BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY

Transcription

1 8E1 BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY PLACEMENT: DEPARTMENTAL PRESET: TITLE: CONSIDERATION FOR PURCHASE OF PUBLIC RADIO SYSTEM AGENDA ITEM DATES: MEETING DATE: 12/8/2015 COMPLETED DATE: 11/26/2015 COUNTY ATTORNEY: 11/16/2015 ASSISTANT COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR: 11/23/2015 REQUESTED BY: DEPARTMENT: PREPARED BY: Name: Kevin Kryzda Information Technology Services Kevin Kryzda, CGCIO,CPTM Name: Procedures: None EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Chief Information Officer Request the Board of County Commissioners consider an agreement to purchase upgrade hardware and installation and configuration services to upgrade the existing Public Safety Radio System which has reached its end of life. APPROVAL: ADM ACA CA BACKGROUND/RELATED STRATEGIC GOAL: 1. Contract Prepared by: Motorola Solutions, Inc. Contract Reviewed by: Martin County of 89

2 Resolution prepared by: Martin County 2. Parties to the Contract: Martin County, Buyer Motorola Solutions, Inc., Vendor 3. Purpose: To upgrade existing hardware and software that is part of the Public Safety Radio System. 4. New/Renewal/Modified: New 5. Duration: 10 Years 6. Benefits to Martin County: The upgrade software, hardware and services will replace existing software that reached end of life 3 years ago and stopped being supported last years. These upgrades will bring the aging system to current standards and make it ready to support the First Responders for the next 10 years. 7. Cost to Martin County: Lease/Purchase contract not to exceed $5,500,000 The current Public Safety Radio System was purchased in 2001 and went into service in December The system was comprised of two distinct parts; Infrastructure (Towers, related equipment in shelters for each of the towers, and master radio control equipment) and; Subscriber equipment (mobile radios in patrol cars, ambulances, fire trucks, school buses, and the like) and hand held radios (carried by Law Enforcement Officers, Fire Fighters and Emergency Medical Technicians, and other non-life safety personnel). When it was purchased, the system life expectancy was planned to be years. The variation in life expectancy had more to do with the uncertainty in the evolution of technology and the regulatory environment than anything else. In fact, during this period, a new standard for interoperability was developed and many of the systems that were installed in this time period have had to migrated to that new standard in order to be able to operate. Some of the equipment that was purchased reached it s end of life at different stages. Among these are the Radio Consoles; part of the Infrastructure equipment, which are installed at Dispatch Centers from which dispatch personnel can listen to and control Public Safety Radio transmissions and record those transmissions which can later become evidence in legal proceedings. Other equipment that reached its end of life are the Mobile Radios in the various vehicles. These radios are not capable of being upgraded and need to be replaced as they will not support the new interoperability standard. Planning for the upgrade has been ongoing for more than two years. One of the elements of the plan is being able to secure grant funding when it is available. However, as of the event of 9/11/2001, granting agencies have moved towards granting to larger, regional systems as one strategy to improve interoperability and communications across larger regions. Towards that end, staff has been working with St. Lucie County to develop a Regional Public Safety Radio System. To improve the likelihood of being awarded grand monies when, or if, they become available. Another advantage of regional system is that there is common equipment that can be shared, rather than each buying their own, which saves costs in a final system configuration. There is a lot of inter agency cooperation between Martin and St. Lucie Counties already so this strategy is not a whole new concept among these two counties of 89

3 Lastly there are radio coverage needs that both counties have near the common border that a regional radio system can improve, or even eliminate. In working with Motorola to obtain pricing for the upgrades, staff has retained Mark Pallans, a consultant that the county used in the implementation and testing of the existing system and has assisted several communities around the country and specifically in Florida. This consultant has advised that the most effective, efficient and least expensive path to make the existing system compliant with the new standards is to upgrade the Infrastructure components of the system and continue to use the majority of the subscriber equipment (mobile and handheld radios) that are capable of operating in the new standard. The plan to upgrade sooner was delayed somewhat with a change in administration in St. Lucie County and was expected to begin implementation in the first quarter of However, Motorola has offered financial incentives to close the deal that are very attractive and thus, staff brings this item forward for the Board to consider. ISSUES: A copy of the Contract and a discussion of any outstanding issues will be provided via Supplemental Memo. Acquisition will be through a lease/purchase agreement which will come back to the Board on December 15, LEGAL SUFFICIENCY REVIEW: This item has not been reviewed for legal sufficiency. RECOMMENDED ACTION: RECOMMENDATION a) Move that the Board approve moving forward with the purchase and contract with Motorola Solutions, Inc. b) Move that the Board approve a Budget Transfer from Reserves totaling $2,500,000 from the General and Other County Capital Projects funds as the County s initial contribution to fund this upgrade. ALTERNATIVE RECOMMENDATIONS None FISCAL IMPACT: RECOMMENDATION of 89

4 The County has been allocating monies for this replacement system for the past several years. There is currently $2.5M that has accumulated for the radio system replacement. A transfer from reserves, where the funds have remained is necessary to allocate the funds accordingly. Funding Source County Funds Non-County Funds Authorization General Fund $1,108,000 Other County Capital $1,392,000 Projects $4,500,000 Subtotal $2,500,000 $4,500,000 Project Total $7,000,000 ALTERNATIVE RECOMMENDATIONS None DOCUMENT(S) REQUIRING ACTION: X Budget Transfer / Amendment Chair Letter X Contract / Agreement Grant / Application Notice Ordinance X Resolution Other: ROUTING: X ADM _ BLD _ CDD _ COM _ ENG _ FRD Choose an item. GMD _ GSD _ ITS _ LIB _ MCA _ MPO _ PRD _ USD X CA X ACA X LEG of 89

5 BCC MEETING DATE: December 8, 2015 AGENDA ITEM: 8E1 TO: VIA: FROM: MARTIN COUNTY, FLORIDA SUPPLEMENTAL MEMORANDUM Honorable Members of the Board DATE: December 1, 2015 of County Commissioners Taryn Kryzda County Administrator Kevin Kryzda, Chief Information Officer REF: SUBJECT: CONSIDERATION FOR PURCHASE OF PUBLIC RADIO SYSTEM Final documents for the upgrade of Martin County s Public Safety Radio system are not yet available. Due diligence continues in the process of vetting proposed contract, procurement and lease documents which need further review by the County Attorney and Bond Counsel and staff. Staff continues to work jointly with St. Lucie County in negotiating a best and final offer, equipment and configuration as well as developing a final implementation and project plan from Motorola for the regional system installation. An Interlocal Agreement between Martin County and St. Lucie County to set forth the cost sharing and implementation of a regional radio system is being prepared. In addition, an Interlocal Agreement that will describe the day to day operations of a combined radio system and a governance structure to guide staff in the various aspects of daily operations, management and system configuration between the various user groups will be prepared and presented for Board consideration at a later date. In working with Motorola Solutions, Inc. to obtain pricing for the upgrades, staff retained Mark Pallans, Pallans and Associates, Inc., a consultant that the county used in the implementation and testing of the existing system and has assisted several communities around the country and specifically in Florida. This consultant has evaluated and concluded that the most effective, efficient and least expensive path to make the existing system compliant with the new standards is to upgrade the Infrastructure components of the system and continue to use the majority of the subscriber equipment (mobile and handheld radios) that are capable of operating in the new standard. Mr. Pallans provided a report with the details of the evaluation and recommendations in a report in November or 2013 and recently updated to reflect current pricing from Motorola Solutions, Inc. Mr. Pallans was also asked to provide a summary of benefits to a regional system which are provided as part of this memorandum. Staff had hoped that all the tasks related to leasing, procurement and other contracts would have been completed already and continues to work to completed these in order to take advantage of Motorola purchasing incentives that will expire at the end of December. In order to take advantage of these, final documents need to be signed by December 20 in order for equipment to be tested, accepted and shipped by December 31, Therefore, staff respectfully offers revised recommendations as follows: RECOMMENDATION a) Move that the Board direct staff to continue contract, lease and purchase reviews of Motorola Solutions, Inc. offer; and b) Move that the Board direct staff to bring back final documents for approval at the Board meeting of December 15, 2015; and Page 1 of 2 its2016m5 SUPPLEMENTAL.docx 5 of 89

6 BCC MEETING DATE: December 8, 2015 AGENDA ITEM: 8E1 Reviewed by County Attorney s Office TK/kk Page 2 of 2 its2016m5 SUPPLEMENTAL.docx 6 of 89

7 Radio Communication System Assessment and Recommendations for the Future Radio System of Martin County Pallans Associates Communications Consultants 7753 Lily Trotter Street North Las Vegas, NV of 89

8 Goal Perform an assessment of the County s existing Motorola Smartzone 800 MHz trunked radio system. The goal is to provide recommendations for the future growth of the County s communication system and a migration strategy to implement the recommended system. 8 of 89

9 Existing system coverage Yellow good coverage Blue minimal to no coverage Need improvement in northeast corner of County northwest county North central County 9 of 89

10 Need For Interoperability St. Lucie County is an important interoperability partner 10 of 89

11 Benefits of Joining With St. Lucie County Inherent interoperability between users via shared talkgroups Common system controllers will reduce cost by eliminating duplication Coverage from sites in the adjacent county will reduce the need for sites Economy of scale will reduce system implementation costs, engineering and design costs and installation costs Maintenance costs will be greatly reduced Population centers of both counties get better coverage and system reliability 11 of 89

12 Recommendations Martin County should replace its ageing radio system with a new trunked system using P25 technology The new system should be a phased in approach using Motorola technology The procurement should be a sole source purchase The County should work with St. Lucie County to share technology and facilities to reduce costs Additional sites should be utilized, first in eastern St. Lucie County to eliminate poor coverage areas in the northeastern portion of Martin County, then in the far west to improve coverage in the rural areas. Site costs can be shared with St. Lucie County. 12 of 89

13 Cost Sharing Savings Shared Master Site hardware and backup controllers savings ~ $1,200,000 Shared site facilities savings ~ $300,000 Infrastructure maintenance savings ~ $1,000,000 over 15 year life expectancy Increase in redundancy, reliability and public safety agency support PRICELESS 13 of 89

