Providence Decision Against 4.9 GHz Band Understandable, Experts Say
The new public safety mesh network in Providence won’t operate over the 4.9 GHz band allocated by the FCC and DHS for public safety, but that’s not surprising, according to experts who spoke with Communications Daily this week. Because of the poor propagation characteristics of that band, Providence and other cities are choosing other bands for their networks, they said. Some expressed concern that the lack of a national standard could cause trouble down the road for any planned nationally interoperable network.
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The 2.4 GHz band has much better characteristics and stronger technology, said Providence CIO Charles Hewitt. “When we were planning the network, there weren’t any products available” for the 4.9 GHz band, he said, and the city wanted to get the public safety network running as quickly as possible. The mesh technology offered by Motorola in the lower band was “state of the art,” he said. Hewitt said the city proposed and deployed its network with little to no coordination with DHS, though it was financed largely by a DHS grant through the state of R.I.
Deploying in the 4.9 GHz band would be “extremely costly,” said Robert LeGrande, D.C. Deputy CIO. Deploying anything more than emergency “hotspots” at 4.9 GHz would have required “significantly more base stations,” he said, though he added “there is a use” for the higher band. The city has run a successful pilot of its Wide-Area Rapid Notification (WARN) public safety network, LeGrande said, on select spectrum in the much-coveted and competitive 700 MHz band, and has an RFP out to vendors for a fully functioning “capital area region” network for D.C. and the surrounding Md. and Va. counties.
Because of its unique security concerns, D.C. talked often with DHS, as well as NTIA and players on the Hill and at the FCC, LeGrande said. D.C. was a leader in pushing for the current NPRM at the Commission for reconfiguring public safety spectrum.
Cities should try to coordinate their deployments to stay on the same track, LeGrande said: “Ultimately you want uniform technology.” But he didn’t fault Providence for “jumping” into 2.4 GHz when it had the chance and the money. “It will probably save lives,” he said, to get on a superior public safety network. “All roads are leading to voice and data integration over public safety networks.” It’s just a matter of time before everyone gets standardized, LeGrande said.
Motorola, which deployed the network in Providence (CD Sept 6 p10), is deploying a similar network in Medford, Ore. and is in talks in Arlington, Va. In Plano, Tex., the company has deployed its Motomesh hardware, a dual-band network for the 2.4 and 4.9 GHz spectrums. Cities like Providence feel the need to act when given the chance, said Joe Hamilla, vp-technology, Motorola’s Mesh Networking Group, and “the federal government hasn’t decided on a single solution for a nationwide network yet.” Though it would be tough for Providence to upgrade the radios to a dual-band network like Plano’s, he said the backhaul and network infrastructure would be in place, since both networks are IP- based.
A DHS spokesman acknowledged that 4.9 GHz isn’t the ideal band for a primary public safety network and hasn’t been adopted in most new digital networks because it only has an 1,800 ft. range. In fact, he said most states are holding the band for “ad hoc” networks by federal agencies in a time of crisis. He wasn’t concerned about the increasing number of cities rolling out networks that aren’t interoperable, or at least standardized, saying DHS is “managing” a coordination plan through its SafeCom program. SafeCom’s website list as 2 of the “key issues hampering emergency response wireless communications” limited and fragmented radio spectrum, and limited equipment standards.