Do broadband data networks make P25 obsolete?
No, the technologies complement one another and will be “Better Together” for the foreseeable future. Many Public Safety and Industry technology experts and organizations, including the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC) and DHS Office of Emergency
Communications, are on the record that Project 25 is the standard for government and public safety communication systems today and will remain as the primary technology for secure interoperable voice systems for decades to come.
Broadband for Public Safety technologies are now offering many valuable and exciting new interoperable voice & data services. Today the technologies are being merged at both the infrastructure and subscriber unit level.
Are there Standards for LMR-LTE Interworking?
P25 Standards are being adapted to enable the interworking of common Standard services. The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) and the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) resumed work on standards for the interworking of mission-critical LTE and LMR services in late 2017, with a project committee known as Joint Land Mobile Radio Long Term Evolution (JLMRLTE). The current JLMRLTE work item is titled the “Study of Interworking between
P25 LMR and 3GPP (MCPTT) Mission Critical Services”.
This document contains scenarios and considerations for the use of a 3GPP Release 15 Inter Working Function (IWF) to enable interoperability of standards services between a 3GPP mission-critical standards-based LTE system and a TIA standards based LMR system. TIA standards based LMR
systems being considered are: P25/TIA-102 Trunking, P25/TIA-102 Conventional, and TIA-603 analog conventional FM.
The Interworking Study document does not prescribe a particular LMR interface to the IWF although the P25 Inter-RF Subsystem Interface (ISSI) and Digital Fixed Station Interface (DFSI) have been chosen by TIA.
