Wildfires scorch vast areas. Earthquakes obliterate communities, leaving only debris behind. Individuals vanish in mountainous regions and aquatic environments. COVID-19 incidents rise on a global scale.
When calamities occur, prompt and unified emergency reactions are vital for preserving lives, minimizing property and resource devastation, and safeguarding the ecosystem. Major incidents can mobilize thousands of first responders from various jurisdictions and agencies, both nationally and internationally. To effectively oversee response, assistance, and recovery operations, these entities must collaborate to gather, process, and disseminate precise information from diverse systems. This deficiency in interoperability can obstruct coordination and ultimately lead to substantial shortcomings in disaster management.
MIT Lincoln Laboratory created the Next-Generation Incident Command System (NICS) to facilitate collaboration among first responders across various jurisdictions, agencies, and nations during emergencies of all magnitudes. Initially designed to aid U.S. firefighters in managing wildfires, NICS has developed from a research and development prototype into an open-source operational framework embraced by emergency-response organizations worldwide, not just for natural disaster management but also for search-and-rescue missions, health crisis management, public event safety, and aviation security. The international community of users nurtured by NICS and its inspired spinouts have optimized its effectiveness.
At the heart of the web-based NICS software tool is an incident map that overlays collected data from numerous external and internal sources, including on-site first responders, aerial imaging sensors, weather updates, traffic alerts, demographic information, and satellite imagery; virtually any data source can be integrated. Emergency responders can directly upload content on a computer or mobile device and engage in real-time communication via voice and chat functionalities. Role-specific collaboration rooms are available for user-defined groups of first responders to concentrate on specific tasks — such as air drop assistance, search and rescue, and wildlife protection — while retaining access to a complete operational overview.
With its open-standards design, NICS integrates with organizations’ current systems and permits internal data to be shared externally, enhancing visibility and awareness among users as a disaster unfolds. The flexible architecture of NICS allows for system customization tailored to various user requirements and evolving mission demands. The system records every element of an incident that is created and can produce reports for post-event analysis to inform future response strategies.
Collaborating with first responders
As a federally funded research and development (R&D) facility, Lincoln Laboratory has a long-standing history of conducting R&D related to frameworks for information sharing, situational awareness, and decision-making in support of the U.S. Department of Defense and other federal agencies. Recognizing that components of these frameworks are applicable to disaster response, Lincoln Laboratory’s Technology Office initiated a study in 2007 concentrating on wildfire management in California. A research team led by the laboratory joined forces with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), which responds annually to thousands of wildfires in partnership with police, medical, and other services.
“CAL FIRE offered invaluable insights into what information is essential during emergency response and the best methods to visualize and disseminate this information,” states NICS co-developer Gregory Hogan, who currently serves as the associate leader of the laboratory’s Advanced Sensors and Techniques Group.
With these insights, the laboratory developed and showcased a NICS prototype. Recognizing the advantages 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 ensuing years, the laboratory team enhanced NICS, seeking feedback from a user group organically formed, comprising over 450 organizations spanning fire, law enforcement, medical services, emergency management, border protection, industry, utilities, NGOs, and tribal partners. Numerous training exercises and genuine emergencies utilized NICS to coordinate varied emergency-response operations across disaster management, law enforcement, and specialized security.
In 2014, CAL FIRE — which had been employing NICS to tackle wildfires, mudslides, and floods — officially implemented NICS statewide. The same year, the Emergency Management Directorate of Victoria, Australia’s most extensive state, adopted NICS (known as the Victorian Information Network for Emergencies, or VINE) following a worldwide search for a system to manage large-scale emergencies such as bushfires.
In 2015, NICS was transferred to the California Office of Emergency Services. The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services launched NICS as the Situation Awareness and Collaboration Tool (SCOUT) for emergency responders and law enforcement officials statewide in 2016.
Building an open-source community
NICS also birthed an initial spinout organization established by personnel from CAL FIRE, known as Worldwide Incident Command Services (WICS), which secured a license for the system’s software code in early 2015. WICS is a California-based nonprofit public benefit corporation and the designated DHS S&T Technology Transition Partner, created to transition the NICS R&D project into a robust operational platform, now called Raven. Later that same year, DHS S&T made NICS accessible globally at no charge to first responder and emergency management agencies through an open-source release of the software code base on Github.
DHS S&T continues to sponsor NICS, 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) Program. In 2015, the USCG supported the development of a cross-platform mobile application called Portable Handset Integrated NICS (PHINICS), which allows first responders to access NICS with or without cellular coverage.
