THIS PAGE IS A WORK IN PROGRESS
Public Safety LTE (PS-LTE) is a technology for next-generation public safety communication system based on Long Term Evolution ( LTE). Since 2013, LTE is considered as the "de facto" standard for the next generation mission critical mobile broadband communication. Public safety LTE device shipments over commercial networks is expected to account for nearly $7 Billion in annual revenue by the end of 2020. [1]
Standardization work in 3GPP started since Release 11. Key building block features are defined in Release 12. In Release 13, Mission Critical Push-to-Talk (MCPTT) is specified. Two additional applications (Mission Critial Video (MCVideo) and Mission Critical Data (MCData)) are currently in progress under Release 14, and is expected to be completed in 2016.
Background and Motivation
Wireless communication for public safety services, such as police and fire department, has been based on built-for-purpose systems such as Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) and P25. There are also communication systems being used for specific commercial communications such as rail road ( GSM-R). They are widely deployed in many countries' government agencies and other organizations, but they are bespoke systems specifically designed and implemented for public safety (and other related) usages only. These systems provide predominantly voice communication with limited data capability and limited interoperability across different systems and products. [2]
On the other hand, wireless cellular communication systems have been developed for consumer users. Over the years, its technology has evolved from 1G (FDM-based system such as AMPS and TACS), 2G (TDM-based system such as GSM), 3G (mainly CDMA-based system such as UMTS and CDMA-2000), to 4G (OFDMA-based system such as LTE and LTE Advanced). Deployment plans for the future 5G system have been announced by various mobile operators toward 2020. As a result of this evolution, cellular system has transformed from voice-only communication to content-rich high-speed broadband service. Proliferation of smartphone and tablet in recent years has accelerated increase of data traffic in the cellular system. In the past years, the volume of data traffic has surpassed that of voice traffic, and is expected to grow even more. [3]
Public safety communities also need to evolve to broadband communication. Doing so will allow to take full advantage of new technologies and capabilities such as high resolution video and real-time data communication in their mission critical operations.
However, their existing systems such as TETRA and P25 are slow to evolve and expensive to implement due to its nature of bespoke systems. On the other hand, commercial cellular technologies are based on international standard, primarily 3GPP, and have enjoyed commercial success in world-wide level. Standard-based systems and products have led to well-developed ecosystem ranging from chip vendor companies to system integrator companies. Such ecosystem fosters competition in the market, rapid adaption of new technologies. From service deployment perspective, it means lower price, more vendor choices, and shorter time to market of newer technologies with less amount of up-front investment to deploy the system.
The commercial success of LTE in world-wide level has exceeded that of the predecessor technologies. In October 2014, the number of LTE subscriber globally has exceeded 280 million, and it has been adopted faster than any previous generation of mobile technology such as UMTS (3G) and GSM (2G), [4] and continue to increase. [5] Due to its commercial success, public safety communities have decided to adopt LTE as their technology of choice for their next generation public safety system.
Government interest in PS-LTE
In recent years, multiple organizations in different countries have announced their plan to deploy the next generation public safety system based on PS-LTE. Effectively they have declared that PS-LTE is their 'technology of choice'. [6] [7]
Some of the representative cases are discussed below.
US
First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet)
US Congress has created First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) in 2012 to mandate the implementation of the nationwide public safety broadband network, and allocated $7 billion as the construction fund. [8] They have announced that this new system will be based on LTE technology. [6] The FCC has allocated 700MHz D block spectrum to FirstNet. [2]
- National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)
- National Public Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC)
- Tetra + Critical Communications Association (TCCA)
- Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials-International (APCO)
- International Union of Railways (UIC)
UK
Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme (ESMCP)
UK Home Office established Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme (ESMCP) in 2011. Their goal is to provide a new mobile communications capability to the three Emergency Services (3ES) - police, fire and rescue, and ambulance - of Great Britain using LTE technology. [9] They plan for a dedicated Emergency Services Network (ESN) which would “provide the next generation integrated critical voice and broadband data services for the 3ES (police, fire and rescue, and ambulance).”
France
The Netherlands
The police of the Netherlands
South Korea
Ministry of Public Safety and Security
Tragic incident of Sewol raised the awareness in South Korean government to improve their public safety system. [10] South Korean government has decided to allocate $1.2 billion as construction fund. In 2014, South Korean government adopted plans to build a broadband network dedicated to public safety using the LTE technology to be deployed nationwide by 2017. [7]
Other countries
Canada, Brazil, Israel, Qatar have expressed intent to build the next generation public safety network based on LTE technology.
Deployment plans
UK government has selected Everything Everywhere (EE) to deploy public safety network in the UK. [11]
South Korean government selected two mobile operators ( KT and SK Telecom) for its public safety LTE pilot in three areas of the country. [12]
Applications
Three types of applications (i.e. usages) of PS-LTE is defined in 3GPP:
- Mission Critical Push-to-Talk (MCPTT)
- Mission Critical Video (MCVideo)
- Mission Critical Data (MCData)
Technical challenges
LTE technology, or cellular mobile communication in general, has been developed for general consumer. On the other hand, public safety usage involves inherently different requirements and needs specific for their purpose. In particular, the concept of 'mission critical' voice service includes the following aspects: [2]
- Direct or Talk Around
- Push-to-Talk (PTT)
- Full duplex voice
- Group call
- Talker identification
- Emergency alerting
- Audio quality
In order to support public safety communication based on LTE technology, the following areas are addressed.
