Issue link: https://securitytechnologyexecutive.epubxp.com/i/618378
16 SECURITY TECHNOLOGY EXECUTIVE • November/December 2015 www.SecurityInfoWatch.com T he need to deliver data, especially video, to multiple users in the field is increasing and public safety networks are struggling to keep up. Dashboard and body cameras, helicopter video, satellite imagery, location data and many other sources ref lect the increasing requirement to manage data as well as voice. FirstNet will begin to address this concern and may be even further enhanced by incorporating additional spectrum and capabilities. Broadcast television has an almost 80 year history of optimizing its wireless delivery net- work for coverage, resilience and reliability. In addition to the ability to broadcast, television stations are connectivity hubs with extensive content management expertise, vertical real estate assets and other capabilities that are valu- able to public safety. New technolog y called datacasting bridges these two worlds allowing television broadcast signals to deliver secure encrypted and targe- table video and other data to first responders. Datacasting was recently deployed in a pilot project conducted in Houston to provide a new data centric delivery network, take advantage of Using existing broadcast television signals to deliver Public Safety data, regional USASI district wins 2015 top award City of Houston Collaboration Leads to Innovative Solution for First Responders Some of the key players in the City of Houston/ Harris County Datacasting project included, (L-R) Mark Foster, Houston Police Department Air Support Unit; Jack Hanagriff, City of Houston Office of the Mayor & Homeland Security; Chief Mark Slinkard, Houston PD; Chriss Knisley of Haystax Inc.; and James Chong, CEO/President of Vidsys. Photo Courtesy of Alison Belcher, City of Houston their native one-to-many broadcast efficiencies and improve interoperability by allowing infor- mation sharing across agencies. Introduction Land Mobile Radio (LMR) systems are the cor- nerstone of public safety communications, but they are still voice centric. At the same time, the amount of data and video being generated, and the urgency to make it available, is increasing every day. Even the latest P25 compliant LMR systems can only share data at rates so low (9,600 baud) that they are impractical for any- thing other than text. Clearly new solutions to video and data shar- ing are needed. FirstNet brings new spectrum and capabilities and is urgently needed, but it is several years away. Given the apparent trend, additional spectrum and technologies will likely need to be brought to bear. Multiple Houston-based agencies and organiza- tions partnered recently to test and evaluate the ability to utilize existing broadcast television spec- trum to provide video efficiently. Whitespace appli- cations also use TV frequencies but are low power and require building transmission infrastructure. 2015 SECURITY INNOVATION AWARDS