Page 13 - GCN, August/September 2018

FirstNet touts communications ‘bubble’ for first responders
BY SUSAN MILLER
To ensure that emergency responders can always communicate with nearby resources, AT&T’s FirstNet team and Sonim, a manufacturer of rugged smartphones, are developing Emergency Drop Kits that will create a 300-foot “connected bubble”
that allows responders to maintain constant communication with FirstNet, the nationwide public safety wireless broadband network.
Designed for natural disasters
such as wildfires or hurricanes and emergency situations in rural and remote areas, the kits provide a short-term solution for connecting to FirstNet when broadband resources might be unavailable. The kits include a Cradlepoint LTE router equipped with a modem and integrated Wi-Fi, which provides a secure and reliable
data communications hub with failover to Inmarsat Government satellite services. The kits also include four Sonim XP8 rugged Android smartphones preloaded with FirstNet apps.
will embed FirstNet liaisons within each state’s emergency operations center to better guide the deployment of dedicated FirstNet assets, such
as satellite cells on light trucks and distributed antenna systems. The liaisons will serve as the primary link between public safety agencies and FirstNet resources, facilitating coordination across federal, state, local and tribal agencies.
In July, the company said it had simplified FirstNet service contracts available through NPPGov, a national cooperative procurement organization offering publicly solicited contracts
to government entities nationwide through a lead public agency. NPPGov members can sign up for FirstNet and access custom pricing in their states without signing a contract, which allows them to deploy the resources more quickly. •
infrastructure were donated by Switch, a Nevada-based company.
Chris Walach, senior director
of NIAS and director of all FAA- designated UAS test sites in Nevada, said the center will help officials tackle the challenges that come with the increasing use of drones.
“This new center will help advance infrastructure protections [and] drone- detection innovations, enhance air safety and expand air commerce in Nevada,” Walach said. “We are taking an aggressive approach toward solving the complex UAS industry challenge
of mitigating drone incursions into the National Airspace System — one of the toughest FAA challenges today.” •
Nevada launches drone safety research center
BY MATT LEONARD
Nevada is no stranger to drones. The state is one of the Federal Aviation Administration’s national test sites
for unmanned aerial systems and has conducted research into drone traffic management systems. The city of Reno was selected for FAA’s UAS Integration Pilot Program, and Las Vegas has the most registered drone users in the nation, according to 2017 research by Bard College’s Center for the Study of the Drone.
Now the state is pushing those efforts even further with the announcement in July that it is launching the Nevada Drone Center of
Excellence for Public Safety. The center will guide further
research into the proper use of drones with a specific focus on ensuring
that they do not cause harm to
other aircraft or to people on the ground. Applications include drone surveillance, detection and avoidance (remote sensing), wildland firefighting, gas-leak detection and delivery of medical equipment via drone.
The center will be located in Las Vegas and run by the Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems (NIAS), a nonprofit corporation that works on behalf of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development. The facility and the backbone for the technology
AT&T officials said the kits are still at the proof-of-concept stage but are moving toward production.
The company’s FirstNet team also announced that it is establishing a Response Operations Program that
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PHOTO: FIRSTNET