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.

The latest Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) plenary standards meetings set final work items to be standardized in Release 17 (R17), including several public-safety features. LMR to Long Term Evolution (LTE) interworking made big strides as well.

In the early 1990s, the use of cellular telephones moved from limited to the mainstream. As with any disruptive technologies, this revolution in communications came with benefits and unintended consequences. In the public-safety arena, citizens witnessing an accident no longer had to drive to the nearest pay phone — remember those? — to report the event.

“Location, location, location” applies to the world of public safety as well as the real-estate industry. Location plays a vital role in many aspects of public safety’s daily responsibilities. It is important to know both the location of a 9-1-1 caller and the location of the incident being reported. When dispatched, first responders need to know the location of the incident, and when on the scene, they need to locate citizens who might be trapped in a building or otherwise need to be guided to safety. Finally, while first responders search for people and pets, the incident commander, at minimum, needs to be able to track locations of the responders.

First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) officials participated in the Sept. 16 – 20 Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) meetings in Newport Beach, California. Several features important to critical communications users advanced in the standards process.

Nina Myren is the deputy head of department/specialist adviser strategy at the Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection (DSB). She has been involved in the development and introduction of the countrywide critical communications network in Norway, called Nødnett. Today, she works to further develop Nødnett and ensure emergency preparedness through secure and robust public-safety communications and forward-looking technological solutions. Myren was elected to represent DSB on TCCA’s board in June.

When bad things happen, we want good people on the scene as quickly as possible and for those people to have the right tools for the job. First responders have communications needs that include being able to receive calls, check maps and routes, download and upload various information, run several specific applications, and of course, communicate with their colleagues. This often has to take place while on the move and in less-than-ideal circumstances. Public-safety users cannot tolerate dropped calls or slow applications because of congested networks. The dedicated First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) exists to ensure that first responders can make calls and access the data they need, with the best cellular connectivity available.

The question of when Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks might replace LMR systems is an ongoing industry debate. During recent months, I have covered several industry stories that lead me to think full replacement might never happen, and if it does, it’s going to take a long time — at least 20 years.

Multiple systems will work together to provide seamless communications from the professionals reporting incidents to those dispatched to respond to the incidents. This network of integrated networks is all IP based, so voice, data and video flows freely from one pipe to another, and capacity and voice follow the optimal path to reach first responders.

The relentless drive for more Wi-Fi and cellphone spectrum is on a collision course with established public-safety communications networks. Technology consumers expect more wireless services that are faster, ubiquitously available and uncongested. The demand is so high that the FCC opened a proceeding to adopt rules for unlicensed use in the 6 GHz spectrum, which is currently licensed to many public-safety entities and businesses that rely on the spectrum for safety and critical communications for fixed point-to-point microwave communications.