The public safety industry, which deals daily with disaster recovery efforts and maintaining the wellbeing of the communities it serves, has been moving to wireless communications as connectivity options have become faster, as well as more ubiquitous, reliable and secure. In the state of New York, many county and state organizations – such as the Ulster County and Putnam County Police and the NY Department of Transportation (DOT) – have turned to wireless wide-area networking (WWAN) connectivity to support mission critical mobile data, remote management and asset tracking applications with the end goal of providing the public with a superior level of service and protection.
Business Challenge
Because of the vastness of its counties north of NYC, NY police departments have a special need for mobile data solutions. The patrol area for many officers is expansive, making them somewhat less visible in the communities they serve, and making it difficult for them to return to their stations and file incident reports on a timely basis. A properly implemented wireless system would improve operational efficiency and customer service by enabling connectivity for officers to file electronic reports from their vehicles, as well as perform online inquiries to the National Crime Information Center in order to check license plates, vehicle registrations and drivers’ licenses for warrants, parole violations and more.
While NY County police departments are varied in their adoption of mobile data solutions, those upgrading current solutions or implementing for the first time have faced challenges with insufficient cellular coverage. However, as wireless technology has matured, the strength and coverage of cellular service has expanded to the more mountainous or remote regions of the U.S. For example, the older CDPD wireless technology, which covered a mere 60-mile radius around NYC, has been eclipsed by Verizon’s faster, broader CDMA network footprint now available throughout the metro and upstate counties.
Since wireless carriers announced ending support for CDPD in 2004, many public safety organizations that already supported mobile data solutions were forced to plan for the next generation technology. Although some organizations decided to take matters into their own hands and deploy private radio solutions, most saw the clear and long-term advantages to using public wireless data networks. Not only are these public networks more ubiquitous today than ever, they have a clear evolutionary path to next generation high bandwidth technologies such as CDMA 2000 1x EV-DO.
“A lot of our public safety customers are anxious to begin deployment of 3G-enabled devices,” said Glenn Littman of Quality Communications, a well-respected wireless voice and data systems integrator working to implement solutions with several New York state public safety organizations. “Supporting two-way data communication and asset tracking applications to maintain contact between remote or mobile sites and a main base or dispatch is a strategic advantage that helps law enforcement officers do their jobs that much better, enhancing general public safety as well as their own safety.”
AirLink Solution
One such public safety organization, the Ulster County Police Department, which is upgrading its wireless communications from CDPD, has migrated to CDMA 2000 1x using the Sierra Wireless AirLink PinPoint™ Next Generation Enabled (NGE) program. The NGE program provides customers with an upgrade path from 1x, allowing Ulster to easily migrate to EV-DO once Verizon rolls out its 3G network in that area of NY. Combining broadband, two-way data communications with the rich, location-based intelligence provided by the ALEOS embedded intelligent operating system and a high precision GPS receiver, the PinPoint provides a cost-effective and robust platform for countless mobile workforce and asset tracking applications.
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Framed by the Catskill Mountains and Hudson River, Ulster realized a need for an in-vehicle wireless solution early-on and began implementation in 2000 with the assistance of Quality Communications. With 35-40 original vehicle installations, Ulster has increased the number of vehicles enabled with wireless to 70. Furthermore, they have begun to take advantage of the PinPoint’s integrated GPS feature for asset and location tracking, with the added benefit of being able to quickly locate downed or distressed officers for security and back up measures. The complete wireless solution consists of a Panasonic Toughbook laptop, AirLink PinPoint modem, antenna, Track Star Orion® AVL tracking system and additional software. Ulster County plans to add the solution to 50 more vehicles that will be used by the Board of Education and Public Works department.
Located nearby in the Hudson Valley, Putnam County Police Department has recently deployed a PinPoint-based solution of its own to provide officers in two of its six towns with in-vehicle mobile data accessibility and reporting capabilities. Currently, 23 vehicles have been armed with a Datalux “Tracer” fixed mount computer, AirLink PinPoint modem and required software. As 1x coverage improves, they plan to fully utilize the PinPoint’s tracking capability and roll-out a wireless solution to the entire county.
Focusing on another aspect of public safety, the New York Department of Transportation (DOT) is also utilizing 1x and EV-DO Raven Ethernet modems -- specifically designed for complex mobile data and remote management applications -- connected to traffic cameras, to collect near real-time roadway snapshots of speeding vehicles and traffic light runners to a centralized server to immediately process fines and warrants.
Wireless Technology Paths (North America)
Results
Today, Ulster, Putnam and the NYDOT are experiencing 1x data transfer rates of 50 to 70 kbps to support their data-intensive public safety applications, increasing operational efficiency, customer service and the protection of both officers and their communities.
Another key component to several county solutions is Track Star Orion software, which integrates with the Sierra Wireless AirLink PinPoint family of modems to provide users with an affordable, full featured fleet management system. The full depth of this integration extends even to the remote configuration of the PinPoint devices from within the Orion application, making setup as simple as the solution is robust. The combination of PinPoints with Orion software results in a powerful, carrier-agnostic solution for use in fleets of any size.
With hundreds of Sierra Wireless AirLink intelligent, wireless modems deployed in vehicles throughout New York’s southeastern counties, public safety organizations are looking at more than the monetary savings of a wireless mobile data and asset tracking solution. Even more important is the intangible benefits that Sierra Wireless' pervasive connectivity offers the public safety industry. When an Ulster County officer was injured in the line of duty, dispatch was able to locate the scene and immediately send emergency response. And when the U.S. Coast Guard was unable to communicate to lower Manhattan emergency crews on 9/11, Ulster County was able to share its “always-on, always-aware” connectivity, compliments of its AirLink modems, to re-connect the crews at sea and on land to mobilize all their assets for the disaster recovery work and to protect the Hudson River from possible threat.
Sierra Wireless' public safety solutions for mobile data and asset tracking have produced the following improvements:
- Provided ongoing technology upgrade paths to continually improve performance of critical applications
- Improved public safety through increased officer availability by reducing time required to file paper logs and reports
- Enhanced safety of officers by tracking vehicle locations in real-time and improving ability to react to officer emergencies by locating the nearest vehicle assistance for dispatch
- Improved response time to public by providing access to online information to facilitate quick and accurate citation generation and automatically identify incident locations
- Provided reliable, highly available two-way communication solution for use in all crisis situations
- The availability of ubiquitous public wireless networks has reduced the need for private radio deployments allowing reallocation of critical personnel resources to public safety initiatives
In addition to the many examples of law enforcement agencies now using high-speed WWAN technology to increase the speed, accuracy and reliability of their communications, a growing number of fire, EMS, and public works departments are turning to mobile broadband solutions.
“Law enforcement agencies have been using wireless systems for years, from the early days of private radio and CDPD,” remarked Littman, “While many are now moving to faster wireless technologies, we are now seeing other first responder agencies like fire departments and emergency medical services deploying new wireless systems. Furthermore, with the influx of Homeland Security funding, there are more grants available for these agencies to enhance their communications infrastructure. We have been impressed to see the willingness with which agencies are now sharing their assets and information across departments, such as Mt. Laurel Township in New Jersey and Ulster County in New York.”