How progressive EMS agencies are using advanced cellular networks to connect

by AllThingsECC.com | Jul 17, 2019 | Articles, Comm Center News

By Estee Woods

Fire and police departments have been leveraging LTE to increase their response times, improve interdepartmental communications, and provide connections to FirstNet and other national public safety broadband networks. Wireless connectivity has been opening doors to new technologies to help public safety agencies better meet their needs and keep their communities safer.

Similar opportunities exist for emergency medical service departments. EMS teams provide vital services to their communities, and we are now seeing an upswing in EMS adoption of mission-critical connected technologies.

This article was written by Estee Woods and appears in ems1.com dated July 16, 2019.

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Public Safety Advocate: PSCR, More on PTT, Future Technologies

by AllThingsECC.com | Jul 11, 2019 | Articles, Comm Center News

This week the Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) organization under The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is holding its annual meeting to discuss with public safety and the vendor community how its research is progressing, how it has provided funds to others for projects and, of course, to present some technology demonstrations. Unfortunately, I am not able to attend the event this year but I will be reporting on PSCR’s findings and activities in next week’s Advocate.

Push-To-Talk Interoperability

Last week’s Advocate outlined my view of the important issue of how to ensure any and all Push-To-Talk (PTT) applications certified by FirstNet interoperate with all other PTT applications on the network. My preference is to use over-the-top push-to-talk applications since these applications can be used on devices on several networks and still communicate with each other. This is as opposed to the on-network approach favored by one of the existing approved vendors (Kodiak/Motorola) and the 3GPP as it develops its standard. 

I received a lot of email and comments that were mostly positive, but I had failed to mention Tango Tango, a push-to-talk vendor also approved by FirstNet. After the Advocate was published, I received a flurry of emails from the company and we set up a conference call. In the meantime, Tango Tango provided this snippet of its business model: “The main point is that our business is centered around exactly what you have described in this article and others in the past. We are completely carrier agnostic, have experience with every kind of radio system, and are device agnostic (iOS, Android, PC) to provide the most flexible interoperability. We provide interoperability and radio integration as a service which allows us to be able to solve these problems for agencies at a very low cost while still providing exceptional customer service.” 

New Technologies

While many public safety communications folks, FirstNet, and the FirstNet Authority are attending the PSCR conference and will report on what is new and exciting, I want to mention some technologies I have seen highlighted on Twitter. According to Fast Company, “Cheddar,” founded by former BuzzFeed president Jon Steinberg, is apparently looking for funds to invest in small start-ups with good ideas. Most recently, Cheddar has been publicizing two new devices for law enforcement. The first device can be deployed by a police unit that is positioned in front of but to the side of a vehicle being chased. When ready, out pops a set of spikes that can be maneuvered in such a way that the pursued vehicle will run over them.

The other one that caught my attention is a front-loaded torpedo-like device that mounts on a police unit and fires what looks a lot like a shotgun shell. This “shell,” is actually a GPS tracking device designed to stick to the vehicle in front of the police unit. An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV, drone) or other law enforcement units can track the tagged vehicle or locate it when police are ready to apprehend it, thus eliminating the need for high-speed chases that endanger others. Cheddar has many other helpful devices to introduce, but as interesting as they are, and as strapped for funding as the public safety community is, I have to wonder if these innovative devices are must-have products.

At the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Conference a few years before FirstNet, I saw what was touted as the police unit of the future. It had a plethora of gadgets including 360-video to enable officers to see anyone coming up from behind, an amazing assortment of warning lights, lots of radios, and Mobile Data Terminals (MDTs). Some provided the capability for officers to send and receive live data whenever or wherever. The unit was so full of electronics I’m not sure there was any storage space, and the price tag of all the technology was about twice the cost of the unit itself. It would be great to be able to equip our law enforcement vehicles with all this and more, but I don’t know of a single department that has that much money.

The good news here is that a considerable amount of the technology being developed for self-driving cars is finding its way into new models of cars that still require drivers. For example, the 360-degree cameras now included on 10 or more SUVs would be a great addition for law enforcement to help monitor surroundings. Automatic braking, multiple sensors, and rear-view cameras have become standard and many technologies Motorola was touting are not far into the future or as expensive as they were. 

FirstNet Authority Roadmap

I am especially interested in what the FirstNet Authority Roadmap looks like because while there is a need to advance technologies, this has to be accomplished in such a way that agencies can base their decisions on how a technology will assist them on a day-to-day basis and not how much it cost. Because budgets are tight and allocations are not easily obtained, roll-out of body cameras was slow for many agencies and it has taken a long time to equip all law enforcement with body cams. For example, in Phoenix, while not every officer is currently equipped with a body camera, the Major has committed to outfit all officers with body cams by August. The FirstNet Authority does not plan to fund body cameras or other items not directly related to public safety communications. However, it does appear that during the next reporting period with 600-plus sessions and more than 15,000 public safety representatives, the Authority plans to gather enough information to learn what public safety thinks is needed to “finish” or augment the FirstNet network (no network is ever “finished!”).

