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PARTNER FOCUS

REDUCING COMPLEXITY & COST

IN FUTURE CONTROL ROOM

IMPLEMENTATIONS

By Harald Ludwig, Chair of TCCA’s Technical Forum

The ecosystem that first responders rely on to support them Mission Critical standards development within 3GPP started
pivots around the control room and the operators carrying out in 2015 in 3GPP Release-13, following a major initiative from
their critical operations in front of their working positions (also the public safety industry to create global standards with the
called dispatchers or consoles). Control rooms provide essential collaboration of various government organisations, vendors
communications, linking users in the field to a centralised and users from around the world.
command centre. Control rooms play a vital role as the bridge
between the general public and the end users who utilise 3GPP Release-13 was the first to define a standard for MCX, and
mission critical communications to protect people, property subsequent Releases evolved the features and capabilities,
and communities. maturing the standards specifications based on industry
feedback. 3GPP Release-17 is the latest set of fully ratified
For many years, narrowband LMR standards such as TETRA, specifications, and work is ongoing to enhance these both for
Tetrapol, DMR, and P25 have successfully served these public 4G LTE and 5G.
safety agencies with voice and limited data communications
applications.
3GPP Standards define the reference architecture for MCPTT,
However, as time moves forward, so too does technology, MCData and MCVideo separately, while utilising a set of
and broadband cellular 4G LTE, 5G and beyond represent common core services that are applicable to all three. The
the next level of integration within the control room. While available interfaces will depend upon the MCX service provider
some agencies may already use these cellular connections being used, the policies in place, and the required functionality.
in the event of a network failure or for special events, Mission
Critical Services (Mission Critical Push-To-Talk - MCPTT, Mission 3GPP Mission Critical standards include specifications to
Critical Data - MCData and Mission Critical Video - MCVideo, interwork with legacy LMR networks via an Interworking
collectively known as MC or MCX services) represent a Gateway Architecture (called IWF) to enable the continued
fundamental paradigm shift in capabilities. These MCX services working of mission critical systems during the transition period
have all been standardised in 3GPP. from legacy LMR to 3GPP-based MCX systems. It may take
several years for such transitions to fully complete.
Traditionally, cellular operators have operated the entirety of
“Broadband cellular 4G LTE, 5G and beyond their cellular network. With the flexibility contained within the
represent the next level of integration within 3GPP standards, public safety agencies have the opportunity
the control room” to develop alternative approaches. This allows the agency itself
or the designated service provider to operate some parts of the
network equipment. This ensures control and security remains
with the agency.

While MCPTT field operation is relatively simple to TCCA’s Control Room Implementers’ Guide provides the
understand, control room operations represent a more foundation for creating a cohesive evolution from LMR to
complex environment requiring interconnections to broadband-based control rooms. By following this Guide
different management and support systems and various in developing procurement requirements, it is hoped that
communication networks. Depending on the implementation vendors will not be given enough opportunity to design and
approach, a significant amount of infrastructure may be owned build proprietary offerings, but rather will focus on standards-
and directly controlled by a commercial carrier. In order to based solutions to reduce both complexity and cost.
increase understanding for public safety agencies, TCCA,
in collaboration with other organisations and vendors, has For a copy of the Guide, please contact admin@tcca.info.
created a Control Room Implementers’ Guide.
However, while the standards have been written, the route to
actual implementation can be confusing. Control rooms are
not explicitly mentioned in the 3GPP MCX standards and it
may be difficult to find the relevant parts in the standards.
The aim of TCCA’s Guide is to help control room vendors
identify these parts and the best way to connect their
systems to a 4G LTE and/or 5G MCX environment. The goal
is to promote a common approach that will reduce both the
number of variants and the level of proprietary interfaces.

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