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.
by AllThingsECC.com | Jun 30, 2019 | Articles, Comm Center News
FirstNet Built with AT&T, is pitching in too
By Christopher Vondracek
Hoods For Heroes (HFH), a national nonprofit organization headquartered in Northeast Florida,was launched to bring new chemical-resistant protective hooding to firefighters. Studies show nearly one third of firefighters contract cancer, whether skin, thyroid, or testicular, during their lifetime due to smoke absorption. This was too high for one of the nonprofit’s founders, Jeff Rountree, who has a background in high-risk insurance. “With these higher risks [of cancer], Hoods For Heroes is trying to do our part to make sure these folks have the right equipment,” said Rountree, in a company video. “It’s truly unacceptable.”
Now AT&T’s FirstNet family is joining up with Hoods For Heroes to ensure their campaign is successful. Earlier this year, FirstNet Built with AT&T helped organize a fundraiser in Ocala, Florida to raise money to donate to Hoods For Heroes. “Different organizations have charities they work with, but one of the things for my team is that this is an organization that is taking more of a preventative approach,” said Nicki Auth, FirstNet Field Marketing Manager, with AT&T. It also aligns with AT&T’s longstanding commitment to public safety and finding new ways to enable public safety communication.”
Most firefighters wear the standard Nomex hoods under their helmets that are made of terry cloth. Studies show that when wet these terry cloth hoods can absorb cancer-causing toxins through the thinnest skin on a firefighter’s body, the head and neck, which puts them at a greater risk of developing cancer. According to reporting in The Atlantic, part of the problem comes from household plastics for cleaning and in modern furniture.
“For the longest time, we wore the Nomex hoods. The Nomex hoods allowed the smoke to penetrate the hoods and get on our neck,” said Bill Banks, at the Ocala event. “When our skin temperature rises five degrees, our body temperature absorbs 400-times more.” Particulate blocking hoods are comprised of strong fibers that shield the head and neck. However, there is one drawback. “They are very expensive, as you can imagine,” said Emily Tanzler, a radiation oncologist with Cancer Specialists of North Florida. Roughly 70% of firefighters are volunteers and assisting with prohibitive costs is very beneficial. Nomex hoods can cost $10 to $25 whereas chemical hoods can run as high as $180 per hood but reduce exposure above the neck by 99%.
The organization has already provided $40,000 worth (or 330 hoods) to firefighters in St. John’s County, Florida in December. Donations have also been made to personnel in Clay County, Florida. Hoods For Heroes says it wants to raise enough funds to provide every firefighter in America with at least one protective hood. “There is a huge demand out there for these protective hoods,” said Auth.
More information on the organization or upcoming fundraisers can be found at hoodsforheroes.org or at the nonprofit’s website, https://www.facebook.com/HoodsforHeroes.
Christopher Vondracek is a freelance journalist living in Washington D.C., most recently with Courthouse News.
by AllThingsECC.com | Jun 27, 2019 | Articles, Comm Center News
By necessity, this week’s Advocate will begin at the beginning. During the FirstNet RFP process there were three bidders. As we all know, AT&T won the bid over Rivada Networks, which bid and was disqualified. Rivada sued FirstNet and the award was tied up in court for some time. For those who would like additional details on Rivada’s activities, I will refer you to a recent article in the New Yorker by Sue Halpern in which she writes about what the company is up to here and around the world and its track record.
In the United States, Rivada is attempting to obtain spectrum not being used by the Department of Defense that is worth literary billions of dollars without paying anything. With high-priced lobbyists including Karl Rove, it has come up with a plan to acquire this spectrum by promising to serve rural broadband communities. As a result, Rivada would stand to make huge profits using free spectrum. FirstNet already has an obligation to cover rural America, and if the T-Mobile/Sprint merger is allowed to go through, the company will commit to providing 5G to rural America. More than 11,000 little Low Earth Orbit satellites (LEOs) are to be launched in the near future, perhaps covering the world, and hundreds of smaller players are also focused on delivering broadband to rural America. Even Congress and the FCC are studying how to extend rural broadband into areas where it is not available today.
Do we really need another company promising to build out rural America, especially one that has a poor track record in wireless services? Is it worth giving away billions of dollars in spectrum for a promise and lining Rivada’s pockets? I highly recommend reading the article in the New Yorker. I believe like me you will come away with a much better understanding of this situation and the implications if Rivada is successful. The article speculates this spectrum award will be taken up by Republicans in hopes it will gain traction and assumes this proposal has not yet been endorsed by the President, who could easily make it a 2020 campaign promise. Rivada’s other claims include the prediction that this could destroy China’s hold on the United States communications segment. I hope anyone contemplating this award will take a more realistic approach and study the facts before making any commitments.
