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Airwave: Interoperability - the power of the common platform
Interoperable communication between emergency services and public safety organisations is key to crime reduction and emergency response. The purchase of a single communications system, Airwave, by all three emergency services means that interoperable communications are now a reality, not an aspiration.
The Airwave TETRA network allows communication via both voice and data. Use of this common system means that all emergency services can communicate with each other and with public safety partners via voice and data for the first time.
Airwave mobile information solutions permit data exchange between and within organisations and were designed from their conception to provide a seamless and integrated experience.
The Airwave mobile information applications operate in conjunction with the Mobile Applications Gateway (MAG). This is a managed service that securely manages the transmission of data between wireless devices and back office systems. It controls mobile connection sessions, user group profiling, device authentication and authorisation, and transaction auditing.
The MAG supports interoperability at multiple levels including sharing of data between applications as well as across forces. Interoperability between mobile applications is done using smart techniques to pass essential data between applications without storing data on the device. For example, key data returned by an identity check can be pre-populated into Airwave mobile form based applications ,thus preventing manual rekeying and reducing the likelihood of introducing errors.
Interoperability between customers is also facilitated by the MAG. Mobile devices are currently set up to communicate directly with their own back end systems. However, mobile devices from another customer can also be configured to gain access to these back end systems, subject to authorisation.
Nationally available information databases such as the DVLA could be accessed via the MAG by multiple customers, thus providing common visibility to information which adds value to a variety of roles. The MAG architecture is designed to be network agnostic and supports access using TETRA and GPRS devices to deliver another level of interoperability.
In the future, public safety organisations will require interoperable higher speed data solutions. These have distinct challenges, requiring data bearers and applications which are interoperable and which allow organisations to interoperate. These higher speed solutions are already a reality. Airwave has developed a demonstration suite which uses many different data bearers to transmit different types of information, all of which is performed seamlessly and is invisible to the end user. As with the MAG, this solution is designed to support sharing of data between organisations via mobile devices and computers, so that data can be viewed both in the field, in control rooms and at command level. These solutions give a true picture of an incident so that so that all responders have a common operating picture.
Interoperability is a reality today, and future data solutions will be permitted even greater multi-agency co-operation. The key to ensuring this works effectively is joint planning by all agencies. Responders need to consider this now so that they can work together smoothly tomorrow.
Written by Airwave for the BAPCO Journal.
