Can Public Safety be a Competitive Marketplace?

Traditionally Public Safety Communication networks have been closed, proprietary networks, but that’s all about to change. Today, Public Safety networks are rapidly being integrated within the commercial communications grid.  For anyone who has watched this space over the last few decades that amounts to a seachange for how Public Safety fits into the larger business ecosystem. Will this bring a about a new wave of innovative players that weren’t there before? Will public safety communications one day become a thriving, competitive marketplace?

This past week I had the opportunity to  meet and reconnect with scores of public safety stakeholders from coast to coast in the US, many of them involved in the FirstNet initiative that is being delivered on AT&T’s existing LTE network and touted quite correctly as the world’s most advanced Public Safety Communications Network. This model for public-private partnership in public safety communications (or, as I like to call them PPPPSCs…;) may be new on a global stage, but it’s already proving its worth in driving down costs, fostering innovation and playing host to new and advanced technologies arriving from all sectors.

For our part, and as one the innovators on the network side, we can see the advantages of the PPPPSC model first hand, but also how much work remains to be done. Certainly coverage must be built out and expanded, and certain components of the network need to be made more robust. That said, this way of using commercial networks, and with such features a pre-emption and local control, (FirstNet’s term for Network Slicing) amoung others, will ensure every bit of the reliability of a proprietary network like TETRA and so much more.

On the application development side, Public Safety is a new, untapped opportunity and one with some difference, but nonetheless promising revenue potential. While the number of public safety operatives caps out at 75 million worldwide, with forecasted revenues of some $80 Billion by 2026 the math begins to emerge. Think lower volume, (and much) higher margin, not to mention great bragging rights about working with government.

The time is now
Today we see many use cases in which Public Safety organizations are using consumer apps or worse, some custom designed code to serve a specific need. It’s no surprise that in just as many cases agencies are choosing not to use apps that would serve them well in the field but for security concerns. The most recent foible over FitBit foisting sensitive data to the world at large is but a case in point. Last week the news was abuzz about the health device/app providing the precise locations of likely military or government personnel in places like Syria and Afghanistan and….well, you get the picture.

Still there are a good number of perfectly serviceable consumer technologies that provide immediate benefits for Public Safety including Push-to-Talk, and One-to-Many communications that are available on consumer phones and work just fine on any LTE network. And with this example alone, in a market where there are multiple, interoperable Push-to-Talk vendors, we are already seeing its competitive potential.

Taking the “public safety as competitive market place” concept one step further up the food chain, if we can have multiple, overlapping application and device vendors, then why not have two or more public safety networks? Again, it seems that we’re already there in the US, as AT&T rival Verizon is planning to launch their own Public Safety network to compete with FirstNet. Technically this is no Herculean task as they are using exactly the same LTE technology as AT&T that supports the very same applications and devices, and this only drives more opportunities for competition. Certainly from a cost perspective, two providers is better than just one. Between the two networks however, there is some concern around app interoperability.

From the outset, the main the argument for FirstNet was that because police forces and fire departments used different communication methods, there was a baked in risk, and precisely the one that had tragic consequences during the 911 attacks, as communications failure between first responders lead directly to the deaths of 128 firefighters in the second tower.  Note: This horrific event is the starting point of our recently published case study on FirstNet.

So to the questions – could this happen again if there were two LTE public safety networks? The answer, fortunately, is no. This is because LTE networks are IP-based which means that compatibility is managed at the application level. Just as there are no interoperability issues between, say WhatsApp and Skype calls on differing networks, Public Safety communications applications would behave the very same way on AT&T’s network as they would on Verizon’s with zero interoperability issues. This strengthens the case for two networks, but weakens the case for multiple apps, as for example, there are issues if you want to call a WhatsApp contact from Skype.

Certainly, from a Public Safety community point of view, the more networks the better. This is mostly to help insure better, more redundant coverage, particularly in the case of outages. Remember that in the 911 case, the breakdown in communication was due to melted repeaters on a single, dedcasted network. Multiple, interoperable networks would have helped avert that problem. With two networks you can reach over 99% availability according to our partner, Goodmill Systems who provide hybrid network hopping for public safety. In this case more is more and will all be even delivered at an even lower cost.

By Mika Skarp, CEO of Cloudstreet

THE IMPORTANCE OF AVAILABILITY IN PUBLIC SAFETY MOBILE DATA

When talking about critical broadband connectivity for public safety, we are talking about saving lives. The availability of the online information is thus of the utmost importance. If one tries to fetch information from criminal records, the latest blueprints of a building in case of fire, or send cardio information to a doctor in hospital, connectivity is crucial. It might not be a matter of a second or two, but one certainly cannot wait minutes for data to be delivered.

In critical communications, the command and control application become a focal point. With an efficient C&C application one can share information about other units’ locations, target drawings and other various case specific information. The more instantaneous the data is, the better security it provides for the officers on the case. We have seen live situational pictures shared from the criminal site to enhance co-operation and to minimize the inefficient use of mobile voice terminals.

I wish to underline that 99.9% of the usage of broadband data in public safety is outside of a big catastrophe. This is normal day to day work for public safety personnel. When this work can be made more efficient, the savings are immense. Let's look at the network infrastructure requirements of the solution.

CASE: COMMERCIAL NETWORKS

The most common mistake public safety has made is to rely solely on one commercial broadband network. It almost seems like all concentration with development is on the applications. Too often, connectivity issues are handled without due consideration “…oh and we’ll use the broadband of the number one commercial operator, with a dongle or similar.” The fact is no single network, especially a commercial one, is ever enough. The networks are built and designed in a way that do not enable 100% availability regardless of coverage. Commercial networks have occasional service breakdowns, on larger and smaller scales. These networks also have IP addressing scheme changes that cause links to break down. This requires new connection set-ups that always take time. Typical availability, under the coverage area, over any larger single network when in full operation is about 96-98%.

CASE: DEDICATED NETWORKS

The most obvious and most employed solution to the broadband question in the market is to repeat the previous narrow band and voice implementations in the new environment. The communication of public safety has previously been done by dedicated networks. It all started with RF – radios. With digitization, the P25, Tetra and Tetrapol technologies were implemented. These regional or even countrywide implementations have been paid for using taxpayers’ money and the arguments in support of these networks have revolved around availability during crisis situations. Well, no solution is 100% reliable and despite little official communication on the subject, we know that existing digital PMR networks are far from being perfect. A good question today is if a dedicated network is even needed for voice services? There are novel push to talk possibilities and various MVNO approaches that could even replace the existing networks. If we select a dedicated network for public safety use, we should consider the cost vs. benefit. If the network has already been built, it certainly makes sense to use it, but building a new one is another question.

