Public Safety smartphones

When do we get LTE smartphones for public safety?

Well, one could say that we already have LTE smartphones for public safety. Both ruggedized devices designed for public safety users as well as commercial off-the-shelf running group communication applications. However currently available devices do not yet support new 3GPP Release 12 and 13 features specified for public safety.

Requirements for public safety handsets vary depending on use cases. Certain first responders like firefighters need tough devices resistant to shocks, heat, water, smoke, dust and so on. Electric devices have to support use even in explosive environment [ATEX]. Furthermore it must be possible to operate devices in noisy environment wearing protective uniform and gloves. The user interface should support group communication with push-to-talk button. Additional safety features are important like emergency button as well as support for man-down detection and alarm.

On the other hand many users can also work with LTE devices meant for consumers. However then special software is needed in order to support secure communication & storage as well as protection against lost or stolen devices. This is similar to the bring your own device (BYOD) policy allowed nowadays in many enterprises.

Rugged LTE smartphones today


Some vendors offer ruggedized LTE smartphones targeted for public safety users. A few examples and selected features are shown in the table below. There are many more rugged devices on the market meant for active consumers and employers appreciating tough phones.



Sources: Bittium, Sonim, Motorola, Kyocera, Thales

Smartphone applications for public safety users


If ruggedized handset is not absolutely mandatory, some organizations may allow users to use their preferred commercial smartphones such as iPhone or Samsung Galaxy and install professional applications to them. PTT application is commonly required and there are quite many vendors developing PTT and group communication solutions targeted also for public safety organizations. Some examples listed below:

I assume that there are available and under development many other applications allowing PS users to access securely various databases, transfer documents, share images and videos, improve situation awareness, locate and track things, navigate, connect to sensors and wearable devices and so on. Maybe a study of available public safety data applications is a topic for a future blog.

3GPP Release 12 & 13 support

So LTE smartphones and applications for public safety do exist. It just remains to be seen when commercial LTE smartphones will be available supporting 3GPP Rel-12 & Rel-13 LTE direct communication, 3GPP Rel-13 mission critical PTT with 3GPP Rel-12 QoS over unicast or broadcast bearers.

So far chipset and device vendors have not revealed publicly their plans to support public safety specific LTE features. Qualcomm promotes proximity services technology, but so far their focus seems to be in commercial applications based on proximity discovery (e.g. advertising & social media).

Certainly the challenge with PS ecosystem is significantly smaller device market compared to commercial LTE users.

Conclusions


Rugged LTE smartphones with PS specific design and features are already existing. PS specific communication applications are also available. However public safety specific 3GPP features and standard group communication applications are not yet there.

It is anyway clear that public safety industry will migrate to LTE and one day we will see also LTE handsets with LTE direct communication and standard MCPTT application. 

Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 14, 2016 at 7:32 AM

    Dear Mika Aalto,

    Any updates on public-safety LTE handsets, especially from Asian sources?

    Would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks & regards
    Ali Vaezzadeh
    PO Box 26308
    Dubai, United Arab Emirates
    Email: saradael@yahoo.com
    Skype: ali.vaez1971

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mika AaltoMay 14, 2016 at 6:46 PM

    Nothing else at the moment except what I wrote about D2D in Korea.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousMay 14, 2016 at 9:57 PM

    Many thanks.
    Ali Vaezzadeh
    PO Box 26308
    Dubai, United Arab Emirates
    Email: saradael@yahoo.com
    Skype: ali.vaez1971

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousMay 17, 2016 at 5:16 PM

    great article. I have seen the same on http://www.connect.fi/peltor

    ReplyDelete
  5. UnknownMay 30, 2016 at 8:48 AM

    This is probably one of the best mentions of this topic I've seen in quite a while. It's obvious that your knowledge of the subject is deep and this made for a very interesting read. Mi Max smartphone

    ReplyDelete

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