RuggON announced that its rugged 10-inch Android 11 tablet SOL PA501 has earned FirstNet certification.

The designation assures the unit provides interoperability among different first responder organizations, ensuring real-time communications between all frontline agencies on the scene of an emergency.

"When an emergency occurs, responding frontline organizations need immediate real-time coordination with each other," said Tom Wang, RuggON president. "This salient point was driven home by recent events. The RuggON SOL PA501 with powerful wireless FirstNet certification ensures that first responders and critical infrastructure providers can communicate seamlessly, easily obtain firsthand information to maintain situational awareness, and provide enhanced public safety."

The RuggON SOL PA501, with FirstNet's wireless network, provides a reliable vehicle connection to assist command centers in tracking a mobile fleet and improve the efficiency of idling vehicles. It helps identify metrics (such as miles traveled and hours of use), establish a baseline, determines criteria to improve utilization, streamline asset tracking to manage inventory better, and track in-vehicle equipment such as a computer.

With connectivity capabilities – including 802.11 ac with 2X2 MU-MIMO, Bluetooth 5.0, GNSS, and 4G LTE – the SOL PA501 guarantees seamless connection throughout an entire shift. The hot-swappable dual SIM design allows field workers to receive connectivity, reducing downtime, and increasing performance.

Designed for security applications, its 2D barcode reader with optical character recognition (OCR), fingerprint reader, and NFC features assist users in performing accurate and fast biometric capture and identity validation.

The SOL PA501 is fully interoperable with the FirstNet system. Priority and pre-emption are two significant features of FirstNet that give public safety communications priority access to voice, data, and video communication. When commercial networks are congested, first responders are at the front of the lane, giving them access to all lanes during emergencies.