14 PALLANS ASSOCIATES COMMUNICATION CONSULTANTS Radio Communication System Assessment and Recommendations for the Future Radio System of Martin County PALLANS ASSOCIATES Communications Consultants 7753 Lily Trotter Street North Las Vegas, NV of 89

15 Recommendations Martin County, Florida TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Vehicle Repeaters 16 Methodology 1 P25 17 Analysis of Documentation 1 Broadband LTE 19 Initial Propagation Study 1 System Management 23 Kickoff Meeting 1 Logging Recorders 23 User Interviews 2 Alternate Site Analysis 24 Site Visits 2 System Life Cycle 24 FCC License Review 3 Recommendations 25 Analysis of user Surveys 3 Dispatch Centers 25 Assessment Coverage 26 Findings Additional Radio Sites 26 General 4 Interoperability 26 Existing Radio Systems 5 Fire Department Paging 27 Radio Sites 5 System Recommendation 27 Dispatch Centers 6 Options for Martin County 28 User Departments 6 Geographic Concerns 29 Existing System Coverage 6 Existing Systems 31 Radio Equipment 8 Current Inter-county Requirements 31 FCC Licenses 8 Technology Issues 32 Analysis Impact of Changes on Users 33 Radio System Coverage 10 Shared Facilities and Costs 33 Radio System Capacity 12 ISSI Usage 35 Interoperability 13 Budgetary Cost Estimate 35 Available Technologies 15 Joint Procurement Pricing 37 Trunking 15 Procurement and Implementation 39 Satellite Receivers/ Voters 16 Summary of Recommendations 39 Bi-Directional Amplifiers 16 A B C D E APPENDICES Radio Licenses User Survey Summary Existing Radio System Coverage Trunked System Talkgroups Site Frequencies 15 of 89

16 Recommendations Martin County, Florida INTRODUCTION Martin County contracted with Pallans Associates to perform an assessment of the County s existing Motorola Smartzone 800 MHz trunked radio system. The assessment consists of an analysis of the existing systems from both technical and operational aspects. It provides an evaluation of the current interoperability between agencies and communities. The goal is to provide recommendations for the future growth of the County s communication system and a migration strategy to implement the recommended system. Methodology Analysis of Support Documentation Prior to attending the kickoff meeting Pallans Associates compiled available data regarding the radio systems of Martin County by accessing Federal Communication Commission databases and analyzing the radio licenses of the County. Additionally the local interoperability needs were considered as were the requirements of the Florida Region 800 MHz Plan and the Florida State Interoperability Region 5 Plan. Initial Propagation Study Utilizing data available from the County s radio licenses mathematical models were developed to depict the probable radio wave propagation that Pallans Associates could expect from the existing trunked radio system. These models take into consideration the transmitter locations, antenna elevations, power and frequency of the transmitters. Factors are included for the type of terrain as well as estimates of local building densities. These studies will be referenced when considering the required radio coverage of a new radio system. Kickoff Meeting On September 23, 2013 a meeting was held with the County s Radio System Manager, the County s Chief Information officer and radio system technical staff. The purpose of the meeting was to introduce Pallans Associates to the radio system users of Martin County. The topics discussed included how Pallans Associates would approach the goals of the County with respect to assessing all of the County s communications capabilities, assure that FCC requirements are met with respect to equipment and licensing and making recommendations as to what should be done to improve communications to assure that future growth and performance requirements are met. As part of the meeting site visits were scheduled for September 24, Additional meetings with adjacent St. Lucie County were also scheduled for that date. Martin County 1 16 of 89

17 Pallans Associates confirmed that the desired deliverables for this project includes; An analysis of current capabilities A needs assessment for future communications A recommendation for future communications including cost estimates Verification that the existing systems meet all federal, state and local requirements Radio user surveys had been previously prepared and distributed to agencies that use the radio system. These include; Martin County Sheriff s Office Martin County Fire Rescue Department Martin County Utilities Martin County Public Works Department City of Stuart Jupiter Island Sewall s Point In order to accomplish this project Pallans Associates has undertaken the following tasks. User Interviews During the kickoff meeting Pallans Associates discussed the current status of the County s communication systems with the participants. This was done in order to get their ideas and to assure that they would complete the user surveys that had been previously distributed. The questions asked by the survey were designed to stimulate their involvement with the project and to elicit valid responses to the questions in the survey. The discussion topics were designed to identify key operational and performance needs of the user community and to determine how well the current system meets these needs. The users in attendance provided insightful and valuable feedback for use in planning the future public safety radio network of Martin County. Existing Systems Review Site Visits Pallans Associates visited three of the radio sites listed in FCC licenses issued to Martin County. These visits took place following the kickoff meeting on September 24, Some of these sites are dedicated radio County sites and others are shared facilities with other users radio equipment. The Sites listed in Table 1 are those sites that house primary communications equipment. Martin County 2 17 of 89

18 TABLE 1 PRIMARY RADIO SITES Site Name Site Address Usage South Fork SW Pratt Whitney Road, Mutual aid, 700 MHz, backup Coral Gardens WMBX 3350 Bridge Road, Hobe Sound Trunking ATT SW Farm Road, Indiantown Trunking EOC Tower 6000 SE Tower Dr., Port Salerno Trunking Monterey 800 SE Monterey Road, Stuart Trunking Site visits are an integral part of the assessment process. Radio equipment is inspected as are towers, antennas, cabling, grounding and emergency power. These inspections assist in determining which equipment must be upgraded or replaced. If system expansions are recommended the inspections provide data on how much space is available in the facilities and how additional antennas may be installed. FCC License review Pallans Associates has access to all of the Federal Communication Commission license databases. The licenses are reviewed and any discrepancies between the licenses and the actual sites and systems are noted. As part of this process Pallans Associates will provide update information related to the County s licenses when necessary for accuracy and to prevent any possible violations of FCC Rules. Analysis of User Surveys The user survey is the most important tool that Pallans Associates uses. Not only does it provide information describing the actual equipment in use but it also gets the opinions of the users relevant to the existing systems and where they would like to focus future implementations or upgrades. Analysis of the surveys takes an in-depth look at such issues as; System coverage System capabilities Interference Interoperability needs and capabilities Existing hardware The analysis provides significant insight when making recommendations for the future relating to technology, frequencies and standards. Martin County 3 18 of 89

19 FINDINGS General Martin County is located in south central Florida. It encompasses approximately 753 square miles, of which 555 are land and the balance is water. The population is approximately 148,000. The County has four incorporated towns and nine other population centers. Table 2 Population Centers Incorporated Towns Stuart Jupiter Island Ocean Breeze Park Sewall s Point Population Centers Hobe Sound Hutchinson Island (part in St. Lucie County) Indiantown Jensen Beach North River Shores Palm City Port Salerno Rio Port Mayaca The City of Stuart is the largest population center in the County. The County lies adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean on the east and Lake Okeechobee on the west. It is traversed by both the Florida Turnpike and Interstate Highway 95, the largest capacity roadways in Florida. See FIGURE 1. FIGURE 1 Martin County Map Martin County 4 19 of 89

20 Existing Radio System The current radio system of Martin County is a Motorola 800 MHz trunked radio system utilizing Motorola s SmartZone technology. It utilizes four sites throughout the County in a simulcast configuration. Simulcast provides spectrally efficient performance by using the same frequencies at each site. When a user transmits from his/her radio it is received by the nearest site and then rebroadcast on all four sites so anyone in the County can hear the transmission. Each County department operates on its own talkgroups so only the users of that department can hear the transmissions. Additional talkgroups are utilized for interdepartmental operation. Simplex transmissions or direct unit to unit transmissions may be used when units are in tactical operations such as on the scene of fires, rescue operations or actions of a localized nature. Radio Sites The locations for all of the primary radio sites are listed in Table 3. A description of the facilities is shown in Table 4. Locations of end-user base stations, even if licensed separately are not shown in these tables since their locations would not be used for system enhancements. TABLE 3 RADIO SITE LOCATIONS Site Name Address Site Owner Monterrey Road 800 SE Monterrey Road. Stuart County Tower EOC Tower 6000 SE Tower Dr., Port Salerno County Tower WMBX 3350 Bridge Road, Hobe Sound WMBX Tower ATT Tower SW Farm Road, Indiantown ATT Tower South Fork SW Pratt Whitney Road County Tower Type of Antenna Support TABLE 4 FACILITY DESCRIPTIONS Site Name Type of Shelter HVAC Backup Power Additional Space Yes No Yes No Yes No Monterrey Road Equipment Building / / / EOC Tower Inside Prime Site / / / WMBX Equipment Building / / / ATT Tower Equipment Building / / / South Fork Inside building / / / Martin County 5 20 of 89

21 Dispatch Centers Dispatch and 911 operations take place from the Sheriff s Department Dispatch Center, located adjacent to the Monterey radio site. There are 6 dispatch consoles at that location. There is an additional console at the radio shop. 911 services are primarily provided by the Sheriff s Office with two secondary Public Safety Answering Points (PSAP s) located in the EOC in Stuart and at the Jupiter Island Public Safety facility. The City of Stuart dispatches its Police from two consoles at their headquarters. The County Fire Rescue Department operates four radio consoles for dispatch of fire and EMS for both the County and cities. There are two backup consoles for Sheriff and Fire at the Data Recovery Center (DRC) at 6000 SE Tower Drive. User Departments All of the County s departments rely on the existing trunked radio system for voice communications. The County s Utility Department has a network of telemetry radios which are operating on the trunked network. Their use is related to water and sewer data to monitor flow and storage. Existing system coverage Radio coverage in Martin County is relatively good. The challenges to good communications relate to terrain, foliage, transmitter and receiver locations and, when in the County population centers, the density of buildings and other structures. Modeling the mobile coverage indicates that within the County the coverage is satisfactory for both police and fire services Good mobile coverage, with a few exceptions extends to the majority of the populated areas of the County. Portable radio coverage is limited by the power of the portable radio units and is relatively good in the urban areas of the County. There are several areas along US 1 north of the St. Lucie River that have limited coverage and poor in building coverage. This may be due, in part, to the height of the Roosevelt Bridge which crosses the River. Motorola recently tested coverage north of the River based on comments from the Sheriff s Office. They did find weak signal areas. Due to the rural nature of much of the County portable radio performance is lacking when more than approximately 4 miles from a radio site. Mobile coverage is acceptable. When developing a recommendation for the future, enhancements to coverage will be considered. The coverage maps also indicate signal strength issues in Jensen Beach and a small area near Hobe Sound. These have been confirmed by user reports. Martin County 6 21 of 89

