SHARES and Winlink Radio for Emergency Communications

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1 SHARES and Winlink Radio for Emergency Communications Presented at the 20th Annual Communications Academy Emergency Communications Continuing Education Seattle, WA By Joseph P. Cirone, W1SPY 15 APR 18

2 SHARES Mission To support interoperable emergency communications by two-way radio For National Security/Emergency Preparedness (NS/EP) when normal communications are overwhelmed or destroyed To coordinate and transmit messages needed to perform critical functions Includes those related to leadership, safety, maintenance of law and order, finance, and public health National Special Security Events (NSSE)

3 SHARES Overview EO Cold War DOD NCS Existing federal and affiliated HF resources National Security/Emergency Preparedness (NS/EP) traffic, when normal communications are overwhelmed or destroyed 1980s CONOPS reflected daily operating practices Agencies conducted Ops/maintained watch on HF SHARES network designed for P-T-P Voice message relay, based on stations routinely being onthe-air as reported in the SHARES Directory

4 SHARES Overview EO NS/EP - All Hazards DHS Key requirements in the EO: Federal Govt must have ability to communicate at all times, under all circumstances to carry out its most critical and time sensitive missions Comms must be survivable, resilient, enduring, and effective Must interoperate at all levels of Govt, with private sector; the public, allies, and other nations

5 SHARES Overview SHARES in DHS: National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) National Coordinating Center for Communications (NCC) Supports: Federal, State, Local, Tribal, & Territorial Govts Private Sector and Civilian Communities Critical Infrastructure/Key Resources (CI/KR) ESF #2 (in partnership with FEMA)

6 SHARES Evolution Post-9/11 efforts exposed vulnerability of Critical Infrastructure / Key Resources (CI/KR) Civil agencies and CI/KR became aware of need for resilient long-haul communications Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) program changes and more emphasis to military support End-user ( customer ) demands: More secure and timely two-way radio messaging Data ( ) messaging Ease of use and interoperability

7 SHARES Participants Federal Departments and Agencies, including volunteer auxiliary program stations (CAP, MARS, USCG Aux) As NCC Auxiliary: Emergency Management Agencies (EMA) (All ESFs) Separate from FEMA FNARS HF CI/KR providers, including: Telecom, Trans, Energy, Pub Health, Hospitals, Medevac Coordination Centers National/Regional disaster relief organizations

8 The SHARES Difference Three things SHARES does that Amateur Radio cannot: 1.Use encryption (codes and ciphers) 2.Use higher data rates on HF (up to 9600bps Level 10) 3.Use radio operators who don t have a ham radio license My experience: All three are very important for emergency incident management and Agency comfort levels to rely on emergency communications resources

9 Affiliating with SHARES SHARES does not enroll amateur radio operators SHARES enrolls agencies (that meet the criteria) SHARES does not compete with local agencies for their volunteers Not right to make agencies compete for volunteers Volunteers cannot easily serve two agencies Volunteer stations affiliated with an agency serve as relays for agency traffic Agencies are the originators or recipients of emergency traffic

10 Affiliating with SHARES Agencies might want to utilize volunteer operators This is the opportunity for Hams, through SHARES member agency stations Example - Hams and non-hams can volunteer as a member of the FAA Northwest Mountain Region s (Seven states) EMCOMM / IST and operate on SHARES (fixed, mobile or portable) or in EOC roles Contact: joseph.cirone@faa.gov Other Examples: State or County EMA; designated MARS, USCG Aux, CAP members,

11 SHARES Use Example How do you coordinate power grid restoration without survivable communications? Graphic - U. S. Energy Information Administration

12 The Problem Most communications systems depend on vulnerable infrastructure Telephones, cell phones, satellite phones, LMR networks That infrastructure depends on power, water, fuel, people High Frequency (HF) radio can communicate beyond the horizon without any infrastructure

The Solution Graphic from https://www.electronics-notes.com/articles/antennas-propagation/ionospheric/skywaves-skip-distance-zone.

13 The Solution Graphic from HF Radio Station = Fixed, Mobile or Portable transceiver, antenna, power source (Battery, Solar, etc.) No infrastructure needed between stations (Hybrid, Mesh and Peer-to-Peer modes) Range = 100s to 1,000s of miles (depends on antenna and propagation)

14 SHARES Resources 2,460 SHARES stations affiliated with a Govt Agency Federal - 94 State - 87 County - 59 City - 6 NGO & CI/KR CI/KR Sectors recognized by DHS 397 SHARES entities (sub-components of Fed, State, Local D/A) provide support to one or more SHARES Coordination Net 141 DHS HF channels Agency SHARES channels 218 Agency HF channels (1,920 Agency Stations)

15 SHARES Channels SHARES Coordination Nets (primarily SSB Voice) One-to-many with a Net Control Station Automatic Link Establishment (ALE) Data Channels: Winlink, Pactor, MT63, MS A Winlink primarily, MT-63 secondarily MS A Interoperability with MARS & DOD Agency SHARES channels One-to-one, point-to-point relay Find station location, frequency in SHARES Directory Establish contact, ask for message relay Return to your normal operating channel

16 Other Interoperability Alaska Emergency Channel ( MHz) Govt to Amateur Radio stations Five 5 Mhz chs. for Amateur Radio secondary use RACES Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service Agency Amateur Radio Club (Ham Channels) Foreign stations for disaster response coordination

17 SHARES Station Sites

18 SHARES ALE Sites

19 SHARES Nets/Exercises

20 SHARES Nets

SHARES Winlink Image sent via Winlink by a Tennessee Emergency Management Agency mobile unit SHARES has a robust Winlink RMS (Radio Message Server) network Separate

