The Wireless Tech Needed to Make FirstNet’s Public-Safety Network a Success

After years of maneuvering, the First Responder Network Authority, better known as FirstNet, is finally getting off the ground. The independent authority, part of the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration, is working with state governors to develop plans to roll out a nationwide, interoperable public-safety broadband network.

On July 10, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe became the first governor to accept the state-specific plan drawn up by FirstNet and AT&T, which FirstNet selected in March to build the network. FirstNet and AT&T delivered network rollout plans to states and territories via an online portal on June 19. They have until Aug. 4 to review the plans and exchange feedback with FirstNet. After reviewing feedback, an official 90-day clock will start for each state or territory governor to make an “opt-in/opt-out” decision on the plan.

AT&T is partnering with Motorola Solutions  to deploy mobile devices, applications, software and services for the network. Initially, the network will likely use traditional wireless technologies — base stations, antennas, specialized smartphones and the like — but federal officials expect the network to evolve over time.

Software-defined networking capabilities could help emergency personnel allocate network resources more efficiently when they are responding to a disaster, and artificial intelligence might one day predict and prevent incidents from happening in the first place.  

AT&T, Motorola Offer Mobile Solutions for Public-Safety Users

As governors sign on to the network buildout plans, FirstNet and AT&T will kick off the network rollout process. The decision to opt in will transfer the financial, operational and technical risks of building, maintaining and upgrading the FirstNet network in the state or territory to AT&T for the next 25 years.

The FirstNet networks will give first responders access to network features they have long sought, like quality of service and priority access to voice and data across AT&T’s existing nationwide LTE network. By the end of the year, AT&T expects to provide first responders with preemption over its LTE network, allowing fire, police and emergency medical personnel to get dedicated access to the network when they need it.

In June, Motorola Solutions vowed to work with FirstNet and AT&T to deliver the broadband devices and solutions for first responders. “These will help allow first responders to quickly access the vital information and actionable intelligence that enable faster decisions, enhance situational awareness and achieve better outcomes,” Motorola said in a statement.

One solution that will likely be offered for the public-safety community is Motorola Solutions’ LEX F10 device, which is a ruggedized smartphone designed specifically for public safety and has been certified for the AT&T LTE network.

Motorola also plans to deliver a suite of mobile apps, such as mapping and messaging, “built specifically for the unique needs of public safety,” and which will “work virtually seamlessly between the FirstNet network and land mobile radio networks (LMR) as well as other software and services that support and enable the new FirstNet communications capabilities.”

SDN, AI Could Become Part of FirstNet

As state governments work with FirstNet to deploy their networks, federal officials are already envisioning how those networks might evolve over time to keep pace with technological changes.

At the Law Enforcement IT Day 2017 hosted in May by the Bethesda, Md., branch of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association, some federal officials said that FirstNet will need to take advantage of software-defined networking to truly be successful. SDN enables agencies and network operators to control network functions and policies via software, allowing for greater flexibility.

“I fundamentally believe the answer is in software — you look at where the entire world is going and the fact that all this communication is going digital,” Department of Homeland Security CTO Michael Hermus said at the event, according to FedScoop. “At the end of the day, how do we ensure interoperability? We rely on sound architectural principles as we’re building the backend for these software systems so they can communicate properly.”

With SDN and the cloud, the ability to scale up and scale down as you have an incident or an event or a disaster to be able to control technology and use it, have it more in the hands of the end user, is powerful,” said Stacy Schwartz, vice president of federal public safety for AT&T, FedScoop reports. “And that’s real — that’s in progress. We are developing that today.”

Acting federal CIO Margie Graves said at the event “we’re closer than we’ve ever been before” to achieving a viable solution for FirstNet, but she said AI and machine learning could help enhance public safety further.

“It’s almost like pre-cognition: being able to stop things before they happen in a more appropriate way, so that you’re not actually even having an incident in the first place,” she said. “If we can get to the point where we’re using our communications and our applications and our data analysis to do that, and then putting the smart minds of our law enforcement officers who have their instincts and their ability to work on the street and in the field and apply them in the middle of that — that’s the future that I look forward to.”

For more on public-safety technology, visit fedtechmag.com/public-safety.

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