Satellites should figure in any next-generation public- safety co...
Satellites should figure in any next-generation public- safety communications system, said panelists at Fri.’s FCC First Responder Summit. But satellite phones are costly and many local agencies can’t afford them, warned one panelist. “There is absolutely a role for…
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satellite,” said Steve Jones, First Response Coalition exec. dir.: “Any communications plan that doesn’t take into consideration the role satellites can play is doing a disservice to their community.” The Satellite Industry Assn. is an FRC member. “You need caches of phones,” said Jon Pehu, assoc. dir.-Center for Wireless & Broadband Networking at Carnegie Mellon U. “That could be a lot to ask of a local agency.” Another concern is that current technology doesn’t include dual-mode phones offering both land mobile and satellite technologies. “The farther we move away from commercial technologies -- like putting a satellite chip in a land-mobile phone -- it will get more expensive,” said Robert LeGrande, D.C.’s deputy CTO. It would be “far more practical” to roll out cell-on-wheels in crises, so public safety can use commercial cell phones, LeGrande said.