At the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix race, Rich Johnson can hear the distant percussive blats of the F1 cars racing in downtown Las Vegas, but he won't get to see them all weekend. And he's fine with that.
Although he's in town specifically for the event, his main focus is ensuring that, in the event of any emergencies, first responders can communicate and coordinate effectively. I spent time with Johnson, the associate director of network disaster recovery for AT&T, to learn more about an important piece of the race weekend that most people won't -- and shouldn't have to -- think about.
Johnson oversees teams of people and resources strategically positioned around the race track and throughout the city as part of FirstNet, the First Responder Network Authority, "a private/public partnership between AT&T and the US government to create, maintain and service a nationwide public safety drop-in network," he explains.
Rich Johnson, associate director of network disaster recovery for AT&T, explains FirstNet capabilities. Jeff Carlson/CNET
FirstNet operates on Band 14, a patch of spectrum dedicated for first responders so they don't have to compete for a signal if something happens, even in a wireless-rich environment like a Formula 1 race.
"If our primary communication methods fail, we have backups that we can go to," said Brian O'Neal, deputy fire chief with the Clark County Fire Department and emergency manager for Clark County. "Typically that involves moving from radio to cellular. When you look at an event like this, where a 3.8-mile track is running through the middle of the city, capacity within that system becomes a concern."
Las Vegas got rain during the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix, but precipitation doesn't stop first responder vehicles like this one. Jeff Carlson/CNET
That's where FirstNet comes in, enabling every first responder to communicate with one another on that dedicated spectrum, which is not affected by all of the other competing signals.
As I spoke with O'Neal and Johnson, several bright yellow Clark County fire trucks rolled out behind them to be deployed throughout the area. Johnson pointed out that when the event is going on, traffic is even worse because it's locked down, so ingress and egress is extremely difficult.
"All these fire trucks will end up being in that footprint before it gets locked out," said Johnson. "And because we are so embedded with public safety, that's part of the plan. We have our staff and equipment pre-staged throughout the footprint as well."
... continue reading