The approximate amount of users on a dedicated network compared to a commercial one is about 0.5%. Dedicated networks builders argue that this small number of users isn’t interesting enough for commercial operators. Is the answer to build another network with even higher availability requirements? With a simple calculation, the cost would be 200-fold per user. How much are the public really prepared to pay for these services? There is always a limit to everything and I have a hard time believing that a dedicated network, especially a Broadband one, would be accepted anywhere as the only possible solution.

I understand the need for coverage in remote areas where there is no business case for the connectivity of commercial networks. This can however, also be covered by satellite.

CASE: COMBINED NETWORKS

This last alternative is somewhat like what FirstNet is doing in the US, the Emergency Services Network (ESN) in UK, and Red Compartida in Mexico. There are more, but these are maybe the most important ones right now. The idea is to combine the existing infrastructures of commercial operators and to build more infrastructure and robustness into the solution. The major thinking behind these approaches are dedicated frequencies. The problem here is that dedicated frequencies offer neither high availability nor resilience. For that you need robust infrastructure.

This solution would also still rely on a single network at a time, with all the associated problems. Why try to create robustness where it already is available? The best solution is at hand with a multiple network approach. Finally: implementing some resilience, like battery backup for base stations, can occasionally be a good idea. New infrastructure where no networks are available can be justifiable, but there is no need to build anything extra when it is not really needed.

The worst scenario with these old-school approaches is that lots of money will be spent and the customers will not be happy. Often in these cases, after the false investment has been made, the critics are silenced. Finally, and sadly, users are not given any alternative for a better solution, which is a multiple network approach.

A MULTI-CHANNEL, MULTI-NETWORK APPROACH IS NEEDED

One benefit of using multiple networks comes through security in case of interference. If someone tries to jeopardize the functionality, or manages to block the traffic of one network, the possibility to use several connections solves the problem. One can always use rapid deployment connectivity via extra LTE or 5G networks, use WiFi, or satellite alternative. The best about the solution Goodmill offers is that these alternative networks can be used automatically; the system selects the best or the most viable connection, depending on how the switch over protocol is determined.

Everything previously discussed summarizes that utilizing a combination of networks brings availability to the accepted level for Public Safety mobile use. It is always a matter of resilience that dictates what the approach selected in each region or country will be: how many networks and what type of network enhancements are required. In our experience, with constant monitoring capabilities and Mobile IP enhanced session persistence, a multiple network approach that auto selects the best network, exceeds the current needs of public safety. There are, however, few important criteria that must be met. First, the multi-channel routing solution needs to have a short switch-over time between networks. Second, sessions need to stay up when the IP addressing changes. Thus, the solution needs to be network agnostic, so that the applications don’t have to know anything about the occurring changes.

The multiple network solution has proven extremely reliable and cost-effective all over the world. Goodmill has one of the largest installed base of managed multi-channel routers in public safety in the world. The solution has been proven in nationwide implementations for years. Of course, the products need to meet the highest standards. As an example, Goodmill products have MBTF of more than 400,000 hours for the routers in use. Our clients can constantly monitor the connectivity situation. The remote management (over-the air) OTA capabilities provide a constant online view of fleet connectivity and provides access to routers whenever needed. This is the connectivity platform that meets the hardest public safety requirements.

Juhani Lehtonen

Goodmill Systems Ltd.

THE ULTIMATE PUBLIC SAFETY BROADBAND SOLUTION IS A BLUE OCEAN ONE

In the past, there have been huge investments into public safety networks around the world. Investments into digital voice solutions with country-wide coverage are still ongoing in many countries, with Germany and Norway being the latest and widest implementations. Big infrastructure providers have been earning good revenue with these national roll-outs. Now, as the old technology cannot provide the data rates required, many of the traditional players are planning on selling new broadband networks the same way in the future.

There is however, a new ‘Blue Ocean’ concept that changes the whole business model for public safety broadband. This is good news for taxpayers, but poses a significant risk for the previous rulers of the marketplace. Before I get to that, let’s summarize what ‘Blue Ocean’ in this case stands for.

INTRODUCTION TO BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY (BOS)

This term was invented by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne in their book “Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant”. The idea is that you don’t only develop and enhance your offering to win markets, but you can redefine it by introducing aspects of elimination and reduction. With the new model, we can reduce or even eliminate investments into new networks and simultaneously improve data security, reliability, coverage and resilience. And all this at a fraction of the cost of the old business model.

>>WITH THE NEW MODEL, WE CAN REDUCE OR EVEN ELIMINATE INVESTMENTS INTO NEW NETWORKS AND SIMULTANEOUSLY IMPROVE DATA SECURITY, RELIABILITY, COVERAGE AND RESILIENCE

THE DILEMMA OF OVERSERVING THE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMUNICATION MARKET

Whenever talking about public safety, the argumentation for selling solutions has been around the importance of the service itself. I’ve heard arguments like “TETRA is the only technology you can trust on your life” or “dedicated and government controlled networks are the only solutions that fulfill the availability and resilience needs of public safety”. As we know that Tetra is far better suited for critical communications than a single commercial network, these statements are still not true. The digital PMR, when introduced, was the only suitable solution. It has given over the years us great benefits, is very useful today and will continue to add value in the future. However, we also know of numerous situations where TETRA, Tetrapol or P25 networks have been down or unusable due to congestion problems. These, like any single network solutions, are still vulnerable to storms and other natural catastrophes. The dedicated PMR networks too often get overcrowded when needed most. Simultaneously, when there’s nothing important going on, the networks are using even as little as 2-5% of their capacity. This means that there is a huge investment standing unused most the time, yet failing unfortunately often when needed the most. If this is what the current situation is, do we really need dedicated networks business model in the future? Are there solutions that can outperform the availability and resilience of a single network investment? I think these are questions worth asking.

ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES TO PUBLIC SAFETY COMMUNICATION

The new strategic alternative comes from eliminating the need for new networks. We already see solutions for fixed landline based internet where dedicated secure networks are built inside a commercially available one. VPN tunneling or MPLS technologies are commonly used in the PS sector today. The solution is to combine commercial networks, as many as one wishes, and use secure tunnels inside them. This way, the existing infrastructure of all mobile operators can be used, taking advantage of the resilience, availability and operational security they can serve together. This is very important to understand: the existing, separate networks can offer these benefits when used in unison. The same reason we have two ears and eyes. It is possible using these separate networks to have secure tunneling running simultaneously across them all. This means that the costs of the solution are magnitudes lower than building an entirely new network anywhere with any significant coverage.

