Motorola, Ericsson and Telstra partner for next-gen PTT communications

Motorola Solutions and Ericsson have announced that they will develop next-generation push-to-talk (PTT) communications for the public safety market.

The companies are striving to create a way for traditional radio communications to integrate and extend via LTE broadband networks and supplement the mission-critical capabilities provided by the land mobile radio (LMR) networks that agencies depend on today.

Together with Telstra the companies will partner to progress the PTT technology through concept testing in Australia as well as collaborate in standards forums globally.

Motorola said its depth of experience in providing mission-critical communications for public safety will complement Ericsson’s flexible and efficient network infrastructure, and Telstra’s vast network resources and expertise in defining and deploying next-generation communications standards and capabilities.

The changing dynamics of today’s public safety environment has seen the introduction of a growing number of data sources that need to be combined with traditional voice communications to help public safety agencies make better and faster decisions. Delivering this combined information will help agencies to manage their resources in a way that maximises community safety and workforce productivity. While today’s LMR systems will continue to play an important role for years to come, the interoperability of next-generation PTT with existing TETRA and P25 systems will provide agencies with greater capacity in times of emergency.

Bruce Brda, executive vice president Products and Services with Motorola Solutions, said the project is part of Motorola’s vision for smart public safety Next-Generation Mobile Intelligence that is helping agencies deliver better community safety outcomes through a dynamic mix of technologies.

“Connecting a greater number of public safety officials will help to increase situational awareness and efficiency among first responders in the field,” said Brda.

Mike Wright, Telstra Networks Group managing director, said Telstra is playing a leading role in developing and defining the standards for services including next-generation PTT.

“In the future this technology will provide a platform to deliver greater multimedia communications to frontline responders,” said Wright.

“Providing a leading LTE public safety capability is a key objective for Telstra with its Telstra LANES (LTE Advanced Network for Emergency Services) advanced network solutions. A mission-critical push-to-talk capability is part of our vision for public safety communications via LANES and delivers our mission-critical customers a compelling solution to extend voice to more of their staff.”

The collaboration will provide standards-based features important to public safety users including:

• Optimised push-to-talk latency to deliver voice communications with minimal delays.
• Flexible talk group management integrated across both radio and broadband networks.
• Preemption for LTE devices such as smartphones, tablets and desktop computers.

Public safety agencies will benefit from providing more staff with access to next-generation PTT and greater coverage as LTE networks are extended across Australia.

Telstra plans to reach coverage across 99% of Australia via its LTE networks by the end of June 2017.

Image courtesy of Chris Huggins under CC-BY-2.0.