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


Multiple choices in multiband radio

Multiple choices in multiband radio

Two new devices were announced at last month's Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials annual conference in Kansas City, Mo., while a third already has been upgraded.
  • Written by Urgent Communications Administrator
  • 1st September 2008

Public safety’s wait for multiband radio is over, and in a big way, as two new devices were announced at last month’s Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials annual conference in Kansas City, Mo., while a third — introduced at the International Wireless Communications Exposition in Las Vegas in March — already has been upgraded.

Motorola unveiled the APX 7000, a full-featured multiband portable P25 radio with integrated voice and data that comes in a hardened package and is designed to be user-friendly for public-safety users, according to company officials.

“When we spoke with customers some time ago, they asked us for three things: make it louder, make it easier to use and make it smaller,” said Tom Quirke, senior director of global products and solutions for Motorola’s government and public-safety business. “We’ve put a check in the box for all of those, but we’ve added a lot more capability.”

Indeed, the APX 7000 represents Motorola’s first portable multiband offering. The radio’s ability to operate on 700 MHz, 800 MHz and VHF networks will give first responders a new level of interoperability, Quirke said.

In addition to operating on different bands, the versatile APX 7000 — as well as the APX 7500 mobile version also announced — is P25 Phase 1-compliant and will be upgradeable to P25 Phase 2, he said. The radio also is backward-compatible with Motorola’s SmartNet and SmartZone systems, making it an ideal choice for agencies with such networks that are seeking a smooth migration path to P25, Quirke said.

Meanwhile, Harris Corp. introduced the Unity XG-100P software-defined, multiband portable radio. The radio operates in four public-safety frequency bands from 136 MHz to 870 MHz and is compliant — in both conventional and trunking modes — with Phase 1 of the Project 25 standard. It also is software-upgradeable to Phase 2, which is an important feature, said Kevin Kane, the company’s director of U.S. product development.

“Being software-defined allows it to be somewhat of a future-proof buy. We expect the Project 25 standard to evolve to add more capability,” Kane said. “You’ll be able to upgrade … without buying a new radio. For someone who’s planning for the life-cycle costs of a radio, that’s a key feature.”

Other key features are embedded GPS and a large color screen, neither of which have been “typically available” in the public-safety sector, Kane said.

The radio is the second multiband product developed by Harris for the first-responder sector. The first, introduced in February, was the RF-1033M, which operates in VHF (low- and high-band) and UHF (also low- and high-band) spectrum and is targeted to federal agencies.

Harris has been producing multi-band radios for the military for more than a decade, and that experience paid off in the development of the Unity radio, Kane said. However, he stressed that the Unity is not simply a dumbed-down version of the company’s military radios.

“This was designed from the ground up as a public-safety radio,” he said. “We took a lot of the feedback we got regarding the RF-1033 and were able to incorporate that into the second-generation design.”

The suggestions included broadening the swath of frequencies upon which the radio could operate, shrinking the form factor and reducing the weight, all of which were accomplished, Kane said. “We’ve addressed a lot of key user concerns.”

Finally, Thales announced that it added a color display screen to its Liberty multiband radio. The screen lets programmers color-code the channels of various agencies in a region, so first responders in the field “know who they’re talking to,” said Stephen Nichols, director of business development for the company’s DHS/public-safety unit.

In addition, a color bar at the top of the screen lets users know they’ve grabbed the correct radio.

“Each user group gets a slightly different programming configuration. The chief has different channels than firefighters or the hazmat team,” Nichols said. “Color-coding the bar will help users pick up their radio and not the chief’s, which was in the charger right next to theirs.”

The company also introduced an easier navigation interface. “The last thing the world needs is another custom way to program some technical product,” Nichols said. “We tried to emulate the approach taken by the cell-phone manufacturers and made our interface intuitive.”

CISCO, POSITRON LAUNCH NEW PLATFORM

Cisco and IPC-Positron announced a new platform that integrates Cisco’s unified communications system and IPC-Positron’s VIPER offering to provide an IP-based solution for a new generation of emergency-response communications.

Dubbed the Emergency Communication and Collaboration Platform, the system is designed to meet the needs of a changing communications environment that is migrating from the voice-only model used in public-safety answering points (PSAPs) today to one that allows voice, video, text and data information to be leveraged in what Cisco and IPC-Positron are calling Emergency Communications and Collaboration Centers, or EC3s.

“We see the industry migrating from an answering-point model to a collaboration-center model,” said Morgan Wright, Cisco’s global industry solutions manager for public safety and homeland security. With this in mind, the Cisco/IPC-Positron solution is expected to be used in emergency operations centers and fusion centers, as well as PSAPs.

While the initial focus of the platform is citizen-to-authority communications via any form of IP-based communications, the platform also is designed to handle authority-to-authority communications and, eventually, authority-to-citizen communications such as emergency notifications, Wright said.
— DONNY JACKSON

TRUNKING REPEATER, PORTABLES

ICOM America debuted what it is describing as the smallest Project 25 trunking repeater on the market. It combines two 50 W repeaters in a 2-rack-unit-tall configuration. “We all know that rack space is at a premium today,” said Richard Varbero, Jr., of the company’s Land Mobile Systems Group.