More on 5G
I have heard there are issues with 5G and others have shared their concerns in an article in Light Reading. Most disturbing of these is that some network operators feel the need to convince the public safety community that 5G is fully ready for its use. One network recently issued a statement claiming all 5G would be interoperable because of standards and the inclusion of Quality of Service (QoS). The problem with this is that according to Light Reading and the 3GPP website, release 16 of the standard has not been finalized and probably won’t be until mid-2020 or beyond. Under the circumstances, I don’t know how this vendor can make such a claim.
5G is an exciting technology implemented on different portions of spectrum that will result in different coverage, capacity, and speeds. Mid-band systems will have an extended range but not the same capacity or data speeds as 5G systems using millimeter waves, which will offer fast data and lots of capacity but in very small areas. The plan is to deploy many millimeter sites to saturate an area, e.g., where there are smart streetlights or where a greater density of cells would be practical. There is also an interesting 5G concept called “network slicing” where a cell being used by different vendors on the same slice of spectrum is shared. However, it appears all this is a long way from being real. 5G is a technology to watch and even experiment with but for now, I don’t think 5G can be considered public-safety grade.
FirstNet Uplifting
The following comes directly from Dave Mulholland, Arlington, Virginia. While I had not been aware of this aspect of uplifting, I decided to report on it here to elicit readers’ feedback. Every so often, this customer has to contend with major public safety personnel issues. According to Dave, there may be 30,000 or more public safety personnel in a very small footprint at the same time at least once every four years. It has been discovered that FirstNet local control for uplifting a user to full priority/preemption status can be accomplished by any person anywhere who is capable of uplifting. This means those in control of the incident do not necessarily control who is uplifted and under what circumstances. Even when coming in to help from outside the area, users can be uplifted by their own local control regardless of whether or not the uplift has been authorized by the incident commander.
I hope this was simply an oversite on FirstNet’s part and it can be rectified. It makes most sense to restrict uplifting on an incident to the local Emergency Operations Center or Incident Command and not allow arbitrary uplifting by a well-meaning person in the unit’s home area. The end of the email is directly quoted as follows:
“The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments has just begun proactive efforts in the National Capital Region to create policy and governance for FirstNet local control and looks forward to sharing our ultimate products as model policies for other areas. It is important for us to remember that FirstNet is only 2 years old, it is still a toddler. A toddler makes some missteps while learning to walk, and that’s ok. We need to be patient as a program as ambitious and extensive as FirstNet learns to navigate the practical application of the network in public safety. Meanwhile it is important that public safety understand that the current infrastructure allows any person to uplift any device from any other jurisdiction anywhere in the country, without mechanism to cancel an uplift. We look forward to working collaboratively with FirstNet to understand the significant implications this can have, to evaluate and implement better controls on where and which uplifts can be made, and to create an uplift cancel mechanism. FirstNet will be more responsive to the collective response from public safety. It is important for us to advocate as the whole public safety community on addressing this issue.”
FirstNet the Authority
The day before this is emailed is also the day of the combined Committee and FirstNet Authority Board of Directors meeting (FirstNet.gov for information). Another item of interest is the FirstNet Authority’s road trip explaining board-approved plans to reinvest in the network and hear public safety’s input for what is needed going forward. I like the idea of the road trip but I am disappointed that for whatever reason The Authority decided these meetings should be closed to all but official public safety personnel. This means those of us who consider ourselves friends of public safety and work with public safety agencies on an ongoing basis are not permitted to sit in on meetings or even watch via video. I think this is shortsighted since if public safety communications supporters knew more about FirstNet Authority plans, we could provide more, pertinent information to departments we work with and perhaps provide input to The Authority as it plans for the future. However, with all that is happening in public safety communications, The Authority has decided these meetings will not be available to the public or even friends and family. I am not quite sure what concerns The Authority might have.
T-Band
Twitter has turned out to be a good source for breaking news and over the past few days several people have contributed to a Thread initiated by Bill Schrier on the T-Band giveback. It began with, “The Federal Government’s Accountability office says ‘Don’t Boot Emergency Personnel and #firstresponders from the T-Band spectrum’” (a requirement of the law creating FirstNet). Bill ended his tweet by saying this is good news for @TBandCoalition, @AndySeybold, and public safety. He then referenced an article in Nextgov that goes into more detail and ends with, “The GAO also found there is no other spectrum available for emergency personnel to relocate their communications to in 5 of the 11 Metropolitan areas.”
The NPSTC report went further stating all eleven metro areas that now use the T-Band would be affected and not only is no spectrum available, there are no funds to pay for the relocation process. This is all good news for the movement to rescind the T-Band giveback and I hope those in Congress, pro-public safety or not, will take action to stop the T-Band from being returned for auction.
Again, the fallacy with placing a value on this spectrum in the millions or billions of dollars is that it is not nationwide and the same portion of the spectrum is not being used in all eleven metro areas. Each area was assigned a portion of spectrum in the T-Band that would not create interference to TV broadcast stations and TV broadcast stations would not interfere with T-Band users. What the GAO did not say is that the many business radio users licensed to use the T-Band are not governed by the law authorizing FirstNet that requires the giveback. Even if the T-Band were to be cleared of emergency personnel and first responders, business users would remain.
Thanks to Bill for Tweeting this news. I hope this becomes another in the long list of reasons Congress should act on the bills to Stop the T-Band Giveback.
Winding Down
I recently received a nice email from a member of historycooperative.org asking if I would be willing to publicize its latest work on the history of the iPhone. I agreed to do so and have provided a link to its website and the work of this organization. While this does not have much to do with public safety, it is an interesting history of a device that changed the world of wireless as we knew it pre-iPhone. Current iPhones, the Xs and Xr, both have public safety Band 14 onboard and are, therefore, FirstNet-compatible.
This email got me thinking how we need to capture the history of public safety communications. Motorola had a wonderful museum at its then Schaumberg Headquarters, and I understand there are fire and police museums around the United States including one in Phoenix, which has the first radio system in Arizona on display. However, I don’t know of a museum specifically for the history of public safety wireless communications. The National Law Enforcement Museum offers a look into the past, I have my mobile communications newsletters published monthly from 1981 to 2000, my Forbes newsletters, books I have written and, of course, my Public Safety Advocate articles dating back to mid-2010. While I do not have radio hardware as developed over the many years, I do have most of the early wireless modems for CDPD, RAM Mobile Data, and ARDIS, as well as one of the first “smartphones,” a Simon made by IBM for BellSouth with its black-and-white screen and oh-so-slow data capabilities.
The Wireless History Foundation has collected interesting information surrounding the advent and development of cellular communications, and its Hall of Fame features many prominent wireless innovators. The Radio Club of America (RCA) is home to a number of notable wireless personalities and it has a relationship with the Antique Radio Museum. Beyond these, I don’t know of any place where the history of pubic safety communications is showcased. Some vendors have their own devices on display, for example when I was visiting Kenwood, I saw its collection of both ham radio and public safety radio from EF Johnson and Kenwood. Perhaps someone, somewhere will think this is an idea worth pursuing. It would be both educational and interesting to follow the footsteps of Fred Link and Motorola on to today’s FirstNet and discover how technology has evolved and continues to do so.
Meanwhile, today we are still on the cusp of what I consider to be the near-ultimate suite of communications for public safety: Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG911), Land Mobile Radio (LMR), and FirstNet. Once NG911 is in place around the United States, FirstNet will move a large volume of video and data originated by citizens that is vetted at Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) and then sent to first responders to better prepare them as they report for duty and assist them as they clear incidents. Land mobile radio will remain a critical element in this roadmap—it is already in place, it provides great coverage in many areas, and it offers several levels of graceful degradation. FirstNet’s Push-To-Talk (PTT) cannot deliver off-network push-to-talk, which is and will remain vital to the first responder community.
The good news is that NG911 is being discussed in Congress, FirstNet is building out and adding to its network in many states, AT&T is deploying 5G that will also be available to FirstNet subscribers, and many land mobile radio systems are being updated and/or refreshed. We are finally reaching a point where NG911, 5G, and FirstNet will work in concert to provide the information and services public safety needs to protect first responders as they protect our lives and property.
Andrew M. Seybold
©2019, Andrew Seybold, Inc.
by AllThingsECC.com | Jun 20, 2019 | Articles, Comm Center News
During the first full year of network availability, FirstNet has demonstrated how it increases first responders’ effectiveness in handling most disasters including wildfires, tornadoes, flooding, and hurricanes on the East coast. In fact, its debut in Alaska was greeted by an earthquake. Those using the network, considering joining FirstNet, and its proponents have seen time and again how the network has held up under adverse conditions. In cases when it did incur problems, they saw how quickly FirstNet (Built with AT&T) responded to provide temporary coverage and then to restore the network.
In the majority of cases, FirstNet met or exceeded expectations. Early on, some departments complained FirstNet did not come to their aid. However, for the most part, these departments had not yet joined FirstNet. Conversely, in some cases departments were taken care of regardless of their current standing. We have also seen FirstNet equip federal and state agencies with devices during many of the disasters thus enabling those arriving at an incident to better coordinate activities and initiate more actions more quickly.
Meanwhile in Alaska
According to Anchorage Daily news, Anchorage Police Chief Justin Doll and other commanders had signed on to test the FirstNet network with their personal cell phones only days before the 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck. During the emergency operations, Chief Doll observed that only officials with FirstNet were able to communicate without problems. Other reports say the existing Land Mobile Radio (LMR) system was “spotty” after the earthquake but FirstNet performed well.
And in the Seattle Area
It appears press folks who cover public safety stories are feeling cut out of the loop since FirstNet came along. FirstNet is a secure and private network and information sent and received over this network is intended for public safety only. What is being transmitted should not be made available to the press until a Public Information Officer (PIO) is ready to release it. Since members of the press have been in the habit of listening in on public safety calls and cannot do so with FirstNet, they are unable to follow what is happening and are feeling left out. Both FirstNet the Authority and FirstNet (Built with AT&T) have said that sharing information on a local level is up to the department. However, I believe it would not be advisable to provide the press with access to FirstNet. Information that may impinge on individual rights, medical information, and more is routinely transmitted over the network and such information belongs on a private network.
Network Investments
On an almost-weekly basis we see press releases about FirstNet (Built with AT&T) and/or AT&T expanding their networks. This week it is Phoenix’ turn with AT&T announcing it will be investing $375 million to help expand FirstNet and, therefore, its commercial network as well. Having performed extensive drive testing in the Phoenix area, I can attest to the fact that the network is growing more robust almost daily. You can easily see the new cell sites, many of which are sort of “stealth” sites that are bad impressions of palm trees sprouting up in the area. In the City of Scottsdale, I even passed by a rather large cactus I later determined was a cell site.
Meanwhile, in my area north of the city, fiber is being laid in along all major and many secondary roads. It is not clear whether this is the precursor to 5G or if our cable TV or landline phone company is running the fiber. In any event, the amount of fiber being put in the ground is amazing and I cannot wait to see what develops.
Texas
Some of you may have seen the notice on Linkedin.com about Texas voting to elevate its Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) personnel and dispatchers to first responder status. This was a great move that I hope will be replicated in many more states until members of Congress finally “get it.” As several wrote on Linkedin.com: these people are our FirstNet of defense; they are here for us from the beginning to the end; they are a lifeline and, in many cases, save lives on their own while public safety is still responding. Congratulations to Texas. Which state will stand up next to be counted in this important elevation of those who work tirelessly to see that public safety receives calls and stays safe?
Alliance
The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) has formed an alliance to educate fire fighters and paramedics on the 21stcentury tools available to provide critical data and inter-agency communications through FirstNet. This endeavor by the IAFF and FirstNet along with others is making the difference between merely a new network used for Push-To-Talk (PTT) and interoperability with a new network that provides floor plans, hazmat information, and video, and enables paramedics to transmit more data back to hospitals. For example, ultrasound from the field can help detect internal bleeding that may not otherwise be discovered until the patient is in the emergency room.
AT&T’s first priority was to build an operational FirstNet network. Now it is up to the various agencies to make sure their responders are conversant with the network and all its capabilities. It certainly works well as an interoperability platform for push-to-talk and integrated LMR-to-FirstNet PTT, but it is capable of so much more. Unfortunately, not all FirstNet users have been trained on the data and video aspects of the network nor in many instances have dispatch and PSAP personnel been schooled in what data to send when and how to assure it has been properly vetted.
Open Standards
As I understand it, FirstNet the Authority has stated many times that only open-standard applications will be permitted on the FirstNet network. Yet I am hearing a new push-to-talk vendor will be certified to operate its Mission Critical Push-to-Talk system over FirstNet even though it has embedded a code into its chipset in order for it to work. As far as I can tell from the definition, this is a proprietary application. While this may be the best solution for now, it may not be as push-to-talk applications continue to evolve. In any event, I find it interesting that this proprietary push-to-talk system would even be considered for use over the FirstNet network.
A number of push-to-talk companies have or will soon offer more open-standard solutions so all PTT applications that run over FirstNet will be able to communicate with all other PTT applications on the network. Without this interoperability, FirstNet will simply serve as a common platform, falling short of the goal to provide a nationwide broadband network that is available to all public safety agencies and to provide true and functioning interoperability capabilities, especially for push-to-talk, FirstNet’s most-used feature.
