Maintaining Mobile Connectivity at All Costs

Maintaining Mobile Connectivity at All Costs

mobile connectivity

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The city of Greenville, S.C. is projected to welcome upwards of 100,000 to 500,000 visitors arriving to watch there the solar eclypse. The city’s police department is aiming to keep the mobile connectivity of its forces during this mega event. 

According to businesswire.com, mobile connectivity will be achieved through Kymeta, delivering on the promise of global, mobile connectivity. The company is taking its satellite-connected Toyota RAV4 on the road to provide field trial mobile communications to the Greenville Police Department as cellular data networks become bogged down. “The Kymeta vehicle is equipped with a Kymeta KyWay terminal, featuring mTenna technology,” said Tom Freeman, Senior Vice President Land Mobile of Kymeta Corporation.

Kymeta’s selection of Greenville was carefully planned. “We chose to provide this service to Greenville because we recognized the significance of the need here,” said Freeman. “Cellular data coverage is a concern for cities, Greenville is expected to host a very large number of visitors.”

Greenville, which has a population of 68,000 citizens, has been recognized as one of the best places to view the solar eclipse and thus has gained the attention of news media, eclipse enthusiasts and NASA, which has an official viewing location at the Roper Mountain Science Center. This popularity and the surge in visitors that could increase the city’s day-of population by up to seven times the norm will impact communications systems.

“The significant increase in visitors will have an impact on cellular networks, which are likely to face decreased capacity, and that’s a problem,” said Greenville Police Chief Ken Miller.

“Kymeta Government Solutions is proud to support the citizens and visitors of Greenville in this effort. The eclipse will allow Kymeta to test our technology in a real-world situation where terrestrial communication networks are likely to be stretched beyond capacity,” said David Kervin, General Manager and Vice President of Kymeta Government Solutions. “Over the last several months, the Kymeta Government Solutions team has been performing extensive trials with military and law enforcement organizations, validating Kymeta technology as a force enabler. We appreciate that the City of Greenville IT team and police department have authorized Kymeta to use the eclipse as an opportunity to again put our technology to the test. Kymeta will use what we learn to make further improvements for our federal, state and local government customers.”

Kymeta’s connected car, and first-of-its-kind antenna technology and satellite connectivity service, have wider implications for the future. “There is a wide range of challenges facing today’s emergency responders, in particular when it comes to communications, especially during large events that put pressure on cellular data networks,” said Dr. Nathan Kundtz, President, and CEO of Kymeta Corporation. “With Kymeta, there’s this massive amount of capacity available for the first time on mobile platforms, so first responders always have reliable connectivity on the move. But it doesn’t stop there. That capacity is potentially global”.