Advanced Mobile Networks for Public Safety Applications...2013/05/30 · As a result, it is often difficult for first responders arriving on a scene to efficiently share critical

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Advanced Mobile Networks for Public Safety Applications Leveraging LTE for Interoperable Mission-Critical Communications

White Paper - Advanced Mobile Networks for Public Safety Applications


Abs trac t

It has become apparent to all public safety organizations that interoperability and a higher level

of communications capability is required in any emergency situation. Commercial wireless

broadband networks cannot address this need. But dedicated wireless broadband networks built

using Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology can provide the foundation for truly interoperable,

next-generation public safety communications. The ideal network should leverage current and

emerging hardware, software and end user applications from the defense, consumer and

government sectors to enable continuous, real-time, in-field access to critical information by first

responders in any situation. It should be designed from the ground up to provide better

coverage, higher reliability and enhanced security compared to legacy voice and commercial

broadband networks.

T able of C ontents

Next Generation First Responder Communications ................................................................... 5

Understanding the First Responder Communications Challenge ................................................ 7

Resetting the Interoperability Dial with LTE ............................................................................ 7

Commercial Networks Are Not the Solution for Public Safety ................................................. 8

Defining a Public Safety Wireless Broadband Network .............................................................11

Building the Ideal Network .....................................................................................................12

Evolved NodeB (eNodeB) .................................................................................................13

Evolved Packet Core (EPC) ..............................................................................................13

Traffic Management System ..............................................................................................14

User Equipment ................................................................................................................14

Optimized for Public Safety ...................................................................................................14

The General Dynamics Public Safety Network Solution ............................................................15

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................19

Acronyms ..................................................................................................................................20

About General Dynamics Broadband ........................................................................................22



Next G eneration F irs t R es ponder C ommunic ations

When it comes to public safety, first responders agree that the ability to share information with

colleagues and other agencies is often the key to an effective response. Efficient information

sharing by police, fire, ambulance and other agencies enables all personnel to work together to

contain and manage the effects of any situation.

To date, however, information sharing among personnel in the field and between those

personnel and command centers has been hampered by the fact that each agency’s Land

Mobile Radio (LMR) communication network was built as an independent entity, each operating

at different frequencies and using different hardware. When these networks were created,

interoperability was not a key requirement. In addition, data communications is often conducted

over commercial wireless networks available in the area, which cannot be relied upon to

properly support first response communications, may become congested during emergencies,

are not secure, and are billed at commercial data network rates.

As a result, it is often difficult for first responders arriving on a scene to efficiently share critical

intelligence and information with each other. But to be effective in the future, public safety and

security personnel need completely interoperable communications networks. This level of

interoperability can be established by leveraging the capabilities of new and emerging

standards-based technologies. Obviously, this cannot happen overnight. Regardless of which

technology is employed by first responder organizations, one or more applications may still be

needed to bridge the gap between the various agencies in the field. But interoperability can be

achieved.

Completely interoperable networks must take advantage of emerging technologies to support

advanced multimedia applications that will enable the exchange of more accurate, timely, and

comprehensive information between in-field personnel and between those personnel and

command centers. They must also leverage existing systems and support current applications

to ensure each agency’s investment in legacy hardware and software is optimized in the face of

ever-tightening budgets.

In response to the information sharing and interoperability challenges, some countries have

taken steps to create national, wireless broadband networks that can be used by all first



responders. In the United States and Canada, for example, part of the 700 MHz radio spectrum

has been freed up for use by public safety and security organizations. Efforts in the U.S. are

focused on developing and deploying a nationwide network with a substantial commitment by

government. The common feature of these and other public safety communications networks is

wireless broadband.

Most stakeholders agree that Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology offers the most benefits for

a secure wireless broadband network that can support the technologies, devices and content

delivery requirements of public safety organizations. But questions remain about how best to

leverage the benefits of LTE.

Commercial wireless broadband networks were not created with first responder applications in

mind. Therefore, although they can support the communications requirements of first

responders in addition to the commercial traffic of their subscribers, they are not specifically

structured to ensure first responder communications take priority in emergency situations. In

addition, commercial service providers are not focusing on developing infrastructures and

capabilities to support mission-critical public safety applications and uses.