22 The map in Figure 2 shows the modeled mobile coverage of the existing radio system. The yellow area indicates coverage that extends from good to marginal. The blue areas and beyond the circle indicates weak to no coverage. This prediction map concurs with information provided in the user surveys. Appendix C illustrates the existing radio system coverage for public safety based upon actual site information and technical data. Maps are included for mobile and portable coverage. Portable coverage is for both outdoors and indoors. FIGURE 2 - Mobile Radio Coverage (Existing) Martin County 7 22 of 89

23 FCC Licenses Martin County has multiple FCC license for its radio systems and equipment. All of the licenses are described in this section. Several of them are not for public safety or local government communications but are listed for reference. The County s current licenses are listed in Table 5. Copies of all of the FCC licenses are included in Appendix A. TABLE 5- FCC LICENSES Call Sign WPXP545 WPMI982 WQEB742 WQN339 WPCF892 KDO232 Usage This is the County s primary trunked radio license for all of the trunking frequencies. This license is for the backup repeaters to the trunking system located at the South Fork site. This license is for the nationwide interoperability channels located at the South Fork site. This license is for the Florida Region 5 Mutual Aid Interoperable Communications System located at the South Fork site. This license is for mutual aid channels located at the trunking radio sites. VHF license for multiple frequencies. Primarily used for fire paging and F/R voice on VHF Radio Equipment Site Equipment The radio infrastructure of the Martin County Motorola radio system consists primarily of the Motorola Quantar series repeaters. These units are considered as obsolete by Motorola and they announced an end of support for this series in The balance of the infrastructure, including the computers that control most of the radio system functions are also at their end of life. None of the present infrastructure will support new technology communication systems. The existing Gold Elite radio consoles in use by all agencies are also at their end of life and, like the infrastructure, will not support new technology operation. Subscriber Inventories User radio equipment is generally referred to as subscriber units and may consist of base stations, mobile radio or handheld portable radios. Martin County Radio Services Department maintains an inventory of all radios on the system. This includes non-county users such as the City of Stuart, federal agencies and adjacent counties. This is done in order to validate the ID numbers of the units. The trunking system allows access based on an embedded ID number in each radio. If that ID is Martin County 8 23 of 89

24 not in the database the radio system will not allow access. The actual subscriber unit inventory for County owned and operated radios is approximately 2117 radios including handheld units (portables), mobiles and base stations. Table 6 lists the approximate quantities of each model radio. All subscriber units are Motorola radios. TABLE 6 Radio Inventory Model Portable, Mobile or Base Station Quantity MCS2000 Mobile or control station 5 XTL2500 SCADA mobile 410 XTL2500 mobile 279 XTL5000 Mobile or control station 10 MTS2000 Portable 38 MT1500 Mobile 8 XTS1500 Portable 5 XTS2500 Portable 608 XTS5000 Portable 246 APX series Portable 4 Consolette Base Station 3 Astro Spectra Mobile 506** LCS2000 Mobile 1 Not identified Mobiles and portables 296 Total Subscribers 2419 ** Not upgradeable to P25 The not Identified radios do not have complete information in the inventory database. The majority are likely to be upgradable to P25 Martin County 9 24 of 89

25 ANALYSIS Radio System Coverage Radio system coverage is affected by many variables. System range is of paramount importance and therefore the transmit power of a radio is a major issue, as is the sensitivity of the radio s receiver. Mobile radios transmit a much higher signal level than portable radios. A typical mobile is from 25 to 50 watts while a portable transmits in the order of four to five watts. Repeaters and satellite receivers are used to enhance the range of these radios. When operating in an urban environment the next consideration is the density of buildings. For effective public safety communications it is necessary to have radio equipment that performs inside of structures, especially for fire communications. When operating in rural environments radios are greatly affected by terrain and foliage. The evaluation of coverage is considered for both mobile unit range and portable operations both indoors and outdoors. Developing predictions for radio cover includes the factors described above as well as the radio specifications, the antenna location on a vehicle for mobiles and where a portable is operating from (e.g. belt or handheld). Mobile radios typically perform better than portable radios because their antennas are higher, there is less loss due to nearby obstructions and their receivers are designed for higher sensitivity. Portable radio suffers from losses due to their short antennas, closeness to the body and lower power in the transmitters. If a portable radio is worn on the belt its transmissions and reception are affected by the shielding effects of the user s body When operating a portable radio inside a building the signals are severely compromised by the structure. Wood, brick and metal all cause reductions in signal levels, both transmitting and receiving. As would be imagined, a metal structure creates much more signal reduction than does a wooden building. When calculating radio system performance it is typical to estimate the losses created by buildings. The densities of structures are considered as part of the mathematical modeling of radio coverage. The typical considerations for buildings are described in Table 7. TABLE 7 Building Densities Building Density Type of Structure Typical Loss Light Single story wood residential 6-9 db Medium Multistory wood or brick, metal studs, Strip type commercial centers db Heavy Commercial CBS buildings, > 15 db metal warehouse structures, large shopping centers Martin County of 89

26 For every 3 db of loss, the signal is reduced by 50%. The actual losses created by buildings are difficult to quantify because of the many factors that degrade radio signals. Even glass windows can inhibit signals if they are made with internal tinting which can be metallic in nature. Coverage in Martin County Most of the radio users in the County reported good radio coverage except when in buildings. Some respondents to the Radio Survey commented that radio coverage is lacking in the more rural areas and into the County. The problems relate more to interoperability than to the required coverage. Users have reported problems while inside specific buildings. These are generally the higher density commercial structures. Outside of the urban area there is a reduction in performance due primarily to the distance from the radio system repeaters and the foliage in the area. In building coverage while on the scene of fires is a concern of the Fire Department. Fire ground communications must take place between the on-scene firefighters. If firefighters are inside a building that interferes with communications to those outside the structure there is a life safety issue that should be addressed. All fire communications in Martin County takes place through the radio system. Units on the scene of an event speak into their radios which then are received by the system and retransmitted to all users. If a unit cannot be heard by the system those transmissions will not be heard by the other on scene units. Based on survey results this has not been an issue. Fortunately, the acceptable performance of the current system in the areas of high building density has not compromised safety to any significant degree in the past. Police communications are, for the most part, of good quality. This same issue of building density arises when police officers must enter buildings in shopping centers or multistory commercial structures. There have been specific locations identified as needing improvements in in-building coverage. These include the Jupiter Island public safety building, Sewall s Point Town Hall and within the County Courthouse. Outdoor issues have been identified in the rural areas and along the beachfront near Hobe Sound and on A1A and north Ocean Boulevard. These areas are actually on the fringes of the coverage area. When comparing the quality of radio transmissions radio specialists use a value developed as part of a radio performance standard known as TSB-88. The measurement is called Delivered Audio Quality or DAQ. This is a subjective Martin County of 89

27 measurement made by actually listening to a voice transmission and rating it. The values of DAQ are shown in Table 8. TABLE 8 - Delivered Audio Quality DAQ Description 1 Unusable; speech present but unreadable Understandable with considerable effort. Frequent repetition 2 needed due to noise or distortion Speech understandable with slight effort. Occasional 3 repetition needed due to noise or distortion Speech understandable with repetition only rarely required. 3.4 Some noise or distortion 4 Speech easily understood. Occasional noise or distortion 4.5 Speech easily understood. Infrequent noise or distortion 5 Speech easily understood A DAQ level of 3.4 is considered as the minimum acceptable value for public safety users. The terrain of Florida is relatively flat and the forestation is not great. The coverage of the County s radio systems is primarily limited by distance from the transmitters. Coverage issues should be expected on the fringes of the coverage area. CAPACITY The capacity of a radio system references the system s ability to accommodate all users. A system reaches its capacity limits when users frequently cannot get into the system (talk to dispatchers or other users) due to too many other users actively transmitting. When the Federal Communication Commission reviews applications for radio licenses they consider 70 users per conventional channel, or 100 users per trunked channel as the determining factor for the number of channels an applicant needs. That figure is based normal radio traffic and normal transmit and receive intervals. During an emergency or other event creating a need for many users to access the radio system the 70 or 100 users per channel guideline is of no value. In a conventional radio system, only one person can speak at a time on any one channel. In a trunking system the availability of channels is based upon the number of channels in the system, the number of users and the average talking time of each user. Trunking allows many more users to operate without interfering with each other. The other limiting factor is the number of discrete functions assigned to the radio system. For example, a fire department typically has a dispatch channel, a tactical channel and one or more fire ground channels. Fire ground channels are those channels dedicated for use at the scene of a fire. Even a trunking system is limited by the number of active talkgroups and the number of dispatchers. One Martin County of 89

28 dispatcher can still only talk to one user no matter how many channels or talkgroups are available. When designing a radio system there are several scenarios that should be considered as they affect the effective operation of the system. These factors are described in Table 9. TABLE 9 - Types of Radio Traffic Type of Traffic Daily normal traffic Busy hour traffic Special events Emergencies or disasters Description the routine daily operation of the system operations during those times when traffic can be expected to be higher such as evenings and weekends for police activities where extra communications are anticipated due to the nature of the event The occasions require an increase in capacity in order to assure communications between agencies and between outside responders who arrive to assist. While fire-ground operations are considered as normal traffic, multiple fires become communication emergencies if there are not enough channels for the extra communications required by the multiple events. A wildfire scenario, where multiple agencies have responded, likewise causes a communications emergency if not enough channels or talkgroups are available. Ideally a system should be designed to be capable of carrying the traffic that occurs in the worst case scenario. Unfortunately this is not always possible. If emergency situations were the prime consideration when designing for the capacity of a radio system, many more channels would be needed. Alternatively, more advanced technologies such as trunking are employed. Reality suggests that design considerations take into account the economic impact of the radio system design on the community as well as the operational needs. Capacity is not an issue on the Martin County radio system. According to user reports there are very few busy signals when attempting to access the radio system. INTEROPERABILITY The events of 9-11 demonstrated the significance of interoperability, or the ability for disparate agencies to communicate directly together. The Department of Homeland Security has created an Interoperability Continuum to be used as a planning tool when developing interoperable communications. The Florida State Communications Interoperability Plan (SCIP) was developed subsequent to the events of September 11, Like all other states Florida Martin County of 89

