The Iowa Statewide Interoperability Communications Systems Board (ISICSB) and Alcatel-Lucent have demonstrated the role of 4G LTE mobile broadband in enhancing the sharing of critical information between public safety teams.

The demonstration, at the recent Iowa State Fair, was conducted using Alcatel-Lucent’s mobile broadband demonstration centre. This vehicle houses a self-contained end-to-end 4G LTE network operating in the spectrum bands used for public safety operations. The network transmitted using an LTE base station operating in Band 14 using a 10MHz channel bandwidth in both uplink and downlink. Patrol vehicles from Polk County Sheriff’s department and Racom, a mission-critical communications solution provider, were equipped with ‘Band 14 modems’, or ‘receivers’ that pick up an LTE signal and link it to the devices used by emergency first responders. Multiple cameras were positioned in vehicles as well as at fixed sites inside the State Fair facility. Video images were taken from the cameras as the vehicles patrolled the streets and neighbourhood around the fairground and five simultaneous views were shown on monitors in the patrol cars and within the demonstration centre. 

Tom Lampe, vice chairman of the ISICSB, commented: “The Iowa Statewide Interoperability Board is committed to promoting communications solutions for public safety and enhancing interoperability and efficiency for all public safety agencies who serve the people of Iowa. As such we are pleased to have the opportunity to show many of Iowa’s public safety representatives how commercial mobile broadband technologies can deliver exciting new applications and services for use in the field.”

Danny Rollins, from Alcatel-Lucent, added: “Supplementing existing ‘push-to-talk’ radio communications, Alcatel-Lucent’s public safety solutions using 4G LTE mobile broadband are able to deliver real efficiencies for public safety agencies around the globe. With the recent launch of our First Responder Video solution, we have given teams even greater control over the amount of information they receive and how they receive it, to further help them respond safely to any given situation.”