Networks for enhanced public safety in Africa
Public safety is of concern for all countries, with teams spending hours working tirelessly to ensure that citizens are protected. Such incidents include natural disasters, crime spikes, or any unrest that may occur. In these times of crisis, technology has a crucial role to play in ensuring that public safety teams can effectively communicate in real-time to mitigate the impact of disasters and reach the concerned sites on time.
3GPP mobile technology will become an increasingly critical component, not only in connecting a specific public safety team, but also in ensuring interconnectivity between different teams to improve situational awareness. Today the police, fire brigade and ambulance services don’t typically have connectivity between each other. Each emergency service has their own network or their own voice communications system and might not share a command and control centre. With the adoption of mobile broadband technology, public safety networks can benefit from the advantages of interconnectivity, fast and reliable broadband data and real-time video services, opening new communications possibilities for rescue missions and disaster recovery situations. This will enable them to share information with each other to get a better grasp of their operational environment, improving real-time collaboration and coordination when the situation requires urgent attention..
The ideal public safety system
In an ideal world, various public safety teams would be able to communicate across a single, secure network, but this is not always the case, particularly when legacy networks are involved. It does not need to be this way. Old networks can be maintained and enhanced by adding newer technology with updated functionalities and then gradually phasing out the older networks. From a total cost of ownership perspective, the old assets that have already been invested in are maintained, while new capabilities are added gradually. In this way the complete public safety network environment does not need to be replaced in one big step.
In parallel to voice services that current public safety networks offer, high-quality real-time video feed services could be added, allowing for video feeds from the scene or location. These video feeds could be viewed by the control centre or teams travelling to a scene, helping them prepare for arrival and to offer better support. Additional data services could be overlaid such as rapid database access, location-based services or bio vital monitoring to remotely activate a responder’s cameras and monitor their vital signs to check their safety. If text communication and push-to-video (PTV) capabilities are also supported, it would allow for a broadcast text/video communication to all public safety teams to ensure that everyone is informed of developments in real time.
Certain natural disasters could cause network outages, but there are solutions for those. In areas where the existing network is not available, for example, if there has been an earthquake, new systems have the capability to establish a portable public safety network for the first responders. Ultra-compact network is the smallest unit and can be carried in a backpack or transported in a regular-sized vehicle such as a police car. It comprises radio, core and applications such as group communications, including push-to-talk and push-to-video capabilities and can integrate other high-bandwidth mission-critical services such as video analytics and geo-location.
This enables the first responders to set up their own secure broadband communication network instantly, allowing them to communicate with each other, ensuring nowhere is too remote for them to protect the public and save lives. Additionally, new technologies, such as drones, can be used as part of the public safety network. Using drones and real-time applications like video streaming, gas sensing, mapping, and analytics helps rescuers rapidly gain situational awareness so they can provide the fastest possible response.
Fig. 1: LTE for mission-critical services.
Analytics in public safety
Analytics is another way to improve the network to deliver intelligence without requiring human intervention. By using analytics, specific areas can be monitored, alerts issued and teams dispatched when needed. For example, if there is flooding and the water rises to a specific level, analytics overlaid on standard CCTV cameras can analyse the changing environment, raise the necessary warnings and dispatch the required teams. Crime hotspots can also be monitored in a similar way, for example if abnormal crowd movement is detected, the required teams could be automatically dispatched. This could revolutionise public safety on the continent.
With an enhanced public safety network, a consolidated database containing big data can be created. Data in the database would include information on: incidents, resolutions, environmental sensors, weather patterns, video feeds, etc. Analytics can also be applied to determine crime patterns and hotspots, traffic flow patterns or air quality information, thus allowing statistical information to be available and preventative measures to be applied if required.
Network threats
Cyberattacks are a growing threat to all types of mission-critical networks, including those used by all emergency services. Regulators recognise this risk. In the US, cyber security is viewed as a serious economic and national threat, with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) creating a framework to support the protection of critical infrastructure. In Europe, the EU has proposed a cyber-security strategy outlining its vision, clarifying roles and responsibilities, and defining actions required to protect citizens. Similarly, in most African countries, governments are starting to realise the importance of security, and discussion around cyber security policies are in the works. In South Africa the government is in the process of establishing a Cybercrimes and Cybersecurity Bill.
Fig. 2: Mission-critical mobile broadband applications.
Today’s networks have evolved and security is at the core of the network. Public safety networks are often private networks, which means they are only accessible by the public safety workers via their special devices, SIM cards, and authentication mechanisms. That is the first layer of security. Secondly, the security solutions deployed on these networks monitor unauthorised connectivity. If a public safety worker loses their device, those devices are typically blocked from the network to restrict any unauthorised user access. The devices are also secured with passwords or lock codes, so a lot of security mechanisms are deployed, and, on the backend, security solutions monitor and track all the devices.
All the information that is distributed to the public safety workers needs to be accurate, so it’s important to make sure the network is as secure as possible. Different levels of access and authorisation is created in the network and planned upfront as part of the public safety network design phase. So, there are many security architecture features that are included, such as security automation.
Conclusion
The introduction of 3GPP mobile technologies for mission-critical mobile broadband requires careful preparation to ensure a smooth transition and includes evaluation of current and future applications, finding the right deployment model and identifying assets and gaps.
Key to the success of emergency services is to provide them with a network they can trust. With mobile broadband, public safety organisations will be able to protect people and property more effectively while keeping first responders safe.
Contact Riham Khairy, Nokia, riham.khairy@nokia.com
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