Develops Device-to-Device communication technology for emergency service personnel, transmitting images when outside of the public safety LTE service area
NEC Corporation has announced the development of a Device-to-Device communication technology that enables emergency response personnel, such as police and firefighters, to transmit high quality images from the scene of a disaster or accident when outside of the service area of the public safety Long Term Evolution (Public Safety LTE: PS-LTE) network.
As per the release, NEC’s newly developed technology supports the reliable transmission of these images by enabling terminals outside of the PS-LTE network service area to detect terminals within the service area, and then access the network via the terminal that provides the fastest communication with base stations. NEC confirmed the performance of this technology in a simulated disaster relief scenario, where approximately 90% of terminals located indoors, which tend to fall outside of the service area, achieved communications sufficient for the transmission of images.
When selecting a relay terminal it has conventionally been difficult to detect the communication route (relay link) that enables the highest quality images. NEC’s new technology was developed using the Relay Link Throughput Estimation Method using which communications speed from an isolated terminal cooperating with a relay terminal to connect to a base station can fully be estimated, and the “total communication speed” can be more accurately assessed.
This technology was developed as part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications’ “Research and Development of Device-to-Device Communication Technology for High-reliability, Low-latency Network” program. NEC has been involved with this program since 2014.
Yuichi Nakamura, General Manager, System Platform Research Laboratories, NEC Corporation said, “By utilizing this technology, images from large-scale disasters and major accidents can be transmitted via a high-speed LTE network, even when outside of the public safety LTE service area. This makes it possible to obtain accurate information from the scene and to implement a swift response,” “We believe this technology can contribute substantially to the development of secure and safe infrastructure that reliably supports society.”
