#17: LTE for Public Safety

LTE for Public Safety

LTE standards are being developed by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project, a consortium of six telecommunications standards organizations that has released multiple iterations of specifications.  It is called a Fourth Generation wireless service, but as now used the 4G label is more of a marketing term than a technical term.

LTE operates in a range of radio frequencies, including the 700 MHz band, so it will work in the D Block in that band that has been set aside by the Federal Communications Commission for a public safety network.  LTE is built on TCP/IP and provides a packet-based alternative to circuit-switched GSM networks.  It provides peak downlink rates of about 300 megabits/sec and uplink rates of 75 megabits/sec and incorporates quality of service provisions to minimize latency.  This makes it possible to manage handoffs more effectively, which allows efficient use by fast-moving mobile devices.  It supports both frequency and time division duplex communications, as well as half-duplex FDD (with only one-direction in operation at a time), which enables the use of push-to-talk features that can be used by police to access traditional land mobile radio systems.

Alcatel-Lucent has announced that the company successfully demonstrated full interoperability of its solution for using 4G LTE wireless technology in public safety applications in the United States.  Testing of an end-to-end Alcatel-Lucent Public Safety LTE “Band 14” solution successfully met key criteria, ensuring the provision of continuous network coverage for first responders in the field.

The testing of Alcatel-Lucent’s public safety LTE solution, carried out with technology from other vendors, has taken place alongside a performance evaluation as part of the ‘Phase 3, Part 1’ of the United States Department of Commerce’s Public Safety Communications Research Program.  According to the company, the solution was successfully demonstrated via a series of tests on a network combining Alcatel-Lucent’s evolved packet core (EPC) technology with radio access networks (RAN) from several vendors, and Alcatel-Lucent’s RAN with EPCs from various vendors. The performance testing evaluated whether LTE devices remained connected to a network as well as network throughput.

ALCATEL-LUCENT : completes key interoperability testing of 4G LTE wireless communications for U.S. public safety applications