From Broadband to TriBand
IWCE (the International Wireless Conference & Exposition), held March 10-12 in Las Vegas, offered IT and radio professionals in public safety and other fields (e.g., utilities, transportation and manufacturing) the opportunity to attend classes focusing on mobile voice and data communications, infrastructure, networks and systems, interoperability, spectrum utilization and emerging technologies. With more than 300 companies represented, the exhibit hall offered an opportunity to comparison shop for the communications equipment public safety communications centers need.
Learning Ops
In anticipation of the release of the National Broadband Plan by the FCC, many of the educational sessions focused on broadband and the 700 MHz spectrum. Educational sessions included the keynote address, What LTE Will Mean to Wireless Communications, by Abhi Ingle, vice president for industry and mobility application solutions at AT&T; Will Broadband Voice Replace Traditional Land Mobile Radio; and a State of the Industry Roundtable with representatives from Motorola, PowerTrunk, EF Johnson Technologies, Andrew Seybold Inc., Tait Americas, Vertex Standard Co., and Harris Public Safety and Professional Communications.
Ingle explained that LTE (Long-Term Evolution) will be the broadband standard for the 700 MHz spectrum. It has excellent propagation characteristics and is “the path to interoperable convergent communications.” (For more about LTE, read “LTE:What Is It and Why Should I Care?” by Ron Haraseth.) He also indicated that the expected shipment of LTE-capable devices is expected to grow exponentially over the next four years: 19 million devices in 2011, 34 million in 2012, 80 million in 2013 and 173 million in 2014.
“The game is on,” Ingle said. “It’s here. It’s real.”
According to many of the experts who spoke at the conference, the benefits of using Internet-protocol-based systems far outweigh the perceived security issues. “Nobody can stop this evolution,” said José Martin, executive vice president and COO of PowerTrunk Inc.
Ingle reminded attendees that IP doesn’t need to be the public Internet. IP can be used on a private, closed system.
The State of the Industry Roundtable stressed the need for cross-training of LMR personnel and information technology (IT) personnel. There’s been an ongoing integration of RF and IT, but the individuals who work in those fields speak different languages. To make public safety communications work better, cross-training is essential. Ingle said that radio engineers will have to adapt. “They’ll have to work a little bit different, but there will still be jobs for the RF engineers,” he said.
From the Show Floor
I spent the better part of two days roaming the exhibit hall, and a few products stood out from the crowd.
At the Pryme Radio Products booth, President David George showed me his company’s wireless Bluetooth adapters for two-way radios. The PRYMEBLU Wireless Adapter allows you to use a Bluetooth headset with your Motorola XTS series, HT1000, PR1500, GP, PRO, MTX, APX, XPR and EF Johnson 5100 series two-way radios. These adapters can be paired with thousands of off-the-shelf Bluetooth headsets and remembers paired connections even if the radio is turned off. In the event of a headset link failure, a “smart switch” ensures the device automatically reverts to normal radio operation.Note:The wireless link used by PRYMEBLU is an open standard, unsecured technology.
Pryme was also introducing a new GPSMIC. The mic integrates with existing radio systems and, according to George, works with virtually any two-way radios, including mobile and portable in trunked and conventional formats. The mic works as both a remote speaker microphone and a GPS location device.Other features:The GPSMIC operates transparently. A sensitive GPS receiver and high-gain GPS antenna provide location fixes even in areas with low signal; GPS location data is typically accurate to within 10 meters. Onboard memory in each GPSMIC can store up to 1,300 location reports. That’s equivalent to more than 100 hours of location history, assuming one location report per five-minute period. The internal lithium ion battery pack provides more than 10 hours of operation under normal conditions before needing to be recharged.
An alarm function on the GPSMIC allows the user to alert dispatchers of incidents with the push of a single button. Once initiated, the GPSMIC will send a series of alerts until the alarm is cancelled. (For more information, visit the Pryme Radio Products Web site.)
“No radio. No problem.” This is the claim made by Twisted Pair Solutions for its new WAVE product. As part of WAVE 5.0, the Mobile Communicator for BlackBerry enables users to “tune” their mobile device to a WAVE-supported radio channel. The simple concept permits BlackBerry users to participate in a true push-to-talk experience for radio communications. “It can also be used to make secure, point-to-point calls between two devices across any network.”
The platform combines the power and military-grade security and encryption of the WAVE engine with a breakthrough communications protocol. This solution eliminates device, network and radio system type as a barrier to communicate with two-way radio systems. The platform is independent of the devices, so “a device can be compromised, but it won’t affect the security of the communications system,” says Shaun Botha, co-founder and chief technology officer for Twisted Pair.
Additional smartphone applications are currently being designed and will be available for use on operating systems for iPhone, Windows Mobile, Android and others.
EF Johnson was showcasing its AMBE+1 1.6 vocoder. It was adopted by the P25 steering committee in 2009 as the new standard P25 vocoder (replacing both the IMBE and the AMBE+2 1.4 vocoders). For more information visit the company’s Web site.
General Dynamics demonstrated its PR2C (Preparation, Response, Recovery and Collaboration) Toolkit. The PR2C provides a single, graphical information system that enables users to selectively display critical infrastructure and key resources, live GPS locations of first responders and electronic data feeds (e.g., cameras, weather stations).
Motorola’s e-ticketing solution, eCitation, automates the citation process. With a mobile or handheld computer with bar code scanning capabilities, the eCitation application saves time, reduces paperwork and protects revenue from loss due to illegible handwriting or technical error.
Raytheon was demonstrating its One Force Tracker iPhone application, which tracks friends and foes, shows their positions on live, real-time maps and provides secure communications. Click here for more information on Raytheon’s Civil Communications programs.
Thales was showcasing its FCC-Type-Approved Liberty Multiband portable radio.
A new entrant to the multiband radio market, Datron introduced the Guardian II Series of radios. According to President and CEO Arthur Barter, the portable, tri-band radio will be available fourth quarter this year. It will operate in the 136–174 MHz, 380–520 MHz Continuous and 762–870 MHz bands. It will be available in P25 conventional and P25 trunked modes. The Guardian II offers FIPS-certified encryption, is IP67 submersible and has an internal GPS receiver. Learn more at the Datron Web site.
Conclusion
IWCE offered an abundance of learning and networking opportunities and the chance to see the latest innovations in communications technology. A worthwhile experience.
About the Author
Keri Losavio is the editor of Public Safety Communications. Contact her via e-mail at psceditor@apcointl.org.