WASHINGTON, D.C.—NextGen TV technologies once again demonstrated the usefulness of their advanced datacasting capabilities during the 2023 Marine Corps Marathon, where a partnership of Washington, D.C., federal and regional agencies and broadcasting organizations used NextGen TV (ATSC 3.0) broadcasts to help monitor large crowds.
The effort involved NextGen TV broadcasts and infrastructure from Howard University’s public television station WHUT and Sinclair Broadcast Group station WIAV as well as the D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, the U. S. Park Police, and Arlington, Va.
Working together, they were able to use NextGen TV datacasting capabilities to monitor the 26.2-mile course and protect the 30,000 runners and thousands of spectators from traffic mishaps and other public safety threats.
More specifically, the NextGen TV broadcasts allowed the agencies, covering multiple government jurisdictions, to seamlessly coordinate their protective services across a wide geographic area through encrypted video streams broadcast using the television stations infrastructure and transmitted to agency personnel through the IncidentOne datacasting system developed and deployed by the SpectraRep technology firm.
Content uniquely broadcast via data transmission capabilities embedded in the NextGen Broadcast standard is secure and cannot be viewed on traditional TV sets, those involved in the effort said.
Data is encrypted and requires a receiver and special software to decrypt and view. Broadcasting’s one-to-many communications architecture makes it possible to send huge streams of datacast information quickly to an unlimited number of law enforcement officers and first responders without risk of the congestion and system failure often associated with cellular networks during emergencies.
That meant that NextGen datacasting could be used to add an overlay network for sharing onsite camera feeds from Arlington County and the National Mall with all involved agencies that would not otherwise have access to those cameras.
The event used two TV stations and transmitters to allow for optimized reception at geographically distant receiver sites and to provide additional overall data capacity.
“America’s Public Television Stations are committed to using our communications infrastructure to support public safety and first responders through datacasting,” said APTS president and CEO Patrick Butler. “The 2023 Marine Corps Marathon test shows that public television’s datacasting enables the sharing of critical information with first responders on the ground quickly and efficiently, saving time and saving lives. This event is another important step forward in public television’s work to protect communities and keep Americans safe.”
Sean Plater, general manager of WHUT, added that “WHUT is committed to serving the Washington, D.C. metropolitan community not only with high quality educational and informational television programming, but also with public safety, alert and warning, and other critical public mission services.”
“Our work to advance public safety information sharing during the Marine Corps Marathon represents another way public television serves their local communities,” said SpectraRep president Mark O’Brien. “Dartacasing was both a resilient backup communications path and served as the primary source for interagency video sharing. The addition of ATSC 3 this year also highlighted the benefits of this new capability, and broadcast television’s value beyond what you see on your TV set.”
Jerald Fritz, executive vice president for strategic affairs for ONE Media Technologies, the NextGen deployment subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcast Group, added, “The NextGen Broadcast standard is a tremendous advancement for the industry and the public, especially for advanced emergency information. Simply put, broadcasters around the country can provide this advanced technology to help save lives. That is the highest form of meeting our public interest responsibilities.”
NextGen TV broadcasts were also used for a successful trial of emergency communications datacasting during the 2022 Marine Marathon.
