Emergency Response
Radio solutions for large events are not always permanent; once the event concludes, the event security team will no longer use it. For the Guangzhou Asian Games, the local municipal government installed the solution in 2009 for long-term use between government agencies, Zhang said. Cassidian's mission-critical networks were also in place during the rescue efforts and investigations of the 2004 Madrid train bombings and a Belgian railway collision that killed 18 people in February 2010.
A digital radio system was deployed as part of an emergency command and control system by ST Electronics for the Hong Kong Fire Services Department (HKFSD). “The system has helped the HKFSD respond faster and more effectively to emergencies and incidents,” said Choon Hong Tay, Director of Homeland Security for ST Electronics (Info-Software Systems). The TETRA-based system sends and dispatches information to mobile data terminals installed in all fire engines and ambulances. The fire engines and ambulances then send status and location updates back to the operations center. When resources are assigned to an incident, the location, incident nature and a recommended route will be sent to more than 700 mobile data terminals through the network. “To provide good radio coverage over the territory, repeaters were installed on building rooftops and in vehicular tunnels in addition to hilltop antennae,” Tay said. Special compression optimizes the large amounts of data sent over the private wireless network to the mobile terminals.
Currently, voice communications in HKFSD use existing analog radio, but will be upgraded to TETRA digital radio. “The current private radio network ensures security and availability,” Tay said. “While there is a growing trend in the market toward using 3-G or 4-G public telecommunications networks for data transmission as it is more cost-effective, security and peak access requirements need to be addressed.”
Integration
While there are successful deployments of interagency radio networks, there are issues limiting effective wireless communications. Among them are incompatible equipment, along with the inability to share data between the control center operators and first responders.
Integration and interoperability still have a long way to go. “Coordination among several organizations is not easy, and also it is difficult to identify and align requirements across different organizations,” Zhang said.
“Finally, a lot of time is spent in the planning phase on how to secure information for system integration.” Migrating to IP requires overhauling equipment. “It is challenging to integrate existing systems to a TETRA network,” Zhang said. “People worry about interference stemming from integration.”
Different systems may follow different standards, further complicating integration. “The problem can potentially be minimized if each system is able to provide a well-defined interface for integration and interoperability,” Yao said. “This interface is likely to adopt an IP interface.”
Standards
There are several standards for communications. “Radio communications for public safety and first responders are primarily based on analog or digital TRS or PMR systems,” Yao said. “International public safety or home security agencies usually require TRS solutions that adopt standards such as MPT1327, TETRA, Tetrapol,APCO P25 and others.”
After Sept. 11, international progress was made to improve first-responder standards. APCO and the National Association of State Telecommunications Directors collaborated on the APCO P25 standard for public-safety organizations. While the open architecture is a good start, it has yet to be universally adopted.
Organizations such as TETRA and APCO will continue to refine standards. “Those bodies are working in close relation with users, industry players and regulators in order to ensure the right fit between user requirements, technology and regulations,” Zhang said. “The availability of additional frequencies in Europe to implement higher data capacity is one of the challenges.”
Future Developments
Radio networks are expected to accommodate more transmission data. “The development trend for TETRA is towards high-speed data,” Zhang said. “TETRA not only provides good voice communications but also provides extensive data application. TEDS — the evolution of TETRA to high-speed data — provides good data transmission rates for data communications on top of TETRA networks.”
Networks will utilize more of the available spectrum to carry more data. “As we see more demand for commandand- control applications that require broadband wireless data network, conventional TRS can no longer meet this requirement,” Yao said. “3-G broadband wireless, WiMax and LTE (4-G) complementing existing TRS to provide data services are the likely approach for the future. The use of TRS for voice services is likely to stay, as quick setup of talk groups and broadcast features is unlikely to be met by wireless broadband networks, which are VoIP-based in the near future.”
Developments in networking have aided the exchange of life-saving information. However, real-time video surveillance on top of voice communications requires significantly more bandwidth to operate effectively. While existing communication technologies remain on established technologies, the addition of broadband networks improves response time and safety