Next generation DAS to improve comms for first responders

Chesham, UK, 01 June 2016 – Cobham Wireless, a global leader in the provision of advanced wireless coverage and mobile communication systems, has announced that its leading cellular digital DAS (Distributed Antenna System) solution idDAS is now being made available for public safety communications. This will increase the dynamism of first responder systems and enable significant cost-savings for facilities managers already investing in signal enhancement solutions.

The public safety enhancement to idDAS was unveiled at Critical Communications World, Amsterdam, this week and will be made available worldwide in Q4 2016.

idDAS has already been used in prestigious large-scale cellular projects to provide dynamic capacity across areas with sporadic yet high-capacity cellular demands, such as event spaces and multi-use venues. The ability to share capacity with nearby facilities as and when it is required means facilities managers and owners can significantly lower the OPEX costs associated with coverage enhancement systems. In addition, this next generation DAS system will support both legacy public safety services and LTE services, offering the opportunity to provide wide bandwidth services to first responders.

Expanding this usage to public safety provides further cost-savings and opens up the possibility of reserving high-capacity bandwidth for emergency service use. These frequencies can then be used for next generation public safety applications such as facial recognition technology, video and data transfer and advanced site mapping.

“Bringing idDAS to the public safety communications market opens up a new world of opportunities for first responder agencies,” said Rami Hasarchi, VP – Coverage solutions, Cobham Wireless. ”Providing additional bandwidth for first responder services enables the development of a raft of next generation emergency service communication technology, while minimising the OPEX costs associated with high-bandwidth emergency service coverage provision.”