Creation of Integrated Radio System Will Benefit Federal Police
General Dynamics, based in Falls Church, VA, has received a 15-year, multibillion-dollar deal to construct a national interoperable data and voice radio network for federal law enforcement groups.
Operated by the Department of Justice, the Integrated Wireless Network program is meant to offer compatible radio systems to federal police institutions, so that they can work together well during terrorist attacks and weather disasters.
The network, which is predicted to cost as much as $10 billion, will enable the federal police to connect to state and local networks.
The primary radio systems that the program will offer to participating groups will depend on the Internet Protocol Version 6 standard, the same kind of next-generation online technology that will increasingly power the operations of the global Web.
The network will use different kinds of gateway systems to combine the latest digital radio systems with the older analog ones that are still employed by a large number of police departments nationally.
New technology employed in the network will permit numerous simultaneous conversations to happen across what used to be an open circuit meant for one transmission. The network can facilitate the transmission of streaming video to police officers on foot or in their cruisers.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC) from the Washington Post (04/30/07); P. D04; Dizard III, Wilson P.
