It has been announced recently that the city of Charlotte has been awarded a broadband grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce to build its own 4G network, which officials claim could help emergency services in the area.
The city of Charlotte in the United States has recently celebrated the award of a broadband grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce, which will enable the area to build its own 4G network and bypass commercial providers. The grant that has been received is for over sixteen and a half million dollars, and will enable the city and county, as well as nearby towns, the benefits of their own 4G network.
Officials have said that this will help the areas in many different ways, not least by providing greater opportunities for more effective emergency services. Examples of how the broadband grant could help with emergency services included enabling doctors at hospitals to assess patients whilst they are being transported in the ambulance, enabling police officers to better monitor crime, and enabling fire fighters to assess and view fires that they are enroute to attend.
Officials have also said that the network, which will be wireless, will offer speeds similar to those of fixed line due to the 4G technology that will be used. The city’s manager for network technology services, Dennis Baucom, said: “With that kind of speed, an ambulance could send video of a patient, and their vital signs to the ER, while they are in transit.” Charlotte Deputy Fire Chief Jeff Dulin added: “If there is a chemical spill, we can push that image out. The guys (responding) can see what’s going on.”
He added that current networks were often slow and unreliable, stating: “Now we are on commercial carriers, and your pipe can go really small on you. During the Iceland/Mexico soccer game (at Bank of America Stadium) we had so many people using cell phones, our carriers shut down for us.”
Source – TMC Net