To read more about the ultimate solutions, check this white paper. 

By Juhani Lehtonen, VP Sales & Marketing of Goodmill Systems Ltd.

Would You Build Dedicated Roads Just For Public Safety Vehicles?

The recent developments in the discussion about future broadband solutions for public safety have been quite alarming. We hear arguments like "frequencies save lives" and "dedicated broadband is the only solution you can trust your life on". These demands to allocate natural resources and tax money to totally new networks are same as asking for dedicated road infrastructure for public safety.

There are two concerns in public safety about mobile broadband that lead to these demands. The first one is availability. If broadband networks were roads we would already have 3-4 road providers in each country. All of them assure the roads to be available in the populated areas. Simultaneously they also overlap quite nicely. If one road owner does not guarantee a road to your remote summer cottage, it is very likely that one of the 3-4 have made the road for you. Of course, there might be some areas where there are no roads, but there's a reason for that: no one lives there! If a plane crashed into an area with no roads, one would just use helicopters and vehicles designed for terrain to access the crash site.

The second argument for dedicated networks and frequencies is congestion. This demand means that if the roads were full of traffic, we would need to have separate roads for police and ambulances so they would not be blocked by other traffic. Think of the use of natural resources (land) and the investment into building these extra roads. And all just for these occasional jams. How about the idea of giving priority to ambulances by letting them easily by when they have emergency? How about organizing green lights for their path as they are driving to and from a site?

We have, of course, solved the issues of public safety when it comes to road infrastructure. It's because the issues is comprehensible to a common man. The broadband network infrastructure is not much different. Broadband networks can be operated and handled actually very similarly to road infrastructure.

As we already have 3-4 network infrastructure providers in most countries, it makes sense to use a combination of networks for best possible availability. As the infra is already there, why to build it? Solutions like multi-channel routing with 3-4 simultaneous connections enable the usage of the. It's a bit like why we have two eyes. Not any single network is ever resilient enough anyhow! How about areas with no networks then? Remote road to a non-inhabited destination because of a possible plain crash has never been argument to build a road, but seems to be for public safety networks. Also with broadband one can always use satellite or build temporary networks when necessary.

Congestion can also be avoided already with current infra. Prioritization is already possible and implemented for LTE networks. You can even accomplish dynamic prioritization where you use it only for certain users and allocate the traffic only when necessary. Just like with normal traffic: when the situation requires, you stop other traffic.

Dedicates networks and allocated frequencies are not the answer to resilient, redundant and safe broadband infrastructure. Special solutions for public safety are required, since always online connectivity in critical situations is a must. Dedicated network and frequencies can in some cases be seen as an additional insurance. But giving away natural resources or investing into a unnecessary infra is the same as building dedicated roads only to be used by public safety.

More on the topic by Juhani Lehtonen soon to be published in a new white paper about public safety broadband development.

Public safety vehicles need to be always online!

For many years, public safety organisations around the world have implemented land mobile radio systems (LMRS) to improve the communication capabilities of their field operations. Some nations have been the forerunners in this area, boosting digital networks with excellent coverage throughout their respective countries. Others are slower to adapt, with rollouts still ongoing in many territories. These systems, whether TETRA, TETRAPOL or P25 technologies, were designed for specific public safety voice applications and often use technology similar to the first digital mobile networks. Although the systems provided a great improvement over voice-only services, their networks now face great limitations due to very low data capacities. Data traffic carried over digital LMRS networks may even jeopardise the primary voice services. 

The data solution required today must improve the main functionality of voice while simultaneously offering data communication that meets the capacity and requirements of public safety. The requirements for current and future critical data connectivity are:

• Coverage;
• Availability;
• Data integrity;
• Session persistence;
• Cost efficiency; and
• Interoperability.

What are the used services?

The required services are the key reason to implement new data connectivity. Services that are needed today within public safety vehicles include:

• Image and file transfer;
• Location-based services;
• Database queries;
• Biometric checks; and
• Video streaming.

Information sharing between different public safety operations is a valuable tool for increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of these service providers. This means collecting, sharing and forwarding data between databases controlled by different jurisdictions or pure command centre interoperability. These important applications are impossible to implement within the technological limitations of traditional voice and SMS-type data services. It is obvious that broadband capabilities that fit public safety requirements are essential in order to improve efficiency. This creates the next dilemma: what is required from a police broadband solution technically, and how can we afford it?

Using multiple networks is the "blue ocean" of critical connectivity

Utilising multiple networks simultaneously is the key to using these new data applications efficiently. The idea is to combine two or more relatively well-functioning networks into one connection that meets the requirements of field operations. Multi-channel router technology offers the means to utilise existing parallel commercial and/or private networks. Multi-channel routers need to be populated with several wireless terminals supporting a wide variety of different radio technologies or operators’ networks, and directing mission-critical traffic should always be performed using the best connection available. This enables the minimization of investment into new and expensive networks and does not require necessarily allocated frequencies for public safety. 

Services used

As a first example, the services police authorities use with the data connection are many and varied, with the future offering seemingly limitless capabilities. The first step is to enable a basic functionality (e.g. enabling e-mails with larger data files to be sent without interruption). The increased data capacity also significantly improves situational awareness (e.g. seeing in real time where all other units are and what their status is). With broadband data for police vehicles capabilities, it is possible to drastically expand the area within which units can be surveyed. Other immediately accessible services include real-time blogging, where units can write their observations to specific shared pages on a region by region basis. This service in particular has been extremely well received. The safe connection eventually enables easier and secure sharing of confidential information. It is possible to call up a suspect’s criminal record, any outstanding/previous fines, or even vehicle information. With this approach, all the needed tasks can be performed on the spot, while required documents can be created and printed immediately. This includes a wide variety of tasks, including:

• Reporting an offence;
• On-the-spot fines;
• Sentence claims;
• Preliminary investigations;
• Crime enquiries;
• Technical investigations;
• Weapon register checks;
• Personal ID checks; and
• Passport checks.

The use of broadband in ambulances is somewhat similar. The hospital district needs to chart patients and share data in real time in order to more easily manage ambulance trauma workflow and analyse patient data. The applications used help hospitals realise significant clinical and operational benefits, as well as improving performance and quality. It is even possible to capture data using a touchscreen interface, making charting quick, accurate and comprehensive. The applications enable hospitals and staff to see the status of all patients, including real-time information from charting in the field. It is also possible to use a workflow management system that allows agencies to manage EMS through review and approvals, ultimately replacing the paper trail. The hospital district can then use pre-built server reports and a powerful data analytics package to observe trends and effect change. 

