Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Wyomings Statewide- Public-Safety Interoperable Radio Communications SystemRequest for Proposals

From: NEXTEL-1
Date: Sat, 17 Jul 2004 00:42:14 -0400

Wyoming Department of Transportation
Request for Proposals
WyoLink System Equipment and
Development Services
Wyoming’s Statewide Public-Safety Interoperable Radio Communications
System
RFP No. C-8055.
 July 15, 2004

5 PROJECT SUMMARY

5.1 OVERVIEW

The State of Wyoming, working through a Steering Committee and Project
Team finalized a set of recommendations to develop a statewide public
safety mobile communications system. The recommendations were chosen
after careful consideration of all possible alternatives, including
technical, operational, and financial factors; they represent the
culmination of an extensive multi-year effort. WyoLink — Wyoming’s
statewide public-safety interoperable radio communications system — is
the result of those recommendations.

WyoLink will be a Project-25 digital, trunked, VHF Hi-band (136-174 MHz)
radio system utilizing 57 sites. The system will be interconnected via
the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WyDOT) microwave backbone and
its planned extensions (see §11.3.2). The 57 sites selected for the
system are or will be under the control of WyDOT; the upgrade of
buildings, towers, and supporting infrastructure is being addressed
under a separate project that is well under way. The established goal is
to achieve 95% statewide coverage for mobile radios, with portable radio
coverage enhancements to be added to address specific user needs.
WyoLink development is projected to be a six-year project. This Request
for Proposals constitutes the first phase of the project, and will
select a Proposer and establish the pricing structure that will apply to
development of the entire project. The first construction phase of the
project will develop the central control point, five radio sites in
southeast Wyoming, and interfaces to two local 800-MHz systems. This
"pilot phase" will provide a full-scale technology demonstration and
will provide the opportunity to iron out any technical issues. This will
also allow WyoLink member agencies to appreciate the features and
functions of the system and develop operational procedures based on that
technology. The pilot phase procurement will purchase a limited number
of user radios to demonstration system operations. Subsequent system
development will be carried out in five phases, with the first phase
being the largest and the remaining four to address particular RF
coverage difficulties and to provide an orderly transition for WyoLink
member agencies.

The Wyoming Legislature created the Public Safety Communications
Commission, which will took effect on July 1, 2004. This 17-member
commission will provide guidance for WyoLink. Changes significantly
affecting the project scope and budget will be submitted to this body
for review — although contract responsibilities rest with the Wyoming
Department of Transportation.

5.2 BENEFITS

WyoLink will provide the following critical benefits to the citizens and
Public-safety responders in Wyoming:

• Full interoperability across all participating State, local, and
Federal agencies.
This will include an interface to the existing Casper 800-MHz system,
and ongoing “mutual aid” functionality for those who wait or decline to
participate in the WyoLink shared system.

• Improved statewide mobile coverage from 83% (estimated coverage) to
95% (verified by field measurements).

• Full compatibility with the current and emerging Project-25 public
safety digital radio communications standards.

• Digital technology, the technology of choice in the industry today and
into the future, which brings added features such as encryption,
low-speed data messaging, individual unit identification, and automatic
vehicle location (AVL).

• Increased communications capacity through the addition of radio
frequencies and the use of trunking technology, which will provide
enhanced flexibility, reliability, and radio frequency efficiency.

• Improved reliability and disaster recovery capabilities through
replacement of obsolete radio infrastructure and the addition of
multiple control points.

• Provide overall cost savings by reducing the number of radio sites
being maintained for public-safety. And will to the

5.3 COVERAGE

The goal of WyoLink is to provide 95% overall mobile radio coverage
within the State of Wyoming. Interstate-80 and Interstate-25 carry the
highest volume of traffic and have the potential for being the scene of
a number of critical incidents. Therefore, the WyoLink system design
shall strive to exceed the 95% overall mobile radio coverage goal along
those highways.
In reaching the goal of 95% overall mobile radio coverage, WyoLink will
provide portable radio coverage in a significant number of areas.
Portable radio coverage, including in building penetration, may be
extended by the development of additional sites and resources as
described in overview in the PSMC plan. The ability to use portable
radios will be further extended in that in-vehicle repeat technology
will be available as an optional subscriber unit.

5.4 INTERNAL INTEROPERABILITY

WyoLink will provide interoperability by unifying Wyoming public-safety
agencies into a single radio system. The organization of the trunking
system will provide sufficient talk-groups to provide for
intercommunication, calling, tactical incident, and Incident Command
Structure operations. Trunking technology has been chosen as it provides
a high degree of resource flexibility, system reliability, and radio
channel efficiency. This technology also provides the ability for a user
to communicate across great distances as the need arises.
The WyoLink system will be implemented in an extended series of steps,
and interoperability will function through the transition. Public
safety-agencies will transfer operations to WyoLink from their existing
systems based on funding availability for subscriber units. During this
transition time, interoperability will be provided through backward
compatibility of subscriber units: the ability of a subscriber unit to
operate as a WyoLink digital trunking radio on one user channel while
able to operate as an analog conventional radio on a different user
channel. Patching of selected WyoLink talkgroups to existing radio
systems will further interoperability during the transition.

5.5 EXTERNAL INTEROPERABILITY

WyoLink will provide interoperability by interfacing with other radio
systems. Interfaces to similar and dissimilar systems will be supported.
In some cases, the interface will be to radio systems with in the State
of Wyoming. Currently identified examples include interfacing to the
800-Mhz radio system serving the city of Casper and the 800-Mhz system
being developed for the city of Cheyenne Fire Department. Other examples
include interfacing to radio systems serving U.S. Forest Service, the
Bureau of land Management, Warren Air Force Base, and other federal
organizations as appropriate. In other cases, the interface will be to
radio systems of the neighboring states. (See P SMC plan appendix H.)
While recognizing certain barriers that exist in linking dissimilar
technologies and RF bands, the goal in selecting interface standards
will be to maximize the transfer of WyoLink system features and
functions between systems.  Interoperability beyond the range of
established WyoLink system interfaces will be supported using
conventional-mode digital and conventional-mode analog channels, both
within subscriber units and within the WyoLink radio system. WyoLink
will support conventional-mode analog channels to allow interoperability
with emergency service responders from outside Wyoming responding within
the WyoLink service area, or Wyoming emergency responders responding
outside of Wyoming. The FCC has specified a national plan for VHF
interoperability channels, which will be implemented by WyoLink. These
channels will be of extreme value during large-scale events where public
safety responders would be called into service across great distances.
While the likelihood of such events is hopefully rare, the events of
September 11, 2001 indicate that such events can happen.

Full RFP-
http://ipc.state.wy.us/radio/WyoLinkRFPFinal.pdf

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