Covia Labs to Develop LTE Based Solution to Address Problems of Interoperable Communications

Covia Labs, Inc., a company that develops software platforms to enable secure interoperable communications across a range of diverse devices, including smart phones, proprietary police and fire department radios as well as weapons systems, Has won a major DHS contract.

Under the contract, Covia Labs will deliver solutions for the U.S Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate’s (S&T (News - Alert)) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. SBIR is engaged in researching and developing public safety mobile broadband applications for mission critical voice.

The contract requires Covia to provide the defense department with a solution to address the challenges relating to interoperable communications that often jeopardize military operations during emergencies. David Kahn, CEO of Covia Labs claimed that Covia Labs will work toward providing the best solutions to address these challenges in a timely, economical and comprehensive manner.

In a press release, Covia explained that in delivering the project, it will proceed in a step by step manner. First, by engaging the public safety community, Covia will try to understand the requirements for mission critical interoperable voice communications.

In the next step, Covia will chalk out a plan to deliver the suitable software technology to address the unique requirements. The software will leverage Long Term Evolution (LTE (News - Alert)), existing communications systems, and Covia Labs’ Connector interoperability platform, the officials with Covia revealed in a press release. The solution will use 700 MHz band along with the LTE as a national public safety broadband network to address the inability of public safety personnel from disparate agencies to seamlessly communicate with each other.

The company will also assist DHS to work out a new standardized methodology and application framework to bridge, unify and evolve all the technologies needed to provide the interoperability, features, performance and security required for mission critical mobile voice communication, the company elaborated in the release.

Over the next phases, the software will provide foundation stone for a working system based on LTE, selected commercially available off the shelf (COTS), third-party communications equipment and Land Mobile Radio (LMR) systems. These technologies will allow the seamless integration of mobile voice with text, photos, video messaging, GPS, maps and sensors across a wide range of devices.

Covia was also recently recognized as a “Top Performing Technology” in the assessments of the U.S. Department of Defense’s 2010 Coalition Warrior Interoperability Demonstration (CWID) events that took place in June 2010. At the event, Covia demonstrated its software platform that enables encrypted interoperable communications between a wide array of organizations, devices and equipment.

In December last year, Covia Labs, Inc. won the Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal's 2010 Emerging Technology Award in the security category.