In a new article for Urgent Communications, Inmarsat Government’s Senior Vice President, Direct Sales and Business Development, Britt Lewis, looks at the criticality of keeping U.S. first responders connected during disaster response.
In the article, he shares his insights on the reliable technologies today’s first responders need to assist victims, support operations and keep themselves safe and lays out the challenges that natural and manmade disasters create for first responders.
While first responders typically rely on terrestrial networks, disasters will often impact these networks and they may not cover entire geographies, particularly rural areas. Lewis notes: “Telecom carriers have taken significant steps to improve LTE network reliability, but public safety can get even more resilience in their networks by adding seamless satellite capabilities to LMR and LTE.”
“This is where satellite communications (SATCOM) enters the equation as a proven, readily available option. An interoperable vehicular network system (VNS) with satellite-enabled push-to-talk (PTT) is the solution. It combines LMR/LTE connectivity with a seamless and complementary path that allows SATCOM to supplement terrestrial cellular when such coverage is unavailable or inadequate for the needs of public safety.”
Read Lewis’s full article to learn more about how VNS and PPT technologies can support always-on, always-available connectivity for first responders here: urgentcomm.com.