The FirstNet Authority’s most difficult challenge will be to sift through the thousands of suggestions and comments, review the plan as presented to the board, and arrive at a roadmap that melds the goals of the Authority with the wants and needs of public safety. I trust much of this effort will include FirstNet (Built with AT&T) since it is the contractor for the network for the next twenty-some years. Funds made available by the Authority can be spent by FirstNet, perhaps by states that file plans for its use, or for the Authority to purchase new technologies or in some other way enhance operation of the network. How this all works out will be interesting to follow, as will how the FirstNet Authority, FirstNet, and the public safety community arrive at a consensus of what needs to be done and how these needs will be prioritized. 

NG911 

While chatting over lunch with a vendor friend who is deeply involved in providing equipment to agencies using FirstNet, he mentioned that in some areas he covers he is finding that the FirstNet push to add new customers is being based on push-to-talk over FirstNet as opposed to PTT, data, and video. While discussing this I suggested that since he was more on the data/video side of things he, his company, and others should push for Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG911). NG911 is designed to enable receipt of data in the form of text messages, pictures, and videos from callers at Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) where it will be vetted as best as possible and then sent on to dispatch where it can be sent out to responding personnel, vehicles, and watch commanders.

This data flow will be substantial as each new NG911 system comes online. If we can obtain funding for NG911 through Congress and it is implemented, the data must be processed faster than in the past. Final standards must be worked out and there are still far too many computer-aided dispatch systems that are not compatible with each other, but these issues can be resolved. What remains is to improve the data flow to the field. Examples of such data are pictures of license plates to enable incoming units to apprehend an offending vehicle as it leaves an area or a video of a building fire that alerts the fire department of a working fire. Any information that helps first responders understand what they are heading into is better than a simple voice dispatch that provides only call information. 

Then there is data coming in from the field. A missing child’s picture obtained by law enforcement can be sent to the dispatch center and forwarded to others in the area so they can keep an eye out for the child. UAVs, or drones, are also playing a more vital role in public safety. It is not uncommon for a UAV to be used to locate an elderly person who has wandered away, search for a missing child, or fly over an incident and send aerial videos to those in the field. UAVs are able to carry communications payloads and water, and the EMS community is using UAVs to drop supplies, perform assessments, or both. 

More and better tools for public safety are enabling first responders to report to incidents with more knowledge about what they facing than ever before. In an Advocate  written around 2010, I predicted that FirstNet would give eyes to those in the field who have been operating with limited voice capabilities. We are still learning about the network’s full capabilities, coverage, and devices, and how it works. PTT over FirstNet is a great capability, but users are learning that PTT needs to be interfaced to their Land Mobile Radio (LMR) systems and that different vendors’ PTT over FirstNet services need to talk to each other. FirstNet changes everything today and promises a series of even greater tomorrows as the network approaches its full potential.

We have come a long way since FirstNet was first discussed in 2006, and we have come a long way toward a network dedicated to public safety. What lies ahead is to learn how to use this new network more effectively and more efficiently. The changes coming to wireless technology over the next few years will alter much of what we now know, but one thing that will not change is that communications saves lives of both citizens and first responders. 

Winding Down

I continue to hear about coverage issues and that FirstNet is not on a par with other networks. However, when I drive the areas with my Sierra MG-90 with two networks onboard, I find FirstNet coverage to be much improved compared to only months ago. I also read almost weekly of AT&T’s huge investments in state after state and in tribal areas. Other networks are busy implementing similar plans but FirstNet is a real incentive for AT&T to move forward faster than its competitors, which shows in the coverage I am seeing. Band 14 is also up and running in many places and is being deployed in many more.

This is redundant on my part but agencies need to understand that had another bidder won the FirstNet contract to build out only Band 14 we would not be as far along as we are. FirstNet (Built with AT&T) promised to provide full priority and pre-emption across all its LTE spectrum, build out Band 14, and now includes 5G portions of the network. As a result, the public safety community, which I feel I am part of, is well ahead of schedule. 

It’s hard to be patient. I used to have a sign that read, “God grant me Patience and I want it NOW!” Between the FirstNet Authority and FirstNet, we are far ahead of the contract milestones and I believe we will continue at this pace until the last milestone has been met. Even then, FirstNet (Built with AT&T) and the Authority will be working on what’s next, what public safety needs next, and how soon it can be made available.

Andrew M. Seybold
©2019, Andrew Seybold, Inc.

