Final phase of BroadWay PCP: Providing Live Useable Pilot Systems for PPDR Operational Mobility
The final BroadWay pilot is required to reach Technology Readiness Level 8 representing a ‘complete’ and fully operational system achieving the best performance possible for all 11 BroadWay Objectives
The final of the three-phase BroadWay Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) gets underway on 8th October 2021. This is initiated by signature of awarded contracts to the two first ranked consortia of the Phase 3 call-off competition, following their successful completion of the Phase 2 (Prototype Phase). The consortia in phase 3 (Pilot Phase) are led by Airbus DS and Frequentis AG.
The consortia will be tasked with taking their prototypes into live useable pilot systems that will be further evaluated by the BroadWay Practitioner Evaluation Team (PEVT). The final BroadWay pilot is required to reach Technology Readiness Level 8 representing a ‘complete’ and fully operational system achieving the best performance possible for all 11 BroadWay Objectives. A primarily goal for phase 3 aims for both pilot systems to be interconnected and provided as-a-service. This seeks the widest operational possibility of the pilot system(s), providing standardised mission critical services to realise Operational Mobility, and will allow practitioners to evaluate the systems in their own operational way.
As recently stated in its conclusions of the 7th of June 20211, the European Council emphasizes the importance of secure operational and EU interoperable communication for law enforcement agencies and other security practitioners to be able to properly protect and respond in case of cross-border cooperation in the area of public spaces and major events’, and ‘invites member states to further support EU initiatives aiming at the improvement of existing systems and EU-wide interoperable communication systems for public security, notably the Horizon 2020 BroadWay project’.
BroadWay is actively contributing to improving the Operational Mobility of all PPDR practitioners and thus facilitate cross-border operations and cooperation. Operational Mobility will allow practitioners to operate wherever they are, whenever they need to, and with whoever they are tasked to cooperate.
BroadWay pilots will concretely show how it is possible for firefighters, policemen or emergency units to move from their country to another country and to remain seamlessly connected to their operational hierarchy, control, and colleagues in the field.
The BroadWay Group of Procurers includes 11 ministries or their delegated agency responsible for providing public safety communication capabilities in their country. They currently provide mobile communication services to 1.4 million responders across Europe. The countries involved in the BroadWay PCP include: Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Ireland, The Netherlands, Romania and Spain. This group of procurer is led by ASTRID, the operator for emergency and security communication services in Belgium.
The BroadWay PCP is coordinated by Public Safety Communication Europe Forum (PSCE) and has received funding from the European Commission Horizon 2020 programme (grant number 786912). You can follow the BroadWay PCP on the project website – www.broadway-info.eu.
