Wireless ship-to-shore video streaming assists Maryland Department of Natural Resources

Tessco recently announced that four years of effort and collaboration with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and with RAD Data Communications have culminated in the implementation of real-time wireless video streaming from police boats monitoring Chesapeake Bay. “This innovative technology effort supports Governor O’Malley’s extensive programs to protect the Chesapeake,” Tessco said when announcing the capability.

“After four years of planning and product testing, Tessco, partnering with the IT staff of the DNR’s Natural Resource Police and RAD Data Communications, based in Mahwah, NJ, delivered a solution using RAD’s Airmux Mobility system to achieve over 4-Mbit/sec throughput per boat while traveling at up to 20 knots over distances of up to seven miles,” Tessco also said.

“The need for live video streaming from police boats is crucial,” it continued. “One hundred forty vessels cover the Chesapeake Bay’s 64,000 square miles, and their responsibilities include, among others, homeland-security operations, search-and-rescue teams, emergency medical services, education, information and communication services on a 24/7 basis. Prior to the new application, the video feed from craft-mounted cameras could only be stored locally and downloaded once the boat was docked.”

So far eight towers have been outfitted with the wireless communication system. The application is integrated into the DNR’s Maritime Law Enforcement Information Network—MLEIN.

Tessco’s vice president of solutions development and product management, William Moten, commented, “Tessco’s product managers have been working with DNR for four years to find a complete mobility solution that would result in real-time, uninterrupted streaming video from police boats. We are very proud to work with the Maryland Natural Resource Police and MLEIN to implement an application that will do so much to improve the safety and security of the Chesapeake.”