To truly address the next-generation communications needs of first responders, governments

and regional agencies must build dedicated, secure wireless broadband networks. The ideal

network should leverage current and emerging hardware, software and end user applications

from the defense, consumer and government sectors to enable continuous, secure, real-time,

in-field access to critical information by first responders in any situation. It should be designed

from the ground up to deliver a higher level of reliability and security for all public safety

communications. It should support multimedia applications and services, as well as legacy

public safety communications systems. And it should enable complete interoperability between

all agencies at all times.



Unders tanding the F irs t R es ponder C ommunic ations C hallenge

Most of the communications networks used by first responders are based on the capabilities of

LMR networks. These networks were originally created to support voice communications and

they were created independently by each agency to support that agency’s specific

communications needs. At the time of purchase, there was no requirement to ensure

interoperability with the LMR systems used by other agencies. As a result, the majority of

today’s first responders are equipped with incompatible or aging LMR communications systems.

This hardware is great for communicating within that agency’s network, but is no longer

sufficient in emergency situations when critical information must be shared between different

agencies on the scene.

In addition, because these networks are voice oriented, most data capabilities used by first

responder agencies are supported over separate leased networks, or over commercial

networks. Therefore, in most cases, data communications is expensive, limited and unreliable.

Over the years, it has become apparent to all public safety organizations that interoperability

and a higher level of data communications capability is required in any emergency situation.

With interoperability, public safety agencies will be able to share critical voice, video and data

information with one another on demand and in real time. This means that all groups, police,

fire, paramedics, will be able to communicate with each other using the same radio system and

interoperable network, when required.

R es etting the Interoperability Dial with L T E

LTE wireless broadband technology offers an opportunity for all agencies to take advantage of

the open 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) LTE standard to build new wireless

broadband networks that reset the interoperability dial.

As the foundation of next-generation mobile networks, LTE offers a flat architecture built on the

same packet-based Internet Protocol used by today’s commercial Internet applications and

services. It offers enhanced capacity and speed with lower latency, and with the flexibility and

capability to support a wide variety of advanced multimedia applications and services. This has

led to its deployment by commercial service providers worldwide who see LTE as the answer to



their need to meet the growing demand for increasingly sophisticated mobile broadband

services. With LTE, service providers can achieve greater throughputs for multimedia

applications, and higher spectrum efficiency at a reduced cost.

These characteristics make LTE ideal for the type of real-time services needed by public safety

agencies. By leveraging LTE, public safety organizations have the opportunity to take

advantage of the economies of scale of a commercial technology, while creating networks that

remain exclusive for private small- to medium-sized deployments. They can leverage today’s

advanced commercial multimedia applications to enhance situational and mission-critical

communications. This includes video applications, such as video surveillance, live video capture

and display, chat messaging, voice calls and voice communications, as well as field access to a

host of day-to-day applications that require simple access to servers and databases to operate.

They can also leverage the capabilities of current commercial grade hardware, such as tablets

and smartphones, to enable these applications and go beyond the capabilities of current LMR

systems.

C ommerc ial Networks Are Not the S olution for P ublic S afety

One way for public safety organizations to leverage the capabilities of wireless broadband is to

work with commercial service providers. Public safety agencies could pay a monthly

subscription for use of commercial wireless broadband networks in emergency situations. This

is already happening in most jurisdictions. However, this is untenable. The service objectives of

a commercial network are very different from those of a mission-critical public safety network.

Commercial service providers design their networks to scale from a regional to national level,

serve millions to tens of millions subscribers, and deliver equal and average performance while

earning a profitable return on investment. Public safety networks are not designed or created to

generate revenue. They are several orders of magnitude smaller, and designed to serve

thousands to tens of thousands of users.

Service level objectives also differ significantly. Commercial service providers do not and cannot

provide guaranteed Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for users of their public networks. In

addition, they typically offer monthly or pre-paid service plans where data usage is metered by

volume of data in the plan, with the objective of correctly billing customers based on data usage.



This approach may also throttle heavy data users with unlimited data plans through traffic ‘de-

prioritization’.

But public safety agencies require guaranteed SLAs with no limitations on usage. They need a

guarantee that the network will be available in emergency situations and that their traffic will

take priority over everything else. In most cases, they require the network to support multiple

user levels and access privileges, which, for example, would give a police chief in charge of a

command post higher access and application priority than other city workers with non-critical

communications. And they have more stringent network reliability and redundancy

requirements.

