LMR and LTE for Public Safety in 700 MHz Spectrum

Abstract

This paper presents a concise overview of current public safety communication networks known as LMR (Land Mobile Radio) and emerging LTE- (Long-Term Evolution-) based broadband public safety networks to be deployed in the 700 MHz band. A broadband nationwide network for public safety based on LTE is inevitable where shared or dedicated types of LTE-based public safety networks are possible. Current LTE services do not meet mission-critical requirements and several enhancements have been defined by 3GPP to address this in Releases 12 and 13. First responders are familiar with LMR and consider it to be a reliable technology with massive deployment everywhere. Therefore, it is expected that LMR will continue to exist alongside any new LTE-based broadband public safety network. Recent LTE releases (particularly Release 15) addressed the LMR-LTE interoperability issue and described comprehensive interworking facilities. New and upcoming features and services of LTE in Releases 14 and 15, such as mission-critical data, mission-critical video, and aerial user equipments, are also directly applicable to public safety. The paper endeavours to provide a quick yet meaningful review of all these issues. It also offers a look ahead at the new and rapidly advancing virtualization technologies, such as software-defined radio access network, and radio access network slicing, as enablers for future public safety networks.

Low Frequency Multi-Robot Networking

“…Public safety networking (PSN) is evolving from traditional land mobile radio (LMR) operating in portions of VHF and UHF, to incorporate and interoperate with cellular LTE technology, and internetworking between LMR and emerging LTE technology will provide extensive new PSN services [41]- [43]. LTE-based infrastructure has the poten-tial to provide new and advanced PSN capability [44], and robust low-latency push to talk is an important aspect [45].…”

5G Experimentation for Public Safety: Technologies, Facilities and Use Cases

“…[9] investigates the ability of the LTE to meet the requirements of the PSNs. [10] and [11] discuss the history of LMRS and prospects, opportunities and challenges of evolution towards LTE and in [12] the authors discuss PPDR services provisioning through dedicated and commercial LTE networks. [6], [13] and [14] discuss user requirements and spectrumneeds for narrowband and broadband services in the context of radio spectrum policy discussions.…”

ProSe Direct Discovery: Experimental Characterization and Context-Aware Heuristic Approach to Extend Public Safety Networks Lifetime

“…However, from the information and communication technology point of view, classical PSNs are not designed to deal effectively with first responders during emergency scenarios when BSs may not be available. Indeed, current communication systems like land mobile radio systems (LMRS) [26], M-Urgency, SafeCity [27], [28], and social media websites like Twitter and Facebook are facilitating [29] affected people to share information and live video streaming during disaster situations. However, a proper network infrastructure is required for them to operate.…”