Nomination for NASCIO 2012 Recognition Awards State of Hawaii Office of Information Management and Technology 1. COVER TITLE: 4G LTE First Responders Pilot CATEGORY: Information Communication Technology (ICT) Innovations CONTACT: Name: Burt Tsuchiya Title: Director of Information Technology Division State Department: County of Hawaii Organization/agency: Information Technology Division City/State: County of Hawaii Email address: btsuchiya@so.hawaii.hi.us Phone number: 808-932-2961 PROJECT INITIATION DATE: September 2011 PROJECT COMPLETION DATE: Phase 1 completed December 2011
Executive Summary Project Overview The USDA LTE Pilot Project was a joint effort with the USDA-CIO, The County of Hawaii and The State of Hawaii to Design, Install, Integrate, and Operate a Long Term Evolution (LTE) 4G network in Hilo and Keaau, County of Hawaii (Big Island), Hawaii. The project team was led by LGS Professional Services, with support from Alcatel- Lucent s Trials group. The LTE Pilot developed and implemented the first in the world Government Broadband 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) Cellular network for USDA personnel and First Responders on the Big Island of Hawaii. Mission The USDA CIO funded this project to pursue ways to create a modern, mobile, more capable workforce. The LTE pilot is designed to test the ability for Federal, State and Local governments to share spectrum and assets while enabling USDA, local public safety agencies and government to have modern broadband capabilities, improving workforce performance while reducing overall costs. Regulatory LGS/Alcatel-Lucent received FCC approval to operate under a Special Temporary Authority (STA) using band-14 (758-768 and 788-798 MHz) in Hilo and Keaau, HI. Concurrence for spectrum use was required and received from the State of Hawaii and the Public Safety Spectrum Trust (PSST). Pilot Deployment This data pilot has been deployed across three facilities in the County of Hawaii. The Radio Area Network (RAN) is comprised of two enode-b s and six LTE sectors, leveraging existing County of Hawaii towers and network infrastructure. Backhaul to the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) rides the County s IP/MPLS gigabit fiber network. The enodeb s, EPC and band-14 UE s (LTE Modems) are on loan from ALU as Trial equipment. Two additional band-14 UE s were provided by Cassidian Communications. Way Forward USDA is working with LGS, the State of Hawaii and the County of Hawaii to transition the pilot into an operational model as quickly as possible. Partners currently evaluating and finalizing proposals for various deployment scenarios, including managed and hosted service models. Business Problem and Solution Description The USDA CIO is actively looking at ways to create a modern, mobile, more capable workforce. The LTE demo at the County of Hawaii was designed to test the ability for Federal, State and Local governments to share spectrum and assets while enabling
local public safety and the USDA to have modern broadband capabilities in mobile environments, while improving workforce performance while reducing overall costs. The County of Hawaii and the State of Hawaii have a need to provide real-time information to their first responders and enable access to existing systems while in the field. The project is important because it successfully demonstrates: A cooperative initiative between USDA, the State, and County of Hawaii Allows all government agencies using the network to do more with less Pathfinder for USDA modernization a fully networked, mobile workforce Improves productivity and reduces need for overhead Pilot utilizes a separate frequency band for First Responders and Federal Agencies and Will not be overwhelmed in an emergency Provides unique security and network opportunities Brings broadband capabilities to First Responders (Federal / State / Local) Still allows full single-channel radio functionality with the additional capabilities of broadband Enables audio, video, photographs, file-sharing, geographic information systems, etc Can provide redundancy for critical infrastructure (electrical, water, etc), in case of communications outages Makes good on the promise of 9/11 for interoperable communications among Local, State and Federal Agencies Deployment of LTE networks are cost prohibitive and until now only undertaken by commercial carriers with a large subscriber bases and licensed spectrum that is cost prohibitive for government use. The opportunity to deploy a LTE network for government only use was made feasible by the federal, state and local government partnership, with each entity bringing the essential components to the project: USDA OCIO: Provided leadership and funding State of Hawaii: Use of the FCC waiver and 700MHz Public Safety Spectrum License County of Hawaii: Leadership, Network and Communications Infrastructure, IT Resources and access to departments and stakeholders. The LTE network solution is comprised of an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) and the Radio Area Network (RAN). Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) LTE solution was selected for the pilot because it was the only LTE manufacturer with band-14 certification from NIST at the time of deployment. The USDA selected and relied upon LGS (LGSInnovations.com) Professional Services to deliver a turnkey pilot program, using ALU s LTE solution.
