Solving the cellular signal propagation challenge for 5G connectivity

There is no doubt of the numerous benefits that enterprise-grade 5G connectivity brings to emergency services. From live video streaming between disaster sites and control rooms, to transmitting data on times and locations where police remove their weapon from its holster, to transmitting patient health records from an ambulance vehicle straight to the hospital to ensure immediate, efficient and accurate patient care. However, all these use cases are for remote and in-vehicle applications.

Additionally, 5G is an excellent solution for police, fire and ambulance organisations to wirelessly connect to head offices and permanent locations but, when it comes to connectivity, not all 5G solutions are created equal. Rolling out 5G solutions to connect all people, places and things within an organisation enables simplified management, better user experience and agile solutions to deliver connectivity when and where you need it.

The challenge of modern technology in traditional settings

The challenge is that, in Australia, a lot of emergency services office locations are in older buildings with walls that 5G frequencies may have difficulty penetrating. While the mid-band or Sub 6 GHz frequencies available through carriers enable 5G to work well indoors or for in-vehicle connectivity, the spectrum has issues penetrating these older buildings.

Bringing the benefits of 5G to connect people, places and things

The Cradlepoint W2005 5G Wireless Adapter is designed to be placed outdoors for optimal signal acquisition. With an IP67 rating, the hardened metal casing of the W2005 is designed to withstand extreme temperatures, water and high winds.

Designed for work environments that require the higher performance of 5G, the Cradlepoint W2005 Series is an enterprise-class 5G wideband adapter that is at the leading edge of wireless WAN networking. It can be paired with a Cradlepoint router in ‘captive modem mode’ to provide virtual single-endpoint deployment, monitoring and control. The adapters can also connect to a third-party router via an Ethernet connection.

Last year, Telstra announced that it has partnered with Cradlepoint to deliver Enhanced Enterprise Wireless, offering customers the Cradlepoint W2005 series Outdoor 5G Wideband Adaptor to facilitate the network connection.

Telstra’s Enhanced Enterprise Wireless (EEW) Solution guarantees customers 99.9% wireless network availability at eligible sites. The Australian first solution provides customers with reliable and consistent connectivity for running business critical applications with wireless services now delivering the same or better performance as fixed.

As part of the Enhanced Enterprise Wireless solution, Telstra performs a site assessment to ensure the most reliable 5G network connectivity possible for customers. Even with the site assessment, the EEW solution, coupled with Telstra’s Managed Services, offers organisations much greater flexibility of deployment with set up times dramatically reduced.

What does a 5G future look like?

5G is changing the perception of wireless connectivity in the emergency services sector. When IT managers consider 5G, it is increasingly no longer a wired versus wireless assessment because 5G has made wireless the new wired. In fact, when it comes to speed, reliability and agility, 5G surpasses any wired WAN options available.

As 5G adoption rates continue to rise, IDC predicts that globally by 2024, ‘wireless first’ will be mainstream for wide area connectivity, accelerating 65% of enterprise, industrial and public sector organisation investments to ‘untether’ their operations.

With Cradlepoint, Emergency Services organisations have access to increasingly more advanced connectivity solutions not only in vehicles, but also for static locations like head offices. The future of connectivity is wireless and 5G is the next area for emergency services to explore.

Nathan McGregor, Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific, Cradlepoint

Top image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Gorodenkoff