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Morgan O'Brien of Cyren Call
Communications made a splash last week when he called for 30 MHz of
the 700-MHz TV spectrum block to be reallocated -- not auctioned. He
proposed that this 30 MHz be reserved primarily for the first
responder community and secondarily for commercial services.
Not unexpectedly, the CTIA opposes this plan. It wants to go ahead
with the spectrum auction as planned for two reasons: First, the
CTIA represents the commercial side of the wireless industry and,
second, it believes that throwing this wrinkle into the 700-MHz
debate this late in the game will slow or delay the transition of
this spectrum from TV to commercial use. Both points are valid. The
U.S. Congress will undoubtedly frown upon this plan as well since
the spectrum could be worth $10 billion or more, which has already
been designated to help "defray" our budget deficit. ($10 billion is
but a rounding error in the budget of our nation, but it sure sounds
big.)
The public safety community is already slated to receive 24 MHz of
spectrum. This may sound like a lot, but it really isn't. The 24 MHz
of spectrum is chopped up into small channels and some areas that
have pre-allocated this spectrum have found that it isn't enough to
meet their current requirements. Further, it wouldn't be enough even
if the FCC were to grant a waiver for higher bandwidth channels for
newer technologies.
The equipment that will be used on this spectrum is based on old
technologies that do not make efficient use of the spectrum. Since
these technologies are proprietary to the two-way radio industry,
there is less demand for the equipment so it costs more, which means
many public safety departments will not have enough money to buy it.
Morgan O'Brien is right to ask for a chunk of broadband spectrum for
public safety. It would enable first responders to take advantage of
commercial technologies to save money and they would have better
systems and interoperability. However, I believe the idea of forming
a Public Safety Broadband Trust that would be granted the sole
license for 30 MHz of spectrum is off base. Mr. O'Brien would have
this trust charge public safety agencies a fee to use the network
and the trust would have the right to lease unused capacity to
commercial entities that would then build, operate and maintain the
network.
I don't know how long it has been since Mr. OBrien has talked to
commercial network operators' CEOs and CTOs, but I cannot believe
any of them would spend billions of dollars on network
infrastructure without having full access to the network at all
times.
There is a way to accomplish the same thing in a different manner.
All of the new technologies -- UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA, CDMA2000 1xEV-DO
Rev. A and others -- include implementation of Quality of Service
(priority of access) in their specifications. This means it would be
possible to assign a very high level QoS to first responders to
guarantee their network access while maintaining availability for
commercial customers. Given the "right" technology, it would be
possible to build out a nationwide super network (including rural
areas) and dedicate a portion of that network to public safety.
CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Rev. A, for example, requires 1.25 MHz of bandwidth
per carrier. With the required guard bands, there could be seven
CDMA2000 1xEV-DO carriers in 10 MHz of spectrum.
Since the cost of a single carrier is minimal compared to the cost
of building out a network, the network could provide a single CDMA
carrier for public safety in every cell sector and, with a traffic
balancing system, they could use other carriers as needed in a given
area. Such a system could support voice and data services (VoIP)
using standard, off-the-shelf radios. PTT capabilities would be
available, and the 24 MHz of existing public safety spectrum could
be used on a local and regional basis.
This super network could be built out and used by network operators
and smaller companies in rural areas could resell time on it as
well. I would have recommended that the government contract to have
the network built. However, given the government's history with our
spectrum, I don't think they could figure out how to get it done. If
every operator that took part in this network was required to build
it out into rural areas with populations of five or more per square
mile, we could bring broadband to the rest of our nation at the same
time.
The next part of this plan would be to get back to work on a
nationwide, off-Internet IP network for first responders that would
serve as the backbone for the entire 700-MHz combined network and to
interconnect public safety networks. Unfortunately, many departments
will not be able to simply buy new equipment on day one and join the
network, even with government assistance. And covering a geographic
area at 700 MHz will be tough in some places. By covering an area, I
don't mean to the level commercial operators have covered so far. I
mean to the level required by the first responder community
including blanketing urban, suburban and rural areas with signal.
First responders' radios are their most important tool and they must
work no matter where they are.
The next part of this system should include the ability to program
the radios' channels of operation over the air. This would mean that
in day-to-day operations, each department would have assigned
channels for normal and mutual aid responses, as many do now.
However, during larger incidents that require response from other
agencies including local, state and federal, radios belonging to
those arriving in the area would be automatically programmed to the
proper channels to work the incident, provide command and control
and interact with the other agencies. All of this technology is
available today.
First responders must have simplex communications or, in Internet
speak, peer-to-peer (actually peer to many peers) communications.
Simplex operation is a vital to any incident response as it is
needed for local traffic between units at the scene, freeing up the
dispatch and control channels. Many incidents require multiple
simplex channels on the ground at the scene as well as command and
control channels back to the dispatch center.
First responders follow protocols in handling events that grow in
size. They split communications between different groups in the
field, command and control uses and on-scene communications. The
proposed system would accommodate this, use other spectrum and even
tie into commercial networks as needed. Today, first responders'
communications are dictated by the radio they carry, the frequency
band it is tuned to, how many channels it carries and how powerful
it is.
First responders in the field monitor the command channel and move
to a tactical channel when told to do so. They turn a knob on the
radio to change the channel. In the dark, wearing gloves or when in
a hurry, changing channels this way can be a problem and there can
be a delay in getting the right people on the right channel.
Many first responder vehicles today carry two or more radios
operating on two or more portions of spectrum in order to be able to
communicate with agencies from other jurisdictions. In many cases,
police and fire departments from the same city cannot communicate
with each other and must go through a command post that is operating
across all of the different networks being used.
Providing communications for first responders is a matter of life
and death -- not only theirs but for the people in distress. They
need the right tools, the funding and the ability to grow their
communications capabilities as incidents they respond to grow in
size and complexity.
Merely carving up a new slice of spectrum does not accomplish any of
this. What is really needed is a comprehensive plan that employs the
technologies and spectrum efficiencies developed by the commercial
sector and takes into account the fact that networks are now "smart"
and can do things that are currently done manually in the field by
first responders. This would make their jobs easier and give them
quicker access to better communications.
While today's public safety communications systems are out of date,
they do provide better wireless coverage within their coverage areas
than commercial networks. They have been designed and built over
many years to provide rock-solid communications in and out of
buildings. As with any wireless system, there are holes -- but not
many.
So, asking for 30 MHz of spectrum that is worth perhaps $10 billion
for public safety and then renting it back to commercial operators
is not the right tactic. However, bringing the first responder
community, equipment manufacturers and commercial operators together
to design a state-of-the-art first responder network makes sense. If
all we do is provide more spectrum, public safety will end up using
technology that is 20 years old. If we don't make the systems
"smart," we wont solve any of the problems and the next time there
is a major disaster, the newspapers will once again be filled with
stories of communications and coordination failures.
Andrew M. Seybold
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