5G technology and Public Safety - What you need to know
Wireless connectivity facilitates fast, effective communication and 5G is now available in many areas of the country. Few technologies have received as much attention as 5G, but we are just beginning to realize the ways that public safety is likely to benefit. Officer safety and effectiveness depend on fast, uninterrupted access to critical applications and data no matter the assignment, whether it’s a rapidly evolving tactical situation or a search and rescue operation during a natural disaster. With 5G, data transfer rates are significantly increased, and latency is substantially reduced. This means high volumes of data can be delivered in near real-time and overall situational awareness will be expanded and improved significantly.
Some capabilities that benefit from 5G include real-time video feeds for evolving critical incidents, facilitated emergency response based on timely assessment of vehicle location and routing (green wave), and live-streamed, on-demand, body-worn camera feeds during an emergency. Expansive single-pane-of-glass command centers will be able to display levels and quality of information that dramatically improve decision making.
Making a difference with sensors
Another area where 5G is having impact is in sensor utilization, and there is a unique aspect that merits consideration for public safety tech planners, especially within the context of smart cities. Orthogonal sensor cueing refers to a situation where one sensor tells a second sensor to execute an action or initiate a process. Conventional 4G transmissions can introduce a degree of latency during which a situation could change and make the action of the second sensor inconsequential. Imagine a ground sensor that detects vibration and notifies a pan/tilt/zoom camera to move to the affected area. With low-latency 5G, the subject is captured on video in near real-time and the image can be immediately reviewed (by a human or AI-assisted video analysis) for criteria such as carrying an object or firearm. In this example, any significant degree of latency could result in missing potentially critical information. Suffice it to say that 5G allows for a much wider deployment of integrated and intelligent sensor networks that will help public safety professionals operate proactively and mitigate risk.
Important considerations regarding 5G
As public safety agencies consider the wide array of use cases, it’s instructive to understand the different frequency bands that comprise 5G. There are three general bands of 5G frequency - low, mid, and high. Unless you’re a communications engineer, this is an area that can be confusing and it’s important to not focus solely on the extraordinary data transfer rates made possible by the high-band frequencies of millimeter-wave (mmWave) transmissions. Although mmWave can deliver incredible speeds, it has limitations. It does not effectively penetrate structures or other physical objects such as glass or even trees, and it has very limited range. This means that the use of mmWave technology is most appropriate for situations like a large stadium where the density of mobile devices is extremely high or on an open street corner with very heavy pedestrian traffic.
At the other end of the 5G spectrum is low-band, also commonly known as the “coverage layer” because it is used to deploy substantial 5G coverage effectively across large areas. This is the approach used by T-Mobile to leverage the 600MHz spectrum nationwide and has resulted in the nation’s largest 5G network. A low-band cell site can cover hundreds of square miles while delivering fast downloads. It’s also very effective at passing through buildings and is a practical and effective way to provide solid coverage to rural areas that previously lacked effective broadband capability. Critical incidents can happen anywhere, including small rural communities. T-Mobile’s rollout of 5G to these underserved areas will allow more agencies to effectively leverage cellular technology to improve operational capabilities.
In between the high and low-band layers is, not surprisingly, the mid-band spectrum and it delivers long range for broad coverage. Mid-band offers a balance of speed, capacity, coverage, and penetration that’s especially suited for densely populated urban areas where connectivity demand is high. This is why mid-band has often been called the “sweet spot” spectrum and it is especially well suited for many public safety operations.
T-Mobile’s high-capacity wireless network utilizes both mid-band 2.5 GHz and low-band 600 MHz frequencies to deliver broad reach with signals that can penetrate structures and provide data transfer rates that are substantially faster than 4G networks. The vast amount of spectrum and wider set of spectrum bands available to be stacked together are unique to 5G, allowing network flexibility and effective functionality in a variety of operational environments.
The largest network advantage
After the recent merger with Sprint, T-Mobile has a greater variety of spectrum across all three bands than any other national carrier, providing massive capacity in the low- and mid-bands needed to deliver 5G far and wide. These are the same 5G bands that will be most beneficial to public safety. The potential is clear: first responder agencies will have the opportunity to expand operational capabilities and improve overall information access and exchange. And with T-Mobile Connecting Heroes, a public-private partnership that supplies free and low-cost 5G smartphone connectivity to state and local first responders, funding mobile programs will be less challenging than ever before. Although it won’t occur overnight, many areas of public safety are already being impacted in a positive way and 5G will be increasingly transformational, with new capabilities emerging as agencies begin to leverage opportunities made possible by this new generation of wireless networks.
You can learn more about how public safety agencies are improving operational effectiveness and the T-Mobile Connecting Heroes program designed just for first responders by visiting the T-Mobile for Government web site.
