Nokia Siemens Networks, Cisco and Harris Corporation have completed the initial section of the Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) program phase 3 LTE Demonstration Network Test Plan. The results show these companies have completed conformance and interoperability testing of their public safety LTE solutions at the Department of Commerce Boulder Laboratories in Boulder, Colorado, and support the work of the PSCR program team.

FirstNet is an independent authority within the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) that is overseeing the development of a nationwide public safety broadband network (PSBN). The PSCR Demonstration represents another important step towards the realization of the PSBN program. This program is designed to provide a secure, reliable and dedicated public safety network for video, voice and data communications between public safety professionals such as police officers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians.

The PSCR phase 3 testing includes conformance assessment of the network architecture, interoperability testing, handover testing and evaluation, and focused testing for stress, performance, messaging/protocol and applications.

Nokia Siemens Networks supplied its public safety LTE radio access network solution with its partner Harris Corporation, a Cisco Gold Certified Partner. This partner solution is currently being used in 700 MHz Band 14 LTE pilot programs with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and with police officers in Miami-Dade County, Florida.

The initial PSCR testing confirmed successful interoperability between the Nokia Siemens Networks’ radio access network and the Cisco ASR 5000 series multimedia core platform. 

The Nokia Siemens Networks and Cisco public safety LTE solutions were part of a consortium that successfully deployed a multi-vendor interoperable public safety LTE network during the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida.