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The Impact of FirstNet Pre-Emption on Public Safety Network Testing

FirstNet is expected to finally modernize the Public Safety communications infrastructure with AT&T playing a major role in its deployment. However, prioritized access and pre-emption on the AT&T network for public responders is still evolving and the long term implication for mission critical services worth exploring. Public Safety accessibility is a hot topic in the […]

The Impact of FirstNet Pre-Emption on Public Safety Network Testing

The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) recently published its technology roadmap for 2018-2019 which confirms that it expects initial mission-critical push-to-talk (MCPTT) services to be available on the nationwide public-safety broadband network by March 2019. At the June 28 board meeting FirstNet President TJ Kennedy noted: “This means the technology, software and hardware will be […]

The Promise of 5G

5G Cellular Network Testing

Technology will undoubtedly evolve over the next few years, driven by the undeniable promise of 5G and the voracious demand for data that fuels it. But there are non-trivial physics and engineering problems in 5G that are unlikely to be easy or quick to resolve. 5G continues to evolve with equipment providers and carriers around […]

Preemption of First Net

  In July during a panel at the 2017 Public Safety Broadband Stakeholder Meeting AT&T and First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) officials offered more details on pre-emption capabilities for the nationwide public-safety broadband network (NPSBN). Salim Patel of the AT&T architecture and planning team for FirstNet confirmed that AT&T will provide quality of service (QoS), […]

Natural Disasters

As fires rage through Southern California it seems appropriate to consider the effect of natural disasters on our critical Emergency Wireless infrastructure. At the time of writing, winds continue to threaten structures in Ventura County and surrounding areas which threaten not only the population and housing but also the communication infrastructure such as cellular services, […]

So what exactly is this 5G thingy and when will it arrive?

Lots of recent news and hype about 5G but interesting trends are developing.  On the one hand companies such as Qualcomm continue to promote millimeter wave (mmW) bands including 28GHz and 39GHz for high-speed high capacity communications. Some of this is obviously fueled by their need to justify expensive new chips for new markets but […]