https://urgentcomm.com/wp-content/themes/ucm_child/assets/images/logo/footer-new-logo.png
  • Home
  • News
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Multimedia
    • Video
    • Podcasts
    • Galleries
    • IWCE’s Video Showcase
    • IWCE 2022 Winter Showcase
    • IWCE 2023 Pre-event Guide
  • Commentary
    • Back
    • Commentary
    • Urgent Matters
    • View From The Top
    • All Things IWCE
    • Legal Matters
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Resources
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Reprints & Reuse
  • IWCE
    • Back
    • IWCE
    • Conference
    • Special Events
    • Exhibitor Listings
    • Premier Partners
    • Floor Plan
    • Exhibiting Information
    • Register for IWCE
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Statement
    • Cookie Policy
  • Related Sites
    • Back
    • American City & County
    • IWCE
    • Light Reading
    • IOT World Today
    • Mission Critical Technologies
    • TU-Auto
  • In the field
    • Back
    • In the field
    • Broadband Push-to-X
    • Internet of Things
    • Project 25
    • Public-Safety Broadband/FirstNet
    • Virtual/Augmented Reality
    • Land Mobile Radio
    • Long Term Evolution (LTE)
    • Applications
    • Drones/Robots
    • IoT/Smart X
    • Software
    • Subscriber Devices
    • Video
  • Call Center/Command
    • Back
    • Call Center/Command
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • NG911
    • Alerting Systems
    • Analytics
    • Dispatch/Call-taking
    • Incident Command/Situational Awareness
    • Tracking, Monitoring & Control
  • Network Tech
    • Back
    • Network Tech
    • Interoperability
    • LMR 100
    • LMR 200
    • Backhaul
    • Deployables
    • Power
    • Tower & Site
    • Wireless Networks
    • Coverage/Interference
    • Security
    • System Design
    • System Installation
    • System Operation
    • Test & Measurement
  • Operations
    • Back
    • Operations
    • Critical Infrastructure
    • Enterprise
    • Federal Government/Military
    • Public Safety
    • State & Local Government
    • Training
  • Regulations
    • Back
    • Regulations
    • Narrowbanding
    • T-Band
    • Rebanding
    • TV White Spaces
    • None
    • Funding
    • Policy
    • Regional Coordination
    • Standards
  • Organizations
    • Back
    • Organizations
    • AASHTO
    • APCO
    • DHS
    • DMR Association
    • ETA
    • EWA
    • FCC
    • IWCE
    • NASEMSO
    • NATE
    • NXDN Forum
    • NENA
    • NIST/PSCR
    • NPSTC
    • NTIA/FirstNet
    • P25 TIG
    • TETRA + CCA
    • UTC
Urgent Communications
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • News
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Video
    • Podcasts
    • Omdia Crit Comms Circle Podcast
    • Galleries
    • IWCE’s Video Showcase
    • IWCE 2023 Pre-event Guide
    • IWCE 2022 Winter Showcase
  • Commentary
    • Back
    • All Things IWCE
    • Urgent Matters
    • View From The Top
    • Legal Matters
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Reprints & Reuse
    • UC eZines
    • Sponsored content
  • IWCE
    • Back
    • Conference
    • Why Attend
    • Exhibitor Listing
    • Floor Plan
    • Exhibiting Information
    • Join the Event Mailing List
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Cookie Policy
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Statement
  • Related Sites
    • Back
    • American City & County
    • IWCE
    • Light Reading
    • IOT World Today
    • TU-Auto
  • newsletter
  • In the field
    • Back
    • Internet of Things
    • Broadband Push-to-X
    • Project 25
    • Public-Safety Broadband/FirstNet
    • Virtual/Augmented Reality
    • Land Mobile Radio
    • Long Term Evolution (LTE)
    • Applications
    • Drones/Robots
    • IoT/Smart X
    • Software
    • Subscriber Devices
    • Video
  • Call Center/Command
    • Back
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • NG911
    • Alerting Systems
    • Analytics
    • Dispatch/Call-taking
    • Incident Command/Situational Awareness
    • Tracking, Monitoring & Control
  • Network Tech
    • Back
    • Cybersecurity
    • Interoperability
    • LMR 100
    • LMR 200
    • Backhaul
    • Deployables
    • Power
    • Tower & Site
    • Wireless Networks
    • Coverage/Interference
    • Security
    • System Design
    • System Installation
    • System Operation
    • Test & Measurement
  • Operations
    • Back
    • Critical Infrastructure
    • Enterprise
    • Federal Government/Military
    • Public Safety
    • State & Local Government
    • Training
  • Regulations
    • Back
    • Narrowbanding
    • T-Band
    • Rebanding
    • TV White Spaces
    • None
    • Funding
    • Policy
    • Regional Coordination
    • Standards
  • Organizations
    • Back
    • AASHTO
    • APCO
    • DHS
    • DMR Association
    • ETA
    • EWA
    • FCC
    • IWCE
    • NASEMSO
    • NATE
    • NXDN Forum
    • NENA
    • NIST/PSCR
    • NPSTC
    • NTIA/FirstNet
    • P25 TIG
    • TETRA + CCA
    • UTC
acc.com

