back to article Putting the urgency in emergency: UK's delayed emergency services network review... delayed

A review of the UK government's delayed emergency services network intended to replace the national radio infrastructure with a 4G network has itself been delayed by more than half a year. The hugely ambitious project will see the £2.9bn Motorola-owned Airwave contract switched off at the end of 2019 and replaced by the £1.2bn …

  1. Refugee from Windows
    Coat

    Typical Government Contract

    Can we possibly expect that this one will be over budget, late, and of course not meet the specification called for. That is assuming that they have made their minds up, but having changed it several times, the end result will not look anything like the end users wanted in the first place.

    Piggybacking the whole lot on a public network I won't comment on, but the phrase "single point of failure" comes to mind. Network coverage is nowhere near universal on 4G with EE, and of course there are marginal propagation changes between the current UHF and the 4G Band V so that existing sites may not provide the required service.

    Can we expect further delays in the deployment? Of course. I also expect the odd call-out when Plod, Trumpton and the ambulances find out their radio comms are out of service.

    Coat - there's a PMR/DMR handheld in the pocket.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Typical Government Contract

      Piggybacking the whole lot on a public network I won't comment on, but the phrase "single point of failure" comes to mind. Network coverage is nowhere near universal on 4G with EE

      ESN programme includes provision of full 4G coverage: existing EE network (with secure, segregated, prioritised access for emergency services) plus extended network for ESN to go where existing EE network doesn't

  2. ThatOne Silver badge
    FAIL

    No specialist, but the idea of having emergency services use a commercial telephone network instead of their own, independent system, sounds to me a little like if they decided that henceforth all emergency services will use Uber instead of their own, specialized vehicles. What could possibly go wrong.

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Or like they decided to use Ford and Mercedes commercial vehicles instead of building their own?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        I think you missed the point there, the vehicles they use are modified by the police for the purpose they are needed for. Mobile networks aren't going to be modified, they may get priority but it's still a consumer network.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Don't know about phones but there was a hilarious failure of commercial satnav in Carmarthen four years ago where there exists two streets with the same name, on opposite sides of town. Two squad cars, Ambulance, Dog unit, paddy wagon and a mini-bus full of guys in riot gear went to break up a party. My uncle answered the door in his dressing gown with mug of cocoa in hand

      1. handleoclast
        Coat

        The old ones are the best

        My uncle answered the door in his dressing gown

        Why does your uncle have a door in his dressing gown?

        Is that him caught in the act in the icon? ---->

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      No specialist, but the idea of having emergency services use a commercial telephone network instead of their own, independent system,

      If the network is designed with that in mind - why not. Existing emergency networks use the same antenna sites, same backhaul links, etc as the 4G network.

      So frankly, as the emergency network is using the same resource which is managed over the same management network it might as well re-use the radio resource as well. Resource reservation including emergency resource reservations has been a feature of mobile networks day one so possible "conflicts of interest" should not be an issue either. UK learned that lesson in 2007 when all mobile operators in London effectively collapsed. There are now "emergency switches" in all mobile networks to prioritize certain types of traffic.

      The one and only advantage the old Tetra had over GSM was the ability of handsets to serve as repeaters to provide coverage beyond the limit of the network. This advantage is now moot - you can put a femto in every police car and get the same result (I am not going to go into the use of this femto as a Stingray - that is fairly obvious).

      1. Commswonk

        The one and only advantage the old Tetra had over GSM was the ability of handsets to serve as repeaters to provide coverage beyond the limit of the network.

        That didn't used to be true, and I rather doubt if it is now. Vehicle installations with proper vehicle equipment* could act as repeaters, but handsets couldn't. I have been out of the game for some years but I very much doubt if any manufacturer managed to cram in the additional hardware required to make a "handset" sized repeater. In addition how would the handset "owner" know to put his / her radio into "repeater" mode?

        *Handsets in vehicle adaptors don't count!

        1. JetSetJim

          Re: handset repeater

          There are two radios that can operate independently in most decent handsets nowadays, so this function is merely a software problem to include for ESN. It certainly was a feature of TETRA and I remember it causing a little bit of a kerfuffle when it was stuck in the requirements for eTETRA, but I believe it was accepted (I've been out of that arena for a few years to)

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Some current Motorola tetra handsets can do the repeater thing, if you have paid for the licence to do it.

          1. Hans Neeson-Bumpsadese Silver badge

            TETRA also supports direct mode, where radios can talk direct to each other if they are out of coverage of the actual network.

    4. This post has been deleted by its author

  3. IneptAdept

    EE Run Network

    Now I have an EE mobile and would not use it as my only way to contact the emergency services, the reception is terrible to non existent in multiple parts of the UK that I would (stupidly) of thought would be 100% coverage, I barely get 3G let alone 4G connection in some of the largest cities in the UK

    And dont we constantly hear about how the Russians / Norks etc could kill millions by messing with our power grid...

