Enables GPS-like accuracy indoors combined with floor-level vertical location for Public Safety professionals
SUNNYVALE, Calif. and IRVING, Texas, Oct. 23, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- EF Johnson Technologies, Inc., a leader in communications solutions for the public safety community, and NextNav LLC, a leading provider of location services for indoor and urban environments, announce the successful integration of EFJohnson's Viking P25 radio with the indoor location capabilities of NextNav's Metropolitan Beacon System ("MBS"), providing the most advanced, public safety grade wide-area indoor and vertical location for the public safety communities. The integrated system is available for demonstration to police, fire, and other public safety professionals.
MBS provides an innovative "terrestrial constellation," which brings GPS-like performance to indoor and urban environments where satellite-based positioning is either unavailable or significantly degraded. As proven in the FCC-chartered Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council ("CSRIC") trials, NextNav LLC demonstrated the superior performance of its MBS technology in accurately locating users in challenging indoor environments in both the horizontal and the vertical dimensions.
This demonstration proves Public Safety products can be developed to enable real-time location tracking and monitoring of First Responders over the bandwidth constrained public safety network. The provision of this capability across an entire metropolitan area- in buildings, on multiple floors, and in areas where GPS positioning is severely limited- significantly enhances the overall operational effectiveness of the First Responder community. Given the widespread use of the P25 radio standard in the United States by Public Safety personnel, and the proven reliability accuracy of EFJohnson's Viking LMR P25 radios and of MBS, NextNav and EFJohnson believe the integration to be a significant step in providing the most advanced communications technologies to the front lines of the public safety community.
"EFJohnson's partnership with NextNav illustrates our ongoing commitment to incorporate new technology and provide innovative solutions that enhance the safety and performance of first responders," said Karthik Rangarajan, Senior Vice-President of Strategy and Products for EFJohnson. "We are excited to demonstrate the integration of our award-winning Viking LMR radios with the groundbreaking technology from NextNav."
"It is no secret that the public safety community has long been vocal about the need for technology that provides increased location accuracy, specifically the 'Z' coordinate in indoor, multistory environments. By partnering with EFJohnson to integrate MBS into their Viking LMR P25 radios, we are able to demonstrate very high precision on the X/Y and demonstrate to the Public Safety Community that wide area 'Z' axis is also possible today for Public Safety applications," said Tom Wrappe, Vice-President of Ecosystem Development at NextNav.
About EF Johnson Technologies, Inc.
EF Johnson Technologies, Inc. is an independent subsidiary of JVCKENWOOD Corporation. Headquartered in Irving, Texas, EFJohnson focuses on innovating, developing and marketing the highest quality secure communications solutions to organizations whose mission is to protect and save lives. The Company's customers include first responders in public safety and public service, the federal government, and industrial organizations. The Company's products are marketed under the EFJohnson and Kenwood brands. For more information, visit www.efjohnson.com.
About NextNav
NextNav is deploying a revolutionary positioning technology to allow mobile devices to reliably determine their location in indoor and urban environments where GPS signals cannot be received. NextNav's technology combines accurate horizontal positioning with floor-level height precision. Delivered over a managed network with carrier-grade dependability and metropolitan-wide coverage, NextNav's positioning services are designed for E911, public safety and emergency response as well as the multitude of consumer and commercial applications that require precise indoor location accuracy. Based in Sunnyvale, CA and McLean, VA, NextNav is working with the Public Safety community and major technology partners to embed its capability into new GPS chipsets, mobile phones and other wireless devices. For more information, visit our website at www.nextnav.com.
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SOURCE EF Johnson Technologies, Inc.
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