Progress continues on clarifying the needs of first responders and the technical standards that will support them, as the board of the future nationwide public safety network, dubbed FirstNet, continue to lay the foundation for the LTE network and public safety trade organizations examine specifications issues and telecom-related training.
Two major public safety trade organizations said this week that they will work together on specifications issues for public safety broadband communications.
The National Public Safety Telecommunications Council voted during its meeting in Las Vegas to partner with the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International on “technical standards issues related to public safety broadband communications.”
The agreement is not related to any 3GPP standards. NPSTC is a federation of public safety organizations that want to improve first responder communications and interoperability, and APCO is one of its members.
“As a founding member of NPSTC, it is only fitting that this relationship be enhanced as NPSTC develops broadband requirements requiring standards development to partner with APCO,” said NPSTC Chairman Ralph Haller. “This is a critical time to ensure involvement of the public safety communications community to stay involved with the requirements and standards development of broadband technology as we move into the future.”
APCO also recently took the first step towards updating its standards for training and core competencies for first responders’ telecommunications skills, as well as initiating the development of a standard for public safety agencies to integrate applications in their daily operations.
Meanwhile, FirstNet Chairman Sam Ginn testified before Congress last week that the board is making good progress on developing support for its future network. He added that 3GPP said recently one of its top priorities in producing Release 12 is to support public safety and critical communications, particularly with group communications.
Read Ginn’s full statement here.
FirstNet has already discussed the building of an applications library for public safety, attempting to get a sense of the apps that already exist and how it can facilitate a robust app ecosystem for public safety.
The board met this week in a closed session and selected a general manager for the network, but his or her name has not yet been released pending background checks and an official hire. The board also authorized $1 million for outreach activities as part of its broader plan to engage FirstNet’s future users, and budget requests for 2013 and 2014.