    What do you think the impact would be if they took down the emergency services network....

    Or EE decide to do it themselves, have you ever dealt with EE billing :/

  4. Gordon 10
    WTF?

    Hang on a sec

    Why is the Chief Data Officer running an infrastructure program? Sounds like a bag of fail right there.

    1. Cederic Silver badge

      Re: Hang on a sec

      Looks like she's actually the Chief Digital, Data and Technology Officer (CDDTO). Wonder who chose that job title?

  5. A Non e-mouse Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Vehicle Solution

    ..some areas remain difficult, such as how the in-vehicle solutions will work.

    You mean they haven't solved how to provide a solution for vehicles yet? It's not as if the emergency services only have five vehicles between them all. Surely this should have been solved at the design stage as part of their bid, not at the last minute of implementation.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Vehicle Solution

      I think the technology bit is fine, it's the people bit that's not - turns out first responders don't want to have to remember a username and password while on the way to a job (it's a bit tricky to use a touch screen with Nomex gloves on) and if you've got thousands of unlocked devices on a "secure network" then that poses a bit of a problem. So the problem is; how to you secure it *and* still give easy access to the people that need the information - currently it's "because it's bolted to the fire engine" and that just ain't good enough.

      1. Peter2 Silver badge

        Re: Vehicle Solution

        So the problem is; how to you secure it *and* still give easy access to the people that need the information - currently it's "because it's bolted to the fire engine" and that just ain't good enough.

        Well, it is for most cases. The exceptions are when the police/ambulance crew/fireman leaves the vehicle with it unlocked. Solution, give each emergency responder a keyfob with their user id. If no keyfob is within 5 metres, lock the device. If within 5 metres, unlock the device. And turn the device on/off with the ignition.

        Hey presto, stealing a police car doesn't attach you to the network unless you have kidnapped a police officer as well.

        1. Commswonk

          Re: Vehicle Solution

          @ AC: turns out first responders don't want to have to remember a username and password while on the way to a job

          @ Peter2: The exceptions are when the police/ambulance crew/fireman leaves the vehicle with it unlocked.

          I would hope that PIN entry is universally implemented on all existing TETRA terminals, vehicles included; User IDs were not required when I retired (a depressing number of years ago now) and would only be required if the capability of assigning terminal rights and priviledges on a per user basis was brought into being; it certainly wasn't when I shut the door behind me.

          Furthermore Police vehicles have a "run lock" capability that allows the removal of the ignition key with the engine running (to maintain the battery for flashing blues or reds) whereupon the door can be locked; if anyone breaks into the vehicle the engine will immediately stop if the handbrake is released or the footbrake operated.

          I would expect leaving any emergency service vehicle unattended and unlocked would be an extremely serious disciplinary matter; think of the all kit in an ambulance (drugs included) that could be stolen or damaged if anyone managed to get in unimpeded.

          Having said all that the idea that vehicle solutions have yet to be found would be bloody funny if it wasn't so serious. Equally not funny is that Samsung should be awarded the "equipment" contract without being able to demonstrate a complete range of the required hardware in a working condition, which is clearly the implication here.

        2. Adam 52 Silver badge

          Re: Vehicle Solution

          "Solution, give each emergency responder a keyfob with their user id. "

          Pandas have this for the black box (so the logger knows who was driving). It is awful. Consistently fails to recognise the presence of the key fob and screams at the driver. Scrambling around for a keyfob whilst driving at 80mph on an A-road isn't ideal.

          A simple PIN has worked well for Airwave for years.

          1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

            Re: Vehicle Solution

            (so the logger knows who was driving). It is awful. Consistently fails to recognise the presence of the key fob and screams at the driver.

            That explains why chief constables are never able to identify the driver when their official car is caught on a speed camera

        3. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Vehicle Solution

          Well good luck with that. There are services out there today that are supposed to wave in/out using their mifare enabled id cards. Except about 80% of them don't, they use supermarket/oyster/home automation cards/fobs if they bother to do it at all.

    2. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: Vehicle Solution

      But vehicles move, how are you supposed to connect a phone line to them?

      It becomes even worse with cloudy-digital, running FTMV (fiber to moving vehicle) is proving tricky

      1. Lyndon Hills 1

        FTMV (fiber to moving vehicle)

        It becomes even worse with cloudy-digital, running FTMV (fiber to moving vehicle) is proving tricky

        Think trams....

        1. TonyJ

          Re: FTMV (fiber to moving vehicle)

          "...Think trams...."

          Thank you...I now have the image of a 999 call in progress

          "...ok and if you could now just drag them to your nearest stop..the address is...."

  6. Zog_but_not_the_first
    Trollface

    Where's.......

    .... C(r)apita?

    Or do I mean Wally?

    As you were.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Ironic....

