Introduction
The 2018 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit was held in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea on 12-18 November. The summit provided the Government of Papua New Guinea with the stimulus to choose Hytera's professional mobile radio (PMR) communications solutions to ensure the safety and security of the APEC guests and to provide a much improved radio system for Port Moresby police and other emergency services.
Background
The 2018 APEC summit was held for the first time in Papua New Guinea. The event involved the host nation catering to the needs of some 10,000 delegates and guests during the week-long summit. Representatives from 21 countries attended the forum, along with leaders and representatives from 13 Pacific islands and large numbers of media personnel.
The Challenge
The existing communications infrastructure in Papua New Guinea was obsolete, so the Papua New Guinean government recognized it needed to invest in and deploy the right security measures and communications resources to guarantee an efficient security operation.
Hytera was chosen to provide the new professional wireless communication network. The wireless environment was complex with a lot of strong signal interference, so Hytera sent a number of technical and product experts to Papua New Guinea in March 2018 to work on the RF coverage and technical design.
This involved many discussions with emergency services customers to help finalize the scope of the scheme, product lists and project implementation plans to ensure the tight deadline could be met. Hytera's on-site team was very proactive and worked closely with the customer to keep the project delivery program on track.
The Solution
The eventual solution deployed in Port Moresby involved a much wider range of specialist Hytera products than usual to ensure the Government could meet the strict security requirements required for APEC 2018. A mix of technology solutions were deployed including both broadband and narrowband professional mobile radio (PMR) systems.
The Hytera Integrated Command & Control (ICC) system was implemented to provide a single unified platform capable of supporting broadband voice and data services, narrowband mission critical voice services and a video surveillance solution to access CCTV monitoring systems and video footage transmitted from vehicle and body worn cameras.
Hytera also supplied its Push-to-Talk over Cellular (PoC) broadband solution and its portable iMesh 4G fast deployable emergency response solution, along with its E-pack 100 mobile ad-hoc networking units.
Hytera also provided DMR Tier III trunking infrastructure, PDC760 multi-mode advanced DMR/LTE radios and body worn cameras. The PDC760 terminals were mostly used by the security leaders such as the APEC commander and Commissioner of Police.
From August, a dedicated Hytera project team was also stationed locally to make sure the solution was implemented properly and to provide advice and back-up services during the APEC summit.
The Results
The Hytera wireless communication network system covers the whole of Port Moresby. The system allows the security forces to monitor venues, hotels, airport and security routes in real time and send back video. Voice and video information from the field allows commanders to make changes to orders and schedules if required in real time.
Police officers with handheld radios or vehicles with a mobile radio can now keep in touch with the command center at anytime, anywhere, and react immediately to orders and new information coming from the command and control center. In addition, the broadband subsystem in the ICC system supports broadband terminals, so video clips can be sent, or live video streamed to and from the field and the command center in real time.
As a result of this investment for the APEC meeting, Papua New Guinea can host similar major events in the future, as it can now rely on a safe and secure communication system. Naturally, the new system is also a major help for normal, daily police work as well as for major events and incidents.
“This whole system, of course, will greatly improve our security operations, helping us to manage and stop crime by identifying and arresting offenders, to help better manage traffic and respond to emergencies in case of a major natural disaster.”
——Head of Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC), Office of ICT
