It's that time of year again...

This week is International Fire/EMS Safety & Health Week. Sponsored by the International Fire Chiefs Association (IAFC) and National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC), the event focuses on the behavioral and physical health and safety of Firefighters and EMS professionals. 

According to the website, "The 2013 event will take place from June 16-22. Fire departments are encouraged to suspend all non-emergency activity during Safety and Health Week in order to focus on safety and health training and education. An entire week is provided to ensure all shifts and duty crew can participate."

This year, there is a markedly more significant focus on mental and emotional well-being.  According to IAFC President, Chief Hank Clemmensen, "Addressing behavioral health issues can only be done when we first acknowledge there is a problem, and we’ve been in collective denial as an industry for too long. Our responders are under unprecedented pressure, and it’s time we have some unprecedented conversations about how that impacts our health."

Much research has been conducted regarding the link between emotional/mental well-being and the physical health of the human body.  Mental health problems carry such a stigma that people may have trouble seeking or finding care, especially in a profession such as firefighting, which is steeped in a tradition of strength and toughness.

 Register for free safety and health webinars, find resources and planning tools, and learn about the event at safetyandhealthweek.org. 

FirstNet Extends BTOP Negotiations, Again

The seven Public Safety Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) grant recipients are currently engaged in negotiations with the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet), through board member Sue Swenson.  The agencies, along with fellow early builder Harris County, Texas, were subject to a suspension of their pilot projects, in preparation for implementation of the nationwide public safety broadband network (NPSBN). 

FirstNet has decided to utilize these pilots as learning tools, and to set a standard of operations and infrastructure, in their planning efforts to build the NPSBN and the FirstNet organization which will run the network. 

The seven agencies include: the Adams County, CO Communications Center; the City of Charlotte, NC; the Executive Office of the State of Mississippi; the Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System Authority; Motorola Solutions (for the San Francisco Bay area); the New Jersey Department of the Treasury; and the New Mexico Department of Information Technology.  Harris County, TX, was not a BTOP grant recipient, but did receive authorization initially from the FCC to move forward with their LTE pilot.  Sue Swenson is negotiating a lease agreement with them as well.

Very little information has been released surrounding these spectrum lease negotiations, except  that according to Fierce Broadband there are concerns about the lease agreement terms - specifically the fear that states could opt out of FirstNet participation, risking the BTOP grantees' access to the 700 MHz spectrum, after an expensive buildout has already been initiated or in some cases completed.  The deadline for negotiations was extended for a second time, to July 12, 2013.

The resolution to extend the negotiations has a page but is not currently posted on the NTIA's website.

NPSTC Announces New LTE Console Working Team

The National Public Safety Telecommunications Council's (NPSTC) advocacy and work for Public Safety in the United States never ceases, and their newest project is a group formed under their
Broadband working group: the Long Term Evolution (LTE) Console Requirements Task Team. 

Chaired by Randy Richmond from Zetron and Pam Montanari of NPSTC, the group is still seeking Public Safety and vendor participants.  The subgroup will be studying consoletype devices including dispatching and call-taking, and their respective relationships to one another and to the forthcoming nationwide Public Safety Broadband network (NPSBN). Their endgame is to develop user requirements for console type devices in the context of the FirstNet NPSBN buildout. 

FirstNet is making amazing progress considering they have been in existence for roughly nine months, and have already began hiring their executive management team (learn about new General Manager Bill D'Agostino here), and have developed a strong organization identity (take a look at their new logo here), and have initiated the state and local consultation process through their regional workshops.  

Although the Congressional-mandated Public Safety advisory committee for FirstNet has been hindered in its ability to provide insight and keep abreast of FirstNet's inner-workings, NPSTC's input has been visibly useful to the board of directors, the new management and technical teams, and their millions of Public Safety constituents.

If you're at all interested in becoming a part of the broadband working group and/or the LTE console requirements task group, we highly encourage your participation.  Without its volunteers, NPSTC would not  be able to provide the advocacy, research, and valuable contributions that help our nation's first responders communicate.

Read more at Mission Critical Magazine.

The Oklahoma Twister and FirstNet

According to an insurance commissioner, tornado damages in Oklahoma from last week will likely approach $5 billion, although it is too early to identify an accurate figure. 

