The main objective of BroadImPort project is to define, specify, design, prototype and pilote an interoperable communications framework that regardless their selected MCX and/or MNO provider, supports the interconnection of different public safety agencies.
The specific technical objectives of BroadImPort framework are:
Introduce interagency operations planning and management, a concept that enables a rapid creation and propagation of interagency “campaigns”.
- The main concepts to achieve this objective will be based on the solution developed in the scope of the European funded H2020 BroadPort project, a program where Nemergent is the MCX provider of one of the two consortia awarded in the last Phase 3.
- This interagency campaign creation and management is out of the scope of 3GPP standards. Therefore, Nemergent commits to document these solutions, making them open for any USA agency willing to join the BroadImPort framework.
- Moreover, Nemergent will create example BroadImPort connectors, with the aim of deploying them at the supporting Public Safety Organization, to demonstrate the benefits of the proposed concepts.
Support LMR-MCX interworking capabilities in the interagency communications framework, through the BroadImPort framework.
- For this aim, Nemergent considers intra-agency LMR-MCX connectivity based on standard IWF procedures. This capability will be supported based on the IWF, a work done by Nemergent and funded by NIST/PSCR in 2021.
- Nemergent will generalize the work already done, which will enable the use of PSO’s P25 units in the inter-agency communications.
Create a MCX (voice, data, video) intercommunication platform, fully based on 3GPP MCX standard procedures.
- The main concept to achieve this objective is a proper use of the controlling and non-controlling MCX Application Server roles. Those will enable to establish a principal interagency group controller, while maintaining the independent intraagency management.
Develop the required BroadImPort software components, adapting original BroadPort elements to USA public safety interagency interoperability framework requirements. Those been the following:
- BroadImPort interconnection system, to support the interoperability operations.
- BroadImPort intraagency MCX systems, including BroadImPort connectors to the BroadImPort interconnection system.
Deploy the BroadImPort interconnection system and the intra-agency MCX systems, to support a state-wide interagency pilot.
- This deployment will focus on the Texas state area, the place where we count with the participation of two PSO’s, i.e. City of Irving and Harris County.
Demonstrate the use of BroadImPort solution in different deployment models, including centralized / cloud MCX systems and decentralized / hosted deployments.
- Additionally, the BroadImPort project will demonstrate the potential use with alternative MCX providers, as well as, the use of MCX systems over heterogeneous mobile network operators.
- For this, we will define and elaborate an interagency framework. We will take into account different public safety agencies served by the two participants in the proposal, who will perform interagency operations in intra-area (e.g., different agencies in City of Irving supported by multi-tenant deployment) and inter-area (e.g. one agency in City of Irving deployment and one agency in Harris County deployment).
Evaluate the suitability of BroadImPort concepts in terms of KPI/QoS /QoE.
- The project will define a plan to demonstrate the different functionalities proposed for the different scenarios of interagency communications.
- Based on these field tests, Nemergent will collect the most relevant KPIs and create a result database. In order to avoid personal data management issues, this database will be generalized and all the personal user-related data deleted.
- Upon interest of other QoS/QoE researchers in the framework of NIST PSIAP, Nemergent will consider contributing this KPI database to the benefit of the program-level research activities.