FirstNet Early Builders Pivot to Adding Users, Operating Network
ORLANDO -- As public safety gets further along in building wireless LTE networks, an emerging challenge is swaying users to come aboard, said FirstNet early builder network officials on a panel at the APCO 2016 conference. But early tests showed the benefits of a dedicated public safety network, they said. Later, FCC Public Safety Bureau Chief David Simpson said a recent police shooting of an African-American man in Minnesota showed the need for public safety communications technology to catch up with commercial systems.
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FirstNet has a spectrum manager lease agreement with five projects across the country to provide early access to the public safety spectrum in the 700 MHz band. The Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System has 77 LTE sites completed, and the big challenge LA-RICS now faces is demonstrating why users should board the network, said the entity’s Project Manager Chris Odenthal. “We've spent so much time and energy building and planning a network, [but] now we have to transition to operating a network.” LA-RICS must figure out how to explain why users should leave AT&T or Verizon, he said. "What is in it for them other than dedicated bandwidth?”
A key challenge will be getting the message out to first responders and “boots on the ground,” said Texas FirstNet Single Point of Contact Todd Early. Innovative public safety apps will do much to bring users aboard the network, he said. Another early builder project in Colorado also is trying to win public safety users, said Joel Estes, director of the Adams County Communications Center. "The sooner they get on the system, the better off everyone is going to be because we'd really like to get away from buying air cards from Verizon." Buying from Verizon is more expensive, he said.
LA-RICS saw one real-world benefit of a dedicated public safety network during a Jan. 1 test at the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade, Odenthal said. Every time a float passed, the Verizon and AT&T commercial networks spiked, but the public safety network didn’t "because we weren't taking pictures of the float," he said. "That was the true demonstration of what that Band Class 14 pipe can provide.” Similarly, Estes said users have been pleased with download and upload speeds compared with the Verizon commercial network. Because the public safety users don't have to compete with the public on the network, "it's amazing how quickly it moves now," he said.
Despite the benefits of having a dedicated network, public safety in Harris County, Texas, found ambient noise disrupted the ability to use their mobile devices at a noisy Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo at NRG Stadium, said Early. The March 1-20 event had nearly 2.5 million visitors over the course of the event (see 1604260042).
Complete unified situational awareness will be the killer app of public safety LTE networks, predicted Early. Estes said it’s interoperability and getting all needed information in a single place. And Odenthal said, “The speed by which you can query information.”
The recent police shooting of Philando Castile in Minnesota highlighted how public safety technology still lags behinds the mainstream, Simpson said. He said it was a public safety communications “failure” that led Castile’s fiancée Diamond Reynolds to seek help by live-streaming video of the incident over Facebook rather than by contacting a public safety answering point. If a 911 analyst could have received the live video, the analyst may have been able to help resolve the situation more quickly, Simpson said. The tragic shooting at an Orlando nightclub also demonstrated the need for enhanced public safety technology, including better emergency alerting and the ability for PSAPs to receive more kinds of information to increase their situational awareness, he said.
Next-generation 911 is expected to bring enhanced IP-based capabilities to PSAPs. Simpson urged Congress to “declare a date certain” to transition to NG911 and provide additional funding to get there. The $115 million in 911 grants on the way from proceeds of auctions ordered in the 2012 Middle Class Job Creation and Tax Relief Act isn’t enough to complete the transition, he said.
Also in the FCC update, Simpson said the agency plans to consider a 4.9 GHz band item this fall, said Simpson. In June 2012, the FCC approved revised rules designed to boost use of the underused public safety band (see 1206140066). “We’ve got to get usage up” in the band, Simpson said. Public safety will maintain priority in the band under new rules, he said. The FCC wants to maximize the benefits of using the band and bring down equipment costs, a big factor discouraging use, added FCC adviser John Evanoff.