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

View From The Top


Commentary

Emergency communications must be out of harm’s way

Emergency communications must be out of harm’s way

The only way to guarantee that first responders have working communications after a disaster is to establish a path-diverse back-up network based on satellite technology.
  • Written by
  • 25th June 2013

By Tony Bardo

On the Breezy Point Peninsula in Queens, N.Y., there aren’t many houses that were spared by Superstorm Sandy.  What with the wind and the flooding and a six-alarm fire that consumed 111 homes, there are few that made it through unscathed.  But even in these few, more than 100 days after the storm has passed, you won’t hear a dial-tone.  The storm took out the telephone lines, just as it took out the power and disrupted plumbing and septic systems.  According to Habitat for Humanity’s Jim Killoran, who is still on the ground helping people rebuild, there are areas in New York City that may never see wireline telephone service again.

Hurricane Sandy was unpredictable because it was a disaster; but what happens in a disaster is not unpredictable.  Power is cut.  Communications are severed.  And emergency responders must operate in a new and unfamiliar environment.  In the immediate aftermath of a disaster, communications are essential to locate areas of crises, coordinate the response, and manage resources.  The United States government understands this, which is why it is constructing a nationwide public-safety broadband network through the First Responders Network Authority, or FirstNet. 

Every disaster threatens communications networks.  Whether its hurricanes, floods, or earthquakes—or non-natural events—all ground infrastructure such as power lines, cellular base stations, fiber-optic cables and telephone lines are vulnerable to severe damage.  First responders prepare for these disruptions by establishing back-up communications networks.  Rather than contracting only with one provider, the agency also might contract with a second.  But unless the back-up employs a true alternate-path technology, i.e., one that does not rely on terrestrial links (whether fixed or wireless), then both are still susceptible to disruptions on the ground.   

The only way to guarantee that first responders have working communications after a disaster is to establish a path-diverse back-up network based on satellite technology.  To do this, the government must integrate a fixed satellite service component into FirstNet.  Satellite communication is not vulnerable to terrestrial disasters since the communications hub is either onboard the satellite itself (at approximately 24,000 miles above ground in geostationary orbit), or distant from the disaster in a well-protected facility. 

Today’s satellite broadband technology has reached performance- and cost-competitiveness with mainstream DSL services, and is routinely combined with wireless mobility applications for many enterprises, such as for Wi-Fi security. It offers the capability of transmitting the same high-speed data and information—including video—that first responders have come to expect from modern broadband connections, and its reliability has broken through the “overcast barrier” that plagued many home satellite dishes in the past.  Today, satellite is the communications standard for critical missions in hostile environments, from the battlefields of Afghanistan to the foot-soldiers patrolling the border—and now, the neighborhoods of Breezy Point.

The nation depends on its first responders, but it’s up to us to arm them with the tools they need to get their jobs done.  Our first responders cannot do what they do best—save lives—without the vital communications networks needed to make it happen.  The government created the FirstNet program to address the challenge of emergency communications.  Now, it’s critical to ensure that this network is out of harm’s way.

Tony Bardo is assistant vice president for government solutions at Hughes.

Tags: Disaster Response Regulation Commentary Policy Public Safety Public-Safety Broadband/FirstNet State & Local Government View From The Top Commentary

Most Recent


  • Huawei hacked by U.S., according to China spy agency
    It’s back to 2019 on Huawei, with the US and China exchanging barbs and the Chinese firm accused of skirting US export rules. China foreign affairs spokesperson Mao Ning Wednesday assailed the US for “overstretching” the concept of national security in order to discriminate against Chinese companies. She rejected a complaint by Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo over […]
  • Driverless-car crashes less frequent, cause less damage, according to insurance research
    Waymo is using insurance data to demonstrate that its self-driving taxis are safer than human-driven vehicles. The company, owned by Google parent Alphabet, has published research led by insurer Swiss Re that it says shows how driverless vehicles crash less frequently and do less damage than those piloted by humans. The study comes at a pivotal moment […]
  • Germany proposes strict curbs on Huawei
    Relying on a Russian thug for energy supplies no longer appeared very sensible to Germany’s government after Vladimir Putin sent Russian troops into Ukraine. Similar dependence by Germany’s telcos on Huawei has looked just as risky to opponents of the Chinese equipment vendor. If Putin could turn off the Nordstream gas taps in response to […]
  • Survey highlights potential benefits, concerns about artificial intelligence for cities and counties
    It appears that artificial intelligence (AI) is everything, everywhere and in every product the vendor community would have us buy. However, despite the hype, few dismiss it as just another high-tech fad. Indeed, some believe it is the third (or fourth) wave, depending on how one is counting in the ever-evolving digital age. As early […]

Related Content

  • Emergency communications must be out of harm’s way
  • Emergency communications must be out of harm’s way
  • Emergency communications must be out of harm’s way
  • Emergency communications must be out of harm’s way

Commentary


Better technology can help solve the public-safety staffing crisis

26th June 2023

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
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.