Standards

At the December 2020 3GPP Plenary meetings, there was continued momentum with Release 17 and mission critical features, including continued inclusion and clarification of 5G direct mode and broadcast mode communications. Many public safety agencies from across the globe co-signed two contributions authored and led by the FirstNet Authority to emphasize the importance of these features. 

The momentum continued at the September 2020 3GPP Plenary meetings with Release 17 (R17) work fully underway. Several studies are moving into the normative work phase and address public safety areas of interest, including enhanced location services, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) such as drones, direct mode enhancements including sidelink relay, and 5G multicast-broadcast.

This blog post is part of the "Tech Talk" series focused on the FirstNet Authority’s standards development activities to support public safety. This post recaps discussions linked to public safety and other related topics from the 3GPP Plenary meetings that were conducted online June 29 – July 3, 2020. The FirstNet Authority represented public safety interests at the Plenary meetings.

The FirstNet Authority is joining the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Public Safety Communications Research Division (PSCR) virtually at PSCR 2020: The Digital Experience. Live and on-demand sessions will discuss standards work, innovation in public safety technology, and the FirstNet Authority Roadmap.

This blog post is part of the "Tech Talk" series focused on the FirstNet Authority’s standards development activities to support public safety. This post recaps discussions linked to public safety and other related topics from the 3GPP Plenary meetings that were conducted online March 16-20, 2020. The FirstNet Authority represented public safety interests at the Plenary meetings.

Situational awareness for first responders can come from cameras, sensors, wearables, or countless other pieces of technology. In this blog, FirstNet Authority Senior Public Safety Products Advisor Randy Kerr and FirstNet Authority Senior Director of Product Technology and Architecture Carlos L’Abbate discuss public safety’s situational awareness needs and how the FirstNet Authority is ensuring those needs are met.

In December 2019, the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) held its final quarterly meeting of the year in Sitges, Spain. Dean Prochaska, FirstNet Authority Director of Standards, summarizes the discussion and what the standards body is working toward next.

In a world where technology trends are ever changing, the FirstNet Authority and our network contractor, AT&T, are working diligently to deliver a dedicated public safety broadband network. In addition to a reliable and secure connection, we are working with AT&T to build a diverse device ecosystem that will meet the needs of public safety.

The FirstNet Authority recently participated in the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) meetings in Newport Beach, California. Dean Prochaska, FirstNet Authority Director of Standards, recaps the standards body meeting and what it means for public safety.

The June 2019 quarterly Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) meetings in Newport Beach, CA addressed standards in several areas related to public safety broadband communications and FirstNet. The major topic across the 3GPP plenary meetings was planning for 3GPP Release 17 (R17).

The December 2018 quarterly Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) meetings in Sorrento, Italy, addressed standards in several areas relevant to mission-critical broadband in three separate plenary group meetings.