Overview#
A fire dispatcher receives a call about smoke pouring from a commercial kitchen. Before she says a word, the screen already shows the address history, the nearest ladder company, and two prior calls from the same building. That kind of pre-built context, arriving before the first "911, what's your emergency," is what the Argus PSAP Platform delivers for every call.
The platform provides end-to-end call management, dispatch coordination, and emergency response support for 911 centres and emergency communications centres. Priority routing, multi-agency coordination, surge management, and callback tracking work together to optimise response times and resource allocation. CAD integration, radio connectivity, and mapping services give dispatchers complete situational awareness from call answer through unit arrival.
Key Features#
- Call Management: Priority-based call routing, categorisation, location verification, callback tracking, and ANI/ALI (Automatic Number Identification/Automatic Location Identification) display
- Dispatch Coordination: Unit assignment, status tracking, resource availability monitoring, response time optimisation, and multi-unit incident coordination
- Multi-Agency Support: Cross-agency dispatch for police, fire, EMS, and specialized units with shared incident data, mutual aid coordination, and jurisdictional routing
- Surge Management: Automated detection of high-volume periods with dynamic call routing, staffing recommendations, and priority escalation for critical incidents
- Callback Management: Non-emergency call tracking, scheduled callbacks, queue management, and disposition documentation for workload management
- Location Intelligence: Real-time caller location display, address verification, premise history, and hazard warnings integrated into the call handling workflow
- Performance Monitoring: Call volume tracking, response time analytics, dispatcher workload metrics, and quality assurance reporting for operational management
- Recording and Documentation: Call recording, incident documentation, disposition tracking, and audit trail maintenance for quality assurance and legal compliance
Use Cases#
- 911 Emergency Response: Process emergency calls with priority routing, automated location identification, and coordinated multi-agency dispatch for police, fire, and EMS incidents
- Non-Emergency Call Handling: Manage routine calls, administrative requests, and information inquiries with appropriate routing and callback scheduling
- Multi-Agency Incidents: Coordinate response across multiple agencies for complex incidents requiring police, fire, EMS, and specialized unit deployment
- Resource Management: Monitor unit availability, optimise dispatch assignments, and balance workload across available resources during normal and surge operations
- Operational Reporting: Generate performance reports on response times, call volumes, disposition outcomes, and resource utilization for management review and accreditation
Integration#
The module connects with CAD systems for automated dispatch, radio networks for field communication, mapping services for location intelligence, records management systems for incident documentation, and neighbouring PSAP systems for mutual aid coordination. Applies to 911 centres, emergency communications centres, police dispatch operations, fire and rescue coordination, EMS dispatch, island and remote emergency services, and multi-agency coordination centres.
Open Standards#
- NENA i3 Standard (NENA-STA-010): The core NG9-1-1 architecture standard that governs SIP-based call routing, the Emergency Call Routing Function (ECRF), Emergency Services Routing Proxy (ESRP), and service URN vocabulary (RFC 5031 / RFC 6443) used throughout the dispatch platform.
- PIDF-LO (RFC 4119 / RFC 5491): Presence Information Data Format Location Object; parsed from SIP INVITE bodies to deliver geodetic and civic caller location to dispatchers before the call is answered.
- LoST Protocol (RFC 5222): Location-to-Service Translation protocol used by the ECRF service to resolve a caller's location and service URN to the authoritative PSAP route URI, with support for local GIS and upstream server precedence policies.
- NENA-STA-021 Emergency Incident Data Object (EIDO): The NENA standard JSON incident schema used for CAD integration; incident, call, agent, person, vehicle, and location components are modelled and exchanged with connected CAD systems using this vocabulary.
- NENA-STA-006.3 NG9-1-1 GIS Data Model: PSAP boundary polygons, road centrelines, site/structure address points, and MSAG community fields are stored against this public schema template to support location-based dispatch routing.
- RFC 7852 Additional Data for Emergency Calls (NENA-STA-012): Seven standardised additional-data block types (SubscriberInfo, DeviceInfo, CommsInfo, ServiceInfo, OwnerInfo, ProviderInfo, ComponentInfo) are fetched from the Additional Data Repository and attached to calls at answer time.
- SIPREC (RFC 7865 / RFC 7866): SIP-based call recording metadata and session protocol used to capture and store call audio with structured participant and segment metadata for quality assurance and legal compliance.
- Real-Time Text / RFC 4103: T.140 text transport over RTP bridged to a WebRTC data channel, enabling Text-to-911 sessions to appear on the dispatcher console alongside voice calls.
Last Reviewed: 2026-02-05 Last Updated: 2026-04-14