LTE for Public Safety

Public safety networks provide highly robust communication systems which can address the specific needs of emergency services. This has fostered the need for public safety standards -- such as TETRA and P25 -- that provide a set of features not supported in commercial cellular systems. This book provides an in-depth analysis for adopting LTE (Long Term Evolution, the 4G 3GPP radio technology) as the technology of choice, to provide mission-critical communication services.

Written by four industry professionals, LTE for Public Safety explains how LTE can be used as technology enabler for Public Safety networks. It provides an in-depth analysis on how LTE can be used by the emergency responders for their own dedicated mission-critical network and the specialized features that are needed in LTE for providing robust and mission-critical communications amongst first responders. These include features such as group call communication and proximity services, also referred to as “LTE Direct” or Device to Device communication and discovery. It also provides a basic overview of the technology and some of the most important services available in LTE, providing also a justification why LTE was adopted for future Public Safety networks.

The aim of the book is to educate government agencies, operators, vendors, and other regulatory institutions how LTE can be deployed to serve public safety markets. It also aims to educate people who are interested to understand how proximity services are supported in LTE. It is written in such a way that it can be understood by both technical and nontechnical personnel with just introductory knowledge in wireless communication.