Twenty-four people lost their lives and more than 300 were injured on May 20th when a 1.3 mile wide tornado damaged 16 counties and an estimated 15,000 homes.  According to EmergencyMGMT.com, the twister was on the ground for roughly 40 minutes, crossing 17 miles. 

The Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network must be hardened enough to withstand monster natural disasters such as this one, if it is to fulfill the promises set forth in the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, which provisions a public safety-grade network that reaches from coast to coast, covering all geographic areas in all 50 states and 6 territories. 

The NTIA released the agenda for the upcoming FirstNet board meeting which will be held tomorrow morning in conjunction with the Public Safety Communications Research Lab's Public Safety Braodband Stakeholders Conference in Westminster, CO. 

The meeting will include presentations on budget, organizational structure, BTOP, outreach & consultation, as well as the special review committee established to address Paul Fitzgerald's motion and statement from the April meeting.  The board will also vote on a resolution regarding National Environmental Policy Act Implementation.  A webcast can be viewed live on the NTIA's website.

UHF T-band Comments and Why You Should Make Your Voice Heard

Monday was the deadline to submit comments to the FCC regarding the UHF T-Band givebacks mandate found in the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012.  There were 27 responses to this request for comment, and some of the highlights reveal why it is so important for Public Safety agencies to speak up in whatever venue is available.

The FCC was provided with multiple concrete examples of why this mandate could be catastrophic for the Public Safety spectrum environment. Motorola Solutions submitted 15 pages of informative prose maintaining that the extensive nature of T-band public safety networks in (at least five) of the 13 urban T-band markets would be difficult, if not impossible, to reconfigure due to the lack of spectrum and funding.  One particularly difficult market will be the Los Angeles area, as apparent from the Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System Joint Powers Authority comment.

Home to the City of San Francisco, Marin County, California operates a digital trunked voice radio system in the UHF T-band that was constructed specifically for county communications through the Marin Emergency Radio Authority (MERA).  There are 25 member agencies in MERA, operating on a hybrid trunked-simplex/conventional frequency authorization.  This system provides communications for more than 2,875 users including law enforcement, fire management, emergency medical, road maintenance, transit, public works, local government, in addition to other applications, which provides Interoperability to these agencies.  With the system overloaded by approximately 20%, anyone can see why Marin stated that "forcing these public safety users to vacate the T-band will be extraordinarily disruptive and expensive, and could endanger the safety of life and property."

The law does not specify whether non-Public Safety agencies will have to vacate the T-band, and this is a source of uncertainty surrounding the issue.  A Beep, LLC, a non-Public Safety entity recognized the notion that moving all non-public safety users to one portion of the band would allow the FCC to avoid complete replacement of all radio equipment in service "makes sense," but would certainly be costly.

Although some great feedback was provided in these comments, the fact that only 27 responses were received out of the thousands of agencies that would be affected by the UHF T-band mandate is surprising.  Time and budgetary constraints cause many agencies to miss out on the opportunity to provide comment, however if you don't make your agency's needs known, don't hold your breath that these needs will be considered in future Federal policy decisions.

Reply comments for the UHF T-band issue are due June 11, 2013.

FirstNet Appoints Internal Review Committee

The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet), the entity responsible for building the nationwide Public Safety Broadband network, has been under a microscope since board member and Story County, IA Sheriff Paul Fitzgerald's allegations in a very public Motion and Statement at the April 23rd board meeting.  http://www.ntia.doc.gov/files/ntia/publications/pfitzgerald_resolution.pdf

Fitzgerald claims that the transparency issues that have been discussed in the public safety community are internal to the board, as well as external.  He shocked viewers by claiming there is a 400 page planning document which is flawed due to certain conflicts of interest at play, and that the Public Safety Advisory Committee (PSAC)  is being severely underutilized and denied information.  In response to the allegations, FirstNet Chairman Sam Ginn appointed a review committee last week to investigate the claims.

Fitzgerald was not present for the special board meeting that took place earlier this week, but he provided a letter in his absence, and a vote by proxy in support of the creation of the review committee.