Call Center/Command


DHS, ISCO Clarity and Raytheon demonstrate ROW-B capabilities

DHS, ISCO Clarity and Raytheon demonstrate ROW-B capabilities

Push-to-talk interoperability between most cell phones, PDAs and LMR radios is now available to public-safety agencies and other enterprises with access to broadband networks
  • Written by Urgent Communications Administrator
  • 8th August 2008

KANSAS CITY—Push-to-talk interoperability between most cell phones, PDAs and LMR radios is now available to public-safety agencies and other enterprises with access to broadband networks, as shown during a U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) demonstration yesterday.

In its the radio over wireless broadband (ROW-B) project, DHS has developed a solution that leverages the cellular push-to-talk capabilities of Clarity Communications—a subsidiary of ISCO International—and the recently created bridging systems interface (BSI) protocol to enable widespread push-to-talk capability via broadband wireless networks, as well as enhanced situational awareness through location and presence functionality.

Luke Klein-Berndt, chief technology officer for the DHS Office for Interoperability and Compatibility (OIC), said the ROW-B project is not designed to replace LMR radio.

“Our aim is … to find ways to complement it and augment it,” Klein-Berndt said. “There may be a bus driver that you may want to be able to talk to during an incident, but you don’t want to have to give him a $5000 radio.”

Clarity’s software-based cellular push-to-talk technology enables any handheld device using the Windows Mobile or BREW operating systems and operating on a wireless network that supports IP packet data—for instance, a CDMA EV-DO or WCDMA network, but not an EDGE network—to act as a push-to-talk device with a call-setup time of less than 800 milliseconds with quality-of-service assurances, said Dan Esposito, systems engineer for Clarity Communications.

Communications from such devices are sent to a Clarity server, which was located in Illinois for the purposes of the demonstration. The server transmits its communications to a BSI-capable gateway, which are available from several vendors, said Emil Olbrich, senior systems engineering consultant for Protiro and consultant on the ROW-B project.

In this demonstration, the BSI gateway used was the Raytheon JPS ACU-2000, which now ships with BSI capability, said Roman Kaluta, director of interoperability solutions for Raytheon JPS. Kaluta also noted that his company’s popular ACU-1000 product can be upgraded to an ACU-2000 with the addition of a couple of modules.

A simple GUI interface lets users quickly construct talk groups or choose from preconfigured talk groups. In addition, the mapping interface allows users to select a geographic area—an incident scene, for example—and immediately create a talk group with all personnel in that zone, Olbrich said. DHS hopes to enhance the map-based feature, Olbrich said.

“We’re working with Clarity to make it so that users are automatically included in the talk group when they enter the geographic area,” he said. “Now, the bus driver doesn’t have to have a $5000 radio.”

In a public-safety setting, such capability not only is beneficial during incidents, but it is ideal for quickly assessing the presence and location of off-duty personnel and volunteer firefighters carrying commercial handheld devices when emergencies arise, Esposito said.

