From earthquakes to wildfire seasons, when disaster strikes, network traffic surges as people try to contact family members and friends. At the same time, emergency services are out in the field, providing first response to the crisis and relying on the same communications infrastructure. Pandemics, natural disasters, terroristic attacks all bring home to us why more and more governments are establishing public safety networks for Public Protection and Disaster Relief (PPDR). Traditionally, these have been private, Land Mobile Radio System (LMRS) networks that utilize Narrowband (NB) technology.
However, governments are increasingly looking at leveraging commercial LTE networks run by Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) instead of deploying a dedicated public safety network, utilizing the infrastructure that is already in place while maintaining interoperability with legacy LMR networks.
In the long-term, LTE will transition to 5G, introducing ultra-reliable and ultra-low latency, network slicing, and edge computing that will translate into even more significant capabilities and applications for public safety networks. Such as first responders, each being equipped with HD cameras and dispatching units with connected drones to capture overhead views.
To learn more about mission-critical communications and how to assure these services, download our white paper.