The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet Authority) released a new Roadmap for the future of the nationwide public safety broadband network. The FirstNet Authority will follow the roadmap to prioritize its programs, activities, and investments in network improvements.
Unveiled at the APCO International Conference and Expo in Baltimore this week, the FirstNet Authority Roadmap builds on the organization’s nationwide engagement with public safety to gather feedback on their most important communications capabilities.
The FirstNet Authority developed the path through hundreds of individual engagements, workshops, and summits with first responders.
“As we look to the future of FirstNet, it is critical that we deliver network enhancements and innovations based on the needs of public safety and in lock step with trends in technology,” said FirstNet Authority Board Chair Edward Horowitz. “This roadmap lays out priorities for ensuring first responders have the dedicated and differentiated network they asked for, supported by the FirstNet Authority’s management of and investment in the network.”
The roadmap is organized around six domains representing technologies and capabilities that are vital to public safety operations now and in the future, including:
- Network Core: provides the essential intelligence for the functioning of the network. The core is foundational to the network, and the FirstNet Authority envisions the core evolving to remain technologically current
- Coverage and Capacity: enables robust and ubiquitous access to the network
- Situational Awareness: envisions real-time access, collection, and distribution of critical information
- Voice Communications: envisions high-quality, reliable voice communications nationwide working seamlessly across analog and digital platforms
- Secure Information Exchange: envisions the ability to access, exchange, and manage data securely and conveniently within and across public safety agencies and jurisdictions
- User Experience: seeks to ensure interfaces are designed for specific public safety users’ operational challenges
August 15, 2019
Reader Interactions