By leveraging the coverage area of cellular networks, the solution effectively extends the coverage area of LMR systems while also saving precious LMR spectrum, Esposito said. And, even the most bandwidth-intensive mapping applications only require data rates of 16-20 KB/s to be effective on a handheld device.

“It’s like downloading a web page,” Esposito said.

During the demonstration, Olbrich established several talk groups from his laptop PC with a PC tablet, a smartphone, a cell phone and an LMR radio. In a couple of instances, there was some very noticeable latency in the call-setup time, something Olbrich and Klein-Berndt attributed to the fact that they were forced to use another laptop as a mobile router instead of an Internet drop into the site.

While such interoperability solutions have long been considered possible and discussed for years, this one is available immediately, ISCO International CEO Gordon Reichard said.

“What you’re going to see today is not smoke and mirrors, it’s real,” Reichard said.

While the APCO demonstration utilized a commercial wireless broadband network, DHS has scheduled a demonstration for Aug. 20 in Washington, D.C,, using the district’s 700 MHz private EV-DO network with quality-of-service capability, Olbrich said.

Tags: VoIP/RoIP Call Center/Command content Land Mobile Radio

Most Recent


  • Verizon
    Verizon, Axon demonstrate benefits of 5G network slicing to support public-safety video
    Verizon and Axon Enterprises this week announced a successful demonstration of 5G network slicing that allowed its network to sustain connectivity performance levels for mission-critical video through Axon Fleet 3 and Axon Respond services. Network slicing is one of the most-anticipated features of the 5G standard for the critical-communications industry, because it allows a network […]
  • Cyberattack closes emergency rooms in three states
    Ardent Health says it was the target of a cyberattack over Thanksgiving, in an incident that shut down the hospital operator’s emergency rooms in three states. The hospital operator, which oversees 30 hospitals in the U.S., said the attack was detected on the morning of Nov. 23 and was identified as a ransomware attack impacting […]
  • General Electric, DARPA hack claims raise national-security concerns
    General Electric and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) have reportedly been breached, according to claims on the Dark Web that the organizations’ highly sensitive stolen data is up for sale. A screen capture from the Dark Web ad shows a threat actor named IntelBroker selling access credentials, DARPA-related military information, SQL files, and more. GE confirmed to […]
  • More 2G and 3G shutdowns loom in the U.S.
    UScellular and Cellcom recently set dates to shutter their aging wireless networks. The smaller network operators are following in the footsteps of their bigger, nationwide rivals, which are making similar moves. On its website, UScellular said it would shutter its 3G CDMA network on January 14, 2024. “Major wireless carriers have already shut down their […]

Leave a comment Cancel reply

To leave a comment login with your Urgent Comms account:

Log in with your Urgent Comms account

Or alternatively provide your name, email address below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • L3Harris unveils P25-LTE device that is designed to meet stringent new fire standard
  • Open-source tools for the IoT ecosystem
  • New Orleans-area 911 center inks multiyear APEX deal with Carbyne to replace call-handling system
  • DHS, ISCO Clarity and Raytheon demonstrate ROW-B capabilities
    Newscan: Feds recover millions from pipeline ransom hackers, hint at U.S. Internet tactic

Commentary


Land mobile radio (LMR) systems are just as vulnerable to cyberattacks as any other networks used in the public-safety sector. Here’s what to do about it.

  • 1
7th November 2023

September 3GPP Plenary meetings feature Release 18 progress, Release 19 beginnings

13th October 2023

Better technology can help solve the public-safety staffing crisis

26th June 2023
view all

Events


UC Ezines


IWCE 2019 Wrap Up

13th May 2019
view all

Twitter


Newsletter

Sign up for UrgentComm’s newsletters to receive regular news and information updates about Communications and Technology.

Expert Commentary

Learn from experts about the latest technology in automation, machine-learning, big data and cybersecurity.

Business Media

Find the latest videos and media from the market leaders.

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our digital and print audiences? Learn more here.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • American City & County
  • IWCE
  • Light Reading
  • IOT World Today
  • Mission Critical Technologies
  • TU-Auto

WORKING WITH US

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Events
  • Careers

FOLLOW Urgent Comms ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2023 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.