Motorola says Australia’s public safety agencies have continued to serve on the frontline throughout the nation’s lockdown, and have experienced "extraordinary challenges", from managing safety and physical distancing in the field, to maintaining interoperable communication across state borders during the intense pressure of natural disasters as well as cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure.

As borders and the economy are carefully reopening, Motoroloa has announced the Australian launch of APX NEXT, a next-generation, mission-critical Project 25 (P25) public safety radio with LTE for enhanced communications and secure, data-centric applications.

Dubbed by Motorola as the “smart radio”, it features ViQi, a “first of its kind” public safety virtual assistant that enables users to quickly manage radio controls through simple and intuitive voice commands.

The “highly rugged” smart radio is also built to military standards, is fully submersible and has a touchscreen that can be operated in any weather and while wearing gloves.

Motorola Solutions vice president and managing director for Australia and New Zealand, Con Balaskas, said the purpose-built smart radio is designed to combat the unique challenges posed by Australia’s tough public safety environment.

“Land Mobile Radio (LMR) communication has always been a first responder’s lifeline. That’s never more apparent than when disaster strikes and teams depend on instant, reliable voice communication to safely manage emergency response,” Balaskas said.

“APX NEXT increases both the value and reach of reliable, mission critical communication, providing interoperable access to voice communication as well as essential application services to pinpoint the location of officers in the field, collaborate via multimedia services and help to keep people and communities safe.

“With first responders facing new challenges including the need to maintain safety and social distancing in the field, ViQi enables them to control the radio hands-free using voice commands. This helps to ensure they can protect their focus on what’s happening around them at all times.”

Motorola Solutions says the smart radio is one of the newest mission-critical P25 radio offerings in its purpose-built APX portfolio, and with embedded LTE connectivity, provides a range of application services to increase safety and productivity, with rich data capabilities and extended voice coverage to improve users’ situational awareness in the field.

“APX NEXT was created after more than 2,000 hours of extensive field research and testing with numerous law enforcement agencies,” said Scott Mottonen, Motorola Solutions senior vice president of Products.

“In today’s highly challenging public safety environment, we know that first responders need their technology to deliver reliable communication at all times as well as allow them to work with their eyes up and hands free in any situation.”