The wireless network can also be used for routine police and fire investigations, and city officials said it will eventually be put to use for more mundane functions, including reading water meters and trying to smooth out traffic flows.
The first section of the Citywide Mobile Wireless Network to be activated serves lower Manhattan, the densely built area south of Canal Street that includes the site of the destroyed World Trade Center towers, a spokesman for New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.
Last September, when a US$500 million contract to build and maintain the network for five years was awarded to Northrop Grumman Corp., Bloomberg invoked the tragedy of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. "One of the most important lessons learned from the Sept. 11 attacks was that our emergency responders need better access to information and clearer lines of communication in the field," the mayor said at the time.
Lower Manhattan accounts for only a fraction of the 310 square miles that the cellular data network will cover when it's completed, said Paul Chelson, Northrop Grumman's program director. He added that the network should be fully activated by spring 2008. "The project is moving along rapidly and has a fast, accelerated buildout," he said.
According to Chelson, the project team has demonstrated in lower Manhattan that whatever a police officer or firefighter can do on a desktop PC can be done via the new network on a laptop in a moving vehicle. That includes launching streaming video, accessing e-mail, finding a photo of a criminal suspect and viewing building floor plans. About 100 laptops equipped with cellular modem cards can access the network now, but the number of end users will eventually reach "tens of thousands," Chelson said.
Possible future uses of the wireless network include sending live video transmissions from a fire or other emergency scene to a command center, and tracking vehicles with Automatic Vehicle Location systems, he said. According to city documents, workers will also be able to read water meters remotely, and monitor and control traffic signals in an attempt to ease congestion and divert traffic away from hazards.
The network was primarily designed for data communications but is also capable of converting phone calls to voice-over-IP transmissions, Chelson said. It is based on the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) standard, a newer technology being used by some carriers that will support broadband data rates of up to 1.2Mbit/sec. for mobile users, he said. At that data rate, emergency vehicles speeding along at 70 miles per hour should be able to keep a constant connection even as signals are handed off from one cell antenna to another.
Northrop Grumman has already worked on public safety wireless projects in Ohio and the U.K., but this is the company's first UMTS deployment. Chelson noted that New York would have needed many thousands of Wi-Fi antennas if it had used that technology. By comparison, the city will require about 400 UMTS cellular antennas, most of which will be erected atop buildings.
IPWireless Inc. is providing the radio technology for the project, and Cisco Systems Inc. is supplying the network switches. Northrop Grumman won the contract for the network after New York tested its system and one from Motorola Corp., according to city documents.
One common concern of cellular users is whether a network can be reached from inside large buildings, where metal can impede the signals. Chelson said Northrop Grumman's contract doesn't require support for radio communications inside buildings. The new network does perform "quite well in-building, but it all depends on the construction of the building," he said, adding that radio signal repeaters could be added inside buildings if needed.
The network is dedicated for municipal uses and won't be shared with the public, meaning it isn't likely to become overburdened by cell phone callers in a major emergency, Chelson said. In addition, it is being designed with redundant power supplies and backhaul links to keep it operating in massive blackouts or emergencies.