Ambulances are outfitted with docking stations and tablet PCs. Data is entered via touch or voice recognition. Paramedics can send patient data in real time to the hospital, but more than this, the system allows users to quickly and accurately capture and relay far more information than a manual method via paper charts. The patient data is then available instantly to the emergency department and clinical audit staff.

Is this economically viable?

Is a multiple network approach an expensive solution due to hardware and software pricing, as well as due to high network data costs? To answer this, one should look at the costs of the whole unit on the wheels. Whether it’s an ambulance or a police car, one can add the costs of two persons in the vehicle to the vehicle costs, easily making between €100 and €200 per hour. The issue with the broadband connectivity is efficiency. Can we use this expense more efficiently if we have a reliable broadband to the vehicle? Yes, we can.

For work efficiency improvement the clue is whether the users actually begin their work on the move. If the connectivity is not good enough, no matter how cheap, the applications will not be used and the availability levels should always be more than 99% – in many cases up to 99.9% is required. Only this high availability assures the office application usage and makes the ‘office on the wheels’ concept a reality. 

The future is now

It has been proven by many implementations around the world that the high data rate and high availability broadband services offer are a tremendous advantage to public safety operations in the field. This is a direct response from users that have used the technology for years. The applications constantly demand more bandwidth, as well as those currently available. In the future, online streaming video will be the killer application.

Additionally, intelligence cannot remain in the vehicle’s on-board computer. This means that safe and high availability access to central databases is a must. A managed multichannel routing solution is the future-proof answer to these needs, and no huge upfront investments are needed: one can start easily with multiple commercial operators and the links can be upgraded to new dedicated networks when they emerge. A wonderful benefit of Goodmill is that it can use any available network technologies now and in the future, provided that there are modems available.

From a monetary point of view, the approach is rock solid. The payback is only weeks due to improved operational efficiency and, most importantly, the solution has been proven to save not only time and money but also lives.

Juhani Lehtonen

Vice-president, Sales and Marketing

Goodmill Systems Ltd

+358 50 572 5542

juhani.lehtonen(at)goodmillsystems.com

www.goodmillsystems.com

The Misunderstood vs. Real Demands of Critical Vehicle Broadband

The development of applications and solutions that help and improve public safety operators’ daily work has been rapid lately. This has led to a situation where traditional public safety narrow band connectivity seldom meets the applications’ requirements today and in near future. This all has been acknowledged by everyone involved in our field. However, there are some misunderstandings and misconceptions of what the connectivity requirements of future will be and even more of what the most beneficial and useful applications and services will be. I will highlight in this short article what type of services are the ones that bring public safety operations to a totally new efficiency level and what type of connectivity only assures that improvement.

The most common mistake any organization makes in developing and implementing the new services is either to take good connectivity as granted or to develop services where connectivity is not crucial. This seems controversial that both of these approaches are wrong. Let me explain.

Often organizations that have first experimented with broadband have come to a conclusion that they cannot rely on the single connection they’ve used and thus develop services where broadband is only “nice to have”. If it’s not there it doesn’t matter, because the connection problems can be replaced with local data storage or by postponing the required tasks to be executed in the office. This has led, as an example, to applications where cameras record everything but the data is saved locally and can be recalled then later in the office. This might be a good thing for the public interest when evaluating actions and procedures, but no use what comes to operational support. Another example is the paperwork on the road. If there is not always connection. the documents need to be downloaded later and there is no possibility to check the background information often needed to fill in all the documents. This often leads to reluctance to actually perform the tasks in the field and they are postponed to be done in the office. Both of these examples, as being improvements for sure, don’t bring the change in efficiency expected by the investors.

The key to significant efficiency improvement is the always online connectivity. If the users can be certain that the connectivity is there, the whole operational picture changes. Some of the users claim that the always online connectivity has brought a change that has been “bigger than changing from horses to cars”! How can this be achieved then?

The first example is the video streaming. With online video streaming the whole concept becomes a command and control solution. Wherever anything worth sharing happens, the unit in the field can share the view with the headquarters and with any other task relevant units. Data is shared online and in this case a picture is truly worth thousand words, minimizing also unnecessary voice traffic. Also recording is possible in this scenario, but the application and use is totally different and recording can happen in vehicle or command and control center. In some countries the camera in the vehicle is already considered the “third officer” due to its capability in information sharing!

Online video streaming is one of the high end solutions, but there are many more significant ones. The real efficiency improvements, when talking about saving time, come from using the vehicle as an office. When the connection is there one can always check any required background info from vehicle registers, customs, criminal records, tax registers; everywhere the officer has rights to. Also the required documents can be always up to date and filled and saved directly in the databases. This means one has to do the work only once. Think of the time savings achieved in writing a simple speeding ticket! In some scenario you can use the bank card to pay the fine on the spot even. We calculated with a client that this online capability saves 1,5 hours every shift in the vehicle. This means yearly savings of approximately € 100 000, - per vehicle per year! Being online to a level that you have uninterrupted broadband connectivity brings the benefits and savings. Any half-baked “low end” connectivity solution that jeopardizes the connectivity also risks the whole investment.

How to then make this happen? One would think that only dedicated country wide LTE network would be the only solution. On the contrary. As a dedicated network brings added resilience and can help to minimize congestion issues, it never provides the only solution. The best way to realize this is to combine available networks in a smart way.

Luckily we have already great examples of the solution. Norway, Finland and Iceland have implemented solutions with only commercial networks, using 2-4 networks depending on the area. Many Middle East countries have selected the dedicated network path supported by one or more commercial operators. The hybrid network approach offers also a very nice evolution path to the dedicated network builders as one does not have to wait until the own network is fully implemented. One uses the dedicated network when available and other alternatives when not. As the network grows, the resilience and the performance of the services increases.

Individual availability of three operators vs. combined "hybrid" availability. First a view of the whole tour statistics and second the statistics in Paris. 

There are also misunderstandings that multiple networks would not together add much to the availability due to site sharing and similar business cases of the operators. In all tests we have conducted this assumption has been proven wrong. We have tens of these tests that show all significant availability boosts. Here as a summary the results of a test conducted by Thales during Tour de France. In these cases, you would suspect network contamination as well as low coverage due to spectator crowds and remote mountain locations of the Tour. Nonetheless, the use of three commercial operators improves the connectivity to a level where it makes the needed difference!

