National Institute of Justice (NIJ) $50,000 challenge: Delivering Mission Critical Voice Communications for Law Enforcement and Public Safety Responders in the COTS LTE Environment

.. within  the LTE Environment using commercial‐off‐the‐shelf (COTS) technology, which are achievable within five years of the Challenge prize being awarded. For purposes of this Challenge, this capability is defined as instant communications with a defined set of mobile users either in a 'one‐to‐all,''one-to-some'or 'one‐to-one' mode based on the supervisory responsibility of the user and/or the urgency of their need (e.g., threats to life, mission criticality) for access.

The proposed solution should ensure mission‐critical voice communications in all environments (e.g., urban, rural, wilderness) and in the face of communications infrastructure challenges, suchas (1) where there is no terrestrial communications infrastructure; (2) where the existing infrastructure has been compromised or damaged; and (3)confined area (e.g., subways, buildings, underground garages).