The committee is internal, and is chaired by former Denver mayor Wellington Webb.  Current acting User Advocacy Officer Jeff Johnson, NYPD Dep. Chief Charles Dowd, commercial board member Ed Reynolds, and three Federal representatives: Associate Attorney General Tony West, Office of Management and Budget's Dana Hyde, and Department of Homeland Security's Suzanne Spaulding. These Federal representatives are the designated stand-ins for their respective department heads, who are permanent FirstNet board members.

Many opinions have been circulating around the FirstNet issues, and recently critics have complained that this review committee is insufficient because of the possibility that committee members have participated in the alleged improprieties, and that they may lack the expertise required to judge whether or not their own board is compliant with proper Federal procurement and transparency processes.

We would love to hear what you think, please comment below.

FirstNet Regional Consultation Workshops

The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) will kick off its Regional Consultation Workshops next Wednesday, May 15th, on the heels of criticism and scrutiny regarding their transparency and use of the Public Safety Advisory Committee, which was created along side the organization in the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012.

According to TechWire.net, this summer-long series of six, two-day, regional workshops will provide a venue for consultation with states, tribal entities, territories, and local authorities across the country.  Although Board members have conducted site visits to BTOP recipient agencies, and have continously spoken at public events and trade conferences, this effort marks the first visible effort to consult directly with stakeholders on a nationwide scale.

“Consultations are an essential step in building working relationships between FirstNet and the thousands of people who are stakeholders in its success," said new FirstNet General Manager, Bill D’Agostino in a  press release. “These meetings will provide valuable opportunities to listen and work collaboratively to build the first public safety-grade LTE network.”

Each of the six workshops will include an update on FirstNet's progress, interactive session on network development, facilitated discussions between FirstNet and attendees, and break-out sessions to address special challenges of stakeholders to implement the NPSBN, in the form of peer and group to group exchanges. 

The schedule for these workshops and their respective states is as follows:

May 15-16:   Washington D.C. – Delaware, District of Columbia, Kentucky, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, Virginia, and West Virginia

May 21-22:   Denver, Colorado – Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming

May 29-30:   San Francisco, California – Alaska, American Samoa, Arizona, Calfironia, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, North Mariana Islands, Oregon and Washington State

June 12-13:  St. Louis, Missouri – Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin

June 19-20:  Boston, Massachusetts – Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont

June 26-27:  Memphis, Tennessee – Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas

The timing for FirstNet's intitiation of this effort could not be more appropriate, especially with the recent questions regarding FirstNet's willingness and ability to engage input from the Public Safety community.  A recent Urgent Communications poll found that only 6% of respondents agreed that FirstNet would be able to fulfill "the goals set by Chairman Sam Ginn."

These goals include coast to coast LTE coverage for every Public Safety agency while maintaining a sustainable business model to support future operations.  Of the 139 reader responses, 81% answered no, and 8% responded that the goals could only be met if Congress allocates more funding than the $7 billion earmarked for the network.  This $7 billion is not made available in cash to FirstNet, it is merely a cap on borrowing authority, which will then be paid back by spectrum auctions and user fees.  This fact that seems to be missing from many discussions of funding for the NPSBN, which adds to the murkiness perceived by many Public Safety officials on the subject of funding.

Andrew Seybold's Take on Building the NPSBN

If you're looking for some weekend reading and education on FirstNet, Andrew Seybold recently released the final part of a four-part series on what it will take to construct the first ever Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network (NPSBN). 

We recommend starting with Part 1 and reading all the way through, but here is an excerpt from the fourth installment as a teaser:

Issues Faced by FirstNet

• How many eNodeBs (cell sites) will be needed to cover the United States?
  • How many will be needed within a specific city, county, or region to be able to cover the geography and handle the load on the network? LTE capacity is a function of how many users there are in a single cell sector or site. Where demand will be heaviest, more cells will need to be built closer together.
• How many EPC or cores will be built and placed where within the network? For the sake of redundancy, more than one will be needed, but what is the correct number? Further, how far will the nearest core be from a major metro area?
  • If the nearest core to Los Angeles, New York, or other major metro area is a thousand or more miles away, and even if the backhaul is redundant fiber connections, there is the possibility of a communications failure between the core and the city. If this happens, and Los Angeles, for example, loses connectivity with the core, we would have on the order of 180 useless cell sites and no service in that area until connectivity was reestablished. I believe that in addition to the nationwide core(s), we may need to permit major metro and regional areas to install their own cores, closer to their own area of operation. More than a year ago there was a sub-committee of waiver recipients that analyzed this issue and concluded that multiple cores could be employed. The recommendation was that in addition to the nationwide core(s), if a given area wanted to have its own core it would have to fund its operation and its integration into the network. I am in full agreement on both points.
• What sites will be selected? Will they all be commercial sites or will FirstNet also employ some key Public Safety sites as well?
  • My belief is that wherever possible, FirstNet should use Public Safety sites first and then use commercial sites to fill in coverage and capacity as needed. If the system is designed to use the usually more hardened Public Safety sites and there are failures at the commercial sites, there would at least be a backbone of key sites over which users could communicate. Many commercial sites already have shared towers and facilities with all network operators, so if there is a failure and a site(s) is not working, none of the commercial operators would have service. If the NPSBN is also located on these sites, Public Safety will lose service to the same geographic area. I know FirstNet does not have a lot of money for this network but it can make wise choices, for example, in my area, the same hilltop or mountaintop hosts a county installation and a commercial cell site installation. In cases like this, I believe that the location of the eNodeBs should be on the Public Safety site—not on the commercial site.
  • Commercial networks are designed with at least three levels of sites depending upon the population they serve and the area they cover. Top-level sites are full-blown sites with back-up batteries and generators. Second and third tier sites are used to fill in for capacity and coverage. Many times these sites do not have the same power back-up capabilities since the main sites can, in times of failure, provide some basic coverage for sites that are out of commission. By balancing Public Safety and commercial sites, FirstNet should be able provide even better coverage during times of disaster.

 

Priority Access
Next up is perhaps one of the most important aspects of this network. I am assuming here that in order to afford this network, FirstNet will rely heavily on commercial network partners and piggyback on their facilities, use their backhaul where needed, and in other ways maximize the commercial network operators’ assets. I see no way around this, and in return, the network operators will be able to use NPSBN excess capacity to help manage their own networks and demand for services. However, as I wrote in a recent article for Urgent Communications, I have some serious concerns about network sharing. This started as a discussion among a group of us about sharing the network with commercial users and the requirement that some form of absolute and pre-emptive priority be given to the Public Safety community.

Unlike commercial networks where capacity can be predicted (e.g., Times Square before and after the theater), incidents that will require first responders and where they will occur cannot be predicted. A quiet neighborhood can suddenly erupt in a major incident as easily as in a known trouble area of a city. A major accident can occur along any stretch of highway anywhere in the nation, and hurricanes, tornadoes, and wild fires can hit almost anywhere. Therefore, when planning excess capacity availability, FirstNet must ensure that there really is a way for Public Safety to gain full and immediate access to all of the network capacity at any time in any area of their operation.

In the Urgent article, I started with the premise that the cellular networks in Boston after the bombings had been shut down, which was an early assumption that was not correct. However, what did happen was that the networks were so overloaded with traffic that it appeared to many that they were not operational and thus must have been shut down. The result was the same. The public, reporters, and Public Safety did not have assured access to any of the commercial networks.
The next logical point was to wonder whether commercial network customers who would have sharing rights with the Public Safety network would have been moved to the NPSBN, thus adding to its congestion. Moreover, if the commercial networks had been shut down to foil a bomber’s attempt to set off a bomb using cellular technology, would the NPSBN have been shut down too, just when it was needed the most, because it had commercial users on it?

Based on these discussions, I went back to a committee of LTE experts that is run by a very smart consultant. This is a unique committee made up of some of the best LTE engineering minds in the nation. Members of this group work for different, competing companies. They have come together for the benefit of the Public Safety community and have shared their expertise with many organizations including the Public Safety Spectrum Trust, the waiver recipients, and the APCO broadband committee. They give freely of their time and as a group they are involved in every phase of LTE from working with the standards bodies to working with their own companies and thus with the network operators. They have studied and learned as much as they can about LTE, and in some cases have been involved with LTE before it became a standard. So after my discussions, I decided to ask this group to comment on two assumptions that need to be answered in order to ensure that Public Safety will, in fact, have complete and total access to the NPSBN whenever and wherever it is needed. The two assumptions I started with were:

Assumption #1: If the signaling channel is overloaded, a User (UE) with maximum priority and pre-emptive rights may not be able to access the network.
The short answer: This is essentially a true statement, especially in a network that is shared with commercial users.