In 2016, Lincoln Laboratory and DHS S&T initiated a four-year partnership with the NATO SPS Program to expand NICS to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Croatia, North Macedonia, and Montenegro, enhancing emergency collaboration within these Western Balkan nations. Under this Advanced Regional Civil Emergency Coordination Pilot, NICS was showcased in numerous field exercises and applied to actual events, including wildfires in BiH and a 6.2-magnitude earthquake in Croatia. In 2019, North Macedonia adopted NICS as its official crisis management system. Furthermore, when COVID-19 emerged, NICS found a new application domain: public health. In North Macedonia, emergency institutions utilized NICS to not only synchronize emergency response but also to inform residents of infection cases and the locations of health resources.
The research team collaborated with North Macedonia’s Crisis Management Center to facilitate national public access to NICS.
Expanding global influence
The outreach of NICS continues to expand. In 2021, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation Aeronautics Division teamed up with the U.S. Department of Transportation Volpe National Transportation Systems Center and Lincoln Laboratory to utilize the baseline NICS system for the launch of a new web-based application: the Commonwealth aiRspace and Information Sharing Platform (CRISP). By incorporating sensor data, airspace details, and resource information, CRISP facilitates an effective counter-small uncrewed aircraft systems initiative, enhancing the safety and security of aviation and aviation-related endeavors across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
“The NICS initiative illustrates the strength of cooperative development, where each collaborator contributes their specialization, leading to a significant impact on the global disaster response network,” states Stephanie Foster, who served as the principal developer and program manager of NICS.
In 2023, Foster co-established the spinoff company Generation NYX to broaden access to NICS, rebranded as NYX DEFENDER, and cultivate a community of users collaborating to enhance its functionalities. Generation NYX provides services to current users established during the laboratory’s research and development efforts and offers a software-as-a-service solution for all new participants. NYX DEFENDER strengthens the capacity of local emergency management agencies to organize events like parades and festivals; aids in decision-making during floods and other natural catastrophes; and increases awareness among community stakeholders, including police, fire, and state officials.
“NYX DEFENDER introduces an inventive tool for local emergency management and public safety organizations to establish a unified operating picture, promote interoperability, enhance communication, and develop and sustain situational awareness during planned and unplanned events,” remarks Clara Decerbo, director at the Providence Emergency Management Agency. “Utilizing NYX DEFENDER during significant City of Providence events has enabled us to consolidate situational awareness among various public safety agencies, private security, and event coordinators, assisting us in ensuring our teams have the necessary information to deliver well-organized and coordinated public safety services to our community members and visitors.”
Generation NYX was recently contracted to support a new three-year initiative that NATO SPS and DHS S&T commenced earlier this year alongside the laboratory to establish NICS as the national disaster management platform in BiH. Foster has expertise in this domain, as she not only guided the laboratory’s technical team responsible for successfully modifying and deploying NICS in the Western Balkans under the 2016 SPS pilot but also coordinated teams across four nations. While BiH participated in the 2016 SPS trial, this new initiative aims to broaden the adoption of NICS nationwide, navigating its intricate multilevel government framework. NATO SPS is financing a second project, which commenced in October 2024, aimed at implementing NICS in Albania and Georgia for applications in search and rescue, specifically in response to chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear incidents. For both initiatives, the laboratory team will enhance the open-source NICS code to function on the edge (i.e., in isolated communication circumstances) and incorporate wearables to monitor the health of first responders.
Since NICS was made available as open-source on Github, its global utilization has continued to rise for various applications. NICS has been utilized to locate missing individuals in the Miljacka and Bosna Rivers in BiH; to direct ambulances to hypothermic runners at the Los Angeles Marathon; and to furnish situational awareness among the National Guard during the Fourth of July festivities in Boston, Massachusetts. NICS has also validated its effectiveness in mine and unexploded ordnance detection and clearance operations; in BiH, an estimated 80,000 explosive remnants of war present a direct risk to the nation’s inhabitants. Anticipated applications of NICS include the monitoring of critical infrastructure, such as utilities.
In recognition of its extensive humanitarian influence, NICS received a 2018 Excellence in Technology Transfer Award, Northeast Region, from the Federal Laboratory Consortium along with a 2019 IEEE Innovation in Societal Infrastructure Award.
“NICS is a well-developed product, so our focus now is on unconventional use cases for the technology,” says the laboratory’s Bioanalytics Systems and Technologies Group Leader Kajal Claypool, who oversees the ongoing NATO SPS and DHS S&T initiatives. “This is where I envision Lincoln Laboratory can bring its innovative approaches.”