Public safety comms must embrace connectivity

Digital connectivity for people, places and things is growing exponentially. A key element of this is the National Broadband Network (NBN), which is expanding access to fixed, wireless and Skymuster satellite services across Australia. In addition, Australia has an exceptionally high penetration of mobile subscriptions, with approximately 21.3 million services. Of these, as many as six million subscribers access the internet through their mobiles. To complement this access, many network operators, infrastructure providers and local governments are planning or have already deployed Wi-Fi services.

Discussion of the future communications needs of public safety agencies must include consideration of how best to leverage the extensive existing fabric of internet connectivity. The public safety and critical communications sector faces significant challenges arising from the proliferation of multiple technical standards, a diverse ecosystem of hardware, software and firmware platforms, and a wide range of operators and stakeholders. This is contrasted by citizens converging — meeting all their communication needs with devices they carry — phones, tablets and computers. Public safety communication needs to embrace a more proactive use of these mediums.

One significant opportunity to tackle the challenges associated with the current mix of complex communications platforms is the transition of most operators and vendors of networks and platforms towards a software-defined networking (SDN) regime. SDN provides a way to decouple network systems into a hardware elements with the networking and interoperability controlled via an operating system, such on a computer or mobile phone. This enables freedom to architect new ways of using the network through a range of software-defined interfaces (such as an app on a smartphone).

Whether it is a smart TV or smartphone, a public safety communications service could be pushed as a software feature of such platforms. This will potentially allow a faster adoption of public safety interfaces for the current mix of communications platforms and networks. As mobile, fixed and Wi-Fi internet services increasingly provide a means to identify the location of customers within a particular physical location of interest, public safety agencies can tailor their messages via their public safety communication interface to directly target a specified audience in a specified region.

Despite the extent of network connectivity, it is possible that some modes of communication may be compromised in emergency situations — natural disasters, bushfires or floods. Public safety agencies need the capability to rapidly deploy network augmentation infrastructure to remedy missing communications and re-establish limited connectivity to support the public safety and recovery operations. Such an approach is currently challenged by licensing and regulatory arrangements that hinder the capacity of public safety agencies to roll out ad hoc communications networks in times of need.

There are many opportunities for the public safety sector to take advantage of the exponential growth in connectivity. However, to ensure the development of the most appropriate models, there needs to be a proactive and collaborative effort between government, regulators, standards bodies, industry, network operators and public safety agencies to collaborate on fast-tracking the digital transformation.

Thas A Nirmalathas is Professor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Melbourne, Director of the Melbourne Networked Society Institute, Academic Leader for the Melbourne Accelerator Program and Investigator in the Mission Critical Communications Program at the Centre for Disaster Management and Public Safety.

Image courtesy Clive Darra under CC BY-SA-2.0