American Rescue Plan Act of 2021

What is ARPA?

In March 2021, the Federal government passed a new $1.9 trillion stimulus plan, called the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) to assist local and state governments improve their capabilities, infrastructure, and services to better respond and manage the COVID19 pandemic. ARPA allocates $350B to help states, counties, cities, and tribal governments, who can allocate ARPA funds to a wide range of projects, including Public Safety network upgrades.

ARPA for Next Generation Public Safety Networks

In addition to reinforcing and upgrading networks to support growing demands of Public Safety traffic, ARPA allows agencies to upgrade their networks to better support a growing range of new broadband applications.

• Mobile access to digital records and databases. With in-vehicle routers that provide mobile data connectivity, officers can access various information databases and type reports from the field rather than return to a desk at the station. Device sensors can also automate some reporting, such as using GPS data for location and automatically time-stamping reports.
• Video. More cities have deployed video in public areas to pull live video on-demand when there’s a particular incident. Others are streaming video constantly that is archived at a central repository. Some use analytics to help operators focus on specific areas.

• Drones. Streaming video, data from hazardous material detectors, assessments of the ground below, and more can be pulled back via wireless broadband connections and combined with GIS data for visuals that are impossible to rapidly obtain any other way. Drones are increasingly used for Public Safety assistance including search and rescue; to provide overhead views of large events; and for reconnaissance during and after large natural disasters.
• Digital evidence collection. Police are increasingly using tablets and smartphones to digitally collect evidence, record interviews on-scene, and take and send still photographs and video. Fire inspectors and investigators can snap photos and take video as part of their work.

How Aviat can help:

Public Safety networks support mission critical traffic that requires three key elements: reliability, capacity, and scalability. These networks need to support existing Public Safety users, scale to support next generation applications and be available when emergencies occur. These are requirements are addressed with a robust wireless backhaul network. Aviat’s legacy in the industry along with industry leading solutions offer Public Safety customers:

• Innovative Product Portfolio: Superior wireless transport systems that enable the highest capacity, network reliability, and lowest total cost of ownership (TCO).
• Unmatched Public Safety Experience: US-based leader in designing and supporting mission critical, Public Safety backbone networks AND broadband solutions to support wireless internet networks. Industry leader in State and Public Safety network deployments.
• Local Support: Customer Services teams in Texas and support teams across the country to provide engineering, installation, support, and services.
• Dedicated Customer Focus: Solutions to address key customer needs.