Cover Story

In their own words

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM, An MRT Staff Report

Public-safety communications officials' perceptions of the current state of their voice and data networks and their future hopes for those networks depends...

Features

Monitoring vital signs goes space-age

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM, By Mary Rose Roberts

Fire departments, professional football teams and U.S. Army researchers are choosing ingestible and wearable telemetric sensors to wirelessly monitor...

More lessons from Hurricane Katrina

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM, By John Facella, M/A-Com Wireless Systems

Part 2 of 2 Last month's article covered some of the lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina for public-safety agencies and governments. This month's article...

Vehicle location data drives new apps

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM, By Merrill Douglas

Since the early 1990s, a growing number of trucking companies, public-safety agencies, courier firms and others have used automatic vehicle location,...

Rebanding faces an uphill climb

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM, By Donny Jackson

Entering August and the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials annual conference, Utah Communications Agency Network Executive Director...

News

IEEE halts work on 802.20 standard

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM, By Lynnette Luna

In a fight that demonstrates just how high the stakes are for the mobile wireless broadband market, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers,...

A Battle Royale

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM, By Lunnette Luna

Intel engineer files statement alleging that the working group included 20 or more consultants who appeared to vote improperly as a block proposals for the standard were given short shrift compared with Qualcomm-based approaches ...

VeriSign collaborates with WiMAX Forum

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM

The WiMAX Forum, an organization dedicated to the creation of global standards for interoperability of wireless broadband access products, has selected...

Intel, Motorola invest in Clearwire

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM, By Donny Jackson

Wireless broadband solutions provider Clearwire announced a series of deals with Intel and Motorola designed to accelerate the development and deployment...

Funding for 911 system falls short

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM, By Donny Jackson

Hopes that Congress will appropriate even a modest amount of money to help pay for upgrades to public-safety answering points, or PSAPs, continue to wane...

Cyren Call searches for cover

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM, By Donny Jackson

Cyren Call Communications officials continue to travel the country explaining the company's idea for a public-private partnership in the 700 MHz band,...

FCC proposes new spectrum for medical devices

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM, By Donny Jackson

The FCC approved a notice of proposed rulemaking to create a MedRadio band from 401 MHz to 406 MHz that would allocate another 2 MHz of spectrum for radio...

Washington utility chooses advanced metering system

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM

Manitoba Hydro, a Washington state energy provider to approximately 500,000 electric and 250,000 gas customers, will deploy Itron's newest OpenWay advanced...

U.K. coast guard deploys satellite communications system

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM

The United Kingdom's Maritime and Coast Guard Agency chose Iridium satellite phones and Applied Satellite Technology airtime services for the communication...

xG announces mobile VoIP deployment program

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM, By Donny Jackson

Florida-based wireless vendor xG Technology announced the launch of a deployment program for its xMAX mobile wireless voice-over-IP service, with the...

Raytheon rakes in million-dollar contracts

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM

Raytheon has been awarded a five-year, $75 million contract for ongoing mission support for 300 satellite communications systems installed throughout...

U.S. Postal Service invests in vehicle management system

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM

I.D. Systems landed additional orders from the U.S. Postal Service for the company's Wireless Asset Net. The product is an industrial vehicle management...

Companies to partner on wireless headset

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM

FreeLinc and Peltor will partner to develop wireless headsets specifically for military communications systems. The companies said the new product will...

RFID tracks inventory at Air Force hospital

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM

Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, installed Mobile Aspects' iRISupply, a computerized inventory system that uses RFID to...

Harris lands Army contract

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM

The U.S. Army Communications and Electronic Command awarded Harris Corp. a $169 million contact for its Falcon III dual Vehicular Adapter Amplifier system....

Portugal tabs Motorola for nationwide TETRA system

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM

The Portuguese government awarded a contract to Motorola to develop and implement a nationwide TETRA radio system. The project was established to provide...

Childcare centers choose AT&T for wireless service

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM

AT&T secured an additional $1.3 million network integration project from the Learning Care Group, which is the parent company of Childtime and Tutor Time...

Alliance to target in-building challenges

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM

Akridge, ADC, Sprint, LGC Wireless, Motorola and PRTM founded the In-Building Wireless Alliance, an organization dedicated to the advancement of wireless-enabled...