Fortunately, both user- and application-based priority are part of the LTE standards. However,

commercial service providers may not want to implement extensive prioritization schemes to

satisfy the mission-critical needs of public safety agencies. Therefore, it makes more sense for

public safety agencies to leverage the full benefits of LTE to create dedicated public safety

networks.

By deploying new, dedicated networks based on the LTE standard, public safety agencies can

leverage the vast research and development investments service providers, hardware

manufacturers, and application developers have made to deliver the most advanced hardware

and software to the commercial market. They can benefit from a large selection of equipment

available from multiple vendors, which lowers the cost of network deployment and device

purchases. Plus, because LTE is designed from the outset to support roaming between

operators, public safety personnel can use these devices to also roam onto commercial

networks, if required as a back-up or in areas where a public safety LTE network is not

available.



Defining a P ublic S afety Wireles s B roadband Network

Government and public safety networks are classed as private networks which are strictly under

the control of the agencies that deploy and manage them. They are designed to support

specialized devices, which are frequently customized to specific applications and services. This

may include special in-vehicle terminals or ruggedized tablets and notebook computers used in

the field by first responders, and personal data assistants (PDAs) adapted for public safety

applications. In some municipalities the network may also be used to support traffic light

controllers, surveillance cameras, gunshot detectors, and machine-to-machine (M2M) sensors

for a variety of telemetry applications. Typical applications may include:

• Access to central databases (for example, fingerprint files, digital maps, aerial photos, facial databases)

• Automatic vehicle location

• Computer-aided dispatch

• Electronic white-boarding to laptops and PDAs in the field

• Video cameras in police cars

• Gunshot detectors

• Wireless meter reading

• Fire fighter helmet cameras

• Video surveillance cameras (fixed and mobile)

• Major intersection cameras

• Mobile voice over IP (VoIP)

• Emergency call boxes

• Traffic light control and sequencing

• Mobile emergency command centers

• Biological, chemical and radiological monitoring

• Biometric telemetry for healthcare (for example, patient vital signs, electrocardiograms)

• Automatic license plate recognition

• Facial recognition

Whatever the application, these networks must be structured to support fewer devices and

higher data rates compared to a typical service provider network. Therefore, public safety



networks must be more reliable and robust than commercial grade networks, and they must

provide all users with superior reliability and a guaranteed quality of service (QoS) for all

applications.

Coverage and capacity requirements also differ between commercial and public safety

networks. Whereas commercial mobile networks are primarily designed to provide service to

consumers based on population density in the area, public safety networks must provide

coverage and capacity over every inch of a specific geography — regardless of the population

density in that area — including rural areas with low population densities. A first responder

incident can occur anywhere within a given area, and public safety and government personnel

should have access to and use of the network wherever it is required. This level of service must

be maintained in the face of extreme conditions, such as would be found following a major

emergency situation. Most importantly, the network must be self-healing in a disaster situation

to ensure first responders can continue to communicate with each other and share information

as they respond to the crisis.

B uilding the Ideal Network

Given the requirements, any new, interoperable public safety network that leverages LTE

technology for public safety applications should be engineered as an integrated, end-to-end

network with four key elements (Figure 1).



Figure 1: An integrated end-to-end LTE network is built on four key elements

Evolved NodeB (eNodeB)

The eNodeB in an end-to-end public safety LTE network serves as the connection point

between LTE user devices and the LTE network core. It provides each device with access to the

network, and manages radio bearer establishment, reconfiguration, admission control, resource

scheduling, resource overload control, handover and inter-cell interference. For public safety

networks, eNodeBs must be ruggedized for reliability, optimized for the unique frequency bands

selected, and designed to provide RF coverage and network performance rather than simple

capacity.

Evolved Packet Core (EPC)

As outlined by the international LTE standards, the EPC in a dedicated public safety wireless

broadband network is a new generation of core elements. It is designed to separate user data

and traffic signaling to make it easier for operators to scale the network to adapt to traffic and

usage requirements. This integrated unit should include four key functional elements:

• Serving Gateway (S-GW), which serves as the connection between user devices and the EPC, and as the router and transporter of incoming and outgoing traffic between user equipment and external networks

• Public Data Network Gateway (PDN-GW), which serves as the connection between the EPC and external networks, and as the router of traffic to and from those networks



• Mobility Management Entity (MME), which handles the signaling that enables mobility and security for user access

• Home Subscriber Service (HSS), which contains information for user authentication and authorization

Traffic Management System

The ideal end-to-end LTE public safety network should also include a Policy Control and

Charging Rules Function (PCRF) element specifically engineered for traffic management. The

PCRF provides policy control functions that will enable user- and application-based access to

and priority over the network. It also provides the QoS characteristics that determine how data

flows are processed.

