PSCR awards over $6M for R&D supporting mission critical voice test equipment
NIST's Public Safety Communications Research division (PSCR) awarded three applicants the Public Safety Innovation Accelerator Program: Mission Critical Voice Test Equipment (PSIAP-MCVTE) funding opportunity, totaling more than $6M. Polaris Networks, Universidad del Pais Vasco/Euskal, and Valid8.com were each awarded funding to develop test equipment and associated code required to test communications devices, based on 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standards, for mission critical push-to-talk technology (MCPTT) and related public safety features such as Mission Critical Data (MCData) and Mission Critical Video (MCVideo). Wireless telecommunications service providers complete several overlapping test processes to releasing new communications devices. These processes may include regulatory testing to meet government standards, various industry certifications, and testing within their own laboratories. While the test standards and procedures meet the needs for commercial devices, they cannot always ensure a device's proper performance for public safety purposes.
The PSIAP-MCVTE cooperative agreement from PSCR seeks to support research and development around the creation of a simulator program which will enable the necessary testing of MCPTT technology. The simulator will be expected to support standardized MCPTT, MCVideo, and MCData test cases.
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