Juhani Lehtonen
@LinkedIn

Public Safety Broadband and Mobile Operators: what if (when) the networks fail?

Public safety operations always concentrate on ‘what-if’ – scenarios. The most important one, when talking about mobile broadband, is the scenario of network failure. What happens if the used networks are be down? Too often this question leads to postponing the investments to wait for the perfect solution: “We want guaranteed 100% availability and we don’t do anything before that can be offered.” This leads unfortunately to development paralysis that keeps public safety applications and services tightly in the inefficient working habits of the past. Instead of searching a solution that’s never going to realize, the decision makers should invest into smart modern solutions that enhance the operational capabilities today. You can always, as you should, improve the used solutions to meet the strictest standards also later when you know more about the applications’ demands.

The typical approach for public safety mobile communication has been to build dedicated networks for public safety use. Tetra, Tetrapol and P25 have been the answer to communication in the past and are currently also serving well. You still hear once in a while comments like: “Tetra is the only technology you can rely your life on.” Or like: “Narrow band is the only way to guarantee critical connectivity needs.” For everyone’s information, these networks, like anything we humans do, are never 100% sure either. But what we are certain of, is that PMR solutions don’t provide for the broadband capacity required by modern public safety applications.

Single operator broadband availability in vehicle vs. multichannel router availability

The modern way to enhance the capabilities and to introduce modern working methods and services is to ensure the highest possible broadband availability by using several networks. These networks can be either commercial or a mixture of commercial and dedicated (government owned) networks. This approach gives huge monetary benefits, but also increases the resilience of the solution to a level unseen before in mobile access. The new approach is a paradigm change in our industry. Instead of spending billions in new networks, one can use smartly existing infrastructure and invest only into areas where commercial targets do not support investments.

Juhani Lehtonen
juhani.lehtonen(at)goodmillsystems.com

Save Time, Money and Lives - How to Improve Public Safety Efficiency with Vehicle Broadband Solutions

Smartphones are used today even by our children and countless applications serve the users for better life, work and free time. I use my mobile for e-mail, but also for maps, navigation, parking, and of course entertainment. It is difficult to understand that public servants would have worse or in some cases none of these capabilities. Despite the almost endless debates about public safety network infrastructure demands, it is clear that a well- functioning broadband access would be an important addition to their work. In this blog I’m highlighting the issues on why public safety broadband is important, how it could be implemented and what are the alternative solutions to use.

The importance of mobile broadband to public servants

It would be really important to help public servants to use modern applications. There are vast amount of data available in open or protected data bases that could provide for excellent help. Also very simple modern applications like efficient office programs would be very useful whenever the officers are mobile. Also the modern command and control applications would benefit greatly from broadband. The larger data capacities would allow for up to date maps, more interactive and quicker updating situational pictures and better and broader sharing of data between the mobile units.

The current networks, like Tetra, Tetrapol or P25 are built to provide for high availability voice in critical situations, but also for small amounts of data. How about the current Broadband solutions

The importance of availability

Since we are talking also about saving lives, it is important to note that the availability of the online information is of uttermost importance. If one tries to fetch information from criminal records, latest building drawings in case of fire, or send cardio information to a doctor in hospital, the connectivity is crucial. It might not be a matter of a second or two, but one certainly cannot wait minutes for the data to be delivered.

When we talk about criticality, the command and control application become a focal point. With an efficient C&C application one can share information about other units’ location, target drawings and other various case specific information. More instantaneous the data is, better security it provides for the officers on the case. We have seen live situational picture shared from the criminal site to enhance co-operation and to minimize the inefficient use of mobile voice terminals. But can you rely that the pictures and other important data get transmitted?

One broadband network doesn't do the job a) Commercial networks

The most common mistake public safety has made is to rely solemnly on one commercial broadband network. It almost seems like all concentration with the development is on the applications. Too often the connectivity issues is handles by a short notions “… oh and we’ll use the broadband of the number one commercial operator, with a dongle or similar.” One network is never enough, no matter if it is a commercial or even a dedicated network. It is not within any foreseen organization’s or nations capabilities to build redundancy and availability required just for one network.

All networks have occasional service break downs, larger or smaller scale. Network have internal IP addressing changes also that break the links and require for a new connection set-up. A very normal availability over any larger single network when in full operation is about 96-98%.

One broadband network doesn’t do the job b) Dedicated networks

The obvious and most used solution to the broadband question in the market is to repeat the previous implementations in a new environment. The communication of public safety has been previously done by dedicated networks. It all started with RF – radios and with digitization the P25, Tetra and Tertrapol technologies have been implemented. These regional or even countrywide implementations have been paid with the taxpayers’ money and the argumentation for the need has been along the lines like “this is the only solution you can trust your life on”. Well, no solution is 100% sure and despite not much communicated, we know that the existing digital PMR networks are far from being perfect. A good questions today is if really a dedicated network is even needed for the voice services? There are novel push to talk possibilities, various MVNO approaches and such that could even replace the existing networks. If we select a dedicated networks for the public safety use, we should consider the cost vs. benefit.

How about the broadband data then? The approximate user amount of a dedicated networks compared to a commercial one is about 0,5%. The dedicated networks builders argue their point that this small amount of users isn’t interesting enough for the commercial operators. So is the answer to build an own networks with even higher availability requirements on top of that? With a simple calculation the cost would be 200 fold! How much are we really prepared to pay for this services? There is always a limit to everything and I have hard time to believe that dedicated network especially in Broadband would as a single solution fly anywhere.

I understand the need for something special in cases of network congestion during certain areas in crisis or coverage for remote areas where there is no business case for the connectivity for commercial networks. But elsewhere the commercial solution is very interesting.

A multichannel approach is needed

Everything previously discussed summarizes that utilizing hybrid dedicated and commercial networks or a combination of commercial networks brings the availability to the accepted level for Public Safety vehicle use. It is then always a matter of resilience on what the approach selected in each region or country would be. What we have experienced is that with constant monitoring capabilities and Mobile IP enhanced session persistence, the multiple networks approach combined with selecting always the best one even exceeds the current needs. The key elements include that multichannel routing solution needs to have short switch over time between networks and that the sessions need to stay up when the IP addressing changes. The solution needs to be network agnostic, so that the applications don’t have to know anything about network changes!

