Hytera Communications South Africa has partnered with the Johannesburg Emergency Management Services (EMS) and Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) to improve communication across South Africa’s largest city.
These public safety agencies previously relied solely on a third party provincial TETRA radio network for their communications, but the lack of maintenance on this TETRA network impacted on the operations due to frequent dead zones which compromised officer communication and public safety.
To address the coverage blackspots and limited functionality in the existing system, Hytera deployed its PTC680 multi-mode advanced radios, which integrate TETRA and LTE networks in a single device.
“This approach fits the trend in communication technology alongside more traditional radio technology so that officers can communicate in areas where there is no radio coverage. When an officer roams outside the area of coverage, the radio will automatically and seamlessly switch between networks without the user having to manually change anything,” says Cedric Mark Rigney, senior spokesperson for Hytera South Africa.
The solution was also designed with cost-efficiency in mind. Hytera augmented and improved what the agencies already had, with a 3G or LTE network as a fallback. Now, this hybrid approach allows police, fire and ambulance personnel to stay connected with their colleagues and the control room, he adds, thereby protecting the investment into narrowband.
With LTE, officers can even stream video back to the police control room to enhance situational awareness and improve decision-making. Similarly, paramedics can stream footage of a patient to doctors and other medical professionals for expert advice. Reliable communication widens their range of operations, enhances safety and improves their efficiency.
This has been a big win from the project, explains Rigney. “If, for example, there’s a cash-in-transit heist that resulted in a vehicle accident, different teams need to respond in a coordinated manner. So, they might need to dispatch an ambulance or fire truck, in addition to traffic personnel to manage any traffic congestion caused by the incident.”
The devices are also GPS-enabled, allowing a dispatcher to see the location of everyone and send the closest personnel to the incident. Should a citizen call in an incident, the dispatcher can quickly assign the closest officer and then monitor how far away help is. Much like an Uber app allows users to ‘watch’ their order in real time, the dispatcher can now track the first responder’s progress and then feed that information back to the person who reported the incident. This enables commanders and supervisors to manage their resources more efficiently and coordinate a response to any incident or emergency more quickly.
For the JMPD and EMS, this data is invaluable to improve service delivery, says Rigney. “Being able to accurately track things like how long it took for a dispatcher to close an incident, or how long it took for the person to reach the scene, it’s possible to identify where we are falling short and come up with strategies to improve the level of service we deliver.”
“Emergency service professionals should be focused on saving lives, not battling communication challenges,” Rigney adds. “With this project, we are not only solving operational pain points — we are helping create a safer, more responsive city for everyone in Johannesburg.”