Subject: [NEXTEL-1] New system will relay video to city's 911 center

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 07 Sep 2003 03:09:43 -0400

New system will relay video to city's 911 center

September 4, 2003

BY FRANK MAIN AND FRAN SPIELMAN
 Staff Reporters

Chicago is pioneering the latest in TV technology: a microwave system that
will allow the city to more easily send video of downtown emergency scenes
to the 911 center.

The Daley administration has awarded Massachusetts-based Microwave Radio
Communications a $488,740 contract to install the system over the next 
two or three months, said Larry Langford, a spokesman for the 911 center.

City leaders won't have to rely on video from CNN or local television
stations to make key decisions about terrorism attacks, natural disasters
and other emergencies once the system is in place, Langford said.

"We're talking about real-time broadcast video," he said.

At least two unidentified downtown buildings will be equipped with antennas.
Two vehicles will carry mounted and portable cameras. Signals from the
cameras would be relayed through the vehicles to the antennas. The pictures
would be sent to the 911 center through a fiber-optic system.

In a plane crash, for example, "we could send pictures to the boardroom of
United Airlines or wherever decisions are being made," Langford said. "We
could transmit to the state or federal level."

The antennas are not being placed on Sears Tower or other supertall
buildings because they do not require a "line of sight" to the receiver as
commercial television signals do, Langford said.

Joe Pina, product managing engineer for Microwave Radio Communications, said
New York already has installed such a system, but Chicago was the first city
to inquire about it.

It works differently from a conventional broadcast transmission, Pina said.

"This works under bridges and will bounce off buildings,'' he said. "If you
are in the canyons of the city, this will do the job. It does not require
line of sight."

The Federal Communications Commission has approved a secure frequency for
municipalities to operate such video equipment for public safety purposes,
Pina said.

A second phase of the system would cover O'Hare and Midway airports, he
said.

"The network can grow and expand," Pina said.

Microwave Radio Communications was awarded a no-bid, sole-source contract
because City Hall described the company as the only one in the nation
capable of supplying such cutting-edge technology.

Already this year, Chicago police have installed video surveillance cameras
to monitor crime hot spots. But those cameras do not transmit microwave
images, officials say.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-micro04.html

http://www.rftechnology.com/

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