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The technology agnostic approach
At the TETRA Workshop at BAPCO Conference, Phil Hobson, Head of Future Technology, and Les Shortall, responsible for Strategy and Market Analysis, presented Airwave’s thoughts on the market requirements of the Public Safety market of the future and how to address the challenge of providing next generation high speed public safety solutions. The key, Phil said, would be to develop a more technology agnostic approach to providing network coverage.
Phil Hobson leads a technical group within Airwave tasked with ensuring that the company is positioned to provide the public safety community with the network capability and solutions needed in the future. In an industry that is evolving so rapidly, this is no easy task and if there is one thing clear in Airwave’s crystal ball it is that the solutions that are on offer today, will not be the solutions of choice ten, or even five years down the line.
The roll out of the Airwave network based on the TETRA standard has provided the public safety community with good voice communications and narrowband data services based on a secure and reliable network. What was perhaps not envisaged, when discussions for the implementation of a dedicated public safety network began some ten years ago, was the speed at which the requirement for data transmission would grow.
Within Airwave, Les Shortall leads a team responsible for ensuring the company’s strategy is responsive to changes in the market and the changing needs of Airwave’s public safety customers. Les says that there is an increasing requirement in the public safety market place for more sophisticated data applications and service and these will, in turn, require a higher bandwidth availability at the network layer.
He points to developments such as real-time patient telemetry which has been deployed by some ambulance services, real-time video streaming of incidents for the police, and the ability of the fire service to download building plans en route to a fire. There is, says Les, a proliferation of complex data applications which have either emerged over the last few years or are now on the horizon, driven by the public safety responders’ determination to be more prepared in the face of increasing threats and to maintain a fast, effective response.
Les goes on to say that whilst there is no doubt that the increasing use of data means that more effective solutions can be generated, it also produces greater complexity for the end user. “Our customers do a difficult and often dangerous job and what this underlines for a network provider such as Airwave, is the importance of focussing on the end user experience. It is quite a challenge to navigate through all the technology options which are now emerging, so it is important for us, as a service and solutions provider, to discuss future requirements with customers and to work in partnership with them so that we can provide the high speed capability that they are going to need.”
Those needs are not uniform and there are a number of issues that need to be considered. Does coverage need to be uniform across the country? Does mission criticality of the data affect the solution that is deployed? What is the business case for deployment and how sophisticated is the end customer in terms of process and procedures? Phil Hobson says that there is no simple answer to these questions. However, what is becoming very clear, he says, is that different requirements will lend themselves to different bearer technology and solution choices. What is less is certain, going forward, is where TETRA 2 will fit.
TETRA 2 preserves the key functionality from TETRA 1 and includes a step change in throughput capability. And while there are many positives to be gained from TETRA 2, there are also some important questions. One relates to bandwidth planning. Phil points out that to get the highest bit rate from TETRA 2 TEDS, a bandwidth per channel of 50 kHz or greater per channel is needed. “The reality is that the existing networks are already fully planned on a 25 kHz band plan.”
Then there is the question of device availability. There are not that many mobile data devices available for TETRA 1, says Phil, and even fewer for TETRA 2. “Device availability and functionality are key influencers in network evolution. Customers want choice when it comes to devices. TETRA 2 is only part of the solution.” And he points out that while TETRA 2 can be installed from day 1 for new networks, existing networks will need upgrades to base sites and user equipment. “We see TETRA 2 as a step forward and certainly it will provide higher speed data capability to the public safety communication in certain circumstances, but we believe that a multi-bearer approach needs to be explored as an appropriate way forward.”
A multi-bearer approach involves understanding other technologies and putting them together to provide a seamless solution to the end user. The options currently on the table have different strengths and weaknesses, says Phil. “In the public safety space we must adhere to the back stops of resilience and interoperability but when it comes to matching an application to a technology there are other factors that need to be considered such as security, coverage, responsiveness and throughput. Our target is to offer intelligent multi-bearer routing so that the user can benefit from the strengths of a particular technology when it suits the particular device or deployment. Our challenge is to build on and integrate these technologies with existing solutions so that the end user experience is well protected. The end user is not interested in what bearer is being used – what they want is seamless mobility enabling them to access the technology on offer.”
Seamless mobility is, he says, a must and not an option. He envisages an emergency service vehicle en route to an incident, dropping in and out of different core areas of different technologies. “The solution will decide what data can be presented through the zones and will move seamlessly from one service to another.”
For Airwave these are exciting times. Phil Hobson says that they are already working on initiatives that will influence the future shape of the network. “We are actively building a high speed data and applications test bed which is enabling us to access other technologies which are interoperable with TETRA and demonstrate the value added to our customers. We want to work with them to help them get best value from the new technologies on offer and to manage the impact that deployment will have on their processes and procedures – this is very much a collaborative and partnership approach.”