Goodmill example: systems’ benefits

Goodmill has most likely the largest installed base of managed multichannel routers in the public safety in the world. The solution has been used in nationwide implementations for years with MBTF of more than 400 000 hours for the routers in use. The remote management (over-the air) OTA management capabilities provide for constant online view of the whole fleet connectivity and provides access to routers whenever needed. All software features can be remotely updated quickly and without any specific routing knowledge. The product family consists of multiple routers from desktop applications to highly rugged versions with EN50155 vibration tolerance and IP65 environmental protection. The much specified customer base includes highly skilled and most advanced public safety operators in the world. Company will grow and develop the products to meet the highest standards also in the future.

What is economically viable?

I have met many partners and customers who have stated that multiple network approach is an expensive solution, not only due to hardware and software pricing, but also due to high network data costs. Let’s look at this with a bit more detail.

First of all one should look at the costs of the whole unit on the wheels. No matter if it’s ambulance or police car, one can easily calculate the costs of two persons in the vehicle and the vehicle costs jointly adding easily up to €100 to €200 per hour. The issue with the broadband connectivity is efficiency. Can we use this expense more efficiently if we have a reliable broadband to the vehicle? Well, for sure we can!

The availability increase by using 2-4 WAN links instead of one is very dependent on area and country. However, in almost all cases only the availability increase and the efficiency it brings, gives paybacks according to our calculations of less than 6 months. As short as seven weeks paybacks have been reported, and this includes all the extra network and equipment costs! The normal availability increase is about 3-4 percent, but also even 18-19 percent increases over single network have been registered!

It the table we have concluded some data from a police vehicle used in Scandinavia. The clue is, whether the users actually start to do their work on the run. If the connectivity is not good enough, no matter how cheap, the applications will not be used! As an example the Goodmill’s router solution brings almost always the availability to a commonly accepted “office level” availability and thus enables the full use of the efficiency enhancing apps! The availability levels need to be always more than 99% and in many cases up to 99,9% is required. Only this availability doesn't affect negatively the office application usage and the “office on the wheels” gives huge advantage with hours of effective working time savings each shift!

The savings are achieved because the reliability of connectivity is so high that the office work can be done in the field. Everything is done only once, directly in the database. For instance parking tickets and other forms can be electronically filled already in the car, so no paper to computer tasks are required. Additionally customer's identity can be checked by using online photos and videos and unnecessary trips to precinct can be avoided. Additional advantages include improved safety for officers and customers and obviously much improved situational awareness all in all!

Why to choose seamless multichannel routing: a summary

It is thus proven that the high data rate and high availability broadband services give a tremendous advantage to police and public safety operations on the field. This is direct response from users that have used the technology even for years now. The applications demand all the time more bandwidth, also the current ones in use. In the future online streaming video will be the killer application.

Additionally all the intelligence cannot remain in the vehicle computer. This means that safe and high availability access to central databases is a must. A managed multichannel routing solution is the future proof answer to the needs and no huge upfront investments are needed: one can start easily with multiple commercial operators. The links can be easily upgraded to new dedicated networks when they emerge. A wonderful benefit of Goodmill is that it can use any available network technologies now and in the future, provided that there are modems available.

From monetary point of view the approach is rock solid. The payback is from only some weeks to months in pure savings for the whole systems introduced! And most importantly: the solution has proven to save not only time and money, but also lives!

The author is Juhani Lehtonen, Sales and Marketing Vice President of Goodmill Systems Ltd. Juhani’s details can be found in LindedIn at:  https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=113594

The Pilot Results of Hybrid Commercial Network Usage in Public Safety Mobile Broadband

The current discussion concerning broadband access to public safety mobile units has been active and ongoing for years. The primary reason for discussion regarding this issue is the fact that current dedicated digital authority networks cannot provide the data capacity required for modern applications. However, capacity limitation seems to be the last point that discussion participants can agree on. The question of how to bring the broadband to these vehicles has multiple opposing viewpoints and conflicts of opinion.

The first and the most obvious answer to bringing broadband into public safety vehicles is to build dedicated networks for authorities. The main problem with this solution is the huge cost involved, along with limited available frequencies. The second solution is to use a commercial provider with special deals to offer the data capacity required. Here the main concern is the availability of the data and resilience of the network. The third option includes several hybrid solutions, either combining dedicated and commercial networks or using multiple commercial ones. The key problems with this latest solution are perceived to be resilience and availability.

Participants in this discussion are however too often lead astray by either their own personal experiences on how networks function, by operator promises regarding availabilities, or dedicated network equipment providers’ denigration of commercial networks. The only way to know with certainty the availability of any single network or selected networks together, is to test them in real life environments with the same applications used by the authorities.

This document shows the results of several selected pilots or tests conducted in Europe and the USA. The number was limited for presentation purposes, but very similar or even identical results have been seen from tens of tests around the world.

Typical testing environment

The selected testing environment included in all conducted tests contains the following set-up:

Each vehicle was equipped with a Multi-Channel Router (MCR) with selected available main operators in each case. A laptop or a tablet was attached to the router. The router created a Mobile IP tunnel to a server in the cloud and from there the connection to authorities’ back-end systems was created.

We wanted to test against the clarified customer claims. The first claim was that one network operator is enough within cities. The second was that out in remote regions there is no coverage at all.

Cities

We first present the results from using the hybrid network approach within selected cities. The cities included here are Brussels, Antwerp and Los Angeles. The test duration for each of these tests is several hours - long enough to give a clear picture of real life operation of the networks within the given cities.

As is clear from the example, the network availabilities of individual network operators are far from the 100% claimed. Over just a few hours there may be more than 50 data interruptions. It is similarly clear that multiple networks overlap favourably. The joint coverage with just two operators is always close to 99.5% and often close to 99.9%.

What is also important is that the bundled solution practically removed all longer breaks that would have caused the user to feel an interruption to the service. Looking at the GPS data in heat maps gives a clear visual representation of the fact that the networks are full of holes when it comes to delivering broadband to moving vehicles, even in densely populated cities.

Remote locations

For remote location testing we selected a third network to ensure we get the maximum coverage. Only in Iceland did we use two networks due to fewer available operators without network sharing. We always try to select networks that have as little coverage overlap as possible. The locations tested include are some of the most remote in Europe, including Ireland, Norway and Iceland. The results were surprising.

It is understandable that single network availabilities are significantly lower than in the cities. But surprisingly they still are very seldom as low as 80%. The number of service interruptions increases with lower availability and it was noted that some of the breaks extended from tens of second to minutes and even tens of minutes when driving. Despite much lower individual network availability in these areas, the bundled uptime results were excellent. Over 99% is an excellent figure considering the places where these test routes were driven. Places so sparsely populated that there are often no inhabitants within a radius of tens of kilometers.