21 SHARES Winlink Image sent via Winlink by a Tennessee Emergency Management Agency mobile unit SHARES has a robust Winlink RMS (Radio Message Server) network Separate from the Amateur Radio Winlink network Separate from the MARS Winlink network Operates in: Conventional (Gateway), Hybrid, Mesh and Peer-to- Peer modes (Radio Only)

22 SHARES Data Sites

23 SHARES Winlink Winlink Reliability, Accuracy and Flexibility: High reliability % availability (>15 years) 100% accurate message transmissions. Operational from fixed, mobile or field (deployment) sites Geographical dispersion and redundancy for reliability Conventional, hybrid, mesh and peer-to-peer An emergency communication system is only useful if the recipient can receive the messages in a timely, reliable and error-free manner

24 SHARES Winlink Equipment for a SHARES Winlink station: HF Radio and Power supply Ham radios are fine (MARS/CAP Mod) Fixed, Mobile or Portable ( Go Kit ) HF antenna Must be frequency agile Pactor modem Cost about $4,000

25 SHARES RMS Traffic Monthly Data Network Traffic Report - 1 of 3 Callsign Relay Total Connections Relay Radio Connections Relay Radio Incoming Relay Radio Send Trimode Total Connections Trimode Radio Connections Trimode Pactor Connections NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS

26 SHARES Winlink Traffic Monthly Data Network Traffic Report - 2 of 3 Callsign Relay Total Connections Relay Radio Connections Relay Radio Incoming Relay Radio Send Trimode Total Connections Trimode Radio Connections Trimode Pactor Connections NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS

27 SHARES Winlink Traffic Callsign Relay Total Connections Monthly Data Network Traffic Report - 3 of 3 Relay Radio Connections Relay Radio Incoming Relay Radio Send Trimode Total Connections Trimode Radio Connections Trimode Pactor Connections NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS NCS

28 SHARES Deployment SHARES Disaster Support Hurricane Maria Puerto Rico Deployment: 13 OCT 21 NOV SHARES personnel deployed (All Hams) 2 Federal Workers 8 Volunteers affiliated with a SHARES Agency FEMA Mission Assigned = All Expense Paid Trip Connect FEMA Branch Offices with Joint Field Office (JFO) and CONUS In isolated areas throughout Puerto Rico

29 SHARES Deployment

30 SHARES Deployment Conditions Faced

31 SHARES Deployment Austere environment Transportable ( Go Kits ) HF, VHF/UHF Data

32 SHARES Deployment FEMA Branch Office SHARES Deployment Teams

33 SHARES Deployment HF Comms - When all else fails, We are your friends.

34 SHARES Deployment Active SHARES HF RMS locations available Eastern US

35 SHARES Deployment SHARES Deployment Teams during Hurricane Maria

36 SHARES Deployment JFO Station (San Juan) Branch I Initial Station (Rincon)

37 SHARES Deployment Branch I Office (Aguadilla) Branch II Initial Station (Arecibo)

38 SHARES Deployment Branch III Office (Caguas) Branch IV Office (Ponce)

39 SHARES Deployment SHARES Deployment Team members also trained the National Guard on HF skills and replaced the HF antenna at Ft. Buchannan

40 SHARES Deployment RFI Challenge Just the beginning

41 SHARES Deployment HF Antenna SatComm Antenna The National Guard arrives! SatComm adds to RFI

42 SHARES Deployment Military and Civilian IT Specialists were there to help = More RFI challenges Miles of CAT cable, routers, power supplies, etc., just 15 feet from the SHARES station

43 SHARES Deployment When all else fails SHARES Winlink and the Pactor 4 modem worked! During the five-week deployment: 1,225 messages were handled (plus thousands of return receipt/acknowledgement messages) through all of the RFI and high noise floor

44 Lessons Learned Deploying SHARES team capabilities earlier in the response phase would be even more effective for immediate or operational communications needs Emergency planners and operational staff need to better understand HF capabilities and the added benefits (technical, communicator, and analysis skills) of SHARES teams for tactical communications mission assignments

45 Lessons Learned A COML or other POC needs authority over all entities at a site to coordinate antenna placement to minimize RFI SHARES deployment teams should be prepared to assist NG and DOD units to resurrect HF capabilities and train them Emergency communications assessments and training provided to the PRNG was welcomed and effective

46 Lessons Learned Winlink message routing beyond the initial connection with an RMS should not concern end operators SHARES (and similar teams) are a special resource capable of observing communications conditions, actions, and needs, and then communicating it to EOCs and JFOs. This ESF #2 forward observer capability should be developed and utilized

47 Lessons Learned Most operators prefer providing tactical communications involving immediate life safety and property protection over less critical communications Deployment teams need to be staffed sufficiently with leadership to maintain proper span-of-control ratios (1:5-7)

48 Credits Thank you for material used in this presentation: Ross Merlin, SHARES Program Manager Dan Hawkins, DHS Office of Emergency Communications - Region VIII Coordinator Dr. Steve Posner, CAPT USPHS (Ret.) - Emergency Response Coordinator, National Disaster Medical System SHARES Program Office Phil Sherrod and the Winlink Development Team Amateur Radio Safety Foundation, Inc.

49 Questions? Joe Cirone, W1SPY

can lead to issues in certain situations, especially for complex messages.

1 Relying on normal Public Safety communications systems requiring a local infrastructure can lead to issues in certain situations, especially for complex messages. Slide 1 1 This slide speaks for itself.