The demonstration, conducted at Samsung’s lab in Korea, featured a complete line-up of Samsung’s latest MCPTX solutions, which delivers a multimedia-based communications experience designed specifically for first responders and public safety officials. It used Samsung’s MCPTX service platform, as well as the Samsung Galaxy XCover FieldPro – a rugged, secure first responder smartphone, purpose-built for public safety users – to show the power of mission critical multimedia communications in the field.

Samsung’s customers for MCPTX will have the option to deploy the solution on their on-premise servers or AWS cloud platform.

New Horizons in Public Safety

MCPTX delivers powerful data and video communications capabilities surpassing Land Mobile Radio (LMR) technology, which provides traditional voice-based service. It opens a new horizon in advancing public safety, enabling first responders to be simultaneously connected with hundreds of fellow responders with easy exchange of videos, images, files and more during an emergency. This technology will help improve situational awareness and information accuracy, especially in times when public safety plays a pivotal role against local disasters or urgent threats.

Cloud-Based Benefits

The demonstration also highlights the key benefits that public cloud networks can bring to an MCPTX deployment. This approach enables rapid deployment and improves scalability and flexibility of public safety networks for operators, by reducing the time spent on in-house data center deployment and allowing them to adjust the usage of resources as needed. Also, the service can seamlessly failover to another part of the cloud as needed, increasing overall reliability.

“AWS offers a proven infrastructure with the greatest scalability, which enables network operators to offer reliable 5G services that will continue to scale, even during the greatest capacity strains.” said Amir Rao, Head of Global Solution Portfolio and Tech Alliances for Telco industry at AWS. “AWS offers a ubiquitous cloud programming model through its public availability zones and AWS Outpost services, which can be deployed at the Telco Operators data center or network edge locations. This demonstration of Samsung’s MCPTX solution on Amazon’s cloud platform brings the latest innovations to the public safety sector, and the two companies will continue to collaborate on developing technologies to provide new and reliable services to customers.”

“This demonstration showcases how Samsung’s Mission Critical Communications solutions can manage public crises and be readily deployed on public cloud platforms,” said Wonil Roh, Senior Vice President and Head of Product Strategy, Networks Business at Samsung Electronics. “It also enables us to learn and adapt to the evolving needs of service providers and end users alike. This brings a new level of broad coverage, scalability and reliability to mission critical service deployments, and we look forward to continuing our journey in the public safety sector to help keep communities safe and improve public emergency response outcomes.”

Samsung Networks has been a leader in advancing next generation technologies for the public safety arena. Its Mission Critical Push-to-Talk (MCPTT) solution has been operational in Korea’s Public Safety LTE (PS-LTE) network since 2018, supporting voice and text communications (Link). This solution has been also commercially deployed across six different railway lines as part of the nation’s LTE-Railway (LTE-R) network, providing communications for station staff and train crews (Link).  Additionally, Samsung’s MCPTT solution has been recognized by various governments and operators around the world for its reliability and capability. The new MCPTX solution is the upgraded version of the MCPTT with enhanced capabilities, enabled by 3GPP release 14.

This marks the third project in which KT and Samsung’s Networks Business unit have partnered on PS-LTE network deployments. The two previous projects were the world’s first PS-LTE network throughout Gangwon (Pyeongchang) province of South Korea using 700MHz based on the 3GPP standard in 2016 (Link), and the 2017 delivery of LTE-Railway service on a high-speed train traveling at up to 250 km/hour (155 mph) using MCPTT solutions for the first time (Link). The two companies are now aiming to expand PS-LTE network further into the metropolitan areas around the country, including Seoul, Gyeonggi, Gangwon, Jeolla, Gyeongbuk and Chungnam provinces.

“Samsung is thrilled to see such a significant achievement in the country’s public safety where our continuous efforts and innovation on technology have advanced the safety of the world,” said GY Seo, Senior Vice President and Head of Global Sales & Marketing, Networks Business at Samsung Electronics. “Samsung is honored to take part in this important mission with KT by providing PS-LTE solutions that will ensure seamless and stable connectivity across the nation.”

“By acquiring innovative wireless communications from Samsung, we are able to aid in life-threatening situations where data traffic is severely congested or connection is completely out of reach,” said Yoon-Young Park, Senior Executive Vice President and Head of Enterprise Business Group at KT. “These first-of their-kind networks help responders connect with those in need.”

In addition to LTE radio base stations that support 700MHz, Samsung is providing KT with virtualized core and the latest features of PS-LTE based on the 3GPP standard. Some of the key features include MCPTT solutions, RAN Sharing, evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service, Public Network IoT based on NB-IoT, Isolated eUTRAN Operation for Public Safety (IOPS), and device to device (D2D) network solutions.

D2D and NB-IoT play crucial roles in creating public safety network by ensuring stable, seamless, and reliable network in unfavorable environments. For instance, D2D allows direct and undisrupted communications between any two devices without traversing radio base stations or core network even in areas where bases stations are not provided.

For the first time, NB-IoT is applied to the public safety network to help prevent natural disasters like fires as hundreds of IoT sensors are deployed to sense even the smallest size of embers or people that have been stranded in remote areas of mountains that are hard to spot in general.

Newly Applied PS-LTE Key Features

About KT CORP.

KT Corporation, Korea’s largest telecommunications service provider, reestablished in 1981 under the Telecommunications Business Act, is leading the era of innovations in the world’s most connected country. The company is leading the 4th industrial revolution with high speed wire/wireless network and new ICT technology. KT launched the world’s first nationwide commercial 5G network on April 3, 2019, after successfully showcasing the world’s first trial 5G services at the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games in February 2018. This is another milestone in KT’s continuous efforts to deliver essential products and services as it aspires to be the number one ICT Company and People’s Company.

This past March, for example, the company successfully showcased a multilateral call enabled by mission-critical push-to-talk (MCPTT), a key feature of PS-LTE. In April, Samsung’s LTE-Railway (LTE-R) solution was successfully launched on a South Korean metro line. This is considered to be the first instance that Korea has utilized the technology during train operation.

Jaeseo Kim of Global Sales & Marketing Team at Samsung’s Networks Business, sat down with Samsung Newsroom to discuss some of the measures the company is taking to help public safety services operate effectively in times of crisis.

Q. In a nutshell, what is PS-LTE?

Daily digital tasks like streaming video and browsing the web on a smartphone are all possible thanks to the technological evolution of 4G LTE. While this high-speed wireless communication technology has brought many positive changes into our everyday lives, it has also benefited the public safety sector.

PS-LTE solutions make use of the advantages of LTE to enable public safety officers to easily share emergency-related information in the form of real-time video and high quality images, which is something that is not possible with other safety networks.

In other words, PS-LTE will serve as a foundation that will allow all relevant personnel to respond to disaster situations effectively by utilizing the same spectrum (700 MHz, in Korea’s case) and technology.

Q. What sets PS-LTE apart from existing public safety technologies?

The strength of a public safety network lies in its ability to provide a seamless and reliable communication service between diverse organizations and individuals.

Currently, most disaster response institutions make use of their own networks, which utilize different frequencies and technologies and make inter-organizational communication almost impossible. When responding to a fire emergency, for example, a firefighter would have to carry multiple transceivers in order to communicate with both the fire and police control centers, as the two agencies use different technologies.

PS-LTE based on 3GPP global standards, however, offers a single unified network allowing for synchronized communication and thus faster response times, and enables individual networks for each organization through virtualization technology.

Yet one of the biggest advantages of PS-LTE networks is data connectivity. While incumbent public safety networks generally only support very low data rates and voice-oriented usage, PS-LTE can transfer high volumes of data instantly. This means that high quality images and video can be transmitted, enabling the use of various applications such as live streaming during emergency situations or the use of mapping software for locating or directing mission-critical assets or concerns.