Even in these remote locations, the bundled solution offered uninterrupted connectivity as any longer breaks in data were reduced to zero. The user did not experience any interruptions to the service, even when some short breaks in the data stream occurred.

Availability heat maps show clearly how multiple networks combine to provide the high availability encountered.

Summary

Anecdotal evidence and personal opinions are especially misleading in this area without accurate data regarding mobile broadband data coverage. Typically individual opinions have been influenced by personal experiences and are further confused by operators marketing messages. The discussion around the need for dedicated broadband networks is manufactured to some degree by the equipment providers themselves. Opinions that are not backed up by real data and test based findings should not form the basis of decisions made in this area.

In every test made, several parallel networks have been proven to provide greater resilience than a single one. Tests conducted in various locations across the US and Europe prove two crucial points. The first is that no city can provide sufficient broadband availability for public safety vehicles over a single network. The second is that even the most remote areas can provide availability that is acceptable for public safety mobile broadband.

It is worth noting that similar tests are always needed in a new region in order to form valid conclusions. Of the tens of tests conducted so far, all have yielded very similar results regardless of locations.

Mikko Kestilä and Juhani Lehtonen

Goodmill Systems Ltd.

Blue Ocean in Public Safety Mobile Broadband

In the past there have been huge investments into public safety networks in the world. These investments into digital voice solutions with country wide coverage are factually still going on in many countries with Germany being the latest and widest implementation. The big infrastructure providers have been earning good revenues with the national roll-outs and many of the traditional ones are planning on selling the dedicated broadband networks the same way in the future. There is, however, a Blue Ocean concept that might change the whole business model for the public safety broadband. This can be good news for the tax payers, but poses a significant risk for the previous rulers of the market place. Before I’ll get here, let’s summarize what Blue Ocean in this case stands for.

Blue Ocean Strategy (BOS)

This term was invented by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne in their book “Blue Ocean Strategy:
How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant”. The idea is that you don’t only develop and enhance your offering to win markets, but you can redefine it by introducing aspects of elimination and reduction. With this one can create a new value curve that has potential to conquer the market. In this context the current incumbent approach to public safety broadband networks is to raise the capacity and to create new networks and technologies (LTE) for the market.

A Blue Ocean can be created by elimination and reduction. This is a valid concept that needs to be considered.

The dilemma of over serving the public safety communication market

Whenever talking about public safety, the argumentation for selling solutions has been around the importance of the service itself. I’ve heard arguments like “TETRA is the only technology you can trust your life on” or “the dedicated and government controlled networks are the only solutions that fulfill the availability and resilience needs of the public safety”. We all know these statements are not true. I have heard about multiple cases when TETRA networks have been down or unusable and the officers have turned to use the commercial networks to communicate. These solutions are also never 100% sure against storms or other natural catastrophes. The dedicated PMR networks get overcrowded when needed. When there’s nothing important going on, the networks are almost empty, using even as low as 2-5% of their capacity normally. This means that we have huge investments standing unused and failing often when mostly needed. Do we really need these dedicated networks also in the future? If not, we could probably save a lot of money for sure. Let’s see what commercial solutions could offer for the sector?

The Blue Ocean in public safety communication

The new strategic alternative comes from elimination the need for new networks. We see solutions in the fixed internet where one builds their own dedicated more secure networks inside the commercially available one. Normal VPN tunneling or MPLS technologies are commonly used in PS sector today. The solution is to combine commercial networks, as many as one wish, and use secure tunnels inside them. One thus actually uses the infrastructure of all needed mobile operators, the resilience, availability and operational security they together can serve. And has simultaneously secure tunneling inside all of them. This means that the costs of the solution are minor compared to building a new network anywhere with any significant coverage.

One roaming SIM is not enough

There are two different scenarios how to use the multiple network approach. One has been to acquire agreements with operators to enable roaming between networks with only one SIM-card. This sounds like a viable solution at first, but will not sufficient for Public Safety needs. The problem with roaming SIM is the inability to see the status of any other networks than the one the card uses. When one loses the primary network, one can only then start to even search if the other networks are available. This can take minutes or even tens of minutes. It creates intolerable uncertainty and hampers the user friendliness required for the officers to adopt the applications. Also session persistence can be easily lost.

The benefits of multichannel routing solution

Using routers that monitor all of the used networks all the time and use them either separately or together can give what is required. Currently the switch over times can be reduced to just seconds, enabling advanced online streaming data applications. The networks’ capacities are not a problem in most areas today, and will be even less as LTE is expanding at its current rapid rate. Also the fears of commercial users jamming the networks seem to be overrated.

Summary

Let’s take FirstNet in the US as an example, since they are the only ones who have openly announced spending something like 7-9 Billion US for a country wide dedicated public safety network. If they used selected existing commercial operators with a router solution, the cost for equipping all the public safety vehicles (450 000) in the country, would be in the range of 1-2 Billion. Simultaneously the operating costs can be kept much lower due to operators’ efficient commercial organizations. With this investment every single public safety vehicle would have safe, resilient and highly available broadband in their use.

The routers using multiple networks create the Blue Ocean. The incumbents that have so far sold the digital PMR networks are naturally interested in continuing their old business model. With novel alternatives minimizing network investments the business can be switched to other players. This has happened already in Scandinavia and will certainly have its effects in other parts of the world. I hope for us taxpayers’ sake that the modern approaches get the foothold they deserve.

By Juhani Lehtonen

juhani.lehtonen(at)goodmillsystems.com

Ambulance Data Connectivity Test in Kainuu, Finland

Kainuu Health District organized a system testing for Ambulance Data Connectivity in Kainuu region (Central-Eastern Finland) during the summer 2013. This is a free to use summary of the actual tests, results and summary with suggestions. The significance of a special vehicle router system is underlined.

Test Kit

Router

• Installed in the vehicle. Goodmill w24e-RR router with external magnet antennas.
• The router used total of three networks (WAN links). Two 3G networks - Sonera and Elisa, as well as one 450CDMA network
• The connection via the router to the computer is enabled through a WIFI Access Point connection.

Computer

• Computers used in this test were 2 laptops. 
• The first tests were carried out on the Windows XP operating system and the router plus an internal 3G modem (Mokkula)
• Second tests used Effica Health Care application by Tieto on the Laptops.
• This testing was carried out on the Windows 7 operating system with 3G USB modem and the router. Both 3G modems used DNA's network.

Tested applications

Effica

• Effica testing was carried out using a test environment which had the same IT requirements as the proper usage environment Effica would have.
• The programme requires a non-stop wireless network connection and does not allow any interruptions in the Wifi connection while the registration is being carried out.

