Is the public-safety community at the forefront of the technology revolution or picking up the rear? It depends on your perspective, who you ask or what day it is.
Public safety was one of the first industries to embrace wireless data. CDPD communication was essential to highway patrolmen and other law-enforcement officials for finding out in real time if the guy they just pulled over on a minor traffic violation had an outstanding warrant for his arrest.
Today, whether it’s via mesh networks or WLAN deployments, cities are increasingly embracing new technology. Cocoa Beach, Fla., is the latest city to install high-tech equipment to enable government to more efficiently perform its duties. Homeland security issues have picked up steam. You can tell by the rash of studies, deals and partnerships formed. Just last week, wireless mainstays Nortel and Motorola each announced new public-safety efforts, and Venture Development Corp. released a study saying most public-safety officials want to use software-defined radios to aid interoperability issues.
The lack of interoperability between public-safety communications networks on Sept. 11 was hammered home again in the 9/11 Commission report on the matter. The allegation is that fewer lives would have been lost had an interoperable communications network been in place.
Venture’s study said most public-safety agencies have no means of direct radio-to-radio communication and often resort to swapping radios among departments or transporting communication gateways to sites.
That doesn’t sound very cutting edge.
Interoperability issues within the U.S. military are being addressed with SDR technology, said the report.
New York City is planning to upgrade its 911 system and build a high-tech public-safety network at 4.9 GHz. The problem is New York City faces the same challenges as the rest of world: If you deploy the latest, greatest technology, it has the shortest track record. If you deploy a more proven system, it likely is not at the forefront of technology. Indeed, there is no equipment authorized to work at 4.9 GHz.
Yet, equipment can be modified and experimental licenses can be used to test communications. And then later in the technology evolution, commercial wireless will take advantage of what was learned from the public-safety community.
