The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department is testing the new public-safety 700 MHz LTE spectrum in a pilot convened with Harris and its partner Nokia Siemens Networks.
The program is delivering services over 700 MHz band 14, with an aim toward helping Las Vegas-based first responders explore LTE functionality and applications such as presence, real-time video, mapping, and voice and messaging. The D-Block spectrum was allocated to public safety in the payroll-tax legislation signed into law by the president in February.
Harris is providing the LVMPD with its radio access network (RAN) infrastructure connected to the Harris-hosted LTE core in Chelmsford, Mass. Nokia Siemens, a key LTE technology partner to Harris, supplied eNode B base stations for the pilot.
Using vehicle-mounted modems, pilot participants can use their Coplink and Omega applications, which support computer-aided dispatch, National Crime Information Center lookups and field reporting.
"We're eager to explore the potential for improved situational awareness, and real-time video--capabilities that will enhance efficiency and effectiveness in the field," said Joseph Lombardo, LVMPD assistant sheriff.
The program will enable the Las Vegas police to "accumulate real experience using and testing the possibilities of next-generation broadband, ahead of the build-out of the nationwide public-safety broadband network," said Chuck Shaughnessy, vice president of LTE business at Harris Public Safety and Professional Communications.
Harris announced an earlier pilot program in March with Florida's Miami Dade Police Department. That pilot, slated to continue through July, is also running over 700 MHz band 14 LTE. The Florida program is being used in part to demonstrate Harris' Next Connect Solution, a technology that allows first responders to maintain seamless, secure connectivity when moving between private and public broadband networks. Next Connect is being used in conjunction with NetMotion Wireless' Mobility XE technology, which the Miami Dade police already employs.
For more:
- see this Harris release
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