29 developed its interoperability plan based upon the Department of Homeland Security s SAFECOM plan, which defines interoperability as; the ability of emergency responders to work seamlessly with other systems or products without any special effort. Wireless communications interoperability specifically refers to the ability of emergency response officials to share information via voice and data signals on demand, in real time, when needed, and as authorized. For example, when communications systems are interoperable, police and firefighters responding to a routine incident can talk to each other to coordinate efforts. Communications interoperability also makes it possible for emergency response agencies responding to catastrophic accidents or disasters to work effectively together. Finally, it allows emergency response personnel to maximize resources in planning for major predictable events or for disaster relief and recovery efforts. The Department of Homeland Security has created an Interoperability Continuum, as shown in Figure 3 to be used as a planning tool when developing interoperable communications. When reviewing the Continuum it is clear that, at even the lowest level of interoperability, some form of inter-agency communication is required. The optimum level of interoperability will occur only when all of the participants share common systems, equipment and procedures. The Continuum starts on its left and considers the five operational needs for interoperability; Governance, Standard Operating Procedures, Technology, Training and Usage. At the left edge is minimal interoperability. At the right is total interoperability that is virtually automatic between agencies. The State of Florida, through its State Interoperability Executive Committee (SIEC) has a detailed plan for statewide interoperability. Martin County participates with the State through the Regional Domestic Security Task Force (RDSTF) plan. This plan divides the State into a number of regions. Martin County is part of Region 5 of the State RDSTF. Through grant money, the 700 MHz radio system of Lake County has provided interoperability for Martin County by placing a site of its 700 MHz radio system in Martin County. This provides The County with region wide and statewide capabilities. The Martin County of 89

30 system in Lake County is linked to the State s SLERS radio system. In the future, if the County selects P25 as its technology, the Martin County site could be linked directly into the RDSTF radio system through the site already located in the County. This would allow radio users anywhere in the state access to the Martin County radio system via 700 MHz radios. Figure 3 SAFECOM Interoperability Continuum AVAILABLE TECHNOLOGIES Radio systems can be designed in different configurations. For public safety the choices are generally conventional or trunked. Conventional technology requires each user to have its own radio frequency. The means that every defined communications function requires a discrete channel and it is very inefficient when trying to access the system. Martin County currently operates an 800 MHz trunked radio system. Trunking allows users to share a single system with multiple frequencies and not interfere with each other. It is spectrally efficient and allows the users to provide many more features Trunking Trunking technology is used in many radio systems to provide for two major factors. Martin County of 89

31 In areas where there are many radio users trunking allows access to the radio system with minimum delays or busy signals. When users require many channels trunking provides a spectrum efficient method to allow multiple users to have simultaneous access to a radio system. The technology of trunking on radio systems is identical to how telephone systems operate. Simply put, in a trunked system there are no assigned channels. When a user wants to transmit the network itself will identify the user, select a channel, or talk group as it is called in trunking, and place all other users of that talk group on that same channel. Multiple sites and Simulcasting Many radio systems have infrastructures that are capable of transmitting over great ranges and to penetrate buildings. The user radios are lower in power than the radios used in the system infrastructure and sometimes cannot transmit back to the base stations or repeaters due to their weak signals. In the case of Martin County, the radio system has four sites that simulcast transmissions throughout the County. Each of them contains fourteen trunked channels. A radio user, anywhere in the County can access one or more of the radio sites. When that radio s signal accesses the system it can then be heard anywhere in Martin County. Simulcasting means that the radio signal is retransmitted from all sites and any user can hear the appropriate transmissions from anywhere in the County. Bi-Directional Amplifiers (BDA) A bi-directional amplifier is a device installed at the site of poor transmissions and reception such as inside a shopping mall. There is an antenna, usually directional, outside the structure that points to the repeater site. Inside the structure there is an antenna, or several antennas spread out through the building. Repeater signals are received by the BDA from outside and retransmitted inside the building on the same frequency to user radios. When the user radio transmits its signal is received by the BDA inside the building and retransmitted to the external antenna back to the repeater. BDA s will work with virtually any technology and on VHF, UHF or 800 MHz. The operation of a BDA is transparent to the user. Vehicular Repeaters (VR) Vehicular repeaters are transmit-receive devices similar to BDA s except they are meant to be used on the scene of events and are installed in agency vehicles. These devices allow low powered portable radios on the scene to communicate with other units or the dispatch center from greater distances. They give the portable radio the same range as a mobile radio. Martin County of 89

32 More importantly, especially in the fire service, the ability to have a communications link between the dispatch center and the scene of an event is critical to the safety of the first responder. If a radio is used in the conventional mode while on scene it cannot be heard by the dispatch center. The VR provides this capability. When a police officer leaves his vehicle while in a remote, area his handheld radio may not work due to the distance from the radio system prime site. He is isolated from assistance should it be needed. Having a VR in the police vehicle provides the ability to maintain communications while out of the unit. P25 P25 is the first standard addressing the technology used by a radio system. For many years the Federal Communication Commission hesitated on creating technical standards and only applied operational standards to their rules. APCO, the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials, urged the communications industry to develop a standard that could be utilized by public safety agencies in order to uniform standard for all public safety equipment. The result was the establishment of the Telecommunication Industry Association s P25 standard. The salient feature of P25 radios is that they operate in digital mode rather than analog mode. The makes P25 radios inherently capable of meeting the FCC s narrowbanding mandate since they are designed to operate in a 12.5 khz channel rather than the analog 25 khz channel. All P25 radios also are capable of operating in analog mode in order to assure backwards compatibility with existing analog systems. The P25 standard incorporates eight specific standards which allow all vendors to manufacture compatible and interoperable communication systems. These standards are shown in Table 10. The primary goals of P25 are to create interoperability between all users and create a competitive environment for the procurement of public safety communications equipment. Internet protocol, or IP, is the basic digital platform used with the standard. It is the same standard used for internet communications with computers. TABLE 10 - P25 Standard Interfaces Interface Name Common air interface (CAI) Fixed/base station subsystem interface (FSSI) Inter radio frequency subsystem interface (ISSI) Console subsystem interface (CSSI) Data network interface Description Creates radio to radio compatibility that is independent of vendor Allows connectivity between base stations and consoles independent of vendor Allows connectivity between radio systems of different vendors Allows consoles from different vendors to be compatible Creates a standard for data peripheral equipment to be compatible (using IP protocol) Martin County of 89

33 Network management interface Telephone interconnect interface Subscriber data peripheral interface Allows radio system network management tools to work with multiple vendors Creates a standardized telephone interconnect standard between system manufacturers Creates host network compatibility between data systems and radio systems P25 offers many features that were previously only available in high tier trunked radio systems. Table 11 describes the primary features of P25 radios. TABLE 11- P25 Radio Features Feature Priority calling High level encryption Call Alert User ID Group calling Affiliation OTAR Over the air rekeying Description Radios can be assigned priorities that can guarantee system access over other users Digital encryption of voice for secure operations Radio will alert user to incoming call Each radio has a unique ID which can include an alias to identify the user Radio can be programmed to call all system users Radio system access is controlled Allows encrypted radios to have encryption codes programmed over the air Some of the benefits of P25 can only be realized in a trunked radio system environment where multi-vendor compatibility has created a competitive environment in, what for years, was a sole source environment. The proprietary nature of radio system trunking allowed only for the system vendor s brand of radios. Now any P25 radio can be used with any vendor s P25 trunked system. There are some caveats here because some vendors have created features that go beyond the defined standards. If a customer wants those specific features they must buy that vendor s system and radios. In conventional systems using the P25 standard it is possible to link them into P25 trunking systems that have the ISSI capability. The conventional site then can readily pass talkgroup traffic directly from the trunked system. This could be of importance should outside responders be required to operate in Martin County. P25 radios are also inherently backwards compatible and can communicate with older analog radios, of course without the benefits of the P25 features. ISSI is a non-proprietary P25 interface that enables different P25 radio systems (built by different manufacturers) to be connected together into wide area networks so that users on different networks can talk with each other. The wide area network connections using the ISSI provide an extended coverage area for subscriber units that are roaming. Martin County of 89

34 P25 Radio System Coverage Radio coverage from a P25 radio system will not be significantly different than the existing radio system. P25 like the existing Motorola ASTRO system is a digital technology and the received signal performs differently than in an analog system. With analog radios the signal gets weaker and background noise gets louder as the users moves further away from the transmitter site or enters a building which shields the signal. Digital radios maintain the same quality of signal until the signal bit error rate gets too high and then it stops receiving. The user may notice some slight echoes or fish bowl effect just before the signals get weak enough to shut off the audio. This effect can be frustrating to a person who is used to the analog affect of increasing noise before the signal is lost. With analog the radio could be moved around for a better signal. With digital the signal is either on or off with no hint of signal failure. While the analog radio operated down to a DAQ level of 2.5 to 3 at the fringe areas of performance, this same location is now operating at a DAQ of 3 to 3.5 at the same location but gives no indication of pending loss of signal. Thus it is actually performing better but the perception of a new user makes it appear worse. Through improvements to technology brought on by development of the P25 standard these new technology digital radios perform better than the older, proprietary digital radios currently in use. Broadband LTE Technology In 2011 Congress gave a large piece of the 700 MHz spectrum to public safety for the development of LTE technology. When implemented this technology will present a quantum leap for public safety communications. Like cellular technology this will allow public safety to affectively have its own nationwide cellular system. Using smart phone like devices public safety will be able to send high speed data to users in the field. This will allow fingerprinting in the field, downloading of building plans for firefighters, full motion video to allow headquarters and management to be onscene with their forces and even simple data requests such as license plate checks. It can be considered almost the same as placing a personal computer in every public safety officer s hand. LTE is the next step in the development of cellular technology. It follows 3G and 4G and it offers more than the current cellular devices. However it is significantly different than the current form of radio communications that public safety and local government is used to. One of the most important aspects is that current LTE does not offer what is called one to many communications. A regular radio user can key a radio (push to talk) and speak to everyone on the channel (or talk group in a trunked system). Current cellular and LTE technology offers only one to one communication. That is communications from one user directly to one other user (dialing the phone number of another person). That may be good for messaging but not for dispatching. Only the person called hears the message. Public safety Martin County of 89

