Alcatel-Lucent demonstrated interoperable voice and data technology for the FirstNet board this week in Boulder, Colo., showcasing how voice over LTE and presence information might be used by first responders who are expected to adopt service over the future nationwide LTE public safety network that the board is tasked with designing and operating.
Alcatel-Lucent said that its Voice-over-IMS solution can support VoLTE on FirstNet’s network, once Band 14 LTE devices with a VoLTE client become available.
Alcatel-Lucent also showed the board presence capabilities of rich communications suite (RCS), which is an effort by the GSMA to provide standards-based solutions from multiple vendors.
“This first demonstration of IMS and RCS for public safety provides a clear path to an interoperable voice-over-LTE support on the FirstNet network as VoLTE clients become available on Band 14 devices,” said Wim Brouwer, North America public safety CTO for Alcatel-Lucent. “The enhanced voice interoperability and option to reduce cost by using one device for data and non-mission-critical voice is important to help public safety agencies maximize their benefits of mobile broadband with FirstNet.”
Along with Alcatel-Lucent’s presentation to the board, other major vendors have recently enhanced or launched products aimed at better integrating wireless technology for public safety users.
Cisco Systems introduced new features in its Cisco IP Interoperability and Collaboration System (IPICS) to support a broader range of radio interfaces for interoperability and customizable interfaces for dispatchers, as well as integrating Cisco’s video surveillance product. Cisco said that dispatchers can drag and drop surveillance video camera feeds directly into an incident communication channel to provide that information to people in the field. Cisco also partnered with IP Trade to design a new, touch-screen dispatch console.
More details and a video from Cisco are here.
Greg Carter, director of connected physical security solutions at Cisco, said that the new IPICS 4.6 release is designed to serve public safety users, as well as other verticals with a central location that must interact with personnel in the field, including manufacturing floors, oil and gas offshore platforms, or city or utility services.
“We’re taking what Cisco learned to do really well in the office environment, with collaboration processes … and extending that into more industrial field operations environments. What does collaboration mean out there, with different kinds of devices? It’s very different from office devices and applications,” said Carter.
Dan O’Malley, senior product manager for Cisco’s physical security business unit, added that BYOD integration and the ability to create talk groups with disparate devices plays in as well.
“We’re finding more and more need to bring in remote experts, or in a disaster, everyone on one radio system. When you have so many other agencies trying to help you, you can’t hand out $3,000 radios for everybody to talk on the same system,” O’Malley said — but apps that allow users with iPhones or Android devices to talk on a common radio channel are feasible, if the agency has a system that allows them to use IP infrastructure to create talk and join talk groups.
Meanwhile, Motorola Solutions demonstrated its Real-Time Crime Center this week at the IWCE conference in Las Vegas, showing how data from video, sensors, alarms, computer-aided dispatch and other records can be processed to give public safety officials broader situational awareness. According to the company, the analytics can provide data such as detecting gunshots, recognizing faces, and anticipate crowds forming.
Motorola integrated a radio console for real-time voice communications with officers in the field, and real-time video streaming to a vehicle or handheld device over existing wireless networks; it enables existing public and private sector cameras to be integrated as well.
Motorola said in a recent white paper that 90% of police departments expect to increase the use of “predictive policing” in the next five years.
