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

Hybrid Mobile Network Use in Public Safety Vehicles

The recent hot potato in the public safety discussion has been mobile broadband data. The question of how to bring the broadband to public safety vehicles has multiple opposing viewpoints and conflicts of opinion.

The first answer to implementing broadband into vehicles is to build dedicated networks for authorities. The second solution is to use a commercial provider with special deals to offer the data capacity required. The third option includes several hybrid solutions, either combining dedicated and commercial networks or using multiple commercial ones.

Tests conducted in various locations across the US and Europe prove that hybrid commercial network use is a viable solution that can be later improved by adaptation of dedicated networks. This observation has already led to implementation of a fully commercial network based solutions in Scandinavia. The fully commercial solution does not limit the usage of dedicated networks like FirstNet, but due to lack of frequencies this has been the only way in many countries so far.

The key element of this solution is a managed multichannel router system. This system enables easier, secure sharing of confidential information. It is now possible to call up a suspect’s criminal record, any outstanding/previous fines or even vehicle information. With this approach, all the needed office tasks can be performed on the spot, while required documents can be created and printed immediately.

Users claim that co-operation has been elevated to an entirely new level. Information is more transparent thanks to task handling, shared blogs and the collection of statistics. The reliability of data transmission and sharing of critical information has and continues to improve significantly. Misunderstandings are reduced because different patrols can now locate each other from a shared map resource. This has led to gains in the command and control chain, with field management proving more efficient thanks to better allocation of resources.

Authorities have been extremely satisfied with presented system. Routers have changed and continue to change field operations and management due to provided capabilities for new applications. Also the addition of a dedicated LTE network to the solution is possible whenever a new networks is implemented giving also a future proof solution. It has been already shown that this technology saves time, resources, money and lives.

Juhani Lehtonen

VP Sales and Marketing

Goodmill Systems Ltd.

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

Mobile Healthcare: Mallu Case Study by Eksote in Finland

The Mallu vehicle is a new type of mobile healthcare service that is used in remote regions where these services don’t exist. The objective is to introduce more advanced services to locations that don’t have a dedicated healthcare center.

The targets for the Mallu system are:

• To answer the healthcare needs of people living far away from stationary service locations 
• To secure and develop the basic services of people in remote locations 
• To enhance wellbeing and health as well as to prevent illness 
• To support the health and wellbeing of the elderly and to support independent living 
• To produce new and reliable mobile services 

The customers include all community members, but the largest customer group is elderly people that have problems of travelling to the locations of stationary services. The first pilot tests in 2011 showed that as many as 65% of the customers were aged 65 or older.

The services

The Mallu vehicle provides primary nurse and pharmacy services. Special health related theme days are also organized using the vehicle. 

The vehicle has a fixed route and the target is to visit each dedicated site every fortnight. The time the vehicle is in one location varies from one hour upwards, depending on the need. The nurses provide services like ear rinsing, stitch removal, prescription renewals, vaccinations and other injections. Blood pressure monitoring, blood sugar level sampling and related advice are also included, while some quick sampling like INR is also performed in the van.

The broadband connection in the vehicle enables the usage of Eksote's regional health district patient register, so that all patient specific health issues can be monitored and reported online. Some dental services can be included depending on the equipment installed in the vehicle. 

The route of the vehicle in Southern Carelia, Finland 

The connectivity solution

One of the main requirements for the services is an always online data connection that is guaranteed to function in more remote locations. The Goodmill managed router system meets the challenge. The Mallu vehicle is equipped with a router that includes up to four different commercial mobile broadband connections. In current operations along the predefined routes, Eksote uses two SIM-cards from the two main operators in Finland.

The system overview of the Mallu healthcare vehicle 

The solution brings all the health district’s databases to the vehicle over secured VPN tunneling. The van then operates like any other connection inside the hospital or healthcare center with similar rights and capabilities. This also enables more modern services like live video streaming from the van, enabling doctors consultation on demand.

The costs

The total cost for the vehicle including salaries, vehicle rental and IT infrastructure are €115,000 per year. With a single customer’s cost between €52 - €104 per visit, the all costs of the service can be covered. This is obviously a very interesting value proposition for Eksote.

The summary

As the costs of health care are rising in general, a mobile service unit is a way to deliver services to more remote locations. A modern IT infrastructure is needed to support the service, which requires secure access to databases for medical records, electronic prescription databases and so on. The Goodmill managed router solution is a perfect building block and enabler for this. With always online broadband, imagination is only the limit to expand and upgrade the services in the future.