Subject: [NEXTEL-1] New emergency radio system is nation's first

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2003 16:48:58 -0400

As Previously Reported-
New emergency radio system is nation's first

By Robert Howk
Alaska Journal of Commerce
10/20/03

Rescuers, firefighters, law enforcement and military authorities in Alaska are leading the nation in developing a state-of-the art digital communications system.
The Alaska Land Mobile Radio system (ALMR) is a partnership between the State of Alaska and the U.S. Department of Defense, and is the first of its kind in the United States, said ALMR Program Manager Jack Phelps.
"This is cutting edge stuff," he said. "We are setting a benchmark for the rest of the country to follow."
Phelps' partner in launching the new system is Deputy Program Manager Tim Woodall from the Department of Defense (DoD) Alaskan Command. He said it has been shown clearly throughout history that one of the biggest problems in any emergency situation is lack of proper communications.
"We saw it in New York City on 9-11," Woodall said, when rescue agencies could not talk with each other efficiently. "And look at the (1996) Miller's Reach wildfire in the Susitna Valley. There were 22 different radio systems in use."
Woodall said the ALMR system represents an "unprecedented working relationship" between federal, state and local governments.
It is designed to improve what engineers call interoperability -- keeping all those concerned within the communications loop -- and to increase the safety and security of first responders, Woodall said.
He said a prime benefit of the system is that it provides "situational awareness," allowing an incident commander to communicate in real-time with a variety of response crews from different agencies on a common link.
Making sure the bad guys can't interfere with operations also is a critical part of the system, Woodall said.
"With the existing technology that's out there today, our responders cannot talk securely. Someone with a scanner, maybe a terrorist, can listen," he said. "We use advanced encryption, based on Department of Defense technology. Your ability to break that key will take longer than it does for us to change it."
It is also being built with trouble in mind. The main control center, with a complete back-up control module, is located in Anchorage. A second, fully functional control center is being developed near Fairbanks. The redundant systems also have redundant back-up power supplies.
Technically speaking, the process began in 1995. That's when the federal government mandated that all first responder radio systems convert from "broadband" transmissions, covering 25 megahertz of the available electromagnetic spectrum, to "narrowband" transmissions within 12.5 megahertz of spectrum.
The move was made to free up available bandwidth for other commercial applications, and the government gave agencies until 2005 to convert their systems.
Using modern digital processing, a multitude of frequencies becomes available, even in the smaller bandwidth, but that still left a basic communications problem unresolved, Woodall said.
Changing the rules
Under the Federal Telecommunications Act of 1934, all transmission frequency assignments are issued either to federal or non-federal users, and those frequencies may only be shared in times of declared emergencies. Even then, differences in transmission standards and protocols often prohibit interoperability, Woodall said.
Federal users are regulated by the Department of Commerce through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Non-federal frequency allocations are controlled by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
A crucial development in the program occurred earlier this year, Woodall said, when the FCC approved a frequency waiver that allows the ALMR system to share frequencies normally reserved for exclusive use by the DoD and state public safety agencies.
"This falls into line with their Homeland Security initiatives," Woodall said.  "And it is precedent-setting. They're going to look at how we do this, they're watching us very carefully. How successful we are will determine if the rest of the nation will go this way."
While the shared communications concept in Alaska has been developing for several years, the events of September 11, 2001 dramatically accelerated the grant-making process, Woodall said.
Funding for the ALMR project will total approximately $38 million through 2006, he said, and most of the money will come directly from the federal government and in pass-through grants to the state. The project will expend about $6 million from the state's general fund, he said.
The ALMR system is overseen by the Alaska Department of Administration and managed by a four-member executive council. Members of the council include representatives from the State of Alaska, the Department of Defense, the Alaska Municipal League and the federal Transportation Security Administration.
In with the new ... keep the old

The new system eventually will replace more than 100 different radio systems throughout the state that cannot now communicate with each other, Woodall and Phelps said. And communities will not need to immediately convert their existing systems to ALMR technology.
"It is designed to allow what we call 'legacy equipment' to talk to it," Phelps said. "It is backwards compatible. It's like your PC at home, when you upgrade from Windows 3.1 to 2000 or XP, you don't throw out the computer.
"It's built on an open architecture," he said. "So that radios from different vendors will operate on the system using the same standard."
The system uses the state's installed network of microwave sites, which are being converted to utilize what is known in the industry as APCO Project 25 (P25) compliant infrastructure. A successful field test of the concept was conducted this spring in Valdez as part of the military's Northern Edge training exercise, using radios provided by Motorola Inc.
A second manufacturer, EF Johnson Inc., also has demonstrated portable and mobile units that will work with the ALMR system. Scores of other companies are expected to begin marketing P25-compatible equipment within the next year.
Woodall and Phelps said the combination of using as much existing equipment and facilities as possible, along with cost-sharing initiatives among agencies and competition among equipment makers is helping to reduce the overall expense of the new system.
Since the field test, ALMR staff reviewed computer logs, personnel reports and mountains of data to assess the system's performance. Phelps was delighted with the results.
"It worked! It worked really well," he said.

The project is being developed in phases, Phelps said, with the next push expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2004.
"The focus right now is to build from the tip of the Kenai Peninsula, to Fairbanks and up the haul road to the North Slope and down the Alaska Highway to the Canadian border," he said. A link is ready to tie into the system from Juneau and additional connections will be made in Southeast Alaska relatively soon, Phelps said.
"In the western and northern areas of the state, our challenges are a little more great," he acknowledged. He said while remote communities such as Bethel and Nome will not be able to tie into the statewide system at first, they will be able to use the new technology to make local, inter-connected ALMR compliant radio networks.
Woodall said the project is exploring ways to use satellite communications in coming years to link most if not all remote communities into a state-wide emergency broadcast system.

Future applications

The ALMR system has the potential to benefit many other entities and industries besides public safety agencies, Woodall said.
"In the future, we're looking at partnering with companies like Mobil and Phillips," he said.
"We've been contacted by Exxon. They're watching what we're doing. We're working with Alyeska Pipeline Company in Valdez."
Electric, water and wastewater utilities can also make use of the system, especially in times of natural or man-made disasters, he said.
And ordinary drivers may, at some point, benefit from ALMR-generated information while on the highway.
"The Department of Transportation is looking at the Intelligent Transportation System," Woodall said. "Being able to read sensors that are put into the road, to look at the temperatures, the chemicals on the road, the meteorological conditions."
That data could help state road maintenance crews to operate more efficiently and save money, he said. And the state could eventually make use of ALMR to generate real-time critical road condition reports for any future upgrades to the state's electronic 'smart sign' system to digitally inform drivers of danger ahead.

http://www.alaskajournal.com/stories/102003/foc_20031020012.shtml

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