As part of our focus of maintaining and upgrading the MCOP open APIs, we are proud to announce the latest refactoring and upgrade of the MCOP Unified Open Application API, the so called MUOAPI.

The main feature comes with the update of the existing version to now support MCPTT, MCVideo and MCData services.

Full feature list of the upgrade includes:

• Expansion to enable deploying the three mission critical services -MCS- (MCPTT, MCVideo and MCData). (e.g. different service affiliation support)
• MCData Short Distribution Service (SDS) support.
• Functional Alias support.
• Emergency Alert support.
• Group management operation support (e.g. group formation, temporary group management).
• User and group permission management expansion.
• Remote group selection support.

The complete updated MUOAPI documentation can already be found in our website.

As part of the update, our existing Demo SDK and Demo MCPTT Client have also been refactored to deal with the updated MUOAPI, while keeping the same features as before (MCPTT Rel14 support, no MCData/MCVideo).

Also, upon feedback and request from the MCOP community, our demo apps are now compatible with the latest Android versions, including Android 11 version.

Happy MCS app coding!

PSCR hosts an annual public safety broadband stakeholder meeting that brings together representatives from public safety, federal agencies, industry, and academia. Participants hear from PSCR engineers and researchers about testing updates, upcoming R&D efforts, and opportunities to get involved. PSCR invites industry leaders and public safety partners to present on cutting edge technology findings, features, and functionalities. The Annual Stakeholder Meeting enables PSCR to receive direct input, guidance, and feedback from their diverse stakeholder community. 

Since 2010, PSCR has held an annual Stakeholder Meeting to receive direct input, guidance, and feedback from public safety stakeholders across sectors. This information exchange has been invaluable to the success of the PSCR program and advancement of public safety communications technologies.

That's why, in 2020, as part of our ongoing commitment to transparency, PSCR is developing a digital experience for sharing out yearly research updates. This new, virtual format will ensure stakeholders receive the cutting-edge updates they expect from PSCR delivered to wherever they are.

MCOP will be part of this this years Impacts Panel, explaining their experience. Stay tuned!

More information: https://www.nist.gov/ctl/pscr/annual-stakeholder-meeting

Sonim XP8 Band 14/FirstNet-enabled Smartphone and Bittium Tough Mobile to Demo MCOP-compatible MCPTT Apps at IWCE 2019

IWCE Las Vegas, 05 March 2019: The Mission Critical Open Platform (MCOP) project, working to streamline the process of developing, testing and bringing to market standards-compliant Mission Critical Push-to-Talk (MCPTT) applications, has announced successful integration with the Sonim XP8 ultra-rugged smartphone. A Band 14/FirstNet-enabled device built to work in extreme conditions and environments, the XP8 now supports MCOP APIs and will be demonstrated this week on Booth 3270 during the IWCE 2019 exhibition on 6 and 7 March.

Sonim joins MCOP project partner Bittium in enabling easy integration of multi-vendor MCPTT apps into Mission Critical devices by supporting open MCOP APIs. Sonim is a member of the MCOP Supporter Program, in which organizations commit to the principle of using standards and open interfaces.

MCOP ensures smooth deployment of mission critical applications over different MCPTT SDKs, devices and chipsets: all MCOP components are fully compliant with 3GPP standards. In addition, developers, researchers and other practitioners can test, evaluate and validate their MCPTT applications through MCOP testing facilities.

“As well as the considerable technical achievements of MCOP to date, the project has raised awareness of the need for professional MCPTT applications and the importance of open APIs and multi-vendor support,” said Fidel Liberal, MCOP Project Leader. “The key development support from our partner Bittium has catalyzed interest from other device manufacturers, and we are delighted to welcome Sonim to the MCOP ecosystem.”

“Ensuring open standards, and compliant platforms is critical for a successful MCPTT ecosystem.” said Sonim Technologies VP Bob Escalle. “Sonim fully supports the work of the Mission Critical Open Platform project.”

Bittium’s MCOP-compliant Android-based Tough Mobile smartphone is designed and built for demanding mobile security and public safety markets. Bittium Tough Mobile supports professional users such as government agencies, authorities, first responders who need to communicate securely and reliably in critical communication situations. Bittium was the first device manufacturer to demonstrate MCOP compliance at Critical Communications World 2018 in Berlin.

