Think Public Safety

Public Safety's Ever Increasing Demand for Data Author: Richard Bennett

Created Sep 05 2014, 5:00 AM by Paul Jeffs

Wireless data is exploding around every corner. So what does this mean for public safety agencies? Data is becoming just as critical as voice for doing the job of protecting lives and property.

In fact, a Motorola survey found that 89 percent of public safety professionals said data is just as important as voice. There is a need for ultra-reliable mobile broadband networks, applications and devices to deliver real-time information to the police officers, firefighter and paramedics acting as our first responders to any critical incident.

This means they need solutions that are built from the ground up for public safety. They need more than consumer-grade products running consumer-grade applications.

We know that public safety agencies rely on purpose-built mission critical communication systems and devices that can stand up to the rigors of their work – like a firefighter entering a burning building or a police officer following a suspect down a dark alley.

As the wireless world moves to mobile broadband technology, we are developing public safety-grade LTE systems and finding ways for them to interoperate and interconnect with our TETRA and P25 mission critical systems to create public safety-grade communications networks. A key part of this is making sure police officers, firefighters and paramedics have access to public safety-grade devices to connect to these networks.

Before building the next generation LTE mission critical handheld device, the LEX755, we went out and talked to firefighters, paramedics, police officers, detectives and administrators to understand their requirements.

They told us it needs to support media-intense applications, have a shared view and have the ability to provide up-to-the-minute location information. It needs to help with daily activities like report writing, and it needs to interoperate with P25 or TETRA system. In essence it needs to be a virtual partner for their radio.

As mobile broadband data becomes a reality for public safety agencies, helping them to do their job better, there needs to be public safety-grade devices such as the LEX 755 to connect first responders, share information and collaborate, and be ready for the street when the unexpected happens.

To learn more, view the ‘The Art and Science of Mission Critical Design’ video.