NCJ Number
205612
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 71 Issue: 4 Dated: April 2004 Pages: 137,140-142,144,145
Date Published
April 2004
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the history, current operations, and future of the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC), whose mission is to encourage and facilitate through a collective voice the implementation of the recommendations of the Public Safety Wireless Advisory Committee and the 700-megahertz Public Safety National Coordination Committee.
Abstract
The NPSTC is a federation of 13 member organizations, each of which uses or supports public safety communications. It also includes five Federal liaison organizations. The NPSTC is managed by a governing board of representatives selected by the 13 public safety member organizations. It has four regional representatives from the 700- and 800-megahertz regional planning committees and is supported by a national support office. The NPSTC 4.9-gigahertz Working Group was formed to address issues surrounding the 2002 allocation of 50 megahertz of new spectrum to public safety in the 4.9-gigahertz band. This was done to support the broadband wireless needs of local and State public safety agencies, the largest single allocation of spectrum ever made to local and State public safety. The primary purpose of this working group is to ensure that the public safety community is able to leverage the low cost off-the-shelf equipment available in the adjacent unlicensed band that is being increasingly used across much of the world for wireless broadband hotspots. NPSTC has also been active in an international enterprise called Mobility for Emergency and Safety Application (Mesa). The Mesa mission is to identify standards and technologies for the emerging use of broadband technologies by the worldwide public protection and disaster response communities. In addition, NPSTC members have been active participants in the development of a statement of requirements to define as completely as possible the overall wireless needs of the public safety community. Further, NPSTC has taken a leading role in regional planning for the new 700-megahertz public safety band, and it has prepared a number of filings to the FCC on behalf of the public safety community. The NPSTC envisions the future of telecommunications as being in software defined radio, which has the potential of providing a multiband platform that supports a number of different public safety waveforms. The NPSTC National Support Office maintains a Web site at www.npstc.org.