I have been pushing for interoperability between LMR and FirstNet for some time. Currently, several approved vendors are interfacing LMR and LTE using ISSI for P25 trunked systems and other means including Radio over IP (RoIP) for other modes of LMR communications. I always assumed when the Mission Critical Push-To-Talk (MCPTT) “standard” is finally a standard and most PTT vendors offer some version of MCPTT, all versions will be required to interconnect and inter-operate with each other. If not, I do not believe FirstNet will be fulfilling its promise to resolve the department-to-department interoperability issues public safety has faced for more than thirty years with their digital land mobile radio systems and differing slices of spectrum.
Winding Down
I am hearing from public safety communications professionals that FirstNet is determined to do away with land mobile radio altogether leaving only FirstNet standing. I have to push back on this notion since I believe the folks at AT&T who tell us LMR will remain an important part of the public safety communications landscape for many years to come. As it competes for customers and none of the other operators has stepped up to match AT&T’s investment in FirstNet, AT&T’s support for LMR sets it apart. I believe the folks inside AT&T who are responsible for FirstNet are realists when it comes to public safety’s need for off-network direct-mode communications and its acknowledgment that LMR still has a better footprint than FirstNet in many areas.
My vision of future public safety communications includes nationwide Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG911), land mobile radio, and FirstNet on both LTE and 5G. As previously stated, I expect all these communications platforms to be integrated using a common IP back-end. So far, companies such as Kenwood’s EF Johnson have designed and built IP-based P25 trunked and simulcast systems around the United States and other LMR vendors offer or are developing IP back-end systems.
In the worn-out comparison marketing uses of a three-legged stool with one leg being FirstNet, another land mobile radio, and the third NG911, the stool seat forms a common platform to hold all the legs in place. This common platform needs to be IP-based and used for all forms of public safety communications including the three above along with WiFi and 4.9-GHz systems when properly encrypted and made private. The Internet itself should never be used for any of this connectivity. As with FirstNet today, the back-end should be separate and apart from commercial back-end systems.
Perhaps public safety can use a common network in the future, but even then, I worry about bad guys taking the network down in a given area so they can perpetrate some dastardly deed without having to worry about public safety personnel being able to communicate with each other.
Years ago, when PTT on FirstNet was first considered, I suggested that FirstNet should purchase the guard bands. “Guard bands” are slices of spectrum between FirstNet and other networks and they were for sale for only a few million dollars at the time. The thought was to keep PTT on the guard bands and use FirstNet primarily for data and video. These guard bands would have worked really well for a public safety Internet of Things (IoT) and PTT. However, this did not happen and I don’t see it happening now. Now we must fight to keep every last morsel of public safety spectrum from turning into a new revenue source for Washington, DC, even if public safety needs the spectrum to function.
I will continue to believe in the three-network public safety communications platform. It works, it is already in place, and we can continue to incorporate the best of all worlds into what appears to the back-end as a series of networks that work together parsing out data, video, and voice where needed, for as long as needed.
Andrew M. Seybold
©2019, Andrew Seybold, Inc.
by AllThingsECC.com | Jun 18, 2019 | Articles, Comm Center News
By Paul R. Patrick
Over the last 50 years, major U.S. industries—aerospace, automobile, energy, consumer electronics and more—have implemented significant technological changes to adapt to the shifting and growing demands of consumers. Just as these industries have evolved with the digital age, so too is the emergency communications industry, which is undergoing a major transformation with the arrival of FirstNet—the only nationwide wireless broadband network dedicated to first responders.
Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
I first became involved in the efforts of FirstNet as a representative of and advocate for the communications needs of the National Association of State EMS Officials. Together with other public safety associations, we took our cause to Congress.
This Insights article appears in jems.com dated June 13, 2019.
To read the full article please click on the button below
READ FULL ARTICLE
by AllThingsECC.com | Jun 12, 2019 | Articles, Comm Center News
By Lesia Dickson, Northcentral Area Director
The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet Authority) continued its collaboration with the Region VII states — Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri — when we convened for a recent FirstNet User Forum in Altoona, Iowa. The forum was hosted by the Iowa Statewide Interoperable Communications System (ISICSB) and brought together more than 115 stakeholders from public safety agencies to learn about the latest FirstNet developments and regional initiatives underway. We also shared updates about the FirstNet Authority Roadmap (Roadmap) and captured input from participants.
READ FULL ARTICLE
