which I doubt as this is one fo the most firmly entrenched, stuck-in-the-old-ways industries I've ever seen....
....Motorola will eventually create an XTS-10000 of some sort. A more capable successor to the XTS-5000.
Just for fun, try to think like Motorola's engineers and design it.
I think:
It will include embedded GPS with automated position reporting as a standard feature.
An enhanced feature will be GPS navigation, including the ability to guide the user to
the location of another radio on the system if its emergency button has been pushed,
or if that user presses the "Find me" button.
It will have at least 64 MB of total memory. Systems/talkgroups capacity will be
in excess of 10,000 talkgroups IF the customer is willing to pay for that option.
It will be available in at least three bands: VHF, UHF, and 700/800 multiband.
Additionally, dual band versions will be available which combine EITHER VHF or UHF
operation with 700/800 operation in the same radio. But an all-band, VHF, UHF,
700/800 version will not be offered as there will be an extremely limited market for
such an item.
It will have an optional camera which can be on the radio housing OR can be part of
the enhanced public safety speaker-mic. This camera will even be steerable, can
be slaved to a head position-tracking sensor so it sees what the officer is looking at,
and can also be remotely steered by a suitably equipped radio or dispatch console.
It will operate on the 4.9 GHz wireless network that is exclusively for public safety use.
It will have a full color, high resolution bit-mapped display. Applications for the display
will include relayed video transmissions from the radios of other officers in surveillance
or emergency situations, and also departmental logos will be displayable when the radio is idle.
Of course, it will be a Phase II-compatible Project 25 trunked and conventional radio, capable
of supporting everything in the current standards and also backward compatible to a certain point.
And of course, it'll support every encryption format worth mentioning, internally, without the need
for additional encryption boards.
And just about everything will be an option or feature you have to PAY for to get it. You'll still be able
to buy the radio in a plain-jane, conventional only version with a flash code of 000000-100000-7,
or whatever that flash code really is in the event that I remembered it wrong.
It will be possible for the radio to be slaved into the system it's programmed for to such an extent
that it would take a trip to the depot to divorce it from that system so it could be re-used after
the agency that first owned it gets rid of it. And by policy, the new owner gets a conventional only
radio afterwards unless he's willing to pay for additional features. A trunked radio goes to surplus,
and comes back from Motorola without trunking. You have to pay to make the radio ALMOST useless,
and pay through the nose to make it REALLY useless.
The CPS will be locked down so hard, it won't even start up on your PC without making a live connection
to the Motorola Central Programming Authorization Computer and authenticating that it's operating on
the computer it was originally authorized to run on, and all other passwords and codes match. Failure
to do so will result in the CPS closing out at best, and calling the FBI at worst. Encryption will be deeply
embedded in the software and it will be for all intents impossible to hack it. Even the codeplugs will be
encrypted, if that option is selected. A more limited conventional only version of the CPS will be
available for non-commercial users but it's also pretty well controlled.
Though I would HOPE that the programming software would be pretty open and "enthusiast-friendly",
I can't presume that this will be the case. I must presume that its security features will at LEAST
equal those of present-day CPS titles. For reference, M/A-Com's current programming software package
is locked down to the point that if you buy the software, you get a very limited number of authorized
installations out of the package, and the software will "phone home" for installation authorization,
which it will get or it won't install. For additional installations, that costs extra. A renewal installation
because of a computer upgrade or a crash will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, but you may have
to mail your old hard drive to M/A-Com for analysis and verification before they give you a "free"
reinstallation. That's TODAY.
Your guesses?
Elroy
