by AllThingsECC.com | Oct 28, 2021 | Articles, Comm Center News
DIU test portable private 5G network for responders
To improve communications for public safety, the Defense Innovation Unit announced a year-long test of a private, portable, wireless 5G network for first responders in California, including the California National Guard.
With DIU’s solution, the responders arriving first at a remote incident can launch a private cellular network using a vehicle-mounted, backpack, hand-carried or wearable node, said Jeff Kleck, director of the Cyber and Telecommunications Portfolio at DIU. It will free them from reliance on legacy radios or expensive satellite phones and give them access to networked applications such as push-to-talk voice, geolocation and live maps of their surroundings…
by AllThingsECC.com | Oct 28, 2021 | Articles, Comm Center News
FirstNet (Built with AT&T) just closed out its best quarter for new users. Numbers at the end of September 2021 show 18,500 agencies and 2.8 million individual users are now on the FirstNet network. Increased user numbers are a result of more agencies finding that the FirstNet network provides the nationwide public-safety interoperability platform that is needed for multiple agencies to share communications during incidents.
In-Vehicle FirstNet and LMR
One question I am asked almost every month concerns how communications systems might or should be configured in vehicles. There are many answers and some depend on the type of vehicle and what it will be used for during incidents…
by AllThingsECC.com | Oct 28, 2021 | Articles, Comm Center News, Opinions
By Mike De Felice
Special to Bainbridge Island Review
It’s 2 a.m. and a police officer has pulled over a driver on an isolated rural road on suspicion of driving under the influence. The officer calls for back-up before approaching the vehicle, but emergency dispatch is unable to hear the call.
A fire crew is called to a house fire in a remote part of Kitsap County. Upon arrival, firefighters hear a person yelling from inside the burning building. The crew calls for another unit to respond, but the request is never heard…
by AllThingsECC.com | Oct 27, 2021 | Articles, Comm Center News
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo appointed 11 public safety, technology, and finance leaders to serve on the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet Authority) Board. Stephen Benjamin, mayor of Columbia, SC, was named the FirstNet Authority’s new board chair.
With the newly appointed members, including current Board member Karima Holmes, the FirstNet Board is fully staffed, with 12 non-permanent members selected by the Department of Commerce and three permanent seats occupied by the U.S. Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget…
by ECC Editor | Oct 25, 2021 | Articles, Comm Center News
Almost every emergency response begins with a call to 911, and states have begun the process of modernizing the current outdated call-center answering infrastructure with a digital upgrade. NextGen 911 (NG911) is the modernization initiative states are implementing to better facilitate emergency response.
In the NG911 environment, the large telecom companies in charge of maintaining the 911 answering system (AT&T and Motorola) computerize the process, routing calls through an emergency services IP network (ESInet) instead of the currently used call centers. Ideally, computerizing the system reduces the likelihood that calls will go unanswered, either because a system is inundated with too much incoming network traffic or because the resources are not available to handle the calls. But defending a computerized system against cyberattacks is no simple task… READ MORE
by ECC Editor | Oct 25, 2021 | Articles, Comm Center News, Uncategorized
Last week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) entered into Consent Decrees with eight Covered 911 Service Providers for failing to timely file their required 911 reliability certification in 2020.
The Rules
As background, the FCC adopted rules in 2013 aimed at improving 911 network reliability. The rules require Covered 911 Service Providers (“Providers”) to take certain measures to provide reliable 911 service. The specific measures adopted by the agency attempt to address three network vulnerabilities identified by the FCC in the aftermath of the derecho storm that knocked out 911 service along the east coast in 2012… READ MORE
