Lockheed Martin today announced that it has received formal technical acceptance from the City of Garland, Texas, for deployment of the NexGen City NexLink wireless broadband communications network. NexGen City says it allows IEEE Standard 802.xx (both WiMax and WiFi) communications on its NexLink Network and municipal workers have the option of using either the company’s NexCard wireless interface product in a highly mobile environment or a standard 802.xx card in a low-speed nomadic scenario.
Garland has a population of 221,000 and is located 15 miles northeast of downtown Dallas. Lockheed Martin Space Operations, the project’s prime system integrator, has completed the contract awarded by Garland in September 2003. Next, the city will phase out their 19.2 Kbps CDPD network. The system includes a geo-location application that does not require satellite-based GPS receivers.
The communications network is made up of more than 500 mobile and fixed wireless devices that cover Garland’s 57 square miles. LM claims it is the first and geographically largest deployment of mobile mesh-based technology for public safety applications. Garland Police Department’s 290 officers were the first to use the system since the network went online in May 2004.
NexLink uses the unlicensed, 2.4 GHz band but won’t work with standardized WiFi gear. LockMart says their system, like a $700 toilet seat, is special and unique; optimized for high-speed mobility and quality of service, something that 802.11 “is not capable of providing”.
Maitland, Fla.-based MeshNetworks’ is providing the technology. Every device in the network can connect directly, or hop through the network to reach any other device.
MeshNetworks also has a citywide network in Portsmouth, England. It provides real-time departure and arrival information for bus passengers, via the Portsmouth Online Real Time Traveler (PORTAL) Information System. PORTAL encompasses 36 bus stops and 9 kiosks in Portsmouth displaying the comings and goings of 300 buses at any one time on large LCD screens.
NexLink says it takes an average of 30-45 minutes for an experienced installer utilizing a pole that already has a photocell and an average 1-1.5 hours (for an experienced installer/electrician) to install a horizontal mounting bar and do the proper terminations.
Meanwhile, Wireless LAN mesh player Tropos Networks is in the process of unwiring another city in the U.S with 802.11b WiFi gear using a mesh networked backbone. Corpus Christie, Texas, will have a wireless LAN mesh network in an 18.5 square mile area. The network is eventually intended to cover 147 square miles and be used by public safety agencies, government workers, and utlities.
Public safety applications will mirror what the city of New Orleans has been testing, also using Tropos Networks equipment. Tropos can use stock WiFi clients because signals aren’t routed through end-user gear.
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