Standardization in 3GPP
Standardization work on PS-LTE started in Rel.11. Work has been decomposed into several different areas.
Group Communication
Improvement of MBMS operation
SC-PTM
Direct Communication (D2D)
ProSe
Discovery of proximity UE
Direct communication between UEs
Relay operation
Standalone Operation
IOPS
Related 3GPP Specifications
| Spec # | Spec name | WG | Release introduced | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TS 22.179 | Mission Critical Push to Talk (MCPTT) over LTE; Stage 1 | SA1 | Rel.13 | Stage 1 requirement |
| TS 23.179 | Functional architecture and information flows to support mission critical communication | SA6 | Rel.13 | Stage 2 architecture |
| TR 23.779 | Study on application architecture to support Mission Critical Push To Talk over LTE (MCPTT) services | SA6 | Rel.13 | Study of stage 2 architecture |
| TS 24.379 | Mission Critical Push To Talk (MCPTT) call control Protocol specification | CT1 | Rel.13 | Stage 3 call control protocol |
| TS 24.380 | Mission Critical Push To Talk (MCPTT) media control Protocol specification | CT1 | Rel.13 | Stage 3 media control protocol |
| TS 24.381 | Mission Critical Push To Talk (MCPTT) group management Protocol specification | CT1 | Rel.13 | Stage 3 group management protocol |
| TS 24.382 | Mission Critical Push To Talk (MCPTT) identity management Protocol specification | CT1 | Rel.13 | Stage 3 identity management protocol |
| TS 24.383 | Mission Critical Push To Talk (MCPTT) Management Object (MO) | CT1 | Rel.13 | Stage 3 management object |
| TS 24.384 | Mission Critical Push To Talk (MCPTT) configuration management Protocol specification | CT1 | Rel.13 | Stage 3 config management protocol |
| TR 24.980 | Recommended Minimum Requirements for support of MCPTT Service over the Gm reference point | CT1 | Rel.13 | Stage 3 Gm interface |
| TS 26.179 | Mission Critical Push To Talk; Codecs and media handling | SA4 | Rel.13 | Stage 3 codec and media handling |
| TR 26.879 | Mission Critical Push To Talk; Media, codecs and MBMS enhancements for Mission Critical Push to Talk over LTE | SA4 | Rel.13 | Study of codec and media handling |
| TS 33.179 | Security of Mission Critical Push To Talk over LTE | SA3 | Rel.13 | Security of MCPTT |
| TS 33.879 | Study on Security Enhancements for Mission Critical Push To Talk (MCPTT) over LTE | SA3 | Rel.13 | Study of security of MCPTT |
| Spec # | Spec name | WG | Release introduced | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TR 22.281 | Mission Critical Video Services over LTE | SA1 | Rel.14 | Stage 1 requirement |
| TR 22.879 | Study on Mission Critical Video Services over LTE | SA1 | Rel.14 | Study of stage 1 requirement |
| Spec # | Spec name | WG | Release introduced | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TR 22.282 | Mission Critical Data Communications | SA1 | Rel.14 | Stage 1 requirement |
| TR 22.880 | Study on Mission Critical Data Communications | SA1 | Rel.14 | Study of stage 1 requirement |
MC common requirement specifications
| Spec # | Spec name | WG | Release introduced | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TR 22.280 | Mission Critical Service Common requirement | SA1 | Rel.14 | Stage 1 requirement |
| Spec # | Spec name | WG | Release introduced | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TR 22.803 | Feasibility study for Proximity Services (ProSe) | SA1 | Rel.12 | Study of stage 1 requirement |
| TS 23.303 | Proximity-based services (ProSe); Stage 2 | SA2 | Rel.12 | stage 2 architecture |
| TR 23.703 | Study on architecture enhancements to support Proximity-based Services (ProSe) | SA2 | Rel.12 | study of stage 2 architecture |
| TS 23.713 | Study on extended architecture support for proximity-based services | SA2 | Rel.13 | study of stage 2 architecture |
| TS 24.333 | Proximity-services (ProSe) Management Objects (MO) | CT1 | Rel.12 | Stage 3 UE management object |
| TS 24.334 | Proximity-services (ProSe) User Equipment (UE) to ProSe function protocol aspects; Stage 3 | CT1 | Rel.12 | Stage 3 protocol |
| TS 29.343 | Proximity-services (ProSe) function to ProSe application server aspects (PC2); Stage 3 | CT3 | Rel.12 | Stage 3 PC2 interface |
| TS 29.344 | Proximity-services (ProSe) function to Home Subscriber Server (HSS) aspects; Stage 3 | CT4 | Rel.12 | Stage 3 HSS function |
| TS 29.345 | Inter-Proximity-services (Prose) function signalling aspects; Stage 3 | CT4 | Rel.12 | Stage 3 inter ProSe signalling |
| TS 33.303 | Proximity-based Services (ProSe); Security aspects | SA3 | Rel.12 | ProSe security aspect |
| TS 33.833 | Study on security issues to support Proximity Services | SA3 | Rel.12 | Study of ProSe security aspect |
| TS 36.211 | E-UTRA Physical channels and modulation | RAN1 | Rel.12 | Sec.9 sidelink operation |
| TS 36.212 | E-UTRA Multiplexing and channel coding | RAN1 | Rel.12 | Sec.4, 5.4 |
| TS 36.213 | E-UTRA Physical layer procedures | RAN1 | Rel.12 | Sec.14 |
| TS 36.214 | E-UTRA Physical layer measurements | RAN1 | Rel.12 | Sec.5.2.21, 22 |
| TR 36.843 | Study on LTE device to device proximity services; Radio aspects | RAN1 | Rel.12 | Study on ProSe radio aspects |
| TR 36.877 | LTE Device to Device Proximity Services; User Equipment (UE) radio transmission and reception | RAN4 | Rel.12 | UE radio performance |
| Spec # | Spec name | WG | Release introduced | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TS 22.468 | Group Communication System Enablers for LTE (GCSE_LTE) | SA1 | Rel.12 | Stage 1 requirement |
| TS 23.468 | Group Communication System Enablers for LTE (GCSE_LTE); Stage 2 | SA2 | Rel.12 | Stage 2 architecture |
| TR 23.768 | Study on architecture enhancements to support Group Communication System Enablers for LTE (GCSE_LTE) | SA2 | Rel.12 | Study of stage 2 architecture |
| TR 29.468 | Group Communication System Enablers for LTE (GCSE_LTE); MB2 reference point; Stage 3 | CT3 | Rel.12 | Stage 3, MB2 interface |
| TR 33.888 | Study on security issues to support Group Communication System Enablers (GCSE) for LTE | SA3 | Rel.12 | Study of GCSE security aspect |
| TR 36.868 | Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Study on group communication for E-UTRA | RAN2 | Rel.12 | Study of GCSE |
| Spec # | Spec name | WG | Release introduced | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TS 22.346 | Isolated Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) operation for public safety; Stage 1 | SA1 | Rel.13 | Stage 1 requirement |
| TS 22.897 | Study on isolated Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) operation for public safety | SA1 | Rel.13 | Study of stage 1 requirement |
| TS 23.401 | General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) enhancements for Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) access | SA2 | Rel.13 | Annex K "Isolated E-UTRAN Operation for Public Safety" |
| TR 23.797 | Study on architecture enhancements to support isolated Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) operation for public safety | SA2 | Rel.13 | Study of IOPS |
| TR 33.897 | Study on isolated E-UTRAN operation for public safety; Security aspects | SA3 | Rel.13 | Study of security aspect of IOPS |
| Spec # | Spec name | WG | Release introduced | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TR 36.331 | E-UTRAN Radio Resource Control (RRC); Protocol specification | RAN2 | Rel.13 | introduction of SIB-20, etc. |
| TR 36.443 | E-UTRAN M2 Application Protocol (M2AP) | RAN3 | Rel.13 | introduction of SC-PTM info in Session Start request, Session Update request message |
| TR 36.444 | E-UTRAN M3 Application Protocol (M3AP) | RAN3 | Rel.13 | introduction of Cell-list in Session Start request, Session Update request message |
High power UE specifications
| Spec # | Spec name | WG | Release introduced | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TR 36.837 | Public safety broadband high power User Equipment (UE) for band 14 | RAN4 | Rel.11 | Study of high power UE specific for US 700MHz band |
Future Releases
See also
References
- ^ "The Public Safety LTE & Mobile Broadband Market: 2014 - 2020". IEEE Communication Society. 12 March 2014.
- ^ a b c "Public Safety Communications Research Public Safety LTE" (PDF). ETSI.
- ^ "Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update 2014–2019 White Paper". Cisco Systems.
- ^ "LTE for Public Safety". Wiley. March 2015.
-
^ . gsmaintelligence.com
https://gsmaintelligence.com/.
{{ cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=( help) - ^ a b "LTE technology for public safety". FirstNet.
- ^ a b "South Korea Plans for Dedicated LTE Public-Safety Network by 2017". radioresourcemag.com. October 7, 2014.
- ^ "Why FirstNet". FirstNet.
- ^ "How the Change to LTE Will Shape UK Emergency Services". syntech systems.
- ^ "A ray of light from the darkness of the Sewol tragedy? Korea's Public Safety LTE networks". koreainformationsociety.com. August 28, 2015.
- ^ "EE confirms UK emergency services 4G deal". telecoms.com. Dec 10, 2015.
- ^ "South Korea Selects Operators for Public Safety LTE Pilot Network". radioresourcemag.com. October 20, 2015.