PROJECT MESA ORIGINS

ETSI and TIA have agreed to work collaboratively by providing a forum in which the key players can contribute actively to the elaboration of MESA specifications.

The means for this activity has been provided in the form of a Partnership Project, originally known as the Public Safety Partnership Project (PSPP), which constitutes the legal and operational framework ensuring a swift progress of results.

The original Partnership Project Agreement (PPA) was signed in Washington DC in May 2000.

Mr. Karl Heinz Rosenbrock,
Director General, ETSI

Mr. Dan Bart,
VP Standards & Technology, TIA

The current partnership agreement for Project MESA was ratified in January 2001 in the City of Mesa, Arizona.

The PSPP was given the name “Project MESA” in recognition of the city, where the partnership agreement was finalized.

PROJECT MESA AIMS

Project MESA is producing the specifications for an advanced digital mobile broadband standard much beyond the scope of currently known technologies.

MESA represents the first such international initiative to involve users and organizations from the Public Protection & Disaster Relief (PPDR) and Peacekeeping sectors to join forces with Industry for the production of a truly global standard.

MESA needs your views...

MESA needs your views as potential users of advanced broadband wireless applications in order to develop the technologies that will ease your task.

Disaster Relief

Being committed to the relief of suffering people in situations of complex humanitarian emergencies and natural disasters is an enormous task.

Not only does this involve technical equipment but also human engagement and methods of communications are important factors to guarantee the safety of people and nature.

A growing demand for mobile broadband services within tele-medicine, fire-fighting, mobile robotics and peacekeeping operations is rapidly emerging.

Remote patient monitoring

One of the key aspects of crisis and disaster management is the effectiveness of frontline medical assistance to injured citizens.

The concept of remote patient monitoring is the subject of intense study in both the civil and military peacekeeping sectors where the need for a reliable, secure and very high capacity mobile technology has been identified in order to address activities on the scene of incidence.

Mobile Robotics

Another area of interest in this field is mobile robotics. This is also a subject of active study in both the public safety and military sectors, and is also depending upon the application of a highly reliable and broadband wireless technology.

Robots designed in both micro and macro scale may be used to assist in the rescue of people from hazardous areas, to provide for automated inspection of non-accessible areas, to offer the safe and swift clearing of land mines and to assist in the difficult process of resolving terrorist actions.

Broadband satellite constellations interconnection

Interconnection to one or more of the planned broadband satellite constellations is also being considered by MESA in order to ensure a stable communication path from remote areas where terrestrial infrastructures may be seized during natural disasters.

To be able to communicate, it is crucial that both people and various types of terminals understand each other.

Standards exist to ensure this!

MESA work phases

The work of MESA will be arranged in phases.

First, one common MESA Statement of Requirements (SoR) for Public Safety will be elaborated and adopted covering a harmonized view of Applications and Services that have to be based on a very high bit-rate mobile platform.

Then MESA will, in response to the MESA SoR, elaborate, approve and maintain the necessary set of Technical Specifications and Technical Reports for the first phase of a Mobile Broadband System:

Mobile Layer 1 (PHY) supporting bit-rates above 2 MBPS
MESA Core Network Based on the IP v 6 and v 4 and ATM Port access.
Mobile Link Entity (MLE) and ad hoc networking capabilities of self-healing wireless infrastructure nodes are integral parts of a MESA Core Network.
Terminals for access to the above
System and service aspects