Report on Public Safety Broadband Network Emphasizes Need to Make Use of Commercial Technology
Creation of a next-generation public safety communications network will require leadership “from a single non-profit organization devoted to this purpose,” said a report released Tuesday by the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology (VCAT). The report also said any network should “incorporate commercial technology where appropriate” and find ways to “extend commercial technology to achieve robustness.” It emphasized the importance of ease of use and affordability in any network used by public safety (http://xrl.us/bmqc8z).
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"This is an example of our attempt to walk and chew gum at the same,” said federal Chief Technology Office Aneesh Chopra, speaking Tuesday on a conference call. “It is critical ... that we have a strategy for deploying a nationwide public safety network at investment levels that are currently under discussion in the Congress.”
Chopra said the report makes some key recommendations. “I'm very pleased that they acknowledged the importance of the Internet and other packet-based technologies to support multi-media communications and ad hoc network formation,” he said. “I'm also very keen to read the acknowledgment that spectrum sharing where feasible can be an important element of this network.”
The report recommended that the public safety network be set up in a way that it can make ready use of commercial networks and devices, with an eye on driving down costs. “It can be imagined that commercial equipment might be applied to serve emergency needs, potentially realizing cost savings,” the report said. “Smart phones could be equipped with applications and augmented to interwork with public safety equipment, especially where the use is in relatively benign environments."
Another key attribute of a public safety network is network flexibility, the report said. “Among the problems encountered in interjurisdictional public safety response deployments is the failure of many devices to interoperate. Even those that purport to implement the P25 standards do not always interwork,” the report said. The network should “take advantage of commercial technology and services but not be limited by them,” the report said. “Integration of multiple radios or software-defined radios into the system may permit introduction of new functionality while retaining compatibility with earlier components."
Robustness is also critical, the report said. “Its design must take into account power failures and loss of critical components (e.g. relays, cell towers, routing and switching equipment),” it said. “Moreover, it must be possible to reconstitute the system quickly either by rapid deployment of replacement equipment or temporary deployment of equipment to augment the network operation. For example, one might imagine use of aerostats or balloon-based relays, repeaters, gateways and routers to provide connectivity.” The report also stressed the importance of network security. “To assure that systems intended for emergency responders are used only by authorized personnel, some form of authentication is needed not only for personal authentication but also to assure that the equipment tied into the system also is authorized,” the report concludes. “This is a nontrivial problem to solve because security and authorization can often end up creating unintended denial-of-service to the very parties who need access to respond to the emergency."
"Public safety service is among the most important functions that government provides,” said Vint Cerf, VCAT chair and chief Internet evangelist at Google. “In the 21st century, we have an opportunity to re-invent public safety communications, taking advantage of smart devices that use digital and packet-based communication technologies. This report is aimed at improving communication options available to first responders.”