Policymakers shouldn’t assume the digital transition will free sp...

governments shouldn’t allow local purchasing agents to act on auto-pilot and miss the option to migrate to a flexible, next generation architecture,” MSV said. In a white paper written by U. of Colo. profs. Dale Hatfield and Phil Weiser, MSV said the federal govt. should “use its power of purse thoughtfully” in solving public safety communication problems. Similar to a June report by the same authors (CD June 24 p6), but with post-Katrina hindsight, the paper envisions flexible public safety networks integrating multiple technologies -- including satellite, terrestrial wireless and emerging wireless broadband systems. Public safety agencies’ exclusive reliance on Land Mobile Radio (LMR) systems “failed” them during and after the storm, the report said. “A central lesson underscored by Katrina is that relying solely on LMRs does not provide the reliability and survivability sometimes suggested by its boosters,” it said: “LMR systems can be destroyed even when protected by some measures not used by their commercial brethren, underscoring the best assurance of survivability is the use of a flexible system that includes satellite technology.” But heavier user of commercial satellite/wireless systems doesn’t mean safety agencies should abandon existing LMR systems, the report said. The paper said a number of entities that once relied only on LMRs, including utilities like the Tenn. Valley Authority, are deciding to maintain LMR networks while integrating commercial wireless networks as well. Public safety agencies should have multi-mode devices for accessing “a hierarchy of wireless networks,” MSV suggested. The hierarchy would center around a public safety LMR system layered with a commercial terrestrial network incorporating an Ancillary Terrestrial Component and a satellite overlay -- like the one MSV is designing. Public safety agencies should take advantage of wireless broadband, the paper said. Besides wireless and satellite, future public safety networks might incorporate wireless local area network (WLAN) technology and eventually WiMAX, it said. The more flexible the approach the better for interoperability, it said. The paper highlighted successful ventures like Capital Wireless Integrated Network around Washington, D.C., which brought together 40 local, state and federal public safety agencies. But “as many other failed initiatives demonstrate,” ambitious visions of developing a single system to be used by all relevant agencies are difficult to achieve, the paper said: “More flexible approaches are far more likely to be successful.”