Airwave sets out its vision for a 4G future at British APCO
The operator of the TETRA network in the UK will be setting out its vision for a 4G future that it believes will revolutionise the way emergency services staff on the ground communicate and do their jobs
Airwave demonstrated today a number of new technologies at the presentation 'Airwave: Today, Tomorrow, the Future'.
Among the new technologies is the ability, for the first time ever, to connect from a smartphone to a talkgroup on Airwave’s Emergency Services Network (ESN). This is made possible by the new Push To Talk (PTT) application, Enhance, and is controlled by the customer.
The focus of the session, says Airwave’s Head of Smarter Network Solutions Henry Kay, was to demonstrate Airwave’s ability to provide a one-stop-shop for 4G mobile services. ‘We want to show customers that it’s not necessary to wait for new 4G capabilities to be developed and launched; we already have these capabilities and they are available now.’
Airwave is currently actively setting out its vision for a 4G future that it believes will revolutionise the way emergency services staff on the ground communicate and do their jobs. ‘It’s all about delivering the right information to the right place at the right time to allow the emergency services to be more effective,’ says Henry.
For example, a 4G Samsung Galaxy Note 3 using the technology available today, can provide officers on the ground with visibility of their colleagues in addition to access to other services such as group calling. The tool for providing these services – Airwave Smart Mobile – was launched last month at Critical Communications Europe 2014 in Amsterdam.
Then there’s 4GMax, a secure and resilient high speed data-on-demand service for the emergency services that uses the existing commercial mobile coverage by combining bandwidth from up to four commercial mobile networks. This enables the use of applications such as live video streaming from vehicles on the move and provides an effective alternative to satellite communications or fixed links.
It is already in use by Surrey Police in a mobile video pilot for roads policing video streaming. A representative from the force has given today a short presentation about the project, showing how the increased bandwidth the 4G app allows for real-time video streaming from police vehicles, and explained how this has enabled not only faster decision making and shorter operations but also cost savings.
