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Seamless networks

The digital transformation of today’s mobile landscape underlines the importance of connectivity when dealing with emergencies
Cellnex

The occasional poor coverage or brief dropout is no big deal for mobile phone users. They can wait a few seconds, call again later or wander round to find a better signal. But what about if there’s no time to spare? This is the case of emergency response officers: firefighters, police forces, health workers and forest rangers. None of them have a spare moment in critical situations. Immediate communications are crucial.

“When an ambulance attends an accident, for example, communications and coordination between different actors, plus a speedy response, are essential in order to save lives. Other types of officers such as firefighters, put their own life on the line in the course of their duty, wherever they might be,” explained Marta Rubí, business manager for public authorities at Cellnex in Spain.

So what is the secret to ensuring seamless communications in scenarios as challenging as fires, earthquakes or road accidents? The answer is simple: security and emergency forces have robust, dedicated networks specifically designed to ensure a glitch-free signal. Such networks can be summed up in two words – secure and robust – and feature the functions necessary to safeguard communications with emergency teams.

The security of the communications that use these networks is ensured by encryption systems that prevent access by unauthorized people and enable the creation of closed groups of users to speed up operations.

Today’s technology makes it possible to pinpoint vehicles in the fleets involved in operations, and also to record their position and voice and data messages, with a view to ensuring their safety, optimizing procedures and studying the details of the incident later.

Robust networks are those based on well-designed infrastructures that guarantee the transmission of instructions without dropouts or interruptions, even in adverse scenarios in which the connectivity of commercial networks would fail. “Heavy snow, blizzards, storms, earthquakes, fires and situations with crowds of people such as demonstrations are critical circumstances in which these networks must function and remain operative,” said Rubí. “Here at Cellnex, we’ve been working on the design and deployment of such networks for more than 25 years. At present, we serve more than 80,000 users in Spain, for example, police forces and emergency response corps in different autonomous regions (Catalonia, Region of Valencia, Navarra, Andalusia, Madrid, Region of Murcia, Balearic Islands, etc.), sea rescue organizations, local law enforcement organizations and those on railway and metro services....”

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Constantly evolving technology

The digital transformation of today’s mobile landscape underlines the importance of connectivity when dealing with emergencies.

Features such as band width, and the high-speed transmission of data and images are part of the on-going developments in this technology.

Broadband goes arm in arm with security. The ability to upload and download high resolution images during emergencies can make a difference by enabling the transfer of crucial information in addition to voice communications. The evolution of security and emergency radio communications networks will enable the use of video applications to speed up operational response.

Another factor in this equation is a type of specific coverage, available to security and emergency forces wherever needed, which uses the spectrum efficiently and effectively without dropouts or shadow fading, i.e., mobile coverage wherever required, in extreme conditions, both indoors (underground, car parks) and outdoors (remote areas).

As technology constantly evolves, augmented reality, Internet of Things networks and drones have already started to be incorporated into the telecom networks used by security and emergency forces – helping build a safer world for everyone.

 

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