Patent squabble erupts over RFID technology

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM

Intermec filed suit against Alien Technology in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware for patent infringement. The lawsuit alleges that...

L-3 lands $37M military contract

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM

L-3 Communications' Interstate Electronics Corp. subsidiary was awarded a $37 million contract for Phase I of the U.S. Air Force Modernized USER Equipment...

Digital Dispatch arms limo service with mobile computers

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM

Digital Dispatch landed a contract to provide iPilot 8000 mobile computers for the 400-car fleet of Town Car International of Long Island City, New York....

Ad-hoc network research project awarded

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency chose BAE Systems to develop a next-generation, wireless tactical network protocol for the U.S. military....

Ill. hospital deploys wireless utility

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM

Naperville, Ill.-based Edward Hospital and Health Services will install InnerWireless' medical-grade wireless utility in four of its facilities in Illinois....

NATO awards contracts for friendly force tracking system

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM

NATO awarded subcontractors Globecomm Systems and EMS SATCOM a $7.8 million contract to provide a multinational, global positioning satellite-based, friendly...

DOD contract includes RFID technologies

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM

ODIN Technologies chose Symbol Technologies to support its recent contract awarded from the U.S. Defense and Logistics Agency, a Department of Defense...

Public safety department buys P25 radios

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM

EFJohnson, an EFJ subsidiary, received an order for approximately $500,000 from the Louisiana Department of Public Safety for its interoperable Project...

Virginia county adopts MobileCop

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM

BIO-key announced that it has been awarded through its partner, Radio Communications in Glen Allen, Va. a contract by Brunswick County, Va., to provide...

University provides RFID guidance to beef producers

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM

A new publication from South Dakota State University offers guidance to beef producers interested in using radio frequency identification technology to...

Texas fire department deploys interoperability solution

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM

The Mission (Texas) Fire Department selected Codespear's software platform for its radio interoperability initiatives and mission-critical communications....

GPS receiver deployed by Chicago and New York fire departments

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM

u-blox America announced its Antaris GPS receiver will be incorporated into Motorola's MDR800 model F5127 vehicle tracking system deployed by the Chicago...

China postal service chooses RFID to track mail

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM

Symbol Technologies landed a contract with the China Post, which will use the company's rugged, reusable radio frequency identification tags, XR400 fixed...

London's underground rail evaluates wireless system

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM

Canada-based Anvil Technologies and U.K.-based Primetech recently demonstrated its RECoN wireless communications product in the Aldwych tube station,...

Products

Antenna technology takes flight

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM, By Mary Rose Roberts

A public/private consortium in June attached a painted-on antenna capable of receiving a satellite signal to a high-altitude experimental aircraft and...

*spotlight: Mobile radios and accessories

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM

HYT Mobile radios in the TM-800 series operate in the 136 to 174 MHz (VHF), 400 to 470 MHz and 450 to 512 MHz (UHF) frequency ranges and offer RF power...

Articles

A matter of perspective

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM, By Glenn Bischoff

Acrusty old journalist once told me that the absolute best place for reporters to hang out is a bar. Given the often well-lubed condition of a good many...

Downside risks of skyrocketing costs

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM, By David P. Storey

We all have heard the news reports that federal, regional, state and municipal disaster response preparations and programs already are running well over...

Is public safety ready for radio over IP?

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM, By Charles Werner

I have been listening to the arguments over whether voice over IP technology or radio over IP (RoIP) as it is also known should be used in conjunction...

The ins and outs of traffic engineering

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM, By Jay M. Jaconsmeyer, P.E.

Let's start with a little quiz: Rocky Mountain Radio Co. operates three community repeaters, one for each of its three customers: Poudre Plumbing, Monument...

Product showcase

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM

CIMARRON TECHNOLOGIES Cimarron Technologies, a manufacturer of Automatic Numeric Identification (ANI) products, introduces the CIM-2000 board. The CIM-2000...

Political ads need regulation

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM, BY ALAN TILLES

I know you've seen it a million times on your local television station a political commercial supporting either your local Democrat or Republican candidate....