WASHINGTON-The District of Columbia government Thursday showed off its public-safety wireless network as it urged Congress to allocate 10 megahertz of spectrum in the upper 700 MHz band to public safety.
“In this era of Code Orange warnings, the capacity to rapidly deploy high-speed wireless applications such as chemical/biological alarms, remote video monitoring at command sites, video information for officers on patrol, cross-jurisdictional database messaging, and ambulance-hospital video links is absolutely essential to keep the public safe,” said the Spectrum Coalition for Public Safety.
The 9/11 Commission Report highlighted the need for first responders to better communicate. Although many have interpreted this as more spectrum for interoperability among first responders, the Spectrum Coalition for Public Safety believes the 9/11 Commission meant all of the available communication methods-not just voice.
Public safety was allocated 24 megahertz of spectrum in the upper 700 MHz band in 1997 with the rest going for commercial purposes, but the Spectrum Coalition for Public Safety believes it needs an additional 10 megahertz.
“We launched an initiative aimed at delivering next-generation broadband wireless solutions to the nation’s capital. Our regional network will provide a full designed and tested broadband solution that jurisdictions around the nation can replicate if the necessary spectrum is provided. Broadband wireless solutions are bandwidth-intensive, and public-safety agencies around the nation simply don’t have enough dedicated spectrum to support the wireless tools they need. That is why getting the 10 megahertz is so critical,” said Robert LeGrande, D.C. deputy chief technology officer.
TV broadcasters were given one channel-6 megahertz-of spectrum to complete the DTV transition.
Congress dictated that 24 megahertz of the returned spectrum be allocated to public safety with a portion going to interoperability. The rest was to be auctioned. The FCC has auctioned some spectrum but the mobile-phone industry has pressed the government to not hold any more auctions until a hard date to end the transition is set.
Congress set Dec. 31, 2006, as the date for the DTV transition to be complete, but gave the broadcasters a huge loophole. Broadcasters are not required to return the 6 megahertz of spectrum they were given to facilitate the transition until 85 percent of the homes in their viewing areas are capable of receiving digital signals, but technically they must ask for extensions.
D.C.’s 10-site system is operating under an 18-month experimental license. This could be increased to as much as five years, said FCC officials.
The broadband wireless system uses technology by Flarion Technologies and Motorola Inc. Representatives from both companies were on hand to tout the D.C. system.