Sonim Technologies is a leading U.S. provider of ultra-rugged mobility solutions designed specifically for task workers physically engaged in their work environments, often in mission-critical roles. The Sonim solution includes ultra-rugged mobile phones, business-process applications, and a suite of industrial-grade accessories which are collectively designed to increase worker productivity, accountability, and safety on the job site. For more information please visit https://sonimtech.com/

The Mission Critical Open Platform (MCOP) is a collaborative project with the financial assistance award 70NANB17H151 from U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology through the Public Safety Innovation Acceleration Program (PSIAP).

The University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) leads the MCOP project. Project partners are Bittium, Expway and TCCA.

To find out more, please contact info@mcopenplatform.org

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December 12, 2018 - 2:00 pm ET

Moderator: Donny Jackson, IWCE’s Urgent Communication
Panelists: Chris Kindelspire, LMR to LTE Working Group Chair, NPSTC
Sagi Subocki, VP Products and Marketing, Softil
Dr. Fidel Liberal, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), and Project Leader, Mission Critical Open Platform (MCOP)
Robert Escalle, Vice President – Public Safety & Defense Market Segments, Sonim Technologies, Inc.

Mission-critical-push-to-talk (MCPTT) is a push-to-talk-over-cellular standard developed by 3GPP (the global body that oversees LTE/5G standards) that is designed to meet the performance needs of public safety and other users that rely on mission-critical communications. MCPTT will be vital for first responders once solutions are established and tested, and initial steps are scheduled to happen this year. Explore the standard, performance concerns, device options, on-network or off-network (direct-mode) challenges and the Mission-Critical Open Platform initiative.

Register Now

First workshop for user equipment vendors planned for November

September 24 2018: The halfway point in the first phase of the Mission Critical Open Platform (MCOP) project has been marked by the launch of an official Supporter Program to harness the enormous amount of interest that the initiative is creating.

MCOP is designed to catalyse the creation of standards-based mission critical MCPTT applications, removing the entry barriers of the multiple technologies and proprietary platforms usually involved. MCOP will ensure interoperability and help to encourage more players to enter the MCPTT market by making the business case more attractive. All MCOP components are fully compliant with 3GPP standards.

The advances made by MCOP, and its demonstrations given around the world, have generated a great deal of industry and user enthusiasm for the project. To join the Supporter Program, qualifying organisations will be expected to commit to the principle of using open standards if they wish to formally support MCOP activities.

MCOP Supporters may contribute to MCOP in a number of ways, including:

· Contributing to the current/future MCOP API definitions
· Supporting the MCOP APIs in products
· Providing MCOP enabled products for hackathons and similar events
· Helping to raise MCOP awareness
· Promoting the use of open APIs and ecosystem in tender processes
· Supporting the alignment of the MCOP APIs with the 3GPP standards

“MCOP is committed to open and standardised mission critical applications – we are delighted by the level of support for our work from the industry and are creating the Supporter Program to acknowledge this,” said Fidel Liberal, MCOP project coordinator. “MCOP Supporters have to commit to the vision, goals, objectives and strategies of MCOP. We hope this will give even greater strength to the project, and to open standards generally in critical communications, and grow the community as we move into the next phase.”

Earlier this year, MCOP announced the release of the first version of the Open Source MCPTT SDK, including the source code for a sample MCPTT application, which is available from the MCOP repository. Both the app and the SDK can be remotely tested in a full 3GPP MCPTT system using the MCOP online Testing platform or a live LTE+IMS+eMBMS testbed hosted in the NIST/PSCR labs in Boulder, Colorado.

The first MCOP workshop for user equipment (UE) vendors is planned for November, to explain and help UE vendors how to implement the MCOP APIs on their devices. The workshop will cover technical aspects, licensing issues and the benefits to vendors for their application and customer base.

For further information about the Supporter Program and the workshop, please contact info@mcopenplatform.org.

About MCOP

The MCOP project, funded by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), aims to meet the challenges of the emerging and complex MCPTT ecosystem. The project, set to complete by mid-2019, will define, develop and validate an MCPTT client open platform that identifies neat open interfaces between the different technologies and reduces the integration efforts as well as delivering an online testbed for the applications. MCOP is led by the University of the Basque Country with partners Bittium, Expway and TCCA, supported by Nemergent.

For further information please visit www.mcopenplatform.org
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29 June 2018 - College Station, Texas, USA: The first versions of the Mission Critical Push to Talk (MCPTT) Open Source software development kit (SDK) and sample MCPTT app have been released by the Mission Critical Open Platform (MCOP) project, during the second ETSI MCPTT Plugtests ongoing this week in Texas. The entire source code is available to download from the MCOP repository.

