Converged digital communications – a new era in Fireground comms has arrived

The era of converged digital communications has arrived, but there is no one size fits all solution, especially for Fire Rescue Services. Moreover, you may ask - are our first responders ready? Some organisations are, while some are comfortable with what they know - which is based upon yesteryear’s technology.

It may be safe to say that change is driven by events, tragic events, where similar events may occur in the future.

Being risk averse, there may be processes and procedures in place which are defined to ensure safety, but as technology evolves these procedures (that may present barriers to new tech adoption) need to be reviewed and updated. Are they appropriate for the 21st century and can converged digital communications enhance first responders to be safer and more effective? At Tait we believe that question should be answered with a resounding yes!

Various ways of Migrating from Analogue to Digital comms

This throws up the “challenges of migrating from Analogue to Digital comms” and access to the benefit’s digital offers. There are various ways this is being implemented, but serious consideration as to how legacy infrastructure currently in existence is accommodated when migrating to digital. It’s essential to maintain simplicity of operations for crews attending incidents when considering their safety and that of the public they serve. This is especially important in complex buildings, both hi-rise and underground where multiple crews are trying to communicate simultaneously in an ad hoc way.

Standards drive innovation and multi-vendor choice

Essential to this, is the use of standards-based technology, ETSI DMR and 3GPP. Their continued development creates trust in the technology, drives innovation and encourages multi-vendor choice for prospective customers to select.

Speaking of ETSI DMR and 3GPP standards-based innovation, these are complex and require significant Research & Development investment on behalf of manufacturers aligned with the commercial opportunities. It is, however, essential to embark on the journey with the Service representative bodies such as the National Fire Chiefs Council and industry organisations including British APCO and their Advisory Group, to help facilitate open dialogue. Moreover, enable greater understanding of the operational challenges faced and how technology can combine to overcome them.

Connecting the incident ground to the control room is key

Tait has worked closely with Fire Rescue Services and industry organizations as well as safety equipment manufacturers (Breathing Apparatus and Biometrics) to understand these challenges and reinvest the learning outcomes. This has enabled Tait to develop a holistic solution for the incident ground by converging narrowband radio with broadband devices and extending group communications to smartphone users and LTE wearable devices utlising Tait PTToX Applications.

Legacy analogue and now narrowband digital (DMR), is primarily used for voice communications at incidents which has served the purpose very well. Combining high transmit power of 4 watts in the UHF spectrum with enhanced intrinsic safety rating such as the TP9361 ATEX IIA variant, further enhances Firefighter safety - which is fast being considered the “gold standard”. This is a positive step, however there is a growing interest in updating technology providing connectivity from the incident ground for wide area communications, including connectivity to the control room. This has been highlighted during the 2017 Grenfell incident and recent large area wildfires in the summer of 2022.

Tait AXIOM Broadband Solutions help bridge the gap

The desire to “bridge the gap” between firefighters and the control room during wildfires incidents using commercial LTE networks with 3GPP based devices using PTToX application is a viable solution, especially when considering the longer-term ESN situation.

For many, Fire Rescue, and similar services, it is a natural step to adopt PTToX over broadband LTE which will provide the wide area connectivity in a cost-effective way, facilitating the integration of narrowband and broadband capability.

There are new devices for your mobile teams in dedicated wearable and fixed vehicle forms complementing each other, especially for the Incident Ground. The Tait AXIOM portfolio from Tait Communications includes the compact wearable TWX554 LTE device and fixed vehicle TMX450 LTE device (with integrated conventional UHF DMR capability). Both utilise Tait PTToX cloud-based PTT subscription service and, can provide that all important next step evolution on the way to MCPTT’s prioritised services for ESN.

For more information on this subject, come and meet us at our stand F40 at BAPCO 2023. Don’t miss our presentation on March 8th on the subject of “Converged 3GPP MCPTT communications for 21st Century fire rescue services: Connecting the control room to firefighters.”