Emergency services use wireless broadband

Wireless comms system for public safety in the USA's national capitol region uses CDMA2000 EV-DO Rev A broadband technology.

The National Capitol Region (NCR) has awarded a multiyear contract to Alcatel-Lucent for the design, construction, management and maintenance of a precedent-setting, broadband wireless system for public safety using CDMA2000 EV-DO Rev A broadband technology.

CDMA2000 EV-DO Rev A is the latest advancement in wireless broadband technology being rolled out nationally by commercial wireless operators such as Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless.

The NCR system will be the first to operate in the public safety portion of the 700MHz band and provides state of the art wireless broadband services for use by emergency units, first responders and other public safety personnel in the Washington National Capital Region.

Dubbed the Regional Wireless Broadband Network of Networks (RWBN), the system provides high-speed broadband technology to put mission-critical data, information, multimedia content and collaborative capabilities into the hands of first responders from different emergency response agencies in the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the USA.

This system supports some of the most pressing needs of the NCR's first responders and uses AnyDATA commercially-based wireless data cards and personal digital assistants integrated with Qualcomm chipsets.

Qualcomm developed the reference design to enable the effective use of public safety's 700MHz spectrum with CDMA2000 EV-DO Rev A on the Mobile Station Modem (MSM) MSM6800 chipset solution.

The MSM6800 chipset provides high-speed cellular data connections and supports rich multimedia features.

This effort demonstrates how the cellular industry is responding to the needs of the public safety community to arm all levels of government public safety entities with the interoperable technology and devices they need to maximise spectrum cleared through the DTV transition process for their use.

"We are excited to be a part of this trailblazing effort to improve communications for public safety", says Dr Paul E Jacobs, chief executive officer of Qualcomm.

"The first responders will have a cost-effective, cutting-edge broadband technology, and one which leverages the economies of scale of the widely adopted, standardised and proven commercial EV-DO technology".

"This deployment in the 700MHz band, with its superior propagation characteristics, will support wireless broadband for first responders in challenging and demanding coverage environments".

Qualcomm's CDMA2000 product portfolio will provide support for the entire 700MHz band, including frequencies to be auctioned in the future.

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