D.C. Unveils Public Safety Wireless Network
D.C. officials have launched a test project using 700 MHz spectrum that they hope will show Congress it should change the law to make more spectrum available for streaming video and advanced wireless services, and not for sale to carriers through auction following the DTV transition.
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Robert LeGrande, deputy chief technology officer for D.C., told us the city will demonstrate the technology to Congress Sept. 23. The project is still in the test stage but will officially become a “pilot” in the early fall. LeGrande said the “broad pipeline” the spectrum provides would allow such applications as police on the ground watching images of streaming footage from helicopters above while an incident unfolds.
Bomb squads could use cameras they would carry to capture live images of bombs to be viewed by experts in other cities, as they start the disarming process. “We can send it anywhere around the country,” LeGrande said. “To say they're excited about this is an understatement.” D.C. also plans to use the broadband as part of its PROTECT network in the subways, providing emergency responders with chemical/biological agent alarms, maps and other information as they respond to potential subterranean terrorist attacks.
The D.C. test uses 700 MHz spectrum made available by the FCC on an experimental basis. It’s designed to show the way law enforcement would use relatively broad 1.25 MHz channels on this prime time spectrum, if it gets another 10 MHz. The 24 MHz of spectrum in the band now slated to go to public safety is to be divided into 150 kHz and smaller channels, mostly used for voice and text- based data. None of the channels would support the kind of intense broadband applications contemplated in D.C. The extra spectrum would be in the C-block.
D.C. officials said the spectrum has superior propagation characteristics relative to 4.9 GHz spectrum, set aside by the FCC for similar uses. That spectrum is at a frequency that doesn’t penetrate walls and would require many more transmitters than the 700 MHz spectrum, they say. A citywide network in D.C. would require some 400 sites in the 4.9 GHz range, versus 10 sites at 700 MHz, D.C. officials said.
D.C. is part of the Spectrum Coalition for Public Safety, which is proposing that, following the pending DTV transition, 10 additional MHz, in paired 5 MHz blocks, be set aside for public safety for advanced wireless uses, including wide-area broadband data. The group has a model bill it has floated, “the First Responders Enhancement Act,” which so far hasn’t been introduced in Congress.
LeGrande said the group wanted to demonstrate what the technology can do for law enforcement as Congress begins an examination of legislation tied to the 9/11 Commission report, which is expected to include a DTV title. “We said you can only go so far with a power-point presentation, a bill and a coalition,” he said. “You need to build it. You need to step up and show it can be used.”
There is general support for the coalition among other public safety agencies, though the primary focus at this point must be ensuring the 700 MHz spectrum is made available, a public safety official said. “We've indicated support for what they're trying to do,” the official said: “We agree there are some definite benefits to getting additional spectrum. But if you don’t clear the spectrum you can’t use it… Hopefully it will add to the pressure to do the DTV clearing.” - Howard Buskirk