Q. In February of 2017, Samsung successfully conducted – for the first time in the world – a live multilateral video call using MCPTT technology. What is MCPTT and why is it important?

Mission-critical push-to-talk (MCPTT) is an international standard set by 3GPP that allows public safety agencies to leverage LTE technological advancements for mission-critical communications. It enables thousands of devices to be connected at once to transfer video, images and voice simultaneously using multicast technology.

The main benefits of MCPTT technology can be summed up in three points. First off, the response time is 300 milliseconds, which is faster than LTE (600 milliseconds). Second, key figures such as the president, the authority in charge of an entire scene, as well as those responsible for reporting situations will be given priority in terms of communication. Finally, the technology will allow for a level of seamless connectivity that is unaffected by the environment. These benefits explain why MCPTT is regarded as the key technology in PS-LTE networks.

The success of the video call proved that MCPTT is a feasible technology and is also capable of providing seamless, high-resolution video calls between control centers and responders in emergency situations. The technology will help responders obtain a more accurate view of the scene than what is possible with only voice services, and will be applied to actual public safety networks beginning in early 2018.

MCPTT-based services will ensure reliable communication for multiple users through other PS-LTE key features such as GCSE (Group Call Service Enablers), LTE broadcast (eMBMS), VoLTE and D2D (Device-to-device) communication.

Samsung demonstrates a multilateral video call conducted between a central control station and public safety agencies using MCPTT technology

Q. In what other areas can PS-LTE technology be applied?

The possibilities are endless! One example is the LTE-Railroad (LTE-R) service, a high-speed, LTE-based railroad and subway wireless network that enables smooth mission-critical communications between train personnel and control centers using real-time multimedia group calls and texts on top of existing voice calls.

Since introducing the world’s first end-to-end PS-LTE portfolio based on 3GPP standards in February of 2016, we have begun to replace existing analogue wireless technology to ensure that all features concerning voice (individual, group, emergency, priority calls, and broadcast), video (video meetings and CCTV passenger monitoring), and data (control signal and large data file transfer) services can be integrated.

Samsung served as a leading participant in all five of South Korea’s LTE-R projects. Among them, the nation’s first LTE-R service, which was deployed in Line 1 of the Busan Metro in April, has enabled us to prove the reliability of our PS-LTE technology. It is also being deployed for high-speed trains that connect the cities of Wonju and Gangneung.

The trains operating on Korea’s Wonju-Gangneung line represent the world’s first case of LTE-R being applied to a high-speed train that travels as fast as 300km/h. The project marks the beginning of the commercialization of the Korea Rail Network Authority’s (KRNA) nationwide high-speed train business, which will take place in early 2018. Furthermore, Samsung aims to continue collaborating with the organization to create more innovative technologies.

Q. What would be the prospective vision for Samsung in this public safety industry?

The demand for effective, inter-organizational public safety communications has increased dramatically. It’s estimated that the worldwide PS-LTE market is expected to grow over 12 billion dollars in 2020. So, to ensure that these needs are met, Samsung is taking a leadership role as the world’s first end-to-end provider based on 3GPP standards with a virtualized core.

PS-LTE and LTE-R are just beginning to see wider use, and currently serve purely as means to handle emergency or disaster situations. Samsung, however, is setting its sights higher. Our next step will be to provide an intelligent PS-LTE solution that combines the latest developments in artificial intelligence, PS-IoT and video analytics with a unified PS-LTE network.

Our goal is for Samsung’s intelligent PS-LTE technology to eventually enable ‘intelligent disaster prevention,’ which will be possible when the technology develops to a level where it can detect elements of danger. This will be realized through the automated monitoring and analysis of natural disasters that threaten public safety, such as tsunamis, floods, forest fires and earthquakes.