Direct Cost Components: USDA/LGS Funding for Pilot & Extension = $425,000 through March 2012. (Note: Phase 1 completed by December 1, 2011) LGS Innovations designed, built and operated a band 14 wireless communication system for USDA in the County of Hawaii (CoH). The pilot demonstrates support for multiple IP based applications and capabilities, including mobile video, video surveillance backhaul, video conferencing, county applications such as RMS, web access, email and various high bandwidth applications used by first responders. The proposed system, a 700 MHz LTE band-14 public safety network, will relies on existing CoH infrastructure both for antenna location and backhaul. LGS planned, designed, installed, integrated, tested and operated the band-14 LTE network for the purpose of testing and demonstrating high bandwidth and low latency capabilities of LTE. LGS accomplished these objectives using a dedicated team of local and remote resources, and LGS proven program delivery methodologies. The following diagram shows the LTE components deployed in the pilot. LTE Pilot Components Baseline technologies include the use of commercial 3G networks for mobile broadband. At best this solution provides 1 Mbps download speed and even less for uploads. High definition video is not supported at this speed and users are severely restricted in their capabilities. In the LTE pilot service area broadband speeds and
real-time capabilities are increased with downloads between 7 and 18 Mbps and uploads seen at 5 and 12 Mbps. Enabling Technologies The following LTE-enabled capabilities provide basis for compelling use-case demonstrations to stakeholders, interested officials and potential subscribers of an operational LTE deployment. LTE / EPC provides a robust, low latency all-ip network environment Mobile LTE high performance access for mobile applications, including real-time voice and video Mobile LTE Hot Spot vehicle connected Wi-Fi devices (Video, ipad, Smart Phone, Laptop) over LTE LMR / SIP gateway support for LMR inter-op with VoIP domain. LTE Security and user level precedence and preemption The LTE pilot leverages existing network and communications infrastructure currently owned and operated by the County of Hawaii. These assets enable the robust backhaul required for LTE deployment. The LTE solution integrates seamlessly into the County of Hawaii s IT infrastructure and enables any County of Hawaii application to be accessed within the mobile LTE environment. Key personnel at the County of Hawaii Police and Fire Departments have been using the technology in their vehicles and sharing their experiences with their colleagues. Significance The LTE Pilot Project has demonstrated the following use cases that improve the operations of government: Mobile-to-Mobile Video for Public Safety support and incident response Mobile Video & Collaboration to Emergency Operations Center (EOC) Inter-agency collaboration Video Conferencing multiple HD streams easily supported over LTE Integrated Mobile video into County of Hawaii Video Conferencing system Live HD Video - record, archive, playback and edit USDA - Network and Internet access for NRCS, PBARC, ARS, University of Hawaii County of Hawaii Applications Integrated LTE clients into Police Video Surveillance, Police Record Management System (RMS), Fire Record Management System (RMS), EMStats, MaintStar (Vehicle Maintenance) Application, Police Mobile-Cop application
Direct beneficiaries and stakeholder groups include State and Local public safety agencies and first responders, other State and Local government agencies, the USDA and other federal agencies. Indirectly citizens will benefit as the first responders and governments optimize their data communications for public safety and the delivery of public services. Federal: In February 2011, President Obama announced the Wireless Innovation and Infrastructure Initiative to develop and deploy a nationwide, interoperable wireless broadband network for public safety. The USDA LTE Pilot directly supports this initiative by demonstrating the feasibility of deploying a interoperable wireless broadband network in Hawaii. State of Hawaii: The LTE Pilot directly aligns one of the four goals stated in Governor Abercrombie s Broadband Initiative: Increase the use of ultra high-speed broadband services and applications for economic development, healthcare, education, public safety, governmental efficiency and civic engagement. Benefit of the Project The LTE Pilot impacted stakeholders by increasing capabilities for first responders, enhancing the overall network communications infrastructure at the County of Hawaii and providing federal, state and local decision makers the opportunity to evaluate the technology and impacts on future expansion of the system. The LTE Pilot developed and implemented the first in the world Government Broadband 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) Cellular network for USDA personnel and First Responders on the Big Island of Hawaii. The primary benefit of benefit of a 4G public safety network is to save lives. Key Pilot Successes Phase 1 completed December 1, 2011 Due to our success in Phase 1 the USDA requested an extension of the O&M phase through 30-Apr 2012. The FCC has approved. USDA has requested a proposal from LGS for an immediate LTE deployment after pilot completion State of Hawaii enthusiastically supports the spectrum use and the federally supported deployment model The USDA has received tremendous support from the FCC for this use of spectrum USDA CIO has briefed the Whitehouse CTO - Steven VanRoekel Significant interest in ALU s Light Radio cube has been generated within the USDA and Hawaii USDA Secretary Vilsack has briefed the Whitehouse on the pilot s mission and
successes Hawaii Senator Inouye s office has expressed support for helping transition the pilot into an operational network by seeking funds to expand county owned RAN and backhaul infrastructure