The MCOP SDK and sample MCPTT app facilitate the development of mission critical services by handling most of the complexity of MCPTT application development. The SDK implements all the protocols and signaling specified in 3GPP Release 13/14 MCPTT standards while providing neat APIS for both APP developers and UE vendors, the so called MCOP Unified Open API- MUOAPI, and Integration API, publicly available under resources section.

The MCOP project is designed to remove the entry barriers of multiple technologies and proprietary platforms. It ensures interoperability, and provides a catalyst for more players to enter the MCPTT market by making the business case more attractive. All MCOP components are fully compliant with 3GPP standards.

Released with the MCOP SDK, the sample MCPTT app serves as a simple proof of concept of what can be achieved in a few lines of code using the MCOP SDK. Both the app and the SDK can be remotely tested in a full 3GPP MCPTT system using the MCOP Testing platform.

Additionally, a SIM-authentication emulation plugin following the MCOP architecture is provided for those developers that have no access to a MCOP Integration API supporting device.

Fidel Liberal, MCOP project coordinator said “We are really excited to release this version of the MCOP SDK to the community. It will allow us to validate MCOP architecture and check it is proven to be useful for different stakeholders including user equipment vendors, apps and SDK developers, researchers and new mission critical communications practitioners.”

 

About MCOP

The MCOP project, funded by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), aims to meet the challenges of the emerging and complex MCPTT ecosystem. The project, set to complete by mid-2019, will define, develop and validate an MCPTT client open platform that identifies neat open interfaces between the different technologies and reduce the integration efforts as well as a live and an online testbed for the applications. MCOP is led by the University of the Basque Country with partners Bittium, Expway and TCCA, supported by Nemergent.

For further information please contact editor@tcca.info  + 44 77 66 33 32 77

The MCOP project was part of the conferences that took place during the Critical Communication World in Berlin last week.

MCOP showcasing simplicity of development for MCPTT applications at Critical Communications World 2018 in Berlin.

First release of MCOP SDK to be available at CCW Berlin

08 May 2018: Showcasing the ease with which mission critical push-to-talk (MCPTT) applications can be brought to market, the progress of the Mission Critical Open Platform (MCOP) collaborative project will be demonstrated live at Critical Communications World (CCW) in Berlin next week.

A full demo will be running on a real mission-critical grade LTE system, to include MCPTT capabilities such as multicast (eMBMS) and high priority bearer management with mission critical QoS Class Identifiers.

The first MCOP software development kit (SDK) release together with the MCOP API (application protocol interface) will be available. With the MCOP SDK it will be easy to develop mission critical MCPTT services. Most of the complexity of the mission critical application will be ‘hidden’ in the SDK, facilitating simple application development for the emerging MCPTT ecosystem.

All MCOP components are fully compliant with 3GPP standards. At the CCW event, different stakeholders will be able to test out the MCPTT technology first hand and see what can be achieved with a remarkably few lines of code.

MCOP is being designed to remove the entry barriers of multiple technologies and proprietary platforms. It will ensure interoperability, and provide a catalyst for more players to enter the MCPTT market by making the business case more attractive.

The MCOP project, funded by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), aims to meet the challenges of the emerging and complex MCPTT ecosystem. The project, set to complete by mid-2019, will define, develop and validate an MCPTT client open platform that identifies neat open interfaces between the different technologies and reduce the integration efforts as well as a live and an online testbed for the applications. MCOP is led by the University of the Basque Country with partners Bittium, Expway and TCCA, supported by Nemergent.

Project co-ordinator Dr Fidel Liberal said: “The work of the MCOP partners will allow developers, public safety organisations and vendors to focus on assuring real mission critical-grade operation rather than having to spend time and resources on the communication complexity.”

MCOP will be on stand D49 at CCW. Dr Fidel Liberal is presenting the project progress at the CCW conference on May 16th at 12 noon.

The MCOP demo will also be available at the 2018 Public Safety Broadband Stakeholder meeting in San Diego, USA 5-8 June 2018. In order to ensure the interoperability with other MCPTT implementations, MCOP will participate in the second ETSI MCPTT Plugtests event in Texas, USA 25-29 June 2018.

Contact: info@mcopenplatform.org or editor@tcca.info