High-speed data-on-demand

4GMax delivers increased uplink capacity that enhances the capacity to share data or stream live video from vehicles on the move.

Developed by Airwave, the system provides an effective alternative to satellite communications or fixed links, improving on “patchy and often unreliable” commercial mobile coverage and capacity to provide a strong, stable transmission link for supporting the delivery of media-rich video and data.

4GMax works by aggregating bandwidth from the commercial networks, both cellular and wi-fi, and managing the multiple connections to create a multiple-bearer high-level architecture.

“4GMax intelligently manages the use of each of the SIMs, which reduces the likelihood of interrupted service and provides greater resilience,” said Euros Evans, chief technology officer at Airwave.

“The data packets are split and spread across the different networks enabling greater capacity and speed. It’s a secure solution, because no one party has all the data while it is in transit.”

Airwave is currently working with Surrey Police on a mobile video pilot and automatic numberplate recognition? (ANPR) data streaming using 4GMax. Data captured during the pilot has already shown that the sharing of live images between the control room and specialist activities such as surveillance facilitates the speed of decision-making, meaning shorter operations that support cost savings.

“As consumers, we ‘consume’ data – most of the time we are downloading data and that’s where the bandwidth is. From a public safety perspective, it’s the uplink for sending data that is more often important,” explained Mr Evans in his Airwave blog, Preparing the way for Mission-Critical Data over LTE.

Airwave is also working with Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service to improve remote incident management and this has already been tested operationally.

“We are also expanding the 4GMax platform to the Ambulance Trusts, looking at uses such as patient telemetry,” said Mr Evans.

He said that rather than waiting for the next generation mission-critical communications technology LTE (long term evolution) to be fully rolled out and then starting to explore the possible public safety applications, 4GMax allows Airwave to “explore these today, so that we are able to exploit current and future technologies as quickly as possible”.

The Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme (ESMCP) was put in place by the Government to assess the future of mission-critical communications as commercial networks looked to roll out high-speed LTE capability with the promise of ever-faster data downloads.

Mr Evans said work is already underway to enhance LTE to enable it to deliver mission-critical communications in the future with the exacting features required by the blue light services.

“We all agree that LTE is the long term future for the emergency services, but there is naturally much debate about when that future will arrive,” said Mr Evans. “In the meantime, how can we help mission-critical communications users define the types of services they will require in that LTE future? And importantly, how can we help them take advantage of new, data-rich technologies today without the need to wait for this LTE capability?”

He explained that the starting point was the definition of ‘mission critical’ – “which data applications and voice services merit the term?”

“Blue light voice services are almost always mission-critical because they are used to manage, coordinate and control incidents, but data, which is visual, is less easy to categorise,”added Mr Evans.

“Police officers in the thick of an unfolding riot situation may have no time to look at data, whereas control room personnel could use streaming of live video reports of the situation to deploy immediate back-up by issuing instructions via a talk group, utilising mission-critical voice.

“The emergency services and all other users of the Airwave network currently have access to a specific spectrum which is not available to commercial users. With mission-critical b