A national broadband network for first responders would have to be resilient, available, reliable, secure and affordable, says the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

In a Sept. 12 Federal Register notice, it asks for comment on whether that's possible with today's commercial technology, or could become possible in the short term. The notice says responses will be help determine research and development priorities in anticipation of a $3 billion Wireless Innovation Fund, of which $500 million would be devoted specifically to R&D for the public safety broadband network.

Whether Congress will grant a $3 billion allocation for a WIN Fund is doubtful, however; in the American Jobs Act proposal (.pdf) President Barack Obama sent to Congress Sept. 8, the White House proposes allocating $300 million total for a WIN Fund, with all of it to go to public safety R&D.

The bill would also assign the D block--a 10 Megahertz swath of spectrum in the 700 MHz band--to public safety, and allocate $6.45 billion to be gained from incentive auctions of spectrum to build out the network. In addition, the bill would create a $1 billion fund to support voluntary relinquishment of spectrum for incentive auctions by private sector organizations, and a $200 million grant program for state, local and tribal jurisdictions to plan for and implement the national broadband network.

Among the network features that NIST says it wants to investigate is a self-organizing network capability and mesh networking, where each network node also acts as a relay for sensor data.

For more:
- go to the Federal Register notice
- download the American Jobs Act proposal (.pdf)

Related Articles:
D block reallocation bill clears Senate committee 
House committees divided over D block reallocation 
White House supports D block reallocation to public safety