Assumption #2: LTE provides a way around this problem (as stated in Assumption #1) that can be implemented to ensure full priority access when needed.
The Short Answer: Mitigation tools exist in the 3GPP standards, but due to a wide range of potential scenarios and causes, to characterize this as solved would be an over-simplification.

The team’s full report will be made available in the near future but the bottom line is this:
Using today’s LTE, if the signaling channel for an eNodeB or group of eNodeBs receives too many requests for connection, the signaling channel (RACH) will, in fact, become overloaded and the eNodeB will not even know that a user with any level of priority is trying to access the network. Further, if a number of eNodeBs all have their signaling channel overloaded, it is also possible that the part of the core network that processes priority service requests will be overloaded and will not be able to process the requests.

Are there solutions on the horizon? The group concluded this was perhaps the case, but as mentioned at the beginning of this segment, we need to deal with what is here and available today, having some faith that enhancements will be developed over time, passed by the standards bodies, tested, and proven to mitigate some of the issues. In the meantime, it will be important for FirstNet to find ways to load-balance the network between Public Safety and secondary users. This information should be used to balance the amount of secondary traffic on the network with the need for Public Safety’s absolute need to access the network at any given time.

FirstNet Board Motion Alleges Improprieties

New FirstNet logo

The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) tasked with building the first-ever nationwide Public Safety Broadband network is under scrutiny thanks to a surprise motion made by Board member Paul Fitzgerald, which attempts to remedy claims that the Board is lacking in transparency and Public Safety input, as well as allegations that consultants were not engaged in a "fair, transparent, and objective manner."

Fitzgerald's motion is not the first mention of dissatisfaction with the Board's activities, as evident in many spheres, including the Textron Roundtable from early this year, but it is certainly the boldest and most public. Language such as "cone of silence," "large void," "silos," "fumbling around in the dark," and "invisible" were being used as recently as January by first responders to describe the actions of FirstNet.

Fitzgerald's motion, found at the NTIA website, calls for oversight from a review committee, as well as a legal process committee, to address the oversight of compliance with Federal law.  Fitzgerald's fellow directors spoke in strong opposition of the motion across the board, including his fellow Public Safety representatives. The webcast of the meeting can be found on the NTIA's website. 

The motion was tabled for discussion, and Fitzgerald was the single "no" vote to table.

 "I ask all of you, as fellow FirstNet board members, where are the checks and balances?" Fitzgerald asked, in a follow up statement of support, which can be found at Urgent Communications.

One must wonder why Fitzgerald chose such a public venue to air out his concerns, and his fellow board members were not the only ones to chastise him for this move.   Reactions among the first responder community were mixed, with some dismissing Fitzgerald's concerns, and others thanking him for his bold commitment to Public Safety.

It is important to remember that the FirstNet Board has a monumental challenge ahead with building this ground-breaking network, and starting from scratch can be no easy task.  On the lighter side, FirstNet revealed its new logo, which will assist the organization in branding and identifying trucks, equipment, and marketing materials. See above.

Funding, Public/Private Partnerships Discussed at CCA FirstNet Summit

Board member Sue Swenson delivered an overview of progress and intentions of FirstNet in her opening remarks at the FirstNet Summit for the Competitive Carriers Association yesterday in New Orleans, LA.

Her address to the group began with a plea that "it's time to put on the same color jersey," in response to widespread criticism of the lack of transparency and methods of the Board.  She acknowledged the benefits of healthy debate, but stated, "the time for debate is over, let's figure out how to get this done." She went on to address "perceptions vs. reality," as well as the progress of various elements of the project and a status report on negotiations with the "early builder" BTOP grant recipients.

Among the many concerns of the Public Safety community is the desperate void between the $7B appropriated for the network and the $12-15B figure that has been estimated for the total cost of the network.  Currently FirstNet has access to some funding, $2B of which has currently been authorize under "borrowing authority" from the treasury, and $5B of which is hesitantly expected to be raised from spectrum auctions.

