UAPD/FBI Crisis Negotiation Team - Throw Phone (Year 2)

When a person barricades in a closed location, with or without hostages, law enforcement professionals deploy a crisis negotiation team to de-escalate the situation. The team developed a “throw phone” to establish a secure, private, and reliable means of communication between negotiators and the person of interest.

The project includes two subsystems: the throw phone and the command unit. The team designed the throw phone with six video cameras and a video transmitter to transmit wide field-of-view video, a lavalier microphone to receive and transmit full-duplex audio via an iPhone 8, and a speaker to project audio. The phone’s case is durable to ensure that the individual in crisis won’t cause damage that would destroy the line of communication.

The command unit is designed to receive video using a 2.4 GHz and 5.6 GHz receiver and audio via a cellular receiver and SIM card. The throw phone and command unit are connected without the use of a commercial cellular network. The command unit can store hours of video and audio. A laptop screen displays information through a graphical user interface, which the operator also uses to call the throw phone, switch between video feeds, and record video and audio.

The team has produced a rugged, reliable wireless crisis negotiation solution that is ready for use.