Motorola Solutions and Ericsson today announced that they will develop next-generation push-to-talk communications for the public safety market, creating a way for traditional radio communications to integrate and extend via LTE broadband networks.
Ericsson and Motorola Solutions together with Telstra, will progress the technology through concept testing in Australia and collaborate in standards forums globally to develop an industry solution that will meet the requirements of public safety users.
The partnership brings together Ericsson’s flexible and efficient network infrastructure, Motorola Solutions’ depth of experience in providing mission-critical communications for public safety, and Telstra’s vast network resources and expertise in defining and deploying next-generation communications standards and capabilities.
Next-generation push-to-talk is an important component of emerging LTE-based public safety agency solutions. This technology will complement the mission-critical capabilities provided by the Land Mobile Radio (LMR) networks that agencies depend on today and extend those networks to a greater number of users carrying smart phones and other devices.
The changing dynamics of today’s public safety environment has seen the introduction of a growing number of data sources that need to be combined with traditional voice communications to help public safety agencies make better and faster decisions.
Delivering this combined information will help agencies to manage their resources in a way that maximises community safety and workforce productivity.
While today’s LMR systems will continue to play an important role for years to come, the interoperability of next-generation push-to-talk with existing TETRA and P25 systems will provide agencies with greater capacity in times of emergency.
Bruce Brda, executive vice president Products and Services with Motorola Solutions said his company’s involvement in the initiative would advance both the standards and technologies needed to extend the reach of public safety’s mission critical LMR networks.
“This project is part of our vision for smart public safety, Next-Generation Mobile Intelligence, that is helping agencies deliver better community safety outcomes through a dynamic mix of technologies. Connecting a greater number of public safety officials will help to increase situational awareness and efficiency among first responders in the field.”
Mike Wright, Telstra Networks Group Managing Director said “Telstra plays a leading role in developing and defining the standards for services including next-generation push to talk. In the future this technology will provide a platform to deliver greater multi-media communications to front line responders.”
“Providing a leading LTE public safety capability is a key objective for Telstra with its Telstra LANES® (LTE Advanced Network for Emergency Services) advanced network solutions. A mission-critical push to talk capability is part of our vision for public safety communications via LANES® and delivers our mission-critical customers a compelling solution to extend voice to more of their staff.”
Per Narvinger Head of 4G/5G RAN, Ericsson’s said, “We are pleased to be working with our partner Motorola Solutions and to support Telstra’s early trials and introduction of next-generation push-to-talk to the Australian market. Ericsson has long supported LTE as the best path forward for public safety agency communications and this is another important step in this direction.”
The collaboration will provide standards-based features important to public safety users including:
Optimised push-to-talk latency to deliver voice communications with minimal delays.
Flexible talk group management integrated across both radio and broadband networks.
Call preemption for LTE devices such as smart phones, tablets and desk top computers.
Public safety agencies will benefit from providing more staff with access to next-generation push-to-talk and greater coverage as LTE networks are extended across Australia. Telstra plans to reach coverage across 99 per cent of Australia via its LTE networks by the end of June 2017.
For more information, go to www.motorolasolutions.com
