Industry:

Public Safety

Situation:

The Post Falls PD needed high-speed data access for their patrolling police officers. Their plan was to add 802.11b (Wi-Fi) coverage to a large, 35 square mile area. But during testing, they found that the wireless network connections were "breaking" whenever the cars got out of range or there was radio interference. Forcing officers to log in each time there is an interruption in wireless connectivity was not acceptable: they needed to maintain continuous access.

Solution:

NetMotion Mobility was added to their wireless setup to maintain reliable and secure access to their data and applications. Best of all, no changes to their existing software and hardware were needed.

Environment:

NetMotion Mobility Server installed on Windows 2000 server.

NetMotion Mobility Client installed on Windows 2000 laptops equipped with ORiNOCO WLAN cards.

Benefits:

With NetMotion Mobility, officers have fast, reliable access to the applications they depend on, they don't have to worry about losing their network connections, and the sensitive data they send and receive is kept secure.

Like many police departments across the country, the Post Falls PD received a grant from the Department of Justice to help them upgrade their technology. They used their grant toward a wireless network, going to great lengths to set up one that would give their patrol officers a high-bandwidth, secure connection that wouldn't fail. Here's how NetMotion Wireless helped them realize their plan.

Background

It would have been easy to give police officers laptops that they could use in their patrol cars. But there wasn't a blueprint for giving them uninterrupted, secure, fast wireless access to the centralized data that is at the heart of any public safety department. Post Falls did a lot digging—talked to law enforcement organizations across the country and researched the issues—and arrived at an innovative solution.

With help from Mel Nottage of The Network Group in Coeur d'Alene, ID, the Post Falls police department decided to use an 802.11b (Wi-Fi) "backbone" for their network. They had to give the officers high-speed access from the patrol cars back to headquarters because the applications they use are bandwidth-intensive. Officers use those applications to:

• Query state and agency databases for name, vehicle, property, and firearms information
• Receive live dispatch calls from the CAD (Computer-Aided Dispatch) system and monitor the status of other units and calls
• Monitor real-time video feeds from cameras set up in high-crime areas
• Send reports to printers at headquarters while on the road.

They mapped out locations for 15-18 wireless access points, using everything from 100-foot self-supporting towers to existing "high points": water towers, light poles, and cell phone towers.

But there was a problem with a wireless local area network spread out over 35 square miles: there are pockets where there is no wireless coverage, and losing connectivity during application sessions means having to start those sessions all over again. What would seem like the obvious solution—adding more wireless access points—does not guarantee ubiquitous coverage. Pulling up alongside a tractor-trailer on the road is enough to cut off the wireless signal and interrupt application sessions, forcing the officer to log back in again.

Another problem was that the application the Post Falls PD uses for CAD, database lookups, report-writing, etc. requires each device with which it communicates to have a unique, static IP address for security reasons—a common requirement in CAD systems.

The NetMotion Mobility Solution

Application session persistence: NetMotion Mobility's application session persistence ensures that the officers' applications remain "on hold" until network coverage is restored. When it is, applications resume exactly where they left off, without user intervention. It also allows shared network drives, directories, printers, and other non-application network resources to persist through coverage gaps or when a laptop has been suspended.

Security:

The other non-negotiable requirement for the new wireless network was for police communications to be secure. NetMotion Mobility secures data transmitted over a wireless link, secures the wireline network at headquarters from unauthorized wireless access, and secures the access point network from unauthorized access. A local ISP, in fact, used NetStumbler (a Windows utility for 802.11b-based wireless network auditing) to see if the Post Falls police department's WLAN was secure. It was.

Static IP address: NetMotion Mobility assigns each device a virtual IP address that remains the same throughout an application session. If there's any interruption in wireless coverage, the session simply pauses briefly and resumes as before instead of breaking down and requiring the officer to log in again.