For many years, public safety organisations around the world have
implemented land mobile radio systems (LMRS) to improve the communication
capabilities of their field operations. Some nations have been the forerunners
in this area, boosting digital networks with excellent coverage throughout their
respective countries. Others are slower to adapt, with rollouts still ongoing
in many territories. These systems, whether TETRA, TETRAPOL or P25 technologies, were
designed for specific public safety voice applications and often use technology
similar to the first digital mobile networks. Although the systems provided a
great improvement over voice-only services, their networks now face great limitations due to
very low data capacities. Data traffic carried over digital LMRS networks may
even jeopardise the primary voice services.
The data solution required today must improve the main functionality of
voice while simultaneously offering data communication that meets the capacity
and requirements of public safety. The requirements for current and future critical data connectivity are:
- Coverage;
- Availability;
- Data integrity;
- Session persistence;
- Cost efficiency; and
- Interoperability.
The required services are the key reason to implement new data connectivity. Services that are needed today within public safety vehicles include:
- Image and file transfer;
- Location-based services;
- Database queries;
- Biometric checks; and
- Video streaming.
Using multiple networks is the "blue ocean" of critical connectivity
Utilising multiple networks simultaneously is the key to using these new
data applications efficiently. The idea is to combine two or more relatively
well-functioning networks into one connection that meets the requirements of
field operations. Multi-channel router technology offers the means to utilise
existing parallel commercial and/or private networks. Multi-channel routers
need to be populated with several wireless terminals supporting a wide variety
of different radio technologies or operators’
networks, and directing mission-critical traffic should always be performed
using the best connection available. This enables the minimization of investment into new and expensive networks and does not require necessarily allocated frequencies for public safety.
Services used
As a first example, the services police authorities use with the data
connection are many and varied, with the future offering seemingly limitless
capabilities. The first step is to enable a basic functionality (e.g. enabling
e-mails with larger data files to be sent without interruption). The increased
data capacity also significantly improves situational awareness (e.g. seeing in
real time where all other units are and what their status is). With broadband
data for police vehicles capabilities, it is possible to drastically expand the
area within which units can be surveyed. Other immediately accessible services include real-time blogging, where units
can write their observations to specific shared pages on a region by region
basis. This service in particular has been extremely well received. The safe
connection eventually enables easier and secure sharing of confidential information. It is possible to call up a suspect’s
criminal record, any outstanding/previous fines, or even vehicle information.
With this approach, all the needed tasks can be performed on the spot, while
required documents can be created and printed immediately. This includes a wide
variety of tasks, including:
- Reporting an offence;
- On-the-spot fines;
- Sentence claims;
- Preliminary investigations;
- Crime enquiries;
- Technical investigations;
- Weapon register checks;
- Personal ID checks; and
- Passport checks.
Ambulances are outfitted with docking stations and tablet PCs. Data is
entered via touch or voice recognition. Paramedics can send patient data in
real time to the hospital, but more than this, the system allows users to
quickly and accurately capture and relay far more information than a manual method via paper charts. The patient data is then available instantly to the
emergency department and clinical audit staff.
Is this economically viable?
Is a multiple network approach an expensive solution due to hardware and
software pricing, as well as due to high network data costs? To answer this,
one should look at the costs of the whole unit on the wheels. Whether it’s an
ambulance or a police car, one can add the costs of two persons in the vehicle
to the vehicle costs, easily making between €100 and €200 per hour. The issue
with the broadband connectivity is efficiency. Can we use this expense more
efficiently if we have a reliable broadband to the vehicle? Yes, we can.
For work efficiency improvement the clue is whether the users actually
begin their work on the move. If the connectivity is not good enough, no matter
how cheap, the applications will not be used and the availability levels should
always be more than 99% – in many cases up to 99.9% is required. Only this high
availability assures the office application usage and makes the ‘office
on the wheels’ concept a reality.
The future is now
It has been proven by many implementations around the world that the
high data rate and high availability broadband services offer are a tremendous
advantage to public safety operations in the field. This is a direct response
from users that have used the technology for years. The applications constantly
demand more bandwidth, as well as those currently available. In the future,
online streaming video will be the killer application.
Additionally, intelligence cannot remain in the vehicle’s
on-board computer. This means that safe and high availability access to central
databases is a must. A managed multichannel routing solution is the
future-proof answer to these needs, and no huge upfront investments are needed:
one can start easily with multiple commercial operators and the links can be
upgraded to new dedicated networks when they emerge. A wonderful benefit of
Goodmill is that it can use any available network technologies now and in the
future, provided that there are modems available.
From a monetary point of view, the approach is rock solid. The payback
is only weeks due to improved operational efficiency and, most importantly, the
solution has been proven to save not only time and money but also lives.
Juhani Lehtonen
Vice-president, Sales and Marketing
Goodmill Systems Ltd
+358 50 572 5542
juhani.lehtonen(at)goodmillsystems.com
www.goodmillsystems.com
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