This potential of newer technologies to empower and complement existing operational environments through improved resilience or new features was also a key feature of both seminars during the event as well as booth displays.

Staying with rugged computers, Panasonic was showing its Toughbook CF-19 convertible ruggedised tablet PC. The CF-19 has increased computing power, tougher standards and improved connectivity. It uses Panasonic’s circular polarising technology and has a magnesium alloy casing, anti-scratch and thermally reflective coatings, and an IP 65 MIL-STD ingression rating.

One advantage of the Toughbook range is its vehicle docking solution. This allows the laptop to be mounted vertically against the dashboard, making it easy to read the screen and operate the keyboard.

Business Systems was also at the show exhibiting its Vocal Interview and Evidence Suite application. Designed to meet the standards of public authorities, security services and associated law enforcement agencies, interviews are recorded locally, stored securely and can be made available for electronic distribution via secure networking.

Graham Dickinson, business development executive at Business Systems, commented: “Before commencing the interview a reference number is entered into the system and this provides a unique identifier to which all relational data is linked. When using video, two cameras provide a close-up view of the interviewee and a wide angle view of all participants at all times to guarantee integrity of process.”

With LTE now having finally emerged as the technology path to broadband services for the mission-critical environment, UK Broadband focused its efforts on explaining the potential of 4G for increasing the flow of information – and especially video – to decision makers both on the ground and back in the control room. As the UK’s largest commercial holder of 4G radio spectrum, UK Broadband is currently starting to build open-access wholesale LTE network coverage across the UK, while already offering localised coverage for specific events and emergencies via satellite uplinks for backhaul. Using advanced self-organising mesh networking techniques, video coverage from both fixed and body-worn cameras can be easily integrated with command vehicles for rapid deployment – without the need for line-of-sight alignments or complex set-up routines.

While LTE is the choice for the eventual future of terrestrial networking, the potential of satellite communications to provide wider or back-up coverage for the public safety community was also in evidence. New entrant Solaris Mobile is offering a hybrid terrestrial-satellite solution via Eutelsat that allows users within the EU equipped with the new generation of small, light and highly power-efficient devices to seamlessly move between 2G or 3G networks on the ground and satellite supported connectivity when out of range of terrestrial networks. Solaris especially highlighted its tiny second-generation Pocket Gateway receiver, equipped with cellular, DVB-SH and Wi-Fi connectivity, allowing users to easily connect other devices such as tablets and PDAs.

Matt Child, chief executive officer of Solaris Mobile, noted in a presentation at the event that public safety operations are becoming increasingly information driven requiring access to a wider range of wideband and broadband applications, demanding a service that can meet the specific needs of the sector whilst delivering economies
of scale.

“Solaris Mobile can provide unencumbered spectrum today for the deployment of dedicated networks for public protection, safety and disaster recovery situations. It provides a unique opportunity to co-ordinate and integrate public safety networks across Europe, ensuring greater levels of co-operation and economies of scale, both in terms of network provision and terminal design. By supporting high capacity broadband networks which could be dedicated to the Public Protection and Disaster Relief (PPDR) sector and benefit from new 4G technologies developed for consumers, this development will support the accelerated enablement of PPDR terminals and the transmission of video, audio and the faster downloading of large file data.”

Satellite communications experts AST and their partners Inmarsat were also promoting the potential power of near space to support and enhance terrestrial communications. Working with the UK government’s Resilient Telecommunications Programme for local authorities, and using Inmarsat’s BGAN service, AST has already showed this standby potential during the floods of 2007 when terrestrial communications came near to failure as water levels to within only a few inches of essential power infrastructure.

Stepping away from pure infrastructure and communications issues and focusing instead on the rapid growth of social networking as a force for both good and bad in public safety situations, consultants from two websites – www.socialsimulator.com and www.likeaword.co.uk – were explaining the impact that these new services would have on the emergency services sector. With social networks having played a major role in last August’s UK riots– in both circulating rumours and enabling mass criminal behaviour as well as empowering and consolidating communities to clean up afterwards – it’s clear that anyone involved in public safety needs to start integrating social networking strategies into their plans. With nearly fifty percent of the UK’s population now having a social media account and with the growing adoption of smartphones and tablets, traditional lines of communications need to be re-examined as the whole environment becomes far more dynamic, interactive and open. In only a few years, the familiar 999 world will increasingly start to look like a very 20th century system indeed.
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