The company also unveiled the IC-F9011 series of conventional and trunked portable radios. The official launch of the line will occur Oct. 1. Three models are available: full keypad with LCD display; simple keypad with LCD display; and no keypad/no display. A UHF version will be launched in February.
www.icomamerica.com

DESKTOP CONTROL STATION

Midland Radio introduced a P25 VHF desktop control station that will be available this fall. It has a 90 W power rating (45 W continuous operation), offers DES/AES encryption and is targeted to federal agencies and the public-safety sector. A low-power UHF version also is planned.
www.midlandradio.com

JPS ADDS ADVANCED TRUNKING CAPABILITY

Raytheon’s JPS Communications has added composite channel trunking to its P25net Project 25-compliant, digital trunked radio communications system — a capability that is expected to trim infrastructure costs for users by reducing the number of repeaters that have to be deployed.

According to Rick Summers, a JPS program manager, a typical trunked system employs a minimum of three repeaters: One supports a control channel that is on all the time, while the other two are for talk channels. With composite channel trunking, a single channel is used for talk and control; the control channel switches into talk-channel mode whenever the system receives an authenticated signal.

“When you don’t have much loading, a single channel is all you need,” Summers said.

Reducing the number of channels has a corollary benefit: it reduces the amount of spectrum that’s needed to support operations. According to Summers, the combined cost savings from these reductions are especially advantageous in low-population areas, where it is more difficult to cost-justify investment in infrastructure and spectrum resources, because such areas are visited much less frequently by field technicians.
— GLENN BISCHOFF

ENCRYPTED REPEATER, 800 MHZ MODULES

Daniels Electronics unveiled plug-in 800 MHz modules for the company’s analog and Project 25 products and a P25 encrypted repeater that measures less than 1 cubic foot, provides three hours of continuous use and operates on D-cell batteries.

The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms came to the company seeking an easy-to-use repeater for covert operations, said Gerry Wight, the company’s director of marketing. “D-cells are about as simple as it gets,” he said.
www.danelec.com

CAD SYSTEM

InterAct Public Safety Systems unveiled HerculesCAD, a next-generation computer-aided dispatch system. It is available as a hosted service application or may be deployed as a premise-based system. HerculesCAD is designed to let disparate agencies share critical data from incoming calls — whether they arrive via phone, SMS, VoIP or e-mail — including images and video over a secure network, the company said.
www.interact911.com

Tags: PSAP Call Center/Command content Public Safety

Most Recent


  • Microsoft Outlook vulnerability could be 2023's 'It' bug
    Microsoft recently patched a zero-day vulnerability under active exploit in Microsoft Outlook, identified as CVE-2023-23397, which could enable an attacker to perform a privilege escalation, accessing the victim’s Net-NTLMv2 challenge-response authentication hash and impersonating the user. Now it’s becoming clear that CVE-2023-23397 is dangerous enough to become the most far-reaching bug of the year, security researchers are […]
  • Getting to know the how—and why—of the telecom cloud
    A funny thing happened during the pandemic: The giant cloud hyperscalers burst into the telecom industry. And now it’s time for everyone to get acquainted with them. Why? Well, it seems increasingly inevitable that a certain percentage – ranging from “a little” to “most” – of telecom operators’ network functions are going to run in […]
  • Zipline delivery drone docks, charges by itself
    Zipline has unveiled its new autonomous drone platform, designed to provide accurate everyday delivery to homes in the U.S., including in busy residential areas. Zipline’s previous delivery system worked by parachuting parcels into a specified area. Now the new drone, dubbed Platform 2 or P2 Zip, sends its goods down to customers via a tether […]
  • State and local leaders can alleviate the burden on public-safety personnel by tackling three workforce trends
    Government officials and public safety leaders wear many different hats. They serve as sounding boards for constituent complaints and for new ideas that need vetting. They are change agents charged with improving the lives of citizens and colleagues and are tasked with keeping order. Their most daunting responsibility, however, is keeping members of their community […]

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

  • New Orleans-area 911 center inks multiyear APEX deal with Carbyne to replace call-handling system
  • Multiple choices in multiband radio
    Newscan: Feds recover millions from pipeline ransom hackers, hint at U.S. Internet tactic
  • Cyber is the new Cold War, and AI is the arms race
  • Private wireless networks in the US start going public

Commentary


Updated: How ‘sidelink’ peer-to-peer communications can enhance public-safety operations

  • 1
27th February 2023

NG911 needed to secure our communities and nation

24th February 2023

How 5G is making cities safer, smarter, and more efficient

26th January 2023
view all

Events


UC Ezines


IWCE 2019 Wrap Up

13th May 2019
view all

Twitter


UrgentComm

Zipline delivery drone docks, charges by itself dlvr.it/SlBNWy

20th March 2023
UrgentComm

State and local leaders can alleviate the burden on public-safety personnel by tackling three workforce trends dlvr.it/SlBH89

20th March 2023
UrgentComm

6G is shaping up to disappoint, and the industry can blame itself dlvr.it/Sl918J

20th March 2023
UrgentComm

Change is coming to the network detection and response (NDR) market dlvr.it/Sl4cts

18th March 2023

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.