PUBLIC SAFETY SECTOR CALLS FOR SOFTWARE DEFINED RADIO
10 August 2004 - Venture Development Corporation

In a recent study conducted by Venture Development Corporation, Software-Defined Radio: North American and European Market Demand Analysis, 88% of U.S. public safety respondents indicated that Software Defined Radio technology could help solve the numerous interoperability issues experienced when trying to communicate between departments.

Because they employ radios that operate on various frequencies and use several different protocols, most public safety branches have no means of direct radio-to-radio communication. Police, fire and local government personnel resort to swapping radios between departments or transporting communication gateways to the site to solve interoperability issues, causing unnecessary delay and confusion in critical situations.

When similar interoperability issues were identified within the United States military, the DoD established the Joint Tactical Radio System program. The program quickly recognized that Software Defined radios could supply a highly diverse installed base of systems with support for multiple protocols and frequency bands, and alleviate these problems. Procurement of SDR devices for the military is currently underway, with plans to replace all of the military's radios. In fact, the DoD plans to spend an estimated $4.7 billion incorporating SDR devices and technology over the next four years.

So where is SDR in the public safety world? Unfortunately, no commercialized products exist at this time for several reasons:

Lack of SDR standards - The military has defined standards for SDR, but none exist for Public Safety. The TIA 8 committee has had difficulty initiating these efforts.

Technical constraints - SDR technology is still in development and is difficult to implement.

Funding limitations - Today's SDR radios are extremely expensive costing many tens of thousands of dollars or more. Mass production will help to bring some of these costs down, but it will be some time before they reach reasonable price points for Public Safety.

Radio manufacturer reluctance - Radio manufacturers have not invested a significant amount of time or money in exploring SDR for public safety:

VDC's Datacom and Telecom Practice Director, Chad Hart, agrees that, '...it will probably be several years before SDR penetrates the public safety community, however, successful military implementations and demand from public safety agencies will promote product development. SDR is more than a buzzword - it is a real technology, solving complex communication problems in critical environments.'

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