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The Office of Justice Programs' National Institute of Justice (NIJ) is the research and development agency of the U.S. Department of Justice. NLECTC is a program of NIJ's Office of Science and Technology.

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Communications Technologies Center of Excellence Projects

NLECTC Communications Technologies COE Focus Areas

Focus Area One (FA1) Next Generation Interoperable Voice Communications

Task:

  • Research, develop and evaluate software defined radio technologies, related components (e.g., antennas), and Concept of Operations (CONOPS)
  • Research, develop and evaluate cognitive radio technologies and CONOPS
  • Evaluate P-25 technologies in the field, to include operational evaluations and interface evaluations
  • Evaluation IP solutions with a concentration on security and VOIP
  • Support SDR forum, PS SIG and IEEE 1900

Within the area of "Next Generation Interoperable Voice Communications" NLECTC-Communications Technologies COE staff works with the CommTech Technology Working Group members to identify technologies that meets the needs of today's law enforcement professional.

Staff members search for potential technology solutions from the vendor community and work closely with NIJ funded researchers to identify emerging technologies for operational test and evaluation. Through partnerships with law enforcement agencies, staff works with practitioners to develop Test and Evaluation criteria for the technology.

Project: Orangetown, NY Multiband Radio Pilot

Multiband radios may be part of the answer to interoperability. To test and evaluate the use of multiband radios, a small number of military multiband radios have been deployed in Orangetown, NY. Operating under a FCC Experimental License, the Orangetown Police Department has seventeen (17) memorandums of understanding in place to operate on various public safety frequencies in the VHF Low, VHF High, and UHF bands. Presently the Thales AN/PRC-148 MBITR radio is being utilized by several Orangetown officers who are also volunteer firefighters. The radios are being used across jurisdictions as well as disciplines. Additional multiband radios may be deployed among the other agencies involved in this pilot in the future.

Project: Cape May County, NJ Etherstack Pilot

P25 is another answer to interoperability. Some agencies who would like to move to P25 are unable to because of the cost to replace their radio infrastructure, which may not need replacement other than it cannot conform to the P25 standard. Etherstack has a technology which will allow public safety agencies to utilize their existing radio infrastructure and convert it to P25. To test and evaluate Etherstack, the technology will be deployed in Cape May County, NJ in cooperation with the Cape May County Prosecutor's Office. The technology will be utilized to convert a conventional UHF system into a P25 system. P25 subscriber radio will then be tested on the system in both analog conventional and digital modes.

Project: P25 Experiences

Part of the value of P25 is the fact that it is an open digital system where radios from multiple manufacturers can work together. In order to verify this, experiences with P25 radios of different manufacturers on different P25 systems are being documented and evaluated. These include testing conducted by various manufacturers, experiences of the Wisconsin State Patrol with their P25 P25CC beta test and will include experiences in the Cape May County Etherstack Pilot.

Project: Multiband Product Support and Pilot

Several manufacturers have a number of multiband radios developed for the military and later adopted for federal law enforcement which will be introduced into either the Orangetown test bed or other test bed which will be established. In addition, assistance and practitioner input is being provided to interested manufacturers who are developing next generation multiband radios for public safety use.

Focus Area Two (FA2) Personnel Location

Task:

  • Develop new and evaluate existing technologies to determine the location and status of personnel
  • Non participatory tracking of non violent offenders

Within the area of "Personnel Location" NLECTC-Communications Technologies COE staff works with the CommTech Technology Working Group to identify the operational need and define operational requirements for position location technologies. Current Global Positioning System (GPS) technology provides relative accurate positioning outdoors where satellite based receivers can obtain sufficient signal to provide location data. However, law enforcement has expressed the need for personnel location in an indoor or GPS denied environment.

Staff members search for potential technology solutions from the vendor community and work closely with NIJ funded researchers to identify emerging position location technologies for operational test and evaluation. Through partnerships with law enforcement agencies, staff works with practitioners to develop Test and Evaluation criteria for the technology.

Project: Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office Pilot

NLECTC-Communications Technologies COE staff is working with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office and the City of Los Angeles Police Department to conduct operational evaluations of position location technologies. The goal for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office project is to precisely locate a "deputy in need of assistance." LASD and staff are currently engaged in developing a Memorandum of Understanding and Statement of Work. In cooperation with the LASD, staff will conduct a Problem Analysis to identify the underlying issues that have caused LASD to seek to deploy position location technology. Through this process the team will develop a set of metrics that will be used to measure the operational effectiveness of the technology.