35 personnel must hear all of the calls in order to maintain situational awareness. If you consider the way cellular phones are used by public safety today it is clear that it is good for only non-mission critical communications such as administrative functions. The devices used for LTE, like cellular phones are very low power, on the order of a few tenths of a watt. Public safety handheld radios transmit up to five watts and the radio sites that they communicate with are usually high power at high locations. Therefore the range of an LTE device will be very limited. In building use will not be up to public safety standards. The network infrastructure for an LTE system will require many more sites at relatively low locations just as the cellular networks require. Table 12 compares the capabilities and features of current land mobile radio technology and LTE technology. TABLE 12 - LMR LTE Comparison Land Mobile Radio (LMR) Technology One to many communications a user calls on a channel where anybody else on the channel can hear High powered radio sites-few site required depending upon terrain Radio sites at high locations High power radios allow signal penetration into buildings and provide greater range Direct unit to unit communications- simplex or talk around In building performance- higher power allows pentetration Transmit only with Push to talk battery lasts a full shift Omni-directional antennas External antennas Range miles Limited number of sites required External speaker/mic Simple channel changing Simple backhaul - low speed data and voice only require phone line connections to sites Volume control- higher power audio output LTE Technology One to one communications call is directed to a single user like dialing a telephone call Low power means many more sites are required to cover the same area Sites can be on rooftops or other low convenient locations (i.e. light poles) Low powered units good for short range onlyin building use requires in building antenna systems Requires calls go through infrastructure- must be in range of at least one site of the system Low power means in building use is limited Continuously transmitting like a cell phone reduces battery life Sectorized antennas Handhelds have built in antennas like cell phones limiting range Typically less than a mile Multiple sites needed, usually spaced a half mile or less apart Built in microphone and speaker Network changes functions so user must key in address Digital signaling requires high speed microwave or fiber optic links Limited volume control-limited audio level Since Congress approved public safety LTE the industry has taken great leaps in subscriber units. Even though there is no network in place yet at least two vendors have come up with public safety LTE units in smart phone style and one even has a Martin County of 89

36 tablet unit available. These can interface to the current 3G and 4G cellular networks and link into existing P25 radio systems. LTE for public safety is still several years away and the network development will extend over many years, especially in more rural areas. The ability of having LTE units work as regular PTT (Push to Talk) radios is still in its infancy with several vendors developing handsets with that capability. Once it is standardized then the possibility of the one to many calls will be realized. Andy Seybold, a well respected technologist and writer in the field of public safety communications has published the following caveats regarding LTE From Andy Seybold Public Safety Advocate Blog LMR networks and devices are designed to be able to function in several fallback modes. The networks can be degraded and still operate, the devices can change modes of operation, and when there is no network available, either due to network failure or being out of range of the network, the LMR devices can be used for one-tomany simplex or peer-to-peer off-network communications. The brains of an LTE network reside within the network and, to some extent, at the edges of the network and in the devices themselves. The devices are 100% reliant on the network being up and operating and if the network fails or users are out of range, the LTE devices they are carrying will not be able to communicate; not even to another device a short distance away. Therefore, the LTE network must be built with this premise in mind: If there is a failure in the network, the devices will no longer be able to communicate. Further, if an individual LTE cell site loses connectivity with the network, users within that cell site s coverage won t be able to communicate with anyone. If the connectivity to the LTE EPC is disrupted, e.g., if there is a power failure or a cell site is damaged, the area covered by that cell site or group of sites will not have network access. Once again, the field devices will not function. Using LTE deployables to fill in these gaps during times of failure or network overload is an option. However, they must be transported to the area of the incident and they must have access to the network by some means fiber, microwave, or satellite. Since time is a critical element during major incidents or disasters, relying on deployables to solve connectivity problems may not be realistic. LMR systems make use of high-powered base stations, mobile units, and portable radios. LTE systems use moderate-powered base stations (enodebs) and very-lowpowered devices (usually less than ¼ of a watt). LMR devices have some form of external antenna while today s LTE devices have antennas embedded into them. The difference in RF transmission and reception capabilities is significant. LMR coverage area on a per-tower or site basis is much greater than that of an LTE cell site. Further, many LMR systems include additional receive-only sites to enhance the talkback range of the LMR radios. Many LMR systems have supervisory override so control can be taken of the voice channel if needed. There are various Quality of Service and priority levels with LTE Martin County of 89

37 but it does not appear that priority access is always available depending on the circumstances. LMR voice systems provide voice capabilities throughout the coverage area of the system. LTE networks and devices have different data rates and capacity characteristic depending on how far devices are from the center of the cell site. The further the LTE device is from the cell center, the less data capacity and speed there is available to the device. More recently, in an OP-ED column in Urgent Communications Magazine (the leading two-way radio technology magazine) there was a commentary entitled Will LTE broadband replace public-safety, mission-critical LMR voice systems in 3-5 years? I don t think so. The author, Harlan McEwen, is a recognized expert in the field of public-safety communications and is a Life Member and Honorary President of the IACP and the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials-International (APCO). McEwen also serves as chairman of the FirstNet Public Safety Advisory Committee (PSAC) and is a member of the governing board of the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC). Aug. 5, 2013 by Urgent Communications contributor in View from the Top By Harlin R. McEwen Recently there has been considerable discussion whether and when public safety can rely on voice for mission-critical communications over the planned nationwide, public-safety broadband Long Term Evolution (LTE) network. Having been active in law enforcement and public safety for over 50 years, I have experienced a variety of technology and operational transitions, including a number of those in public safety communications. During my career, I have seen the introduction of different frequency bands, trunked radio operations, and digital radio. In each of these cases, the new communications tools that resulted have supplemented existing operations, with both used together side by side, often indefinitely. As new capabilities have been introduced, it has been important to ensure that the new technology or approach meets public safety's needs in the stressed environment in which we operate, before abandoning systems already being used. The same will hold true as we move down the path of implementing the FirstNet nationwide, publicsafety broadband network now being planned, based on LTE technology. The broadband network will offer public safety new tools to help accomplish the mission and, for many years, will supplement rather than replace public-safety land mobile radio. In the case of public safety broadband LTE, various technical experts debate when this network will include the technical capability for public-safety-grade "mission-critical voice" and when that capability will be incorporated into the LTE standards. These are important factors. Historically, networks based on commercial standards have not supported direct-mode talk-around communications between two or more first responders or group calls among multiple responders that are essential operational requirements for public safety. The nationwide public-safety broadband network will need those capabilities, if it is ever able to meet the threshold technology requirements for mission-critical voice operations. In a recent article in Urgent Communications, one writer said The LMR people are trying to push for a slow evolution, but that s just a business strategy it s not based on reality. This kind of thinking ignores the history and evolution of public-safety communications that I personally have witnessed. I can assure you that the experts in public-safety communications who have examined this issue carefully are not being driven by the LMR industry. Public-safety agencies across the country have dedicated time and resources to continually improve their land-mobile-radio systems, so they provide the coverage and operational capabilities for voice required in a given locality, region or state. Rather than focusing only on the technology capability of Martin County 22 the new broadband network, public safety must examine the overall picture, including technology capability, standardization, degree of coverage and operational capabilities, as tested in the stressed public-safety environment. 37 of 89

38 System Management Martin County s radio system is well managed by the County Radio Services Department. Most County agencies let the Radio Department maintain oversight for all of their equipment. The Martin County Sheriff s Department and the Martin County Fire Department rely on the Radio Service Department for all of their communications related issues such as console operation and radio technical support and maintenance. The management need is for administration of the regulatory aspects of the individual networks and maintaining records of system performance and reliability. All FCC licenses have specific identification requirements in addition to the assigned call sign. The identifiers are an FCC Registration Number (FRN) which provides the FCC the name and contact information of any person or entity wishing to do business with the FCC; Name of the entity or person wishing to obtain an FCC license; contact information so the FCC can communicate with the entity that is applying or licensed. Currently, every department of the County that is using radios has been consolidated into one FRN except for the Martin County Utilities which has its own FRN because of its singular telemetry purposes. In the event of a need for the FCC to contact the County about a licensing problem or interference issue they will send the information to the party listed on the license as the contact. If that person has retired or left the County the information may never get to the proper authority and a violation of FCC rules could occur. Logging Recorders Should the County transition to the P25 digital standard a new logging recorder will be required for the dispatch center. The existing logging recorder is an analog device that records the actual voice. Digital logging recorders can do significantly more. They can provide additional data to supplement the voice recordings. Existing recorders pick up their voice from the audio lines between the consoles and radio system. The digital recorders pick up the actual IP signals being used by the radio system, the E-911 system and any data systems in use. The (PSAP) can utilize the recorder for such items as: Capturing audio from 911 calls Capturing dispatcher and radio user calls Retrieve dispatch and 911 video screen data, maps, and related data, such as telephone numbers and locations, from multiple sources. Martin County of 89

