Why Wireless?

Public safety agencies have been utilizing wireless, radio frequency (RF) communications

for over a half-century, originally for voice communications and later for

narrowband data applications. Advances in technology now make wireless ideal

for more advanced broadband multimedia applications, and the Federal Communications

Commission in the U.S. has recently licensed the 4.9 GHz spectrum for

exclusive use in public safety applications, with support for both narrowband and

broadband communications.

Wireless broadband communications makes it possible for public safety agencies

to perform their duties in ways that were unimaginable just a few short years ago.

Live video feeds can give first responders better situational awareness while en

route to an incident and command and control personnel can utilize multi-agency

collaboration and whiteboarding tools to coordinate response plans. And mobile

command centers can bring these and other capabilities right to the scene.

But not all broadband wireless networking solutions are fully capable of satisfying

the mission-critical needs of public safety agencies, which include:

• Dependable operation, especially under heavy usage during an emergency

• Support for high-speed roaming for first responders en route to the scene

• Adequate quality of service to support multimedia data, voice and video surveillance applications

• Ability to overcome certain limitations inherent in wireless communications,

especially self-interference and multi-hop performance degradation

Wireless Advatages

• Dynamic, distributed routing purpose-built for multi-radio wireless networks delivers dependable and
scalable capacity with sustained performance

• Routing over long-distance directional links substantially increases
coverage in large geographies

• Seamless roaming facilitates high-speed mobility with “session persistence” for any IP-based application, including voice and video surveillance

• Active Video Transport technology delivers industry-leading “highdefinition” quality for video surveillance using ordinary cameras and monitors

• Use of licensed spectrum combined with rigorous authentication, strong encryption and other security provisions ensures network integrity