Project: City of Los Angeles Police Department Pilot

NLECTC-Communications Technologies COE staff is working with the City of Los Angeles Police Department. The goal for the City of Los Angeles Police Department project is to track assets "real time" and precisely locate an "officer in need of assistance." LAPD and staff are currently engaged in developing a Memorandum of Understanding and Statement of Work for this project.

Focus Area Three (FA3) Convergent Data/Services/RF Interoperability

Task:

  • Evaluate wireless technologies (700 MHz, 802.X, services in licensed and unlicensed frequency bands) for interoperable first responder applications
  • Evaluate existing and research new technologies, including airborne and satellite, for mobile response, temporary deployment, and supplemental or alternative
  • Research potential solutions for alternative, backbone interconnectivity for repeaters
  • Evaluate IP security and VoIP interoperability solutions

Within the area of "Convergent Data/Services/RF Interoperability" NLECTC-Communications Technologies COE staff works with the Technology Working Group members to identify technologies that meets the needs of today's law enforcement professional.

Staff members search for potential technology solutions from the vendor community and work closely with NIJ funded researchers to identify emerging technologies for operational test and evaluation. Through partnerships with law enforcement agencies, staff works with practitioners to develop Test and Evaluation criteria for the technology.

Project: Backhaul Radio Pilot

Part of the dilemma in developing radio systems is the ability to connect various sites to each other to form a system. In some areas of the country there is no telephone infrastructure to provide connectivity, in others, the cost is prohibitive. When deploying radio systems, compromises are sometimes made to place sites where there is telephone infrastructure rather than where the site should be placed for best radio coverage. Testing and evaluation will be conducted on several alternatives to telephone infrastructure such as 4.9 Mhz. backhaul radios, tropo communications, and satellite systems.

Project: Texas Land Mobile Radio Data Project

Currently a number of law enforcement agencies utilize their land mobile radio systems to carry data to mobile computing devices installed in vehicles. In cooperation with the Sheriffs Association of Texas the NLECTC Communications Technologies COE will explore the possibility of extending the access to that data beyond the vehicle. The concept will be tested and evaluated by installing a mobile access point in the vehicle and having that communicate with a PDA device, thus allowing an officer to have access to the various data sources some distance away from the vehicle.

Focus Area Four (FA4) Communications Technology Tools

Task:

  • Technologies and techniques to detect, classify, control, legally isolate, and legally defeat wireless communication devices
  • CAPRAD Development, maintenance and RPC support

Within the area of "Communications Technology Tools" NLECTC-Communications Technologies COE staff works with the CommTech Technology Working Group members to identify technology tools that meets the needs of today's law enforcement professional.

Staff members search for potential technology solutions from the vendor community and work closely with NIJ funded researchers to identify emerging technologies for operational test and evaluation. Through partnerships with law enforcement agencies, staff works with practitioners to develop Test and Evaluation criteria for the technology.

Project: Cell Phone Detect and Defeat Project

NLECTC-Communications Technologies COE staff is working with SPAWARS Charleston in the area of Cell Phone Detect and Defeat, specifically for the need for technology and techniques to detect, identify, classify and locate wireless communication devices. Additionally, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) requires an ability to first identify, then legally isolate, defeat and control cellular or other wireless communications connections within a controlled environment for emergency law enforcement applications. Including techniques other than jamming that can be used with, or without active participation of cellular systems carriers. NIJ recognizes a Corrections need to detect the unauthorized use of cellular phones, or limit general cellular phone use to selected outbound emergency or other authorized numbers in certain environments for example, in a controlled environment, such as a prison, penitentiary or jail complex.

Project: Computer Assisted Pre-Coordination Resource and Database System (CAPRAD)

NLECTC-Communications Technologies COE staff in partnership with the Sheriff's Association of Texas is providing support and oversight for the Computer Assisted Pre-Coordination Resource and Database System. The CAPRAD system is a nationwide database for public safety professionals to coordinate the use of, and application for, frequencies in the 700 MHz band. Because the band is limited, and the demand is growing in many parts of the country for spectrum utilization, coordination and cooperation are a must for the benefit of public safety. CAPRAD is separated into three functional segments: an allocation segment that provides for the pre-allocation of the spectrum by region, an application segment which provides interactive and coordinated application for frequencies using the FCC 601 form, and an administrative/reporting segment that provides specialized access for administrative functions.

Last updated: June 10, 2008