https://urgentcomm.com/wp-content/themes/ucm_child/assets/images/logo/footer-logo.png
  • Home
  • News
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Multimedia
    • Video
    • Podcasts
    • Galleries
  • Commentary
    • Back
    • Commentary
    • Urgent Matters
    • View From The Top
    • All Things IWCE
    • Legal Matters
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Resources
    • Events
    • 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
    • Cookies Policy
  • Related Sites
    • Back
    • American City & County
    • IWCE
    • Light Reading
    • IOT World Today
    • Mission Critical Technologies
    • Microwave/RF
    • T&D World
    • 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
    • Galleries
  • Commentary
    • Back
    • All Things IWCE
    • Urgent Matters
    • View From The Top
    • Legal Matters
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Events
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Reprints & Reuse
    • UC eZines
  • IWCE
    • Back
    • Conference
    • Special Events
    • Exhibitor Listings
    • Floor Plan
    • Exhibiting Information
    • Register for IWCE
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Statement
    • Cookies Policy
  • Related Sites
    • Back
    • American City & County
    • IWCE
    • Light Reading
    • IOT World Today
    • Mission Critical Technologies
    • Microwave/RF
    • T&D World
    • 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

Wireless Networks


A friend indeed

A friend indeed

The flexibility and ease of use provided by COTM systems let disaster-relief teams focus on what they do best.
  • Written by Urgent Communications Administrator
  • 1st July 2010

There is no better example of communications challenges being a matter of life or death than those faced by first responders. Quick response times, immediacy, and the ability to access real-time voice, video and data information — whether from a command center, news source or weather station — often determine the chances for success in an emergency.

Heavily damaged or destroyed terrestrial networks can put entire regions into a total communications blackout, making the work of first responders even more challenging. Even if part of the infrastructure is operational, networks quickly become overtaxed, making communications nearly impossible. To combat this, rapidly deployable satellite communications are needed to provide first responders with seamless emergency communications, rapid disaster recovery capabilities and instant continuity of operations.

Communications on the Move, or COTM, calls for broadband Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity in a mobile environment to provide instant access to information. The application of satellite communications in such environments is making an impact in the first-responder community, as well as in military and government organizations.

Mobile communications via satellite is not a new idea, but several technological advancements in the past five years have made widespread deployment more cost-effective. Smaller satellite dishes, more-effective IP technologies and the efficient use of spread-spectrum technology have fueled the growth of mobile communications via satellite.

One of COTM’s greatest advantages is having an instant network for critical communications, because first responders often are confronted with damaged cellular towers, landlines, fiber optics and other types of terrestrial infrastructure.

Besides enabling anytime, anywhere communications, COTM lets the first-responder community assess the situation at hand. First responders and public-safety agencies can receive voice, data and video transmissions from people on the ground to help evaluate the situation. This provides agencies with a situational analysis of the current events and helps agencies in dispatching extra resources as needed, and more importantly, where they are needed. It also helps agencies determine the best course of action for the safest possible outcome for all involved.

A disaster-relief operation provides the perfect example of how the first responder community can use COTM. By definition, disaster-relief operations are mobile operations. Whether the response effort involves traveling long distances in a contiguous disaster relief area or setting up new operations in a geographically remote location, field teams need to be assured that their communications system will provide seamless connectivity at any location.

While satellite enables continuous service across a wide geographic area, there are times when a relief operation must be set up outside of an organization’s satellite footprint. Additionally, there are times when a single disaster-relief effort must cover an enormous area, crossing several satellite footprints while field teams are on the move. This is where a COTM system’s connectivity and ease of use are important.

Without COTM, relief organizations can use different remote terminals to support communications in another satellite community or they can engage in the time-consuming task of reconfiguring their remote access terminals for the new service area. Either option is cumbersome, expensive and particularly difficult for non-technical field teams.

A more viable system facilitates itinerant terminals and COTM. As the term “itinerant” suggests, the remote-access terminals can move from place to place and are not bound by any particular satellite footprint. Ideally, when an operation is set up in a new satellite footprint, network operators are able to simultaneously transfer dedicated IP addresses from one satellite footprint to another satellite footprint for all of the remote access terminals that will be used to support the new operation. Importantly, the network must be able to hand off IP subnets automatically without human intervention.

COTM provides seamless connectivity literally anywhere in the world. Whether a field team is traveling by truck, ship or plane, the remote access router is intelligent enough to sense when communications are moving out of satellite range and, using automatic beam switchover, it will transfer operations to the next satellite footprint. This greatly reduces equipment needs and ensures critical communications flexibility.

A superior COTM solution facilitates high-speed IP communications via satellite that is completely independent from the terrestrial infrastructure. Any emergency team can have full communication capabilities, whether it is in a densely populated urban area where the infrastructure is damaged, or in a remote and isolated location where no infrastructure exists.

A single-hub chassis installed at the agency headquarters can support relief operations at any location and across a wide geographic footprint. From this location, network operators can configure, monitor and control all remote access sites, and even customize services to meet individual site requirements.

In the field, portable satellite routers, which weigh only 10 pounds — including the power supply — can be transported easily and deployed instantly under any conditions. Each compact satellite router includes a satellite modem and an IP router, and provides TCP optimization over satellite, QoS and prioritization, and optional AES encryption. The routers are user-friendly and reliable, enabling field teams with little or no technical expertise to easily set up and activate the system from any location.