39 Live monitor PSAP interactions to review and evaluate call taker performance and to ensure adherence to policies and procedures. Search for calls by CAD incident ID and review captured interactions and screens to investigate incidents and understand the chain of events Store mobile data transmission If integrated into the County s IT network it will make dispatch and radio information available to any department for investigative or training purposes. Alternate Site Analysis One of the considerations for performance enhancements to a radio system is the possibility that radio sites may be added to the system or sites may be relocated to provide improved coverage. In the 800 MHz range improvement can be gained by having higher antennas, directional antennas and a factor called down tilt. The flat terrain of Florida leads to looking for alternate sites that can be far away, yet, through the use of directional antennas, coverage can be improved. Users have reported and propagation mapping has confirmed that in-building coverage in higher density buildings is lacking especially north of the St. Lucie River. Propagation studies show that in-building coverage in the urban Stuart area is good with few exceptions Pallans Associates has considered the possibility of using other high sites in the area. These include locations both in western Martin County, western St. Lucie County and eastern St. Lucie County. These investigations have included discussions with St. Lucie County relative to joint site usage and operations. System Life Cycle In order to maximize the effectiveness of a radio system and develop a growth plan it is necessary to determine the life expectancy of the existing system. In the case of Martin County this is not a major issue since most of the equipment is relatively new and there have been no significant maintenance issues. The driving factor for the County will be to implement newer technology that will improve performance. The key factor leading to the implementation is the remaining life of the existing equipment. Table 13 lists the industry accepted life of radio equipment in public safety service. Replacement factors include the actual performance of the device and the ability to repair it. Manufacturers support their products for a finite time period. After that time finding parts will be the limiting factor. Martin County of 89

40 TABLE 13 Equipment Life Expectancy TYPE OF EQUIPMENT Repeaters Base stations Mobile radios Portable radios Pagers Consoles LIFE EXPECTANCY 15 years 15 years 10 years 7 years 5 years 10 years The primary repeaters used by Martin County for both police and Fire is the Motorola Quantar model. In February, 2011 Motorola announced that the Quantar repeater, the basis of existing SmartZone radio systems, would be discontinued as of December 31, The SmartZone trunking technology production has already been discontinued and would no longer be supported after At present the Motorola SmartZone technology is well into its end of life with respect to manufacturer support. Some sub-systems of the SmartZone technology are no longer available and the systems should be replaced. Motorola has advised the County that there is already a shortage of power supplies for the Quantar repeaters. Should failures occur there may be delays in receiving replacement units. Several of the subscriber units will be intering their end of life phase over the next two years. Support for them will end five years after the end of life date. Recommendations Dispatch Systems As indicated in the baseline systems assessment, there are few performance gaps with the current system. System Architecture The 800 MHz trunking system is the only system in use by local government in Martin County. Considering the number of users and the neighboring communities there is no reason to change frequency bands. The current method of connectivity is through microwave links between sites which are still within their life span. Primary dispatch functions are performed by the Martin County Sheriff s Department and provide adequate performance to support the County. Advances in technology along with increased reliance on radio communications and the need for interoperability suggest that the County migrate to the P25 technology that is being implemented by public safety users nationwide. Martin County of 89

41 Coverage Radio system coverage is very good within the County as reported by the users and confirmed by the models generated by Pallans Associates. The gaps in coverage primarily relate to in building performance in specific high density structures and in more rural areas. There are only two ways to improve in building coverage of a radio system. Increasing the footprint of the system infrastructure is one method. This would require adding repeater sites to the system to provide higher signal levels in the area of the buildings. From a practical standpoint this is not possible due to the extremely high costs involved in developing radio sites, antenna structures and the creating the necessary connectivity between these sites and the main system. Additionally, since Martin County uses a simulcast technology, each site added would require that all 14 channels be deployed at any new site. This is impractical due to the economic impact. The second choice is to address each building individually. The use of bi-directional amplifiers inside the structures linked to external antennas will greatly enhance the in building performance of public safety radios. The design of these systems is beyond the scope of this report but it is estimated that the cost per unit installed will be in the $15,000 to $20,000 range. Many local governments have implemented local building ordinances mandating the installation of bi-directional amplifier equipment in all high density structures. In many cases these ordinances include provisions for retroactive implementation in existing structures. The costs are then borne by the building owner and not the County. The installation of vehicular repeaters in public safety vehicles that frequently travel in the more remote areas of the County or out of the County is a relatively inexpensive method of maintaining communications capabilities. VR units are relatively economical when compared with the costs of increasing the coverage footprint of the radio system infrastructure. Units cost from approximately $800 on upwards to over $2,500. Installation is simple and costs are in the $100 to $200 range. Additional Radio Sites Both Martin County and St. Lucie County need extended coverage in the western areas of both counties. Adding a radio site in southwestern St. Lucie County or Northwest Martin County will provide mobile radio coverage and outdoor portable radio coverage in the areas that have no reliable coverage today. This choice would require an engineering effort with radio propagation studies in order to determine a satisfactory location for a site. Martin County of 89

42 In discussions with Motorola it was suggested that an existing tower in Okeechobee might be considered. As shown by a preliminary propagation study in Figure 4 that site may provide all of the desired western coverage for both Martin County and St. Lucie County. Today there are coverage issues in the northeastern area of Martin County. This is due to the population density there. Placing a site at the Port St. Lucie High School radio tower site of St. Lucie County can eliminate this problem. Preliminary propagation studies have shown that such a location would fill in much of the existing weak signal area. St. Lucie County has space available in the equipment shelter and on the tower. Much of the equipment for this location can be taken from the existing Martin County site at the Sheriff s Department. The existing site provides little coverage FIGURE 4 Okeechobee Tower propagation enhancement for the radio tower on Salerno Road. Preliminary propagation studies show that a Port St. Lucie site will, more than likely, fill in most of the areas with coverage gaps, especially around Jensen Beach and the area north of the St. Lucie River bridge. Interoperability Interoperability with all County users is good. All users have capabilities within their radios to add channels for the other municipal users. There is limited interoperability with outside law enforcement agencies. The State of Florida SLERS (State Law Enforcement Radio System) network operates on a statewide trunked platform in the 800 MHz band. It uses the proprietary Harris EDACS protocol but it is like to migrate to P25 in the future. Its infrastructure is capable of linking to P25 networks through the Harris VIDA switch which controls that network. If the future Martin County system incorporates the P25 Intersystem Martin County of 89

43 communications standard called ISSI, it would be capable of seamless operation with State users. Wildland firefighters rely on VHF communications networks that are set up as required during events. With modern interoperable gateway units they could be linked to a local P25 network though the standard P25 interfaces. In order to improve simple interoperability a consideration for future procurements would be multi-band radios. The development of multi-band radios for public safety is relatively new. Today there are three manufacturers that produce radios that operate on VHF, UHF and 800 MHz. Since they are new the prices are high, in the order of $7,000. This is expected to drop as the demand increases. These radios will allow users to change operating bands as simply as changing the channel selector. Fire Department Paging The County s Fire Department paging system currently operates on a standalone radio channel. The pagers operate in the narrowband mode so there is no problem with continued operation. The existing analog transmitter could be kept in place and used for the paging activities. The audio can be simultaneously broadcast on both the existing channel and a new P25 dispatch channel. This issue can be addressed in detailed once the County determines that a migration to P25 will occur. In the future, should the County decide to migrate to P25 this could be an issue with paging. Recently one vendor has announced the introduction of a pager that will operate in the P25 mode. It should be available within the next year. System Recommendations Based upon the needs of the County s radio users as described in the surveys and conversations it is recommended that the County migrate to an 800 MHz P25 trunked radio system. The system will provide reliable coverage and, with the installation of one or two additional sites coverage can be significantly improved. It is not necessary to transition to P25 technology in one leap. The majority of the current radios used by the County are capable of P25 operation with upgrades to software and firmware. Much of the infrastructure will require replacement. This can be done in stages to minimize the financial impact to the County. Options for Martin County Table 14 lists the options available to the County for its future communication system. One given is that the County will continue to use 800 MHz trunking due to its superior performance and countywide effectiveness. Martin County of 89

44 OPTION 1. Replace existing radio system outright TABLE 14 Available Options for the Future POSITIVES AND NEGATIVES Requires full funding up front. Would probably require RFP since P25 technology is an open source technology. Procurement time would be extended due to need for RFP, establishing funding. Could possibly have political implications due to high cost of a full replacement in one budget cycle. 2. Join an existing system Only local systems are Palm Beach County, SLERS and St. Lucie County. All would require extensive hardware procurement to cover Martin County. Palm Beach County requires a significant cost to join. St. Lucie County has to replace its aged system. SLERS is currently non-compatible technology 3. Phased implementation Least impact on current budget plans. Can implement segments of P25 keeping existing system partially operational for an extended time period. Can use parts from phased out equipment to maintain existing hardware over a longer time period. Current subscriber equipment is capable of upgrading to P25 4. Phased implementation in conjunction with St. Lucie County All of the benefits of the option above plus the ability to cost share the common segments of the infrastructure. Options 1 and 2 are not economically viable. Option 1 would require funding of approximately 12 million to 16 million dollars to replace all of the existing radio system. In this economic climate that is not a choice than can be made. Option 2 would require almost as much funding since much of the existing infrastructure would still require replacement and the County would utilize Palm Beach County s network controller. Discussions with Palm Beach County have indicated that they would charge a recurring fee for this access and usage. If the County chose this option the next choice would to select a procurement method. If a competitive procurement was made then the County would likely have proposals from at least two and perhaps three vendors. Currently Motorola, Harris Corporation and Cassidian all provide P25 infrastructure on 800 MHz. If either Harris or Cassidian were selected it would be likely that they would recommend replacing all of the existing subscriber units to assure compatibility with their infrastructure. That would be several million dollars more to be funded. Option 3 is a logical choice for the system upgrade. The existing infrastructure can be upgrade to P25 on a per site basis. The dispatch centers can be temporarily linked to the new system through P25 interfaces and the console systems replace in the future. The existing subscriber units can be reprogrammed to operate on both P25 and the existing Astro SmartZone technology. Funding and the replacement schedule can be spread out over several years. Martin County of 89