Swenson, which most other panelist agreed with, stated that operating partners would be the key to making this network financially feasible and sustainable.  Cyren Call founder Morgan O'Brien stated that the competitive carriers who are not consumed by AT&T and Verizon would be the lynchpin in a sustainable, multi-dimensional business model.  Panelists also agreed that in order to diversify and sustain partnerships, the roots of the effort must come from state Governors, rather than an overarching nationwide public/private partnership. 

Her portrayal of the current operating costs for Public Safety users shows that FirstNet will save Public Safety money.  Swenson estimated the total cost per user (there are 300 million which she spread among the Big Four commercial carriers) at roughly $25.00 each.  Public Safety users, however, with current LMR systems (an estimated 2 million users on 10,000 uniquely managed networks), have a whopping $10,000 per user cost. She did not address, however, the fact that these expensive LMR systems will still need to be maintained for years to come, alongside the FirstNet NPSBN, as mission critical voice is still an unmet goal with LTE technology. 

Read more at Fierce Broadband Wireless, or view the opening remarks and following sessions on YouTube.

A related issue, in response to the debunked rumors of cellular network shut downs in response to terrorist threats in Boston, raises the question of how the FirstNet NPSBN will affect the ability to exercise such a method.  Read more at Fierce Mobile Government.

Upcoming FirstNet Events

EMR Emissions has been following the progress of the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet), directed to build the nationwide Public Safety Broadband network (NPSBN) by the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, or Public Law 112-96.

We encourage you to stay engaged with this organization's growth as it will impact the entire Public Safety industry with new applications and Interoperability capabilities for agencies nationwide.  Stay tuned for coverage on our blog of the following events, or be proactive and attend them in person.

• FirstNet Summit at the Competitive Carriers Association Global Expo - Wednesday, April 17, 2013, 9:30 AM CST
• This event will be held at the New Orleans Marriott, and can be viewed online via webcast for $25 per view.  For more information visit the RCR Wireless registration and viewing page. 

• FirstNet Board Meeting - Tuesday, April 23, 2013, 9:00 AM EST
• This meeting will be webcast on the NTIA's website, and will be open to the public for attendance.  Board members will meet in the Secretary's Conference Room, Rm 5855, and public attendees will view via video in the Auditorium at the Herbert C. Hoover Building, U.S. Department of Commerce at 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, D.C.

• Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) Public Safety Broadband Stakeholder Conference - Tuesday-Thursday, June 4-6, 2013
• The conference will provide an opportunity for FirstNet Board members and their technical staff to inform stakeholders about current FirstNet efforts, as well as provide an opportunity for stakeholders to ask questions and provide feedback to FirstNet, PSCR, DHS, NTIA, and all other partners. Register at the PSCR Website.

• FirstNet Board Meeting - Tuesday, June 4, 2013, 8:30 AM MDT 
• This meeting will be held in conjunction with the PSCR Broadband Stakeholder Conference.  This meeting will be webcast on the NTIA's website, and will be open to the public for attendance.  Board members will meet in the Cotton II Room at the Westin Westminster Hotel.  Public attendees will be directed to view via video in the Westminster Ballroom at the Westin Westminster Hotel, 10600 Westminster Boulevard, Westminster, CO.

• FirstNet Board Meeting - Tuesday, August 13, 2013, 9:00 AM EST
• Location TBD

• FirstNet Board Meeting - Tuesday, October 15, 2013, 9:00 AM EST
• Location TBD

New Standard Released for Portable Radios in Hazardous Locations

The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) released "ANSI/TIA-4950 Requirements for Battery-Powered, Portable Land Mobile Radio Applications in Class I, II, and III, Division 1, Hazardous (Classified) Locations" last week, detailing a new, less rigid standard for equipment to be used in hazardous locations.

The document was developed with the intent to provide intrinsically safe set of requirements that don't impede the traditional levels of RF performance deployed in LMR systems, according to the TIA's statement.     

Read more and access the document at TIAonline.org.

