https://urgentcomm.com/wp-content/themes/ucm_child/assets/images/logo/footer-new-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
    • 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
    • Omdia Crit Comms Circle Podcast
    • Galleries
    • IWCE’s Video 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
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Statement
    • Cookies Policy
  • 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

In-Building


Article

Panel debates the challenges of providing indoor coverage to public safety

Panel debates the challenges of providing indoor coverage to public safety

At least one major U.S. wireless carrier is deploying neutral-host DAS to deliver high-bandwidth indoor coverage inside of buildings that can be shared with other carriers, but financial and operational factors prevent the same indoor solutions from being leveraged by public-safety personnel in the same locations.
  • Written by
  • 19th November 2014

DALLAS—At least one major U.S. wireless carrier is deploying neutral-host distributed antenna systems (DAS) to deliver high-bandwidth indoor coverage inside of buildings that can be shared with other carriers, but financial and operational factors prevent the same indoor solutions from being leveraged by public-safety personnel in the same locations.

AT&T is deploying neutral-host DAS solutions, which are largely “future proof” because they are flexible enough to support multiple technologies and capacity as circumstances change, Jim Parker, senior manager for AT&T’s antenna solutions group, said during a panel discussion on antenna-deployment challenges at the Antenna Evolution Focus Day prior to the LTE North America conference. But using these shared indoor DAS assets to support public-safety LMR and LTE communications can be complicated, so the carrier typically does not do it, he said.

“The public-safety requirements tend to be more stringent than the commercial DAS requirements,” Parker said during the session. “Therefore, when we deploy a public-safety DAS, it’s a separate layer. It’s a separate DAS basically, because it requires more battery backup and the enclosures all have to be NEMA-rated, so that they are waterproof to prevent water intrusion.

“If we applied that standard for the commercial DAS, then our costs would go through the roof. Because, when you’re building out commercial DAS, the requirements are very, very different.”

Panel moderator Ken Rehbehn, a principal analyst for 451 Research and a volunteer firefighter in the Washington, D.C., area, said he believes that public-safety personnel would like to have the opportunity to leverage even commercial-grade DAS assets inside of a building instead of struggling to communicate during emergency responses.

“That’s actually pretty upsetting. I’m really surprised,” Rehbehn said after Parker spoke. “We’re waiting to deploy public-safety-coverage systems because we want to have a higher quality system. And, since we’re going to have the highest quality possible for the indoor system for public safety, we’re not going to deploy it at all—screw it.

“That is unbelievable, because there are so many buildings that are uncovered. We don’t need the perfect solution; we just need enough of the solution to get the job done … We just don’t have enough public-safety indoor coverage today. It should be relatively straightforward to have a repeater-based adjunct to an indoor system to provide that basic public-safety coverage.”

Parker said there are “a lot of really good reasons” for the more stringent indoor-coverage requirements for public safety, noting that carrier DAS systems do not include battery backup that is as robust as first responders need, because “we assume that the building will be vacant [of commercial customers]” soon after a fire or other emergency occurs that requires general evacuation.

In addition, an audience member who said he was with Verizon noted another problem for a carrier that shares an indoor DAS solution to support public safety.

“Do you really want emergency personnel going in, depending on that network and have it fail?” the audience member asked. “What’s the PR going to look like: ‘Six firefighter killed as AT&T or Verizon’s network failed?’”

But Rehbehn said the problem with the scenario is that public-safety personnel entering such buildings “are getting honks on their trunked system” indicating that no indoor coverage is available. As a result, first responders in these situations have to resort to daisy-chained communications to personnel at key locations, which is inefficient and can be difficult.

“It’s a horrible situation, and even a good-enough commercial system would be grand—absolutely fabulous,” Rehbehn said. “We have backup battery, because we will roll a repeater system on a battalion chief’s car to the scene when things start going along. But to have the building covered comprehensively by a mid-grade commercial solution would be awesome.

“We do have backups, even if that system fails, but they are very clumsy to use.”

Another challenge noted by panelist Keith Radousky, CTO of Quintel, is that many public-safety LMR systems operate on UHF and VHF bands that are not supported by typical carrier DAS solutions today.

Tags: DAS In-Building Article

Most Recent


  • 5G proponents fret over Biden's fiber fancy
    The US government on Friday released some guidelines on how US states should dole out $42.5 billion for broadband services in rural areas. “Thanks to President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Americans across the country will no longer be held back by a lack of high-speed Internet access,” US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo declared in a statement. However, those […]
  • Motorola Solutions logo
    Motorola Solutions continues buying spree with Videotec acquisition
    Motorola Solutions yesterday announced that it has acquired Videotec—a Schio, Italy-based maker of rugged video-security cameras—to expand the manufacturing and design capabilities of its Pelco brand of video-security cameras. Videotec is the fourth company that Motorola Solutions has bought in the last 10 weeks, following the acquisitions of Ava Security and TETRA Ireland in March, […]
  • Artemis returns with private pCell strategy
    Startup Artemis Networks is back. The company is still pushing its pCell technology with CEO Steve Perlman at the helm. It is also touting a distribution partnership with Federated Wireless, a real-world deployment at the SAP Center sports stadium in San Jose and high-profile support from former Apple CEO John Sculley and financial analyst Craig […]
  • FirstNet Authority board commits to first in-building investment
    FirstNet Authority board members this week voted to make a multimillion-dollar investment that is designed to extend the coverage of FirstNet—the nationwide public-safety broadband network (NPSBN) being built by AT&T—inside public-safety buildings and other structures. FirstNet Authority Chair Stephen Benjamin described the in-building resolution as an “exciting investment,” and the measure was approved unanimously during […]

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

  • Panel debates the challenges of providing indoor coverage to public safety
  • Panel debates the challenges of providing indoor coverage to public safety
  • Panel debates the challenges of providing indoor coverage to public safety
  • Private wireless networks in the US start going public

Commentary


LTE and liability: Why the fire service must move forward with digital incident command

  • 1
6th May 2022

Partnership and collaboration must be the foundation for emergency communications

18th April 2022

FirstNet success means no hypothetical ‘shots’ need to be fired, Swenson says

22nd February 2022
view all

Events


UC Ezines


IWCE 2019 Wrap Up

13th May 2019
view all

Twitter


UrgentComm

Long-haul autonomous truck revealed dlvr.it/SQSczK

16th May 2022
UrgentComm

5G proponents fret over Biden’s fiber fancy dlvr.it/SQSYCp

16th May 2022
UrgentComm

Log4Shell exploit threatens enterprise data lakes, AI poisoning dlvr.it/SQRMng

16th May 2022
UrgentComm

Newscan: EV-infrastructure cyber vulnerabilities put cars, the grid at risk dlvr.it/SQKjJW

13th May 2022
UrgentComm

Motorola Solutions continues buying spree with Videotec acquisition dlvr.it/SQKHHs

13th May 2022
UrgentComm

Black Hat Asia: Firmware supply-chain woes plague device security dlvr.it/SQJZfs

13th May 2022
UrgentComm

Artemis returns with private pCell strategy dlvr.it/SQJTqp

13th May 2022
UrgentComm

Breaking down the Strengthening American Cybersecurity Act dlvr.it/SQFKXD

12th May 2022

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 © 2022 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