45 Option 4, phasing in the implementation and working with St. Lucie County will save money, reduce the annual investment required and reduce the total replacement price by as much as $3,000,000. Since the majority of the existing user radios are capable of being converted to P25 this represents a savings of almost six million dollars because no new radios will be required. This option is fully discussed on page 33 in the discussion of Shared Facilities and Costs. Overview of the geographic area Martin and St. Lucie counties are primarily agricultural counties. Both are transversed by the Florida Turnpike and US Interstate 95 making them prime areas for travelers through Florida. The City of Stuart in northeast Martin County and the City of Port St. Lucie in southeast St. Lucie County are the respective population centers of the counties. As shown in Figure 5 approximately 56% of Martin County residents live in the northern half of the County. Approximately 60% of St. Lucie County s population resides in the southern part of that county, centered around Port St. Lucie. Since public safety activities frequently cross county lines there are existing agreements between the two counties to assist each other in first responder incidents across county lines. Martin County of 89

46 FIGURE 5 Martin County-St. Lucie County Population Centers 60% 56% Existing Communication Systems Both counties operate 800 MHz trunked simulcast radio systems. Both radio systems utilize compatible technologies. Both systems are simulcast countywide. The Table 15 outlines the number of sites and channels in each system. TABLE 15 County Radio Systems County Radio System Number of Sites Number of Channels Martin Motorola SmartZone 4 14 St. Lucie Motorola SmartZone 3 20 St. Lucie (West) Motorola SmartZone 1 10 Martin County of 89

47 Each of these counties provides access to their trunked systems for all of the public safety entities that have primary jurisdiction within the respective county boundaries. All police, fire and emergency medical services use these systems. Most of the local governments also take advantage of the trunked systems for their regular local government and public works activities. Table 16 shows the number of different government entities that rely on the existing trunked radio systems for daily operations. TABLE 16 Agencies Using County Trunking Systems Sheriff/Police Fire Emergency Local Other Medical Government Martin County St. Lucie County Current Inter-County Communication Requirements On a daily basis there are limited requirements for inter-county communications. Fire and EMS services have working agreements to support each other in areas that border their respective Counties. In this respect both St. Lucie and Martin Counties appear to operate together more frequently. They share radio talkgroups for this function. This is most likely due to the more urban nature of their communities. To the South, Martin County and Palm Beach County have cooperative agreements which allow for units from each county to roam onto the other County s radio system. Interaction between Palm Beach County and Martin County is not as frequent as with St. Lucie County. Law enforcement activity between counties also operates on a daily basis. While there is not the same level of support activities between the counties they frequently have to enter each other s jurisdictions during pursuits or when actively engaged in crime prevention or resolution. Fire and rescue services have interoperability procedures in place while law enforcement and other services do not. Technology Issues Both Martin and St. Lucie Counties use Motorola s trunking technology for their radio system platforms. The radios of both counties operate on the proprietary Motorola trunking protocol, and thus are inherently interoperable with one another. Connectivity between the radios on the two systems only requires that the radios be programmed for each other s talkgroups for them to operate together. Other than programming the radios there is no cost to this type of operation. Upgrading radio systems of either County to P25 technology would still leave the current interoperability in place. The reprogrammed radios maintain their SmartZone capability as well as the new P25 programming. Additionally, the P25 standard requires backward compatibility. That is, the new radio system must be capable of operating on conventional technology which will assure communications Martin County of 89

48 during emergencies when out of area units respond on the mutual aid channels or the NPSPAC interoperability channels. St. Lucie County s radio system is older than Martin County s system. In conversations with Jack Southard, Director of Public Safety and Communications for the County it was confirmed that St. Lucie County is also ready to upgrade its radio system. System Loading Issues A public safety grade trunked radio system is normally designed for a P=.01 (1 percent) grade of service. This means that under the designed conditions a user will have only a one percent (1%) chance of receiving a busy signal when the user s radio is keyed up. In other words, the system will operate 99% of the time without blocking of an incoming signal. Each of the current county systems was designed for intra-county communications. The user community of each County system is comprised of the numerous stakeholder groups as indicated in Table 16. These groups are made up of law enforcement, shared fire/ems, County and municipal governments. Based upon input from the user agencies all of the existing systems have sufficient capacity to meet the current usage demands of system users. During emergencies or special events it is possible that there could be some busy signals due to the higher than normal number of users on the systems. Pallans Associates has considered the need for additional frequencies for the County. There is no current need but should be considered for the future. As requirements change and as technology changes there may be additional requirements for public safety, especially in the area of mobile data usage. This too could be mitigated once the national public safety broadband program begins in a few years. When that comes to fruition the availability of hardware and system integration will have to be considered for the possible benefit to public safety operations. Martin County and St. Lucie County rebanded their radios as part of the interference problem created by Sprint/Nextel. Currently Sprint/Nextel is relinquishing all of its channels in the 800 MHz spectrum. These frequencies would be available to both counties if needed. An advantage of system upgrades and new subscriber units would make 700 MHz a viable alternative. Newer 800 MHz radios are also capable of operating in the 700 MHz spectrum with no changes. The 700 MHz spectrum is currently available. In the future there is the possibility that the entire 700 MHz band may be turned over to broadband operation only. Martin County of 89

49 In addition, increasing the number of channels will require additional space for infrastructure, additional antennas on towers and more significantly may introduce operational changes for first responders and dispatchers. Impact of System Changes on Local Users As shown in Table 15 there are a multitude of agencies and organizations that use the two countywide systems on a daily basis. Within each category there are numerous departments and agencies. If any change was made to these networks all of these users will be impacted both financially and operationally. Once a County determines that it will replace its existing radio system all of the users must replace or upgrade their subscriber units (mobile radios, portable radios and base stations). In general, agreements that the users have with the counties are such that they must provide their own subscriber equipment while the counties provide the infrastructure and system support. Shared Facilities and Costs By constructing joint radio systems there can be both cost savings and operational benefits. The benefits of joint systems include; Inherent interoperability between users via shared talkgroups Common system controllers will reduce cost by eliminating duplication Coverage from sites in the adjacent county may reduce the need for sites Economy of scale will reduce system implementation costs, engineering and design costs and installation costs The possibility of needing fewer channels due to the effectiveness of trunking. The potential drawbacks or pitfalls include; Need for formal interlocal agreements between owners - perhaps a joint operating authority Joint maintenance agreements More complex maintenance More complex system management Perception of loss of control Figure 6 is a simplified block diagram of a P25 simulcast trunked radio system. This figure illustrates a two zone system where each zone represents a County Each County operates its own system but the system is controlled by a common network controller. If used by more than one community, a zone controller is needed for each independent simulcast zone. A radio system requiring only a single simulcast zone would not require zone controllers. Sites are connected to the network controller via IP over the backhaul network. The common equipment shown on the left side of the diagram is shared by all users as is the network equipment in the cloud. Therefore there is a cost savings to each Martin County of 89

50 organization sharing the system since they are not required to each purchase the network equipment. Figure 6 Simulcast Radio System Block Diagram ISSI Usage ISSI is a P25 standard which permits the connection of P25 controllers from different systems. When multiple systems are connected with ISSI, users from one system can roam into the coverage area of the adjoining system and still maintain connectivity with their home system users. ISSI is not necessary when multiple agencies share a single network controller. ISSI is an option for connectivity between the County systems and other counties or the RDSTF. However, ISSI connectivity will provide a limited benefit because the County system and the St. Lucie system, its primary interoperability partner have interoperability inherent in a combined system. Should the Counties each procure their own 800 MHz trunking systems, ISSI connectivity between the different County systems will provide an increased level of roaming capability within the connecting 800 MHz footprint. Budgetary Cost Estimate Pallans Associates has prepared a budgetary cost estimate for the replacement of both of the County radio systems (Martin County and St. Lucie County) to demonstrate the potential cost savings that may be recognized through the integration of the County systems either into a combined network. Martin County of 89

51 Each radio system would still operate independently with no impact from the other users. The combined network control system provides for independent management of the network components. This means that each County would retain total control of its own functionality, but would require some joint standard operating procedure for talkgroup changes, subscriber ID entries, alias changes, and system upgrades. Both counties would maintain independent access to the system controllers. The pricing developed for this report is estimated by using recent proposal prices of Motorola systems. Should the Counties go through a competitive procurement process the pricing received from various vendors may vary. These costs will be borne by the purchasing county. The equipment that can be considered as common between the agencies is significant in that joint procurements can reduce or eliminate some of these costs. The hardware which can be considered as common among users consists of; Network controllers (needed to control the entire radio system) System management terminals Logging recorders ISSI Various networking components Table 17 represents the estimated costs of infrastructure for a new 800 MHz radio system using 14 channels for Martin County. Only infrastructure has been considered since the majority of existing subscriber units can be upgraded to P25. The indicated pricing is based upon retail cost of current products being purchased in current government procurements. The effect of the competitiveness of P25 has been that manufacturers are offering significant discounts. It would not be unreasonable to see a 20% to 30% discount on the above prices when it comes to contract time. It is also likely that the existing microwave system is adequate for the system upgrade, thus presenting an additional savings. Likewise, reuse of existing antennas could result in close to a $100,000 saving. If reprogramming of the radios was performed in house could be another significant savings. During the County meeting it was mentioned that the Utilities Department might consider using cellular devices for its telemetry (SCADA) system. Currently they use the County radio system with modified Motorola XTL2500 mobile radios. If this transition is to occur then these 300+ mobile radios could be put into service as regular mobiles thus saving the County in excess of $250,000 in replacement radios. Martin County of 89

52 TABLE 17 Budgetary Cost Estimate for a new Radio System Component Unit Cost Quantity Cost Infrastructure-Master Site (controllers etc) 1,750,000 1 $1,750,000 Infrastructure-Prime Site Node Controller, comparators, etc $650,000 1 $650,000 Simulcast Controller $150,000 1 $150,000 ISSI $200,000 1 $200,000 Redundant network controller $150,000 1 $150,000 Prime Site total $1,150,000 Infrastructure Radio sites Trunking Site (14 channel 800 MHz base stations including software, site controller, redundant controller card, router, rack and $625,000 4 $2,500,000 antenna system) Dispatch consoles $50, $800,000 Logging Recorder 180,000 $180,000 Digital microwave links $700,000 Radio Site Total $4,180,0000 Services (Budgeted at 35 percent of total costs) 35% 2,478,000 Training $25,000 1 $25,000 Upgrading and reprogramming existing radios to P25 $425,000 System and Services Total $10,008,000 Joint Procurement Pricing There is a significant financial advantage to joining with St. Lucie County in purchasing a new radio system jointly. Even if each system remains independent with respect to operation and maintenance there is a cost savings due to the fact that several major parts of the radio system will not have to be duplicated. Based on the pricing in Table 17 the following items can be shared, effectively cutting their cost to each County in half. A common Master site will save $1,750,000. A common logging recorder will save $180,000 and a common ISSI will save $200,000. It can be argued that an ISSI is not needed at all since the primary need for interoperability between the two counties would be fulfilled by sharing radios through the common controllers, thus eliminating another $200,000 from both systems costs. There would also be significant savings in engineering and installation costs if the vendor was doing both systems at the same time. Martin County of 89