The COTM system’s centralized management, combined with user-friendly and easily deployed satellite routers, allows response teams to quickly adapt to any emergency situation where systems and services must be transported and configured on the fly.

As a pure IP-over-satellite solution, the best COTM system delivers a complete portfolio of broadband access services over the air. Any mix of voice, data and video applications can be fully supported. Such flexibility of a COTM system to support any communications medium is important. For example, there are times when first responders need video to get a true picture of an incident while they are en route.

Let’s consider a scenario where a tractor-trailer carrying hazardous materials has been involved in a serious accident on a major highway, a visual look at the number of vehicles involved and the layout of the accident can help in knowing how many ambulances to dispatch to the site. Additionally, public-safety officials can see the hazardous container’s symbol from the video feed. This will alert them to the type of spill for which to prepare, letting them plan their response while en route, radio for special equipment needed and take other necessary actions to mitigate the situation.

COTM’s ease of deployment makes it a perfect solution for first responders who need to concentrate on what they do best — assess the situation and save lives. First responders do not require a technical background to get a COTM system working quickly. The plug-and-play satellite communications system can be set up in minutes, enabling portable communications with high bandwidth for voice, data and video telecommunications between a vehicle and headquarters.

Rapidly deployable satellite broadband is crucial, often holding the only key to mission-critical information. COTM provides the real-time secure and reliable video, data and voice transmissions that first responders, public safety, government organizations and other support entities require, delivering communications while in transit as well as at the incident site. As advancements in COTM technology keep improving communications options, it likely will be a critical component for any first-response team.

Karl Fuchs is vice president of engineering for iDirect Government Technologies.

Related Stories

  • A painful lesson: Haiti suffers communications failures after earthquake
  • Governance plays a big role in satellite-based disaster communications
  • Satellite companies see usage surge in Haiti
  • Use it or lose it: Satellite communications are most effective when they’re used for more than disaster response
  • Haitian earthquake another unwanted reminder of first-response needs
Tags: Call Center/Command Wireless Networks

Related


  • Professor calls for 5G moratorium over health fears; Omdia begs to differ
    t’s not what mobile network operators, suppliers and go-ahead governments want to hear. An essay by Professor John William Frank, published by the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, calls for a moratorium on further 5G rollout. Why? He wants further investigation into the next-gen tech’s “potentially harmful biological effects from radio frequency electromagnetic field […]
  • ODD collaboration needed for autonomous-vehicle safety
    The creation of an operational design domain (ODD) will be an essential component to the widespread adoption and deployment of self-driving vehicles. ODDs–a term that defines all conceivable overlapping conditions, use cases, restrictions and scenarios that an AV might encounter–help with the development of autonomous vehicles, because they define where autonomous vehicles can function based […]
  • Private LTE projected to grow to $13 billion
    The demand for the private LTE market is anticipated to grow at an incremental rate based of increasing adoption of connected devices that require a reliable and secure communication network, according to a recent study from market research firm Global Market Insights. Rapid urbanization and industrialization have driven the need for advanced communication technologies that can […]
  • Public safety needs a better way to triage emergency calls
    The overarching goal of the public-safety community is to ensure that 911 callers receive the most appropriate emergency response as quickly as possible. Lives often are on the line in an emergency, and every second matters. Achieving a balance between sending the optimal response to an emergency and having it arrive as fast as possible […]

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

  • Federal judge reduces Hytera legal payment to Motorola Solutions by $220.9 million
  • Florida county announces successful test of Motorola Solutions' cloud-based P25 core technology
  • LMR licensing activity again dips to new all-time lows in 2020
  • Healthcare organizations bear the brunt of cyberattacks amid pandemic

Commentary


Public safety needs a better way to triage emergency calls

13th January 2021

In challenging year, working with public safety to move FirstNet forward

30th December 2020

Communications solutions must evolve quickly to meet needs of a changing world

31st October 2020
view all

Events


UC Ezines


IWCE 2019 Wrap Up

13th May 2019
view all

Twitter


UrgentComm

Become a Thought Leader at IWCE 2021! We are looking for dynamic speakers to present case studies and technical tal… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

26th January 2021
UrgentComm

RT @IWCEexpo: 📆 Mark Your Calendars: IWCE will be returning to Las Vegas this September and registration is slated to open in April 📆 Wa…

15th January 2021
UrgentComm

RT @IWCEexpo: ⚡FLASH SALE: Don't miss this exclusive offer! Passes to #IBFVirtual are now 50% off with code TWITTER50. Take advantage of th…

6th November 2020
UrgentComm

Get ready for part 2 of "Ensuring Public Safety Emergency Communications" next week! @PCTEL_inc will explore… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

3rd November 2020
UrgentComm

Over the past few months, we’ve seen the world transform, and it's clear that cities will be affected in the long-t… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

27th October 2020
UrgentComm

Florida state & local agencies subscribing to the Statewide Law Enforcement Radio System (SLERS) will be able to co… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

26th October 2020
UrgentComm

Tune in to @slacorp CEO Josh Lober as he explains how the company has fully integrated its #PTT application to work… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

26th October 2020
UrgentComm

.@SierraWireless announced the commercial availability of the AirLink MG90 platform, which they tout as the first m… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

26th October 2020

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
  • Microwave/RF
  • T&D World
  • TU-Auto

WORKING WITH US

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Events
  • Careers

FOLLOW Urgent Comms ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookies Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2021 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.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X