U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Bruce Crawford recently addressed public television station managers to share his vison about the future of the Army’s information and communications technology needs. He spoke about leveraging existing infrastructure and capabilities to improve information sharing, resiliency and readiness for the Army. He acknowledged that the commercial sector is developing and deploying advanced technology that the Army can use to effectively meet these needs. Crawford said that taking advantage of these developments, rather than creating everything internally, can speed deployments and better equip and inform our troops.

Direct mode, also called device-to-device (D2D) communications — or more precisely, the lack of it — is seen to be one of the main risks in moving from narrowband professional mobile radio (PMR) technologies exclusively to broadband Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)-based solutions. However, at times, the root cause is lost in the discussion.

The U.S. Naval Air Systems (NAVAIR) selected Hughes Network Systems to provide satellite communications systems integration for the U.S. Coast Guard on its HC-27J aircraft. Under the $3.5 million agreement, Hughes will integrate beyond-line-of-sight (BLoS) systems to strengthen the Coast Guard's airborne communications on the move (COTM), including intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), humanitarian aid and disaster relief (HADR).

Digital Ally received a multiyear upgrade order from the Box Elder Sheriff’s Department in Brigham City, Utah, for 18 of its in-car camera systems paired with 18 body-worn cameras, built-in auto-activation technology and migration to the firm’s cloud storage solution hosted by Amazon Web Services.

Hytera's intelligent manufacturing center in Shenzhen has maintained production despite the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The flexibility built into the center has also allowed Hytera to manufacture disposable face masks to help offset the global shortage caused by the virus.

The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) unanimously approved changes to the Public Safety Advisory Committee (PSAC) charter. The PSAC was created to advise and guide FirstNet to ensure public safety’s needs are met with the nationwide public-safety broadband network (NSPBN).

BK Technologies announced March 16 that Fundamental Global Investors entered into a stock trading plan for the purchase of up to 1 million shares of common stock of the company. The 10b5-1 plan becomes effective April 2, 2020, and will terminate April 2, 2021.

The FCC granted special temporary authority (STA) to AT&T to use additional spectrum to serve Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) during the coronavirus pandemic. The commission granted AT&T access to the Advanced Wireless Service (AWS)-4 spectrum, licensed to Dish, for 60 days to expand its network capacity to meet expected increases in network traffic as a result of more Americans on the islands working from home, social distancing and sheltering in place.

Comms Connect New Zealand in Wellington has been postponed until 9 – 10 September because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, Comms Connect Sydney has been postponed as well.

AT&T outlined initiatives to help First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) subscribers respond during the COVID-19 pandemic. The carrier is adding coverage and devices where needed, and FirstNet apps are helping agencies better address response to the national emergency.

Navteq was named the map data provider for Canada-based Datacom Wireless. Specifically, the map data will be used in Mobilus, a stolen vehicle tracking system, and Mobicom, a GPS real-time fleet management system.