53 System maintenance is an annual cost over the life of the radio system. With a joint implementation the infrastructure maintenance costs would be also be shared by the two counties. If both Counties were to share additional sites for improved coverage the site implementation and construction costs could also be shared. Procurement and Implementation Methodology Based upon Florida Statutes and significant precedents within the State of Florida Martin County can procure this system upgrade without resorting to a competitive procurement. Over the past few years several municipal and county-wide radio systems within the State have been upgraded without resorting to competitive procurements. These include; Miami-Dade County Tallahassee/Leon County Pinellas County City of Orlando Lake County City of Apopka Highlands County Reedy Creek City of Winter Park Lee County Polk County Hardy County City of Maitland City of Ocala Jacksonville Osceola County Seminole County Some of these agencies justified the purchase through economic decisions. Others used existing contracts (Tallahassee and Jacksonville) for their justifications. The primary justifications include; Ability to phase in new system thereby spreading ou the capital investment over several years Reduced costs due to reuse of parts of existing systems No need to retrain users on equipment operation or maintenance Not having to forklift out the old system with a completely new system. Sole sourcing also reduces replacement time by a year or more. Martin County of 89

54 Summary of Recommendations Martin County should replace its ageing radio system with a new trunked system using P25 technology The new system should be a phased in approach using Motorola technology The procurement should be a sole source purchase The County should work with St. Lucie County to share technology and facilities to reduce costs Additional sites should be utilized, first in eastern St Lucie County to eliminate poor coverage areas in the northeastern portion of Martin County, then in the far west to improve coverage in the rural areas. The cost of the western site could be shared with St. Lucie County. Martin County of 89

55 APPENDIX A RADIO LICENSES Martin County of 89

56 Martin County of 89

57 Martin County of 89

58 Martin County of 89

59 Martin County of 89

60 Martin County of 89

61 Martin County of 89

62 Martin County of 89

63 Martin County of 89

64 Martin County of 89

65 Martin County of 89

66 Martin County of 89

67 Martin County of 89

68 Martin County of 89

69 Martin County of 89

70 Martin County of 89

71 Martin County of 89

72 APPENDIX B USER SURVEY RESPONSE SUMMARY Martin County of 89

73 MCSO (General) Pallans Associates Recommendations Martin County, Florida DID NOT REPLY Martin County Radio User Survey Summary of Agency Responses MCSO Marine MCSO CID MCSO Aviation Warrants Court Services Court Security time Court Services Part Water Engineering Storm MC Gen Svces Martin County FR Stuart Fire Rescue Sewell's Point PD Jupiter Island PSD Survey Question 1 Number of mobiles Number of portables Number of bases Dispatch consoles y n n y - 6 n n n n n y-no consoles n n 3 Fire station alerting na na y y - vhf na na na na na na na na 4 Encryption need y n n n n n n n n y y y 5 Growth planned n n n n n n y y y y-encrypt all radios n n 6 Paging y n y y n n n n n n n n above 3,000 ft Courthouse elevators Courthouse elevators Courthouse elevators per county radio services only outside of County Town Hall, Harbor Bay Plaza, some Poor coverage areasifo 280 S. Beach, S. Beach, PSD bldg residences 7 25 miles offshore, altitude to 8000 ft Mall Courthouse Mall Courthouse Mall Courthouse per county radio services Town Hall Hospital, Courthouse Key coverage beach and intracoastal side of above complex weather, multi agency events complex weather, multi agency events complex weather, multi agency events 8 Interop with Federal agencies n n n Whenever EOC is activated Special requirementhurricanes, dignitary visits, disasters Coverage outside Fort Pierce to of jurisdiction the north, PB lake Blvd to south 9 More than 3 miles off shore of County generally no more than 10 miles outsdie of County PB County, St. Lucie County. Okeechobee County, 25 miles offshore surrounding counties surrounding counties surrounding counties up to Ft. Pierce Countywide n St. Lucie and PB counties. 10 Martin County of 89

74 Recommendations Martin County, Florida APPENDIX C EXISTING RADIO SYSTEM COVERAGE MAPS Martin County of 89

75 Project: Martin County PPN: Figure: Existing Coverage Service: 800 MHz, Mobile, Talkout/Talkback WB Astro Engineer: MDP Good coverage Acceptable to poor coverage Marginal to no coverage Martin County of 89

76 Project: Martin County PPN: Figure: Existing Coverage Service: 800 MHz, Portable, Talkout, WB Astro Engineer: MDP Good coverage Acceptable to poor coverage Marginal to no coverage Martin County of 89

77 Project: Martin County PPN: Figure: Existing Coverage Service: 800 MHz, Portable, Talkback WB Astro Engineer: MDP Good coverage Acceptable to poor coverage Marginal to no coverage Martin County of 89

78 Project: Martin County PPN: Figure: Existing Coverage Service: 800 MHz, Portable, Talkback In building WB Astro Engineer: MDP Good coverage Acceptable to poor coverage Marginal to no coverage Martin County of 89

79 APPENDIX D RADIO SYSTEM TALKGROUPS (ONLY KEY TALKGROUPS ARE LISTED) Martin County of 89

80 Tag Description Category All users Emergency Emergency Emergency Ops Martin County Fire Rescue F/R Alerting Fire Rescue Alerting (linked to Fire Dispatch MHz) PS Tac PS Tac Fire-Tac F/R Comm 1 Fire Comm 1 Fire Dispatch F/R Comm 2 Fire Comm 2 Fire-Tac F/R Comm 3 Fire Comm 3 Fire-Tac F/R Tac 1 FG Tactical 1/Fireground Fire-Tac F/R Tac 2 FG Tactical 2/Fireground Fire-Tac F/R Tac 3 FG Tactical 3/Fireground Fire-Tac F/R Tac 4 FG Tactical 4/Fireground Fire-Tac Prevention Prevention Fire-Tac Training Training Fire-Tac F/R SuppSvcs Support Services Fire-Tac Beach Beach Fire-Tac F/R All Call Fire All Call Fire-Tac F/R NTelmtry North Telemetry (medics/hospital) Data F/R STelmtry South Telemetry (medics/hospital) Data Martin County Sheriff s Office MCSO N Disp North Dispatch Law Dispatch MCSO S Disp South Dispatch Law Dispatch MCSO W Disp West Dispatch Law Dispatch MCSO TTY TTY Law Tac MCSO Tac-1 TAC-1 Law Tac MCSO Tac-2 TAC-2 Law Tac MCSO Det/Civ Detectives/Civil Law Tac MCSO Court Courthouse Law Tac MCSO Detecti Detectives Law Tac MCSO AnmlCtl Animal Control Public Works County Services Red Cross Red Cross Emergency Ops Building Building Public Works Parks Parks Public Works Utility Utility Public Works Scada-1 Utility Public Works Scada-2 Utility Public Works Scada-3 Utility Public Works Gensrv Gensrv Public Works Martin County of 89

81 Sch Bus 6288 School Buses Schools Sch Bus 6448 School Buses Schools Sch Bus 6544 School Buses Schools EOC EOC Emergency Ops Health Health Public Works Airport Airport Public Works City of Stuart StuartPDDisp Police Dispatch/Main Law Dispatch StuartPD Tac Police Tactical Law Tac StuartPDInfo Police Information Law Tac StuartP40240 Police Law Talk Stuart F/R Jupiter Island Fire/Rescue Main (now done by MCFR) Fire Dispatch JupiterIslPD Police Law Dispatch Sewell's Point SewellsPt PD Police (dispatched by MCSO) Law Tac Lifestar Talkgroups LifestarHeli Lifestar Helicopter Operations EMS Dispatch Mutual Aid MC-CALL Mutual Aid Calling Interop MC-TAC1 Mutual Aid TAC 1 Interop MC-TAC2 Mutual Aid TAC 2 Interop MC-TAC3 Mutual Aid TAC 3 Interop MC-TAC4 Mutual Aid TAC 4 Interop MC-TAC5 Mutual Aid TAC 5 Interop MC-TAC6 Mutual Aid TAC 6 Interop MC-TAC7 Mutual Aid TAC 7 Interop MC-TAC8 Mutual Aid TAC 8 Interop State of Florida JD StatePark Jonathan Dickinson State Park Public Works Martin County of 89

82 APPENDIX E MARTIN COUNTY FREQUENCIES/SITES Martin County of 89

83 Martin County Site Frequencies Radio System Sites Call Sign Monterey EOC Tower ATT Tower WMBX South Fork WPXP WPCF WPMI WQEB WQNW Martin County of 89

84 Joint Radio System Recommendation for Martin County and St. Lucie County PALLANS ASSOCIATES 7753 Lily Trotter Street North Las Vegas, NV of 89

85 Procurement Recommendation A joint radio system with St. Lucie County phased in over a multiyear schedule Best coverage Most interoperability Lowest cost Least budget impact Highest reliability 85 of 89 PALLANS ASSOCIATES Communications Consultants

86 Regional Radio System Concept Population Centers of both counties are adjacent 56% of Martin s population 60% of St. Lucie s population Both counties are primarily agricultural and tourism related areas Florida Turnpike and I-95 are the primary roads through both counties Each County s Fire and EMS services currently support each other 60% 56% Law enforcement agencies from each County roam into the other County s jurisdiction Both counties currently operate independent Motorola 800 MHz trunked radio systems of the same vintage 86 of 89