LTE for Public Safety

6Summary and Outlook

6.1 Role of LTE

Nowadays Long-Term Evolution (LTE) is the worldwide de facto standard for mobile broadband communication and it is expected to be in this position for the next decade, although research work is ongoing in the industry for a new radio technology (working title 5G). For commercial network operators, spectrum flexibility and efficiency, Operational Expenditure (OPEX) and Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) reductions due to a simplified architecture, and consequent usage of the Internet Protocol suite throughout all network interfaces are key points (i.e., there is no need to have a team of operational experts for Internet Protocol (IP) and non-IP protocols any more, for example, ITU-T signaling system No. 7 based protocols). Public Safety networks adopting LTE will benefit from these advantages. They can deploy a mobile system that has proven its reliability, flexibility, security, and feature-richness in mass deployments (forecasts predict 2.5 Billion LTE subscriptions by end of 2020). As the de facto mobile broadband standard in all parts of the world, it provides the necessary economy of scale in terms of shipped chipsets, devices, and network equipments. Backed by a strong standardization organization like 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), necessary changes to the LTE system are provided rapidly and based on consensus among all major device and infrastructure vendors. The development of LTE is far from an end. 3GPP is constantly improving ...