Newport Beach, CA, 3GPP Plenary Meetings Recap

by AllThingsECC.com | Jul 10, 2019 | Articles, Comm Center News

By Dean Prochaska, Senior Director of Standards

The June quarterly Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) meetings in Newport Beach, CA addressed standards in several areas relevant to the evolution of the public safety broadband communications and the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network (NPSBN). 

The major topic across the 3GPP plenary meetings was planning for 3GPP Release 17 (R17). This release will be built on the work and features already defined in earlier releases. In particular, R17 will build upon R16, which is expected to be frozen by March 2020. The expected freeze date for R17 is June 2021. This is still a preliminary target date that has created significant discussion and should be firmed up by December. There are many diverse interests in 3GPP and the planning for a release involves much discussion and compromises among operators, vendors, and other entities, such as the FirstNet Authority. The following information provides details on each of the plenary meetings.

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Public Safety Advocate: FirstNet PTT Interoperability

by AllThingsECC.com | Jul 3, 2019 | Articles, Comm Center News

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the need to find better, open-standard ways to bridge the gap between Land Mobile Radio (LMR) and FirstNet for Push-To-Talk (PTT). The Public Safety Technology Alliance (PSTA) has completed phase one of its work and plans to publish its findings soon. Next is the need to similarly address two other solutions discussed in the report: Dispatch Fixed Station Interface (DFSI) and Radio over Internet Protocol (RoIP). Meanwhile, the PSTA committee and others will be back at work focusing on providing open-standard, less-expensive solutions to tie LMR and FirstNet (or broadband) systems together.

For public safety, this means when an agency puts out a call for help from neighboring agencies or even agencies many states away, those responding to the incident will be able to use FirstNet to communicate with the local agency by bridging their LMR systems to the FirstNet network. The primary reason so many fought for FirstNet was to enable interoperability between networks. Today, first responders are able to communicate with each other. The number of public safety officials, vendors, contractors, and others who came together for a common cause that resulted in the passing of a law establishing FirstNet speaks highly for the public safety community.

However, the ability to cross-communicate between LMR and FirstNet or other broadband systems is only one part of the solution. The other part is to figure out how to enable the various FirstNet push-to-talk systems to communicate with each other. I have been assured by FirstNet (Built with AT&T) that it is fully committed to providing only open standards on the FirstNet network. Even so, if you look at where we are today with interconnectivity over LTE (FirstNet), you will find three that companies are certified to provide PTT over FirstNet. The first is Kodiak Networks (now owned by Motorola) with a network-based technology. The second is ESChat with an over-the-top application, meaning it can operate on multiple LTE networks and all common groups can be tied together regardless of the network being used. Orion is the third approved vendor, also with an over-the top-application. As with ESChat, Orion claims to be network-agnostic and, for the most part, device-agnostic and can provide LTE-to-LTE PTT (and WiFi) between networks.   

Interconnectivity over LTE is important since many agencies that have signed up with FirstNet still maintain a relationship with at least one other network. This is because while FirstNet is being built out quickly, there are still some areas where another provider currently offers better coverage. Another reason is that some agencies are moving slowing into the FirstNet world to test the waters. For the moment, they are retaining their other carrier for some of their activities. 

Now let’s turn our attention to the current state of PTT over FirstNet. Rumors persist that another vendor will be approved in the near future. I have written about my concern that this vendor, if my information is correct, has built a robust Mission Critical Push-to-Talk. One reason it is “great” is because the application has been built into its chipset. If true, using this new PTT will mean you will be limited to one brand of phone while the other three vendors provide PTT over many different brands and types of devices. The next thing on my agenda is to set up a meeting with this vendor to find out if the information I have received is accurate.

I have discussed this issue with a few people and received mixed reactions. One person stated that Kodiak is not an open standard and to emphasize this, pointed to the fact that the Verizon flavor and AT&T flavor of Kodiak are not compatible with each other. Others believe ESChat and Orion are not open standards either. My conclusion is that what matters more than a discussion about if and who has a proprietary PTT solution approved for FirstNet is how and how soon these PTT solutions will be capable of interoperability.

I consider PTT interoperability to be as vital as LMR-to-FirstNet integration. If an agency calls for assistance from three or four different agencies outside their jurisdiction and each is using a different PTT-over-FirstNet technology, have we really solved the central issue brought up by the 9/11 Commission, which is how to make communications for all public safety agencies interoperable?

The PSTA has a committee working on interoperable PTT, the 3GPP is finalizing a “standard” to enable cross-vendor PTT, and The Critical Communications Association (TCCA) has held numerous “Plug Fests.” However, from what I have seen all this effort is focused on PTT systems that must be embedded directly into the network. This means ESChat and Orion, and perhaps the new rumored PTT provider, will not meet the MCPTT standard.

