Helinet Deploys System for Police
ONTARIO, Calif. — Helinet Technologies, an international provider of aviation technology solutions to the law enforcement, government and military markets, announced today its selection by the City of Ontario to deploy an integrated microwave downlink solution for the Ontario Police and Fire Departments.
The multi-ship system enables real-time transmission of HD and SD images to both fixed and portable receive sites and is part of a regional information sharing initiative between the City of Ontario and the cities and counties of Riverside and San Bernardino.
In addition to the Ontario PD and FD, participating agencies include the San Bernardino Police Department, San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department, Riverside Police Department and the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.
Designed to support a broad range of law enforcement, fire and public safety missions 24 hours a day, the new downlink system provides Ontario and its partners in the Regional Aviation Downlink Project with a robust and flexible all-weather surveillance capacity.
The solution uses a custom configuration of commercial-off-the-shelf products, developed by Helinet Technologies to enable the RADP partners to centralize and share multiple video feeds from the various agencies in real-time. During major events, this intelligence-pooling function will enhance the ability of the RADP partners to develop a coordinated and effective multi-agency response.
Additional capabilities include comprehensive day/night operating capacity and the ability to run long duration surveillance operations from significant distances.
"Performance and flexibility across multiple mission environments plus a comprehensive training and support program were among the deciding factors in selecting Helinet Technologies to implement our airborne microwave downlink system," said Sergeant Eric Weidner of the Ontario Police Air Support Unit. "Also important was Helinet’s demonstrated track record in developing aerial surveillance solutions that support joint operations between multiple agencies.
Interoperability and information sharing are key mandates of the RADP and the new system allows us to fulfill these requirements at an extremely high level of capability."
Featuring a multiband transmission design, the new downlink can be made interoperable with the surveillance solutions of other law enforcement and fire departments in the region, enabling simultaneous delivery of real-time images to multiple Southern California agencies during large scale operations, according to the company.
The project is funded by the Riverside-Ontario-San Bernardino Urban Areas Security Initiative, along with state and federal grants. UASI is a federal government program that supports high-density urban areas in building an enhanced capacity to prevent, protect against, respond to and recover from acts of terrorism.
Complete signal security is provided via 256 Bit AES encryption of all audio, video and data traffic. A non-encrypted transmission mode along with the ability to direct the signal to an authorized user or users is also included.
"Airborne operations play a critical role in Southern California law enforcement efforts, with local agencies responsible for serving one of the largest and most heavily populated regions in the world," said Ron Magocsi, vice president, chief technical officer at Helinet Technologies. "We are extremely pleased to have been selected by the Ontario Police and Fire Departments and the RADP to develop and implement the new microwave downlink solution and look forward to supporting them in their work safeguarding the communities of Ontario, Riverside and San Bernardino."
Helinet Technologies provides aviation technology solutions to the law enforcement, government and military markets around the world.