New South Wales State Emergency Services (NSW SES) has selected SmartConnect from Motorola Solutions to extend the reach and capacity of its mission-critical radio communications.

SmartConnect will provide reliable, uninterrupted access to New South Wales’ Public Safety Network which is used by 50 public safety agencies and over 50,000 first responders and emergency personnel across the state.

“They require uninterrupted access to voice communication to perform their life-saving missions safely, especially when working in the most remote and rugged locations across the state.”

The application is a subscription service that provides extended coverage and reliable connectivity by automatically switching channels between land mobile radio (LMR) and broadband networks. The service can also roam onto satellites for extended coverage in remote areas.

Among those to be connected through the technology is the NSW State Emergency Service (NSW SES), which is nearing completion of the rollout. 

“The NSW State Emergency Service’s 10,000 highly dedicated volunteers need to be ready to respond to challenging and unpredictable events every day, including floods, storms, road crash incidents and search and rescue responses,” NSW SES Assistant Commissioner Nicole Hogan said.  “They require uninterrupted access to voice communication to perform their life-saving missions safely, especially when working in the most remote and rugged locations across the state.”

The need for robust and dependable voice communication has never been greater for NSW SES which responded to the largest and longest flood operation in the service’s history in 2022. SmartConnect will support the New South Wales government’s Flood Rescue Capability Enhancement Program which provides more than AUD $10.5 million to enhance operational response, communication and interoperability between non-government organisations during flood rescues.

“Extreme weather events and natural disasters are becoming more frequent and severe in Australia, reinforcing the need for resilient and widespread communication that keeps first responders safe and connected wherever they are,” said Con Balaskas, managing director for Australia and New Zealand, Motorola Solutions. “By automatically switching between the best available communication networks, SmartConnect helps first responders to stay focused on their mission instead of the technology that supports them.”

As well as providing important connectivity in regional and rural areas, SmartConnect supports users when they travel out of range – for example, inside garages, buildings and built-up city environments. Additionally, it provides end-to-end encryption, helping to maintain the security of voice communication at all times, even when switching from LMR to LTE, Wi-Fi and satellite networks. 

Among other agencies using Motorola Solutions’ SmartConnect are Fire & Rescue New South Wales which is deploying the technology as part of its Connected Firefighter program, which equips firefighters with the latest information and communications technologies.

CriticalConnect deployment for NSW Telco Authority

The NSW Telco Authority (NSWTA) will also work with Motorola Solutions to provide WAVE PTX Government with Critical Connect, extending the reach of radio communication for the state’s Emergency Services Organisations (ESOs), while providing first responders with interoperable voice and multimedia communication.

WAVE PTX Government is an innovative broadband push-to-talk service that enables first responders to communicate seamlessly via voice, data and video across a variety of devices and networks, improving situational awareness, operational agility and efficiency. 

The service provides an extensive set of features based on the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) industry standard for mission-critical push-to-talk (MCPTT) communication.

This includes a mobile application for first responders that provides:

•  secure multimedia messaging,
• emergency calling,
• remote monitoring and
• live video streaming capabilities. 

Using Motorola Solutions’ Critical Connect service, a cloud-based interoperability gateway and infrastructure, ESOs will gain secure access to New South Wales’ Public Safety Network.

The new service represents an important milestone in shaping Australia’s future Public Safety Mobile Broadband (PSMB) capability. PSMB will provide emergency services with high-speed mobile voice and data services to improve responses during emergencies.

When emergencies occur, different agencies need to work together seamlessly to protect people and communities,” said Con Balaskas, managing director for Australia and New Zealand, Motorola Solutions. “WAVE PTX Government and Critical Connect streamline and simplify their ability to communicate, regardless of whether they use radios, smartphones or other devices that combine both technologies. This gives first responders more ways to share critical information and enables faster, more effective responses to incidents.”

The new service will be delivered as a five year, software-as-a-service contract.

(This article was adapted from Motorola Solutions press releases)