NIST awards nearly $3M to commercialize public safety communications system

On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) awarded $2.99 million in grant funding for new interoperable public safety communication systems.

Initially funded by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) through its Small Business Innovation and Research (SBIR) program, Forest, Va.-based Catalyst Communications Technologies was awarded the grant to commercialize its interoperable communications solution.

Catalyst previously was awarded S&T grants to develop interworking solutions for land mobile radio (LMR) and long-term evolution (LTE) public safety communication systems. By establishing a roadmap for effective interworking during these two projects, Catalyst created prototypes for various LMR systems and a public safety-grade dispatch console to support both LMR and LTE seamlessly.

The latest award will allow the company to continue commercializing a standards-compliant solution permitting mission-critical push-to-talk (MCPTT) applications on LTE mobile phones allowing communication with both existing subscribers of public safety LMRs and dispatchers.

“First responders rely on interoperable communication tools to make life-saving decisions. S&T’s partnership with Catalyst, and soon their continued work with NIST, are steps toward ensuring that public safety using MCPTT apps on LTE devices can seamlessly communicate with counterparts on their LMRs,” S&T Program Manager Norman Speicher said. “The last thing they should have to consider when responding to an incident is whether they are able to reach out to fellow responders—that should be a given.”

The funding comes from the Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) Division of NIST and was provided by the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012. The award is part of the PSCR’s approach to improving LMR to LTE5G capabilities and providing them to first responders.

“Commercialization is a key priority for NIST and the Department of Commerce,” said PSCR Division Chief Dereck Orr. “This SBIR effort not only provides public safety with another capability to bridge their existing mission critical voice systems with new broadband systems, but it also represents a significant investment in a small American company to put innovative products in the marketplace.”

Finding interoperable communications solutions for public safety is a priority issue for S&T, as many agencies have experienced difficulties in communicating between multiple LMP systems from different vendors during public safety emergencies. Collaboration between S&T, Catalyst, and NIST brings a solution to those problems one step closer, DHS said in a statement.