“Vehicular communications hubs” are a logical combination of communications resources into multi-function communications devices. This is a natural progression for public-safety and critical-communications systems that is becoming a focal point…
FirstNet Timeline It wasn’t until February 2012 that Congress attached the creation of FirstNet to a bill that was signed into law on February 22, 2012. It then took The…
Let’s start with The FirstNet Authority, which is the umbrella organization responsible for building and operating the nationwide public-safety broadband network known as FirstNet. The Authority is responsible for contracting…
The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) mission statement as presented on its web page under the “About the FCC” tab reads as follows: “The Federal Communications Commission regulates interstate and international…
Welcome to November 2020. The election is finally behind us, Covid-19 continues to wreak havoc in the United States, and the number of wildfires, major storms, and hurricanes continue to…
As you can tell from the rather long title, we will cover a number of subjects this week. First among them is that NASA has awarded a contract to Nokia…
This week we begin with comments about The FirstNet Authority blog concerning 3GPP and my comments on the 3GPP MCPTT standard and devices in the market today. Next up is…
This week we will look at a comprehensive report from The FirstNet Authority about the 3GPP standards body and its work in progress, discuss Mission-Critical Push-To-Talk/video/data and why this is…
This week I will discuss the High-Power User Equipment (HPUE) now approved by FirstNet (Built with AT&T). Suppliers have announced their FirstNet approvals and devices should start showing up on…
Welcome to October! This has been a tough year for everyone, especially for the public-safety community. However, there continues to be good news on the communications front along with, of…
The United Kingdom press and some in the United States announced this week that the UK LTE broadband network for public safety that was to have been operational this year…
I have several things on my mind this week. The first concerns how WiFi fits into FirstNet communications. The second is the sudden decision by the FCC Chairman, who seems…
About 4.9-GHz Spectrum The 4.9-GHz band is 50 MHz of spectrum that was allocated to public safety in 2002 on the heels of the 9/11 attacks. This spectrum was set…
A number of committees are working toward solving both the Land Mobile Radio (LMR)/LTE Push-To-Talk (PTT) interoperability issues and LTE/LTE PTT interoperability issues. Meanwhile, the 3GPP standards body is crafting 3GPP…
Welcome to September, 2020. I wonder what else 2020 will throw our way. Ignited mostly by lightening, wildfires continue in California, Arizona, and other states, two damaging storms made landfall…