User Equipment

Of course, an LTE network engineered for public safety applications also requires user

equipment specifically designed for public safety frequency bands and data applications, and

optimized for rugged use. These systems should be supported with device management servers

that enable over-the-air upgrades without user intervention. This will ensure that the equipment

is always operating with the most up-to-date software for maximum network performance in any

emergency situation.

Optimized for P ublic S afety

Built properly, this next-generation communications infrastructure will provide a secure, reliable

and always available wireless broadband service that will enable:

• A police officer to share a photo of a crime scene with a fellow officer investigating a similar event in a neighboring city in real time.

• A fire truck to stream video of a hazardous spill to a regional hazmat center so that response teams can properly plan for a cleanup operation before they head to the site.

• A utility maintenance crew to upload measured data at a power junction switch immediately upon arriving at an area that has lost power.

• A city building inspector to approve a license quicker through immediate access to city ordinances and site plans while on site.



T he G eneral Dynamic s P ublic S afety Network S olution

General Dynamics offers purpose-built, end-to-end communications networking solutions that

address all the requirements of integrated and interoperable public safety communications

networks. Unlike other options that use commercial equipment designed for consumer

applications and repurpose it for public safety applications, General Dynamics LTE solutions are

specifically designed for public safety deployments. They are fully compliant with 3GPP LTE

standards, and optimized for the size and nature of city and regional private networks required

by local governments.

These solutions leverage all the benefits of LTE wireless broadband technology, from the core

of the network to the edge where public safety and service personnel need it most. They are

engineered to take full advantage of LTE and enable public safety organizations to benefit from

all the latest advancements in defense- and commercial-grade wireless broadband products.

Plus, they are optimized to ensure the availability, reliability, security and interoperability of all

communications at all times, as well as in emergency or crisis situations.

An integrated LTE network solution from General Dynamics offers:

• Support for multiple bands of operation, including the North American 700 MHz public safety band (band 14) and other international frequencies for public safety, such as the 800 MHz public safety band (band 20)

• Full compliance with current U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) waiver requirements for 700 MHz public safety and current national interoperable public safety network requirements

• Full interoperability with other public safety networks in accordance with 3GPP standards

• Proven network resiliency and stability

• Flexibility to prioritize traffic by user and application, full QoS, preemption

With a dedicated LTE network infrastructure from General Dynamics, public safety

organizations have the flexibility required to service multiple types of users and functions at all

times (Figure 2). User access may be limited or even blocked in certain situations, at critical

times or in specific regions. Primary users can be granted access on a priority basis, either to

network resources or network capacity, while regular or guest users can be granted access only



when the situation allows. This makes it easy to create a multi-agency solution that addresses

current and future public safety and administration needs.

Figure 2: A General Dynamics multi-agency wireless broadband network allows user access to be limited or even

blocked in certain situations, at critical times or in specific regions

The complete LTE offer from General Dynamics includes products and services that enable the

design and deployment of the most reliable, end-to-end network infrastructure for any public

safety and administration application (Figure 3).



Figure 3: A General Dynamics integrated end-to-end LTE network solution

The core elements of this integrated solution include:

• The Core Network (CN), which combines an EPC, S-GW, MME and PDN-GW into a highly scalable and cost-effective architecture

• The Services Management Platform (SMP), which is an integrated system specifically optimized for small to medium-sized public safety deployments to provide the HSS, PCRF, and Equipment Identity Register (EIR) function

The core network can be packaged in a single, deployable Network In A Box (NIAB) solution,

which includes all the components required to operate a small deployment in one rugged

container.



Radio access is enabled by the V6 eNodeB, a wireless base station packaged in a compact,

rugged water and dust proof enclosure, which contains two radio transceivers for Multiple Input

Multiple Output (MIMO) configurations in the selected band.

User access to the network is achieved through a family of flexible, compact, directional and

omni-directional access devices, which include a patented, state-of-the art, baseband processor

that delivers high performance throughput for any LTE application. In addition, General

Dynamics offers a complete portfolio of end user devices engineered specifically for the

demands of public safety and administration applications. This portfolio includes the GD310

Rugged Smartphone, the LTE PCI Express Mini Card, the LTE USB Stick Modem, rugged

outdoor fixed access devices, and a full-featured LTE Mobile Wi-Fi® Hotspot.

