[opendtv] Broadcasting & Cable - Battle Stations
- From: Mark Aitken <maitken@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: OpenDTV <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2004 10:02:47 -0400
Subscription required...
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA445052?verticalid=311&industry=Technology&industryid=1030
<http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA445052?verticalid=311&industry=Technology&industryid=1030>
Battle Stations
WNET conducts tests to aid first responders
By Ken Kerschbaumer -- Broadcasting & Cable, 8/16/2004
There will be talk at the Republican Convention about the nation's readiness
for another terrorist attack. But behind the scenes, WNET New York, the
public-TV station, will be using the convention as a test site to enhance our
security.
The station will be trying out its second-generation Smart Nets technology,
which holds the promise of improving two-way communications between first
responders and their commanders at emergency-operations centers.
"When you put this system together with emergency broadcasts over the DTV
spectrum," says Stephen Carrol-Cahnmann, WNET director, digital convergence,
"public safety steps into the digital age."
The upcoming tests enhance an earlier round of federally funded tests held in
May, with input from the New York police and fire departments. They used WNET's
Instructional Television Fixed Service (ITFS) transmitter at the Empire State
Building to send out data to emergency-response teams throughout the city. The
results were promising but did reveal cracks in the model.
"There were certain problems that did not lend the system to first responders,"
says Carrol-Cahnmann. "We found that it required line-of-sight and a
fixed-receiver site during the initial tests." The system was suitable for
vehicles stopped at an incident site, but it didn't help first responders en
route to a fire or crime scene.
Despite the problems with mobile reception, the test was deemed a success. It
proved a basic point: Two-way data could be sent to and from the field. As a
result, the project has received funding from the National Technology Alliance
(NTA) for a second year of development, and WNET, working with partner
companies Rosettex, KenCast, NextNet and Grey Island Systems, has solved the
mobile-reception problem.
Two new components helped make the difference.
The first is a non–line-of-sight wireless modem from NextNet that can receive
signals sent out using COFDM. This is a transmission method ideal for mobile
delivery and areas with tall buildings or mountains. The second is KenCast's
Fazzt software, which ensures that files and content are received properly.
"The latest generation delivers content not only to a PC or laptop but to
handheld devices like PDAs," says Carrol-Cahnmann. "Now we can deliver signals
to PCs and other devices on a fire truck, ambulance or police car."
The system also uses an automatic vehicle location (AVL) system from Grey
Island Systems. Department personnel use it to call up a Web site on a browser
and get real-time information on the location of vehicles. It is also helpful
in finding personnel, who could wear ID tags with radio frequencies to transmit
their location within a building.
Rosettex CTO David Ihrie is optimistic about federal support. "We have
interactions going on between our sponsors and the Department of Homeland
Security," he says. The expectation is that by next year, funding for the
project will be shared by DHS and NTA."
Helping that rollout is the ITFS spectrum, which is plentiful in most markets.
Ihrie says ITFS is licensed to organizations whose mission lines up with Smart
Nets. Plus, the 9/11 Commission's report recommended dedicating more spectrum
to first responders. Ihrie admits that neither Smart Nets nor the new DTV-based
Emergency Alert System (EAS) are perfect: "But if they're put together in a
synergistic way, we get a 90% solution."
WNET has begun a second round of tests, and early signs are promising.
Two antenna systems, similar in size and weight to cellular-phone transmitters,
were placed on top of the WNET facility, and test signals were broadcast.
Carrol-Cahnmann then put a small antenna on top of a car and attached it to a
wireless receiver connected to a PC. He measured signal strength while driving
in Manhattan. It was acceptable, even with interference. But reception can be
improved with the installation of transmitters or hubs at more locations.
Carrol-Cahnmann says it would take about 30 to cover New York.
Since ITFS spectrum is plentiful, Carrol-Cahnmann says it's time for stations
to begin discussions with local public-safety agencies. The DHS will take a
closer look at how well the system works, given the interference issue, during
the convention. If it manages to stand up to that challenge, it could be rolled
out nationwide. Says Carrol-Cahnmann. "We're prototyping a system the
government hopes can be the model."
--
Regards,
Mark A. Aitken Director, Advanced Technology
***********************************
Sinclair Broadcast Group
10706 Beaver Dam Road
Hunt Valley, MD 21030
Business TEL: (410) 568-1535
Business MOBILE: (443) 677-4425
Business FAX: (410) 568-1580
E-mail: maitken@xxxxxxxxxx
Text PAGE: page.maitken@xxxxxxxxxx
www.newscentral.tv
www.sbgi.net
===================================
"A strict observance of the written laws
is doubtless one of the high duties of a
good citizen, but it is not the highest.
The laws of necessity, of self-preservation,
of saving our country when in danger, are
of higher obligation. To lose our country
by a scrupulous adherence to written law
would be to lose the law itself, with life,
liberty, property, and all those who are
enjoying them with us; thus absurdly
sacrificing the end to the means."
--Thomas Jefferson
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