NPSTC Estimates Cost of T-Band Migration at $5.9 Billion

NPSTC's report on the infeasibility of the federally legislated mandate requiring the FCC to auction UHF T-Band spectrum (470-512 MHz) by 2021 estimates the total cost for all Public Safety agencies in the 11 major metropolitan areas that use the spectrum at $5.9 billion. 

T-Band is used in Boston, Chicago, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Washington, D.C., Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Oakland/San Francisco.  According to NPSTC, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia lack adequate replacement spectrum in any band to relocate T-Band users, and the remaining three areas have very limited available spectrum. 

In addition to the lack of spectrum and the fact that projected auction revenue is much less than the $5.9 billion estimated cost to relocate, the governance of shared existing T-band networks, which include several regionally interoperable, complicates the issue further.  Two such areas are the Boston Area Police Emergency Radio Network (BAPERN) and the Los Angeles Regional Interoperability Sytem (LA-RICS). 

FirstNet board member agrees with NPSTC's conclusion that losing the T-Band would be infeasible for Public Safety.  Read more, including his interview, at Urgent Communications.

FirstNet Update: BTOP Negotiations Commenced

FirstNet board member Sue Swenson has been leading negotiations with the seven Public Safety BTOP recipients, in accordance with a resolution passed at the February board meeting in Boulder, CO. 

Swenson and agencies have conducted informal preliminary negotiations as a group, and each project has identified a lead negotiator and its coordinator to facilitate exchange of information.  The Board has discussed a common set of terms and conditions for the agreements, however there will likely be differences in some of the terms because each project is at a different level of maturity. 

"We're pleased with the progress we've made thus far in our spectrum lease negotiations with the BTOP Public Safety projects.  These jurisdictions and FirstNet's team have had some very productive discussions on the draft framework for a lease agreement.  After we receive the projects' written feedback on the current draft, we will be in ap osition to move forward in earnest with more individualized negotiations," said Swenson, quoted in the NTIA's press release from Friday.

Special conditions yet to be designated include how to address rural or wide-area deployments, in-building coverage, development of applications, billing and provisioning, in addition to other project-specific issues. 

The Public Safety BTOP recipients includethe Adams County (Colo.) Communications Center, the City of Charlotte (N.C.), the Executive Office of the State of Mississippi, the Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System  (LA-RICS) Authority, Motorola Solutions (San Francisco Bay area), the New Jersey Department of the Treasury and the New Mexico Department of Information Technology.  A similar project in the State of Texas was funded through grants from the Department of Homeland Security, however Texas officials have been observing these negotiations, since Texas will likely commence their own negotiations on spectrum leasing in the near future. 

Once lease agreements are agreed upon between FirstNet and the seven BTOP agencies, a recommendation will be sent to the NTIA to waive the freeze mandated last year. For more information on this and other Public Safety communications issues, visit Radio Resource Media Group. 

Three High-Level Resignations from the FCC This Week

Genachowski

Three FCC officials announced their resignations this week, including Chairman Julius Genachowski.  Genachowski's announcement came on the heels of that of chief counsel Sherrese Smith, Genachowski's final remaining original legal advisor team member, and Republican commissioner Robert McDowell's, both just two days earlier.



McDowell

In the past, Presidential elections have been a common time for FCC chairmen to resign, even when incumbents remain in office, as with President Barack Obama in 2012.  Sources said Genachowski gave no indication that he was planning on staying in his position long term, but did give indication that he would leave prior to the inauguration, which is when many FCC chairmen have made resignation announcements. Of the possible candidates to replace Genachowski, the remaining commissioners - Democrats Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel, as well as Republican Ajit Pai are possible candidates, and other names have surfaced such as Tom Wheeler, former head of CTIA. 

Smith

McDowell, first appointed in 2006 by President George W. Bush, is serving his second term on the commission. Before his appointment, he was a senior vice president at the Competitive Telecommunications Association.   According to the Washington Post, his resignation was expected, as was Genachowski's.

Neither Genachowski nor McDowell indicated a reason for their resignations or their professional plans for the future, and both stated they will be focusing on their families after their resignations.  Sources say that because Senate confirmations have been difficult to obtain in today's highly partisan political environment, the possibility of presenting a candidate from each party should smoothe the confirmation process a bit.

Read more at Urgent Communications.