Citrix

• Citrix remote desktop enables using Effica with a suboptimal internet connection.
• Effica runs on the server and there is a desktop view on the computer of the programme. With CITRIX, Effica does not sign the user out if the internet connection is interrupted for a short period of time.

Birdstep Technology Oy, Safemove

• Safemove software is needed for creating a password secure connection and changing connection without interruption. 
• When the connection is directed from the 3G modem to the router it causes the IP address to change - which would result in losing the Effica network connection. 
• A mobile IP address is created by the Safemove software, allowing the IP address to stay the same, ensuring the internet connection does not get interrupted.

Safemove software has vehicle router installed in as a priority connection to enable connectivity inside and close to the vehicle. When the WiFi connection to the vehicle is cut, the computer automatically starts using the 3G modem.

Test set up in Kainuu

Testing Methods Stage 1

In the first stage only the connection speed and the reliability was tested for Effica. At this stage only a router and a computer with a Windows XP operating system was used.

Road Test

The road test was mainly done using a moving vehicle. When the connection was poor the vehicle was brought to a halt.

The reliability of the connection was tested simply by running continuous ping-tests. Ping is a TCP/IP protocol tool which tests the reachability of a certain specified device. Ping sends an ICMP echo request package to the device, which the remote computer responds to with its own echo reply package. Ping tests were sent to the Google server address 8.8.8.8 using the Windows command line.

The upload/download connection tests were carried out using http://speedtest.net.

Apartment Test 

The testing methods were the same as in the road test. In each test situation the vehicle was parked about 10-20 metres outside the entrance.

The test locations were:

• A second floor of Kainuu First Aid’s building
• The Central Hospital Patient Tower; a concrete block of flats in Kajaani City Centre 
• A wood-insulated detached house in Kajaani's Pärsänsuo
• A tiled detached house in Vuolijoki.

Testing Methods Stage 2

During the second stage the suitability of Effica for First Responders was tested.

Stage 1 Test Results

Road test with router

The reliability of the internet connection was very good. The connection was not offline for more than ten seconds at a time even in the most remote areas. When the connection was poor the car was stopped which brought the connection speed up again. The minimum connection speed was 1Mbit which is high enough for Effica to function well.

The connection speed was also periodically tested using a single 3G modem without the router. This showed that connection speed was very low outside suburban areas. Effica would not work in these areas.

First Aid Building connectivity

The WiFi connectivity was tested from laptop to the vehicle. The connection to the vehicle router was not interrupted during the whole test period. The vehicle was parked ~10 metres from the main entrance.

Connection speed from the laptop near the building inside the car:

• Download  7,68 Mbit/s 
• Upload  2,01 Mbit/s
• Ping 74 ms

Connection speed inside the apartment:

• Download  2.84 Mbit/s
• Upload  1,53 Mbit/s 
• Ping 75 ms 

These both connection speeds are sufficient for Effica.

Patient Tower building connectivity

The vehicle was parked right by the patient tower, the distance to the car was ~20 metres. The WiFi connection from laptop to the router was cut almost instantly when entering the building.

Stone-built Block of Flats in Kajaani City Center

The vehicle was parked ~10 meters from the main entrance. The connection was lost when entering the building, ~10 meters from the building’s entrance.

Detached house, wood-paneling inside

Vehicle was parked ~10 meters from the main door. The connection was lost in the bathroom as this was farthest from the car. This was likely due to the concrete bathroom wall. The connection was also tested using a single 3G modem.

Connection speeds using a router:

• Download variable: 2.5-0.3 Mbit/s
• Upload variable: 1.5-0.1 Mbit/s
• Ping variable: 80-100 ms

Connection speeds using a 3G modem:

• Download Variable: 4.5-0.3 Mbit/s 

The connection speeds were better using a 3G modem in the laptop inside the flat.

Tiled detached house in Vuolijoki 

The vehicle was parked circa 10 meters from the main door. The laptop WiFi connection remained uninterrupted. Not much variation on the connection speed.

• Download 3.0 Mbit/s 
• Upload 2.0 MBit/s
• Ping 88 ms 

Stage 1 Test Summary

The connection cannot be guaranteed in all locations, but when in the near vicinity of the vehicle the CDMA450 connection is very comprehensive nationwide and therefore the connection is fairly reliable.

A router fixed inside the vehicle is needed when using Effica. This enables a reliable and comprehensive network. An additional laptop 3G modem connection is needed when using Effica in tall buildings and far away from the vehicle when in suburban areas.

Stage 2 Test Results

Road Test 

The Effica test environment stayed active and recordable throughout the route. The WiFi connection was active and operational the whole time. Downloading and uploading information went smoothly and without any major interruptions or twitching. The same Effica session was used throughout the road test. At one test point along the Lahnasjärven Road Effica was working even at ~100 metres from the car. For test reasons there was an inbuilt WiFi antenna in the car which probably shortened the range. A normal setup would be an outside antenna.

Stage two road test route

When tested outside the WiFi range, the laptop used Effica using 3G modem although connection was in this case very slow. A speed test for the 3G modem resulted in ping 875 ms and download 0,02 Mbit/s, whereas the router received ping was 85 ms and download 1.08 Mbit/s.

Kainuu road test data

A Detached House with a wood-paneling inside

The car was parked in the same spot as in the speed tests, ~10 metres from the main door. When entering the room that was furthest from the car, the connection automatically switched over to the 3G connection. There was virtually no difference in the recording once this happened. 

Patient tower (Kaks potilastorni)

The connection automatically switched to the 3G modem and recordability remained the same. The testing continued in the stairwell up to the 4th floor and recording of Effica was also working inside the lift going down.

Test 2 Summary

Effica works faultlessly using this setup. Switching between connections is unnoticeable to the user and it is likely to be sufficient for Effica over the whole Kainuu region. The connection to Citrix was lost a couple of times but this was due to the user. The same session was still open after logging back into Citrix. So even though the connection was lost in the middle of recording, the data was not lost.

End Result and Summary

It is possible to get the Effica patient database working reliably in ambulances. The router reliability and connection speeds are sufficient in and around Kainuu region. On top of the router, a 3G modem connection is needed because the WiFi connection does not work through thick walls or at distances greater than 100-300 meters from the vehicle.

The Safemove software from Birdstep Technologies Oy is also needed, as this enables the switching of the router and 3G modem connection to ensure that the Citrix connection is not lost.

You can read more about Kainuun sote, the organisation conducting the by clicking the link:

Modified from Finnish report by Juhani Lehtonen