The full benefits of the integrated General Dynamics wireless broadband solution have been

field-tested and proven through multiple deployments worldwide.

For example, New York City has deployed a full-featured, multi-agency wireless broadband

network enabled by General Dynamics . Designed for city government and public safety

applications the network provides support for a wide variety of data, multimedia and high-speed

mobility applications. It is the first viable large-scale municipal wireless infrastructure that can

support virtually any use model, from continuous monitoring of critical utilities and traffic control

services, to broadband multimedia links between emergency response teams, and more.



C onc lus ion

The future of public safety and administration services will be built on always on, always available and completely interoperable voice, data and multimedia communications. In urban centers and rural regions, at the state and local level, the efficiency and effectiveness of public safety and public administration agencies will be determined by the capabilities of the communications network infrastructure that ties personnel and equipment in the field with each other and with command centers.

A next-generation public safety communications infrastructure must be engineered to transport a variety of communications traffic in real time with the highest QoS at all times. LTE offers the most benefits for a secure wireless broadband network that can support the technologies, devices and content delivery requirements of public safety organizations. But commercial wireless broadband equipment and networks were not created with first responder applications in mind. To truly address the next-generation communications needs of first responders, governments and first responder agencies must build dedicated, secure LTE networks with equipment optimized for this application.

By deploying new, dedicated networks based on the LTE standard, public safety agencies can leverage the vast research and development investments service providers, hardware manufacturers, and application developers have made to deliver the most advanced hardware and software to the commercial market. And they can benefit from a large selection of equipment available from multiple vendors, which lowers the cost of network deployment and device purchases.

General Dynamics offers purpose-built, end-to-end communications networking solutions that address all the requirements of integrated and interoperable public safety communications networks. These solutions leverage all the benefits of LTE wireless broadband technology, from the core of the network to the edge, and they are optimized to ensure the availability, reliability, security and interoperability of all communications at all times, as well as in emergency or crisis situations.

With a dedicated LTE network infrastructure from General Dynamics, public safety organizations have the flexibility required to create a multi-agency solution that addresses current and future public safety and administration needs.



Ac ronyms

Term Definition

3GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)

EPC Evolved Packet Core

EIR Equipment Identity Register

FCC Federal Communications Commission

HSS Home Subscriber Service

LMR Land Mobile Radio

LTE Long Term Evolution

M2M Machine-to-machine

MIMO Multiple Input Multiple Output

MME Mobility Management Entity

PCRF Policy Control and Charging Rules Function

PDA Personal Data Assistant

PDN GW Public Data Network Gateway

SLA Service Level Agreement

S-GW Serving Gateway

QoS quality of service

VoIP Voice over IP

VoD Video on Demand



About G eneral Dynamic s B roadband

General Dynamics Broadband combines the expertise in building and integrating complex

communication networks for federal agencies and for defense with industry leading 4G Long

Term Evolution (LTE) wireless broadband. General Dynamics 4G/LTE brings ‘always-on’, high-

speed access to vital information needed by law enforcement, emergency first responders,

government agencies and other professionals responsible for the public’s safety and the

nation’s security.

General Dynamics Broadband’s end-to-end LTE mobile broadband solutions include highly

scalable Evolved Packet Cores, LTE radio access network infrastructure base stations and end-

user LTE devices optimized to meet the needs of government agencies and industry to deliver

flexible, high performance and highly scalable mobile broadband communications on private

networks. The 4G/LTE mobile broadband solution provides the security, reliability and spectrum

flexibility necessary to build a next generation broadband wireless network

Our end-to-end systems are commercially proven and serve as the underpinnings for some of

the largest multi-agency government networks in the world, including New York City (NYCWiN)

and Adams County, CO Public Safety 700 MHz network, one of the world’s first Public Safety

LTE broadband communications networks.

UK R&D Center Unit 7, Greenways Business Park Chippenham, Wiltshire SN15 1BN United Kingdom +44 (0) 1249 800 100

www.gd-broadband.com

Advanced Mobile Networks for Public Safety Applications...2013/05/30 · As a result, it is often difficult for first responders arriving on a scene to efficiently share critical

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