VENDORS PUSH SWITCH TO DIGITAL FOR PUBLIC SAFETY WORKERS
While national focus on homeland security has prompted federal, state and local public safety organizations to switch to digital communication for voice and data in times of crisis, vendor panel on interim interoperability solutions at Public Safety Wireless Network Symposium in L.A. Wed. suggested there might be slow progress in getting every community on board.
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Big issue among panelists was adopting Project 25, joint federal, state and local group to establish standard for digital communications among public safety workers nationwide. James Holthaus, technical mktg. mgr. for E.F. Johnson, said that while basics of Project 25 standards were in place, participants still were meeting to iron out secondary issues, with next session set for late March/early April.
Most of panelists already were offering Project 25 standard products and pushing switch to digital from analog for wireless public safety communications. But Craig Stanfill of Communications-Applied Technology, said: “The time that will elapse before smaller communities can change over will be long.” In long Q&A, representatives of police, fire and other public safety organizations peppered panelists with requests for new and better interoperability, especially at handset level, to improve communications among various public safety workers in emergencies.
One such issue is need for public safety workers rushing to provide assistance in another city or area to be able to use their handsets or other equipment. Both E.F. Johnson’s Holthaus and Bill Fivek, business development mgr. of Motorola’s U.S. Govt. Markets Div., suggested problem would be solved by arrival of “over-the-air programming,” which they said would enable central location to reprogram public safety communications equipment remotely even with encryption. Both companies suggested product still was 9-12 months out. Given that federal, state and local public safety workers all tend to use different frequencies, other major issue was whether interoperability could best be achieved at network level or at handset level.
While conceding dual-band handsets already were being used in amateur radio market, Motorola’s Fivek said govt.- mandated specs for audio quality, ruggedness and reliability were far above commercial products. He said Motorola was working on dual-band handset for 155 MHz and 455-460 MHz frequencies for future release, adding: “A lot of government officials are looking for a dual-band handset.”
Robert DiDonato of Thales Communication said his company had developed portable handset for Dept. of Defense that was tunable to 30-512 MHz. But he said demand from public safety officials he had been talking with seemed to be for more trunking rather than dual-band. “We'd like to find a way to get all of it into one radio, but we don’t have the resources,” he said.
Fivek also warned that while public safety workers might be clamoring already for wireless high-speed data, that probably was 2-3 years off and it could present its own spectrum issues.
Austin Comerton, channel mgr., Mobile Satellite Venture, touted use of L-band satellite for public safety communication, saying L-band didn’t suffer deterioration of signal in inclement conditions such rain or heavy smoke. He did say mobile satellite was narrowband but did offer added feature of GPS. He said U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency had been using Mobile Satellite Venture, augmenting it with terrestrial station near scene serving as repeater. “DEA agents now have a panic button, so when an agent working in the bush hits the ground, it triggers a mercury switch which sends a GPS signal back to the dispatcher,” he said.