WICI Presentation to FLEWUG Application of “Soft” & “Hard” Technology to Improve Capacity & Quality in Land Mobile Radio Networks June 13, 2000 Enlightening ideas to wireless solutions

2 Agenda Lumenix Corporate Overview VRI Corporate Overview Case Study - Nextel Communications Soft & Hard Technology Application Conclusion

3 Enlightening ideas to wireless solutions Lumenix Corporate Capabilities Technical & Business Consulting –Strategic Wireless Planning –Wireless Program Management –Modeling & Simulation –IV&V –Technical Training & Customer Support Information Technology –Specialized Software Development –ASP System Architecture –Database Management –System Design & Integration Wireless Engineering –Commercial Wireless Networks –Public Safety Network Design –Radio Network Optimization –Voice & Data Wireless Design –Wireless LAN, WAN, PBX Wireless Data Applications –Geolocation & Mobile Data Messaging –Enabling Wireless Web Sites –Wireless Corporate Portals –Specialized Application Development (WAP, Palm OS, CDPD, others)

4 Enlightening ideas to wireless solutions VRI Corporate Capabilities Information Technology –Information Systems Planning –Requirements Definition –Technology Evaluation –Data Quality Engineering –System Design & Development –System Installation Clients –Department of Defense –Department of Treasury –Department of Health & Human Services –OPIC –States –Commercial Analysis & Consulting –Policy Development –Modeling & Simulation –Economic Analysis –Re-Engineering –System & Operational Effectiveness Enterprise Support –Program Management –Customer Support & Training –Web Server Hosting –System Testing Laboratories –Database Administration –Systems Administration

5 Enlightening ideas to wireless solutions Case Study Nextel Specialized Mobile Radio (SMR) Nextel SMR network similar to LMR public safety radio network Original SMR network design (prior to 1990) –High power/large coverage area base station design –Five and ten channel – low capacity networks Current SMR network design (1990 to present) –Low powered, smaller coverage area base station design –Radio channel aggregation per market –Extensive co-channel reuse per market to increase capacity –Site-to-site “hand-off” incorporated into network

6 Enlightening ideas to wireless solutions “Soft” and “Hard” Technology Application Soft Technology Radio channel aggregation Tower top LNA application Convention directional antennas Frequency reuse and cell splitting Hard Technology Trunked LMR implementation Smart antenna technology Improved vo-coder to 6.25 MHz channel Multi-band radios

7 Enlightening ideas to wireless solutions LMR Channel Aggregation Independent radio channel management per bureau/agency –Traditionally required for security of mission critical activity –Low carrying capacity due to limited channel availability –Channel sharing requires extensive radio unit programming Department/agency channel aggregation –Centralize frequency management –Overcome political barriers to channel aggregation –Greater carrying capacity of network

8 Enlightening ideas to wireless solutions Channel Trunking Capacity Analysis Radio channels Total Erlangs 1.66E9.01E17.5E26.4E40.3E # of 15 second calls per hour 3962,1464,1676,2939,584 Assumptions –15 seconds average communication duration –Erlang table with 1% blocking

9 Enlightening ideas to wireless solutions Alternative “Soft” Technology Applications Tower top low noise amplifier –Uplink radio coverage imbalance (additional Rx sites) –Improve Rx reception quality from 4-7dB –Reduce Rx site requirements Increase co-channel reuse per market/region –Reduce base station power –Reduce base station height –Add additional base stations –Incorporate directional antennas –Reduce distance-to-reuse (D/R) –Increase system capacity

10 Enlightening ideas to wireless solutions Typical Conventional LMR Network Diagram x x xx x x x x xx x x Tx Coverage Rx Coverage Tx Coverage Rx Coverage

11 Enlightening ideas to wireless solutions Typical Conventional LMR Network Diagram With Tower Top LNAs x xx x x xx x Tx Coverage Rx Coverage Tx Coverage Rx Coverage

12 Enlightening ideas to wireless solutions Omni Directional Antenna Base Station Design xx

13 Enlightening ideas to wireless solutions Directional Antenna Base Station Design

14 Enlightening ideas to wireless solutions LMR Channel Reuse Design Architecture Tx Coverage Rx Coverage Tx Coverage Rx Coverage x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

15 Enlightening ideas to wireless solutions “Hard” Technology LMR Applications Trunked radio networks –Increased network capacity (channel aggregation required) –Interoperability enhancements –Interconnection to PSTN (Public Switch Telephone Network) –Improved features Channel privacy One-to-one, one-to-all, one-to-talk group communication Channel queuing Priority access for immediate channel access

16 Enlightening ideas to wireless solutions “Hard” Technology LMR Applications (cont.) Improved APCO 25 vo-coder for capacity enhancement –Double capacity over current 12.5 MHz channel Multi-band LMR radio technology –30-50 MHz – MHz – MHz Smart antenna technology –Uplink and downlink improvement of 5-8 dB –Multi-antenna “beam streaming” array design –Integration with manufacturer requirement –Channel capacity and quality improvement – MHz – 800 MHz – 900 MHz – New 700 MHz band

17 Enlightening ideas to wireless solutions Smart Antenna Architecture & Performance

18 Enlightening ideas to wireless solutions Conclusions Develop best suited short-term and long-term strategic approach to enhance network capacity and quality Pursue bureau/agency channel aggregation “Soft” technology application –Channel aggregation –LNA deployment –Directional antennas –Cell splitting and frequency reuse

19 Enlightening ideas to wireless solutions Conclusions (cont.) “Hard” technology application –Deploy trunked networks –Upgrade to 6.25 MHz vo-coder –Multi-band radios –Smart antennas Cooperative support from radio manufacturers Lobby for new frequency allocation

20 Enlightening ideas to wireless solutions Contact Information Lumenix Rick Burke 7611 Little River Turnpike, Ste. 404W Annandale VA m Vector Research Inc. Kirit Amin 901 S. Highland St. Arlington, VA m