    ...that EE have got the contract considering if you go to Royal Sussex Brighton you get fuck all EE signal. Great. And they are still not planning, from what I can tell, to put one of their masts on the hospital which would fix the problem.

    How do these contracts get approved when you have shit like this.

  8. IGnatius T Foobar
    FAIL

    Emergency services

    The problem with the emergency services review is that no one can remember the new number.

    (Note: it's 01189998819991197253)

  9. alwallgbr
    WTF?

    New last minute technology to extend Airwave's life

    To keep Airwave going the Select Cttee was told that Vodafone is replacing TDM with an IP based solution. This stopgap solution is itself still being tested

    1. Hubert Thrunge Jr.

      Re: New last minute technology to extend Airwave's life

      Motorola (who now own Airwave after snapping it up for peanuts) have been deploying IP based TETRA base stations for over ten years, so that's hardly being tested.

      What is to be done to extend Airwave to *at least* 2023 is upgrade the entire network to their latest hardware and offer support for TEDS Release 2.

      My gut feeling is that Airwave will become part of a hybrid ESN solution where critical voice goes over the TETRA network and data goes over the EE LATE network, with some VoLTE services where they want to use it.

      Overall, it's an Omnishambles. Which ever way you look at it, it's a shambles!

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Who owns EE nowadays?

    Would it be worth mentioning somewhere fairly prominent?

    E.g, is it this cowboy outfit:

    http://www.btplc.com/Thegroup/Ourcompany/Groupbusinesses/EE/index.htm

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'm no expert, but what is so wrong with TETRA anyway ?

    It's here, it's a mature technology, most of the bugs are now quashed, everyone is used to it,

    it's a 4 slot TDMA system, and has strong TEA2 encryption.. so why change ?

    TEA2 hasn't been cracked and handsets are easily and widely available.

    So WHY change it ? For some paperwork, contract sillyness, or just plain corporate greed ?

    or the promise of more and better.. Look when P25 (phase1) was started in N.America and Aus, there were many problems, security failed, and many depots went back to FM and when these (nice but limited) FDMA P25 phase1 systems were in place, TDMA systems started to make FDMA look rather silly, so P25 phase2 - a 2 slot TDMA system was launched to counter that. the French 3 slot TDMA 'Detracom' (IIRC) went by the way and TetraPol and DMR seemingly reigned.

    Motorola are the radiocomms equivalent of miserable Apple nowadays, and, though the hardware and software is usually excellent (with the exception of some of the crappy DMR firmware fails) Moto's famous heavy-handedness, litigious, nastiness, greed and screamingly overpriced price-hikes (when it comes to sucking public money from the public purse) is well known in certain circles.

    Although i'm no expert in TETRA, I predict great fail for the replacement, and perhaps, just perhaps, an hurried, under-the-table buy up of cheap DMR gear to fill in the failures might happen temporarily if the new tech fails (imagine that) maybe lending creedence to the (rumoured) UK-wide trunked commercial DMR network, but that may be vapourware..

    Blue-light services need reliable comms, and sadly, encryption, and what they don't need is more complication, on a larger scale, society is becoming even more complex and is failing (entropy?) and any engineer will tell you that increasing complexity is no way to increase reliability.

    If the central system fails, and it really can, we will *really* need these folks, Yes of course there are backups and generators etc, but there needs to be independant, off-the-grid type systems available too, as fallback.. I hear rumours that *some* blue-light services still retain a *little* old equipment just for this reason, and i personally suspect (and hope) even some of the old MOULD hilltop sites are still quietly maintained, even though much of that ancient gear is sold off to Hams & off to overseas developing countries.

    Maybe chinese built USB hardware just won't cut it, with clumsy touchscreens, battery life issues, OS security, chipset vulnerability, crappy USB accessories, chinese wiring & chinese connectors perhaps,

    I they'll never need to download an app to arrest a gun toting felon or walking through a burning building with floors they're walking on, collapsing underneath them with this over complicated stuff.. a gross and silly simplification of course, but sometimes a simple PTT system is best..

    1. ENS

      Why didn't we just stick with the Horse and Cart?

      Why change anything? It's called progress. Apart from voice, every police process is running on a handheld these days. 25 year-old technology has not kept pace

      Burglary? Report written and signed off with s-Pen on a Note 5. On-scene fingerprinting? USB-connected scanner checked on a smartphone.

      So they already have corporate devices for data - and teams over WhatsApp - and Tetra for Plain old Voice. Motorola asks for a £1million a day so it's an easy decision to make commercially to ditch the 'secondary' device.

      Now they will have secure ruggedised S8s, highly capable in-car devices, and air-to-ground and a suite of tactical devices for when 95% land-mass coverage is not enough.

      And a plus, commercial users will have access to 95% land-mass coverage. It's no good a mountain rescue team's perfect DMR being used to report a body who could have been saved if she had had a signal.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like