If the standard does not accommodate both cross-vendor and cross-network PTT services, we will have missed the mark for public safety. Think about LTE becoming nationwide for public safety, then think about what happened when a major earthquake hit the South Island of New Zealand a number of years ago. New Zealand was first to respond and assistance came from Australia, the United States, and elsewhere. As it happened, Tait Communications had people at the airport giving out handheld radios that were compatible with New Zealand’s communications system. A few years into the future, what would happen if agencies from other areas arrived only to discover their LTE PTT was not compatible with the home system?

According to the 3GPP and TCCA, this would not happen, but I have to believe there is and will continue to be a need for over-the-top PTT applications that can be easily and quickly installed in LTE devices when and as needed. If you showed up in Santa Barbara County, Calif., with your Motorola Kodiak PTT, you would find the County using ESChat tied to its LMR networks. While I know FirstNet should be the main focus for nationwide public safety communications, there are still public safety users on other networks. Only over-the-top PTT applications can help solve the problem of multi-network PTT. They are more versatile and better suited for true interoperability in today’s world. 

Some progress is being made today. ESChat can, in fact, interoperate with Kodiak’s PTT system and can and has integrated P25 trunking systems using its own flavor of ISSI. According to TCCA, at last count more than thirty vendors passed TCCA interoperability tests. Some are PTT vendors, others are back-end or on-network vendors. I would prefer to see a much smaller number of approved PTT vendors and I am in favor of both on-network and over-the-top vendors, especially if the on-network vendors can be convinced to work with other networks to cross-connect PTT.

Many years before FirstNet, Nextel was purchased by Sprint and went with Qualcomm’s QChat while Kodiak won AT&T and then Verizon. As I have pointed out before, if we look back at history, we will find fast growth in the cellular industry occurred only after one network finally permitted subscribers to call people on other networks, and text messaging languished until it was available from network to network. While I agree FirstNet should continue without allowing core sharing or network sharing, in the case of PTT, I believe it is important to provide bridges between all LTE networks at least for the near future. At the same time, we also need to be mindful that each LTE network is somewhat different from the others. With every 3GPP release of a next version of LTE, each network operator is free to pick and choose which new features and functions to use in its network. Some differences are minor, some not. In spite of any differences, over-the-top PTT applications seem to work well from network to network and cross-network.

Someday FirstNet will be the primary public safety broadband network in the United States. Network deployment is far ahead of schedule and coverage differences are closing fast, but there are other reasons to maintain cross-network PTT capabilities. In a major disaster there will be second responders along with state and federal government personnel who arrive with non-FirstNet phones. If software can be quickly and easily installed in their devices to enable them to communicate with the other teams, our responses will be better coordinated and more effective. 

Winding Down

San Jose, Calif., made a big splash when it joined FirstNet as the first metro area to go all-in by including all its first responders and other government personnel on the FirstNet network. I had thought some other cities had already joined on an all-in basis, but if not, San Jose should stand out as a model for other cities to follow. Congratulations to San Jose! 

SpaceX

SpaceX says most of its little Low Earth Orbit satellites (LEOs) are in operation and it will soon be running tests on fifty or so to determine actual data speeds and system latency. Its press release states that five-percent of its Starlink satellites have failed and it plans to take two out of orbit and let them burn up as they enter the Earth’s atmosphere to prove they won’t contribute to more space junk over time. This is the first time I heard about this plan but it sounds like it could be a good idea. SpaceX’s other news is that in addition to orbiting 11,000 little LEOs, it plans to build up to a million Starlink earth stations. Called “Starlink Services,” they will be built by another company and design plans call for a flat-panel phased-array system to transmit and receive signals in the KU-Band for the Starlink constellation.

Drones (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, UAVs)

I now have my second drone, this one with automatic homing. I have applied for and received an FAA Small Drone Registration ($5) in spite of the FAA site being very confusing. The first site I was sent to says you can register more than one drone and buy ID stickers for them, but that site did not work. I filled in the information three times and three times it went into limbo. Then I found USA.FAADroneZone.FAA.gov, sent in my $5, and received my Small UAS Certificate of Registration. I am not sure if it covers both of my drones, perhaps the public safety UAS guru can help me here. In the meantime, I am looking for a simulator I can run on my Windows PC. There are many out there but most cost more than my drones (several cost more than one drone). If anyone knows of a good simulator for UAS flight, please let me know.

I am reading more and more about how UAVs are being used in the public safety community. Some are used as advance scouts, some carry water, and some are outfitted with radio packages. Many carry cameras for aerial views of incidents, lifeguards use them to drop life vests, and the EMS community has found a variety of uses for them. The availability of UAVs will continue to challenge the imagination and revamp public safety responses and activities. It is surprising, or perhaps not, how fast UAVs have “taken off,” so to speak. I hope to see some at APCO but if not, I’m sure there will be a number of UAVs on display at the IACP show later in the year.

Until Next Week

Andrew M. Seybold
©2019, Andrew Seybold, Inc.