Public Safety

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Challenge
Since September 11^th, cities have been focused on better equipping first responders such as police, fire and EMS to handle the increasing rigors of their daily tasks. These public safety agencies require predictable and reliable communications of mission-critical information and use of wireless networks for incident response is rapidly expanding.

These large city-wide networks, encompassing on average 1500 square miles, are currently only managed at the network device level with limited QoS and application support. The result is unpredictable wireless service levels and application performance.

For example, at any given time, the network might have to dedicate 100% of its bandwidth to a performance critical application such as surveillance video in a law enforcement incident. Without the context of the specific user and their current role, it is not possible to provide the specific bandwidth required for predictable performance.

To face these challenges network operators, need a scalable next-generation operational support system (OSS) doing performance management with remote monitoring and end-to-end management of their network.

Solution
AirSync addresses the issue of unpredictable network performance by offering dynamic control over services, applications, users and devices. Predictable performance enables the use of real-time telemetry from incident-area personnel, vehicles, or other sensor assets. AirSync also improves situational awareness by providing reliable on-scene access to rich media applications such as video surveillance, teleconferencing, real-time access to modeling, databases [GIS, HAZMAT] and command applications.

AirSync for public safety applications includes profiles, templates, and interface tools architected to conform with the National Incident Management System (NIMS) structures and policies. By leveraging NIMS roles, terminology, and hierarchies, AirSync enables rapid network provisioning tailored to common roles and service requirements. Each role is paired with their anticipated network utilization, the priority levels associated with that team member and role, and all characteristics of the user device. As a result, the network is capable of supporting individual participants who may have evolving assignments such as incident commanders or rescue leads.

For example, during an incident an individual respondent may be assigned several roles sequentially: first incident commander, then operations, then containment. Each of these roles will have a different priority associated with the applications used such as VoIP, video and GPS. The role changes are triggered automatically by outside events, such as dispatch or command and control software. AirSync allows these triggers to be applied according to NIMS defined incident scenarios, dynamically and transparently allocating network resources as responsibilities change.

AirSync extends network reach and dynamically routes network traffic around obstacles, providing uninterrupted coverage both inside and outside city boundaries. This ensures that mission-critical information can be delivered to first responders and other on-scene public safety personnel, resulting in dramatically decreased response times.

Benefits

• Intelligent provisioning means high-priority users and devices get assured performance
• Dynamic bandwidth allocation and predictive routing maximizes network throughput
• Optimization tools improve voice and video performance on multimedia networks
• Multivendor, multifrequency, multiprotocol network control from a central location
• Network performance monitored and managed end-to-end
• Easily integrated with existing management infrastructure, systems, and applications
• Leverages and extends network investment