Harris unveils multiband P25 portable radio with Wi-Fi, LTE capability
In addition to its narrowband features, the XL-200P has built-in Wi-Fi connectivity and is designed to house an optional LTE modem that supports broadband connectivity in Band 4, Band 13 and Band 14—the public-safety spectrum licensed to FirstNet. This capability can have a significant impact on the effort required to maintain the portable radio, Tesh said.
“An administrator can push software updates wherever the radios are,” he said. “So, if a county has a network with the kind of security they are comfortable with, every time an officer or firefighter goes into a station, they can push updates to the radios wirelessly. The days of having to drive out, find the radios and plug a cable into them so that you can update them—we’re trying to put that away. We’re just trying to solve a big problem for users.”
While the software-update capability via Wi-Fi or LTE is available in competitors’ LMR radios, the XL-200P is unique in that it leverages the broadband connectivity to enable the transmission of multimedia content.
“This has been designed for tomorrow’s broadband data streams,” Tesh said. “This is not trying to attach LTE data streams to an old microprocessor. This is all new, from the ground up, to support video, biometric sensors or first responders who need data at an incident.”
Harris is exhibiting the XL-200P at booth #1033 in the exhibit hall of the APCO 2015 show.