LTE Support for Mission Critical Voice for Public Safety

06.19.2011 by Andrew M. Seybold

Introduction

LTE or fourth-generation (4G) wireless broadband was designed and implemented primarily as a data over broadband technology. Voice in the form of Voice over IP, which is being designed to implement voice calls in the traditional cellular fashion of dialing a number and completing the call using the LTE network as transport, is being developed. The issue is whether LTE can and will support other types of voice services, specifically Push-To-Talk (PTT) voice and most importantly, PTT off-network, when units are out of coverage of the network or when they need short-range communications in buildings and in other areas where the network does not provide coverage.  ...