Las Vegas First Responders Lean on AT&T’s FirstNet to Stay Connected During the F1 Race

At the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Las Vegas, Rich Johnson can hear the distant percussive sounds of F1 cars racing through downtown Las Vegas, but he won’t get to see them all weekend. And that suits him.

Although he is in town specifically for the event, his main goal is to ensure that in the event of an emergency, first responders can communicate and coordinate effectively. I spent some time with Johnson, associate director of network disaster recovery at AT&T, to learn more about an important part of race weekend that most people won’t – and shouldn’t have to – think about.

Johnson oversees teams of people and resources strategically positioned around the track and throughout the city as part of FirstNet, the First Responder Network Authority, “a private/public partnership between AT&T and the U.S. government to create, maintain and maintain a national walk-in public safety network,” he explains.

FirstNet operates on Band 14, a band of spectrum dedicated to first responders so they don’t have to fight for a signal if something happens, even in a wireless-rich environment like a Formula 1 race.

“If our primary methods of communication fail, we have backup options we can fall back on,” said Brian O’Neal, Clark County Fire Department deputy fire chief and Clark County emergency manager. “Typically, that involves switching from radio to cellular. When you look at an event like this, where a 3.8-mile train track runs through the middle of the city, the capacity of that system becomes a concern.”

This is where FirstNet comes in, allowing each first responder to communicate with each other on this dedicated spectrum, which is unaffected by any other competing signals.

As I spoke with O’Neal and Johnson, several bright yellow Clark County fire trucks fanned out behind them for deployment throughout the area. Johnson pointed out that when the event takes place, traffic is even worse because it is locked down, making entry and exit extremely difficult.

“All those fire trucks will eventually end up in that footprint before it gets locked,” Johnson said. “And because we’re very involved in public safety, that’s part of the plan. Our staff and equipment are also pre-arranged throughout the footprint.”

One of the pieces of equipment Johnson showed me was a small portable trailer that can be set up by one person. When activated, a process that takes about 30 minutes, it provides about a mile of FirstNet coverage.

It is often towed by a larger response communications vehicle, also parked at the ready and equipped with a 20-foot deployable mast that can provide cellular service to first responders within about a mile radius.

Johnson also took me to the roof of a nearby parking lot, where a portable network tower took up two parking spaces with a nice view of downtown Las Vegas and the race track in the distance. It’s up there in “hot standby” mode as a backup to ensure a consistent flow of communication. If necessary, it can be activated remotely in seconds, using a large dish to communicate with a long-range satellite as a data link.

The unit is unlikely to be used over the weekend, but the commitment to multiple redundant systems is why it’s parked in the same location as last year.

Planning for an event like this takes about six months, Johnson said, although much of it happened in four months this year because this is the third Las Vegas Grand Prix where FirstNet has a presence. Johnson and O’Neal reiterated that the technologies and capabilities of these tools are also used throughout the year for daily operations. They are just increased dramatically for a planned event like this.

Johnson said AT&T has more than 190 assets like these dedicated to FirstNet, with access to more than 750 AT&T assets that they can use exclusively for public safety if necessary.

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