News 5G promises more than just high data speeds for first responders, panelists say 11th December 2019 Higher data speeds are the focus of current 5G deployments, but some of the performance characteristics that are expected to prove most valuable to public safety—low latency, high reliability and network slicing—likely are at least a year away, according to industry and first-responder experts. During a 5G session conducted at the recent Operation Convergent Response […]
News With help of drone cameras, Aerial Applications ready to aid first responders with maps, real-time video 10th December 2019 Photos and videos shot by cameras mounted on aerial drones can provide responders with valuable insights about their surroundings, but software company Aerial Applications adds mapping and 3D modeling solutions to visual images that can accelerate the assessment process for agencies, particularly after large-scale disasters and incidents. Aerial Applications founder and CEO Joe Sullivan said […]
News Upcoming Band 14 PTT devices ‘phenomenal,’ FirstNet Authority board member says 6th December 2019 Not-yet-available push-to-talk LTE devices that are being evaluated in the FirstNet Authority laboratory should please public-safety users and are “getting very, very close” to the type of solutions first responders would want to replace land-mobile-radio (LMR) handsets, a FirstNet Authority board member said today. Neil Cox, chairman of the FirstNet Authority board’s Network and Technology […]
News Commerce Department vet Lisa Casias named as Deputy CEO for the FirstNet Authority 6th December 2019 U.S. Department of Commerce veteran Lisa Casias was announced as the new Deputy CEO for the FirstNet Authority during yesterday’s open meeting of the organization’s board members. FirstNet Authority board Chairman Ed Horowitz introduced Casias as a “recent addition to our leadership team,” noting that she comes to the FirstNet Authority from the U.S. Department […]
News FirstNet MCPTT launch delayed until first quarter of 2020, AT&T says 4th December 2019 Public-safety users will have to wait until the first quarter of next year to experience push-to-talk service compliant with the mission-critical-push-to-talk (MCPTT) standard on the FirstNet system, according to AT&T, the contractor tasked with building and maintaining the nationwide public-safety broadband network (NPSBN). AT&T yesterday provided the push-to-talk update as part of a press release […]
News FirstNet surpasses marks for 75% Band 14 buildout, 1 million connections and 10,000 agencies subscribed 4th December 2019 Deployment of FirstNet on 700 MHz Band 14 spectrum is more than 75% complete, with the nationwide public-safety broadband network (NPSBN) supporting more than 1 million connections from more than 10,000 subscribed first-responder agencies, according to statistics released yesterday by contractor AT&T. With the buildout update, AT&T has surpassed the FirstNet deployment goal set by […]
Video FLYMOTION: Ryan English demonstrates drone service with video, thermal-imaging capability during night responses 30th November 2019 Ryan English, president and co-founder of FLYMOTION Unmanned Systems, showcases the ability of the company’s drone service to provide traditional video and thermal-images to help public-safety personnel better understand their surroundings, even when responding in darkness.English spoke with IWCE’s Urgent Communications Editor Donny Jackson during the recent Operation Convergent Response (OCR) 2019 event in Perry, Ga., […]
Video Robotic Assistance Devices: Ioan Pop outlines benefits of robot prototype in airport environment 30th November 2019 Ioan Pop, vice president of engineering, describes features of Roameo, a prototype of a durable security-enhancement robot that can be customized to provide assorted forms of sensor data to airport security, as well as disseminate information via alerting, text or voice communications. Robotic Assistance Devices hopes to make the robot commercially available next year. Pop spoke […]
News Group announces successful test of multi-vendor MCPTT call with end-to-end security 27th November 2019 Secure voice communications can be delivered using 3GPP’s mission-critical-push-to-talk (MCPTT) standard across solutions provided by multiple vendors, according to tests recently announced by Bittium, Athonet, Nemergent and the Mission Critical Open Platform (MCOP) project. Fidel Liberal, coordinator for MCOP, said the testing—conducted this fall at the ETSI MCX plugtests event in Finland—is a big step […]
Audio Pyramid Consulting Services: Terry Burnworth outlines 911 information-overload challenges, previews Dec. 11 webinar 26th November 2019 Terry Burnworth, president of Pyramid Consulting Services, explains the challenges that 911 centers–particularly smaller centers in rural areas–face as 911 transitions from a voice-centric operation to one that needs to process data, photos and video from a variety of sources, including IoT sensors, surveillance cameras and witnesses at an incident scene. On Dec. 11 at […]
Is LMR the best solution for first responders? Should 4.9 GHz license go to the FirstNet Authority? 2 24th March 2024
FirstNet Authority reauthorization needed as public-safety-driven network evolution proceeds 16th March 2024