Excellence in Technology Transfer Award, Northeast Region, from the Federal Laboratory Consortium and a 2019 IEEE Innovation in Societal Infrastructure Award.

"NICS is a mature product, so what we are thinking about now is outside-the-box use cases for the technology," says the Laboratory's Bioanalytics Systems and Technologies Group leader Kajal Claypool, who is supervising the ongoing NATO SPS and DHS S&T projects. "That is where I see Lincoln Laboratory can bring innovation to bear."

Inquiries: contact Ariana Tantillo.