Police officers, fire personnel, emergency medical services, and other first responders need to exchange communications seamlessly across disciplines and jurisdictions to successfully respond to day-to-day incidents and large-scale emergencies. Unfortunately, until now, interoperability issues have existed, potentially compromising the success of emergency response operations. Emergency responders have had to carry multiple radios, depending on the agencies with which they need to communicate. ThalesCommunications Inc.’s Liberty radio is a multiband, software-defined LMR designed for government agencies and first responders. The Liberty LMR operates in all modes, with full encryption, and enables multi-agency communications in all the public safety frequency bands (136-174 MHz, 380-520 MHz, 700 MHz, and 800 MHz). The Liberty radio works on current analog systems as well as P25 trunking systems, regardless of frequency range. Trunking is used by many government entities to provide two-way communication for emergency responders who all share spectrum allocated to a city, county, or other entity. Trunking conserves limited radio frequencies and provides other advanced features to users. Successful completion of the CAP trunking interoperability test assures users of reliable compatibility when operating in the P25 trunking mode. The Liberty radio is currently undergoing pilot testing under the DHS, Science and Technology Directorate, Multi-Band Radio Program.
