Take it on the Run

By Michelle Perin

The radio crackles to life informing all units of a hazardous material spill. A toxic substance rendered an office building uninhabitable. The occupants are being evacuated. Command has to be established. The fire department and Hazmat teams need to be notified. Pretty routine for many jurisdictions. Now factor in the building contaminated is the public safety communications center. The communications lifeline now has to depart, leaving all their equipment behind. This is just one scenario that would remove the dispatchers from the tools of their trade. What if an active shooting occurred in the building or a natural disaster, such as an earthquake, fire or flood rendered the building unsafe and unusable? Some agencies have the luxury of having a back-up emergency center. If not, or if the back-up center is inaccessible, public safety solutions are being designed so that agencies can take their communications on the run.

Beltpacks and gateways

Although originally designed to assist during specific tactical operations, the Clear-Com DX300ES wireless intercom is one new product that can connect dozens of users allowing communications to continue. The base station provides full-duplex, hands-free digital communications accessed by users wearing wireless beltpacks and 2.4GHz WH300 all-in-on headsets. If an agency loses its communication center, as well as the network, this is a good option to maintain communications in a small area. The DX300ES can support four talkers and 15 users in one-channel mode, or three talkers and 15 users in two-channel mode. It can be interfaced to two external channels of radio/intercom signals. Because it operates in the 2.4 GHz band, the DX300ES does not require an FCC license. Two agencies have been testing out the system. “In several calls since we got this, we’ve been able to set up the wireless system and it’s worked flawlessly,” explains Lt. Mike Jackson, Bomb Squad Supervisor, Oklahoma City (OK) Police Department. “It’s the best option that we’ve found in our testing and practical experience. It’s not fallen short of our expectations.” Previous to using the DX300ES, they had to string a complex cable intercom and plug in units. Now they just turn on the base station then their headsets. “It’s a different way of viewing communications,” says John Kruman, Clear-Com Regional Sales Manager (Central US). This system is great for smaller coverage conducive to an intercom system, but for larger events such as an entire communications move, Clear-Com offers a different solution.

“We see everyone stuck to the 2-way radio and when they go out, they use the cell and that’s all they have along with a landline. We’re giving you connectability for all of those items through your phone or iPad.” The Eclipse HX, a digital matrix interface, and Agent-IC, an iOS application, can support up to 50 wireless beltpacks at a time. “The beltpacks and transceivers have been proven to work under harsh conditions as they are IP65-rated for water proofing and dust resistance and have high temperature tolerance.” Agent-IC allows iOS users to remotely connect to the Eclipse HX Matrix intercom system over 3G, 4G or Wi-Fi/IP networks. “Agent-IC allows me to have 15 channels of communication over the LTE network or a wired network that is private and secure,” explains Kruman. “If we have this app up it’s like a cell phone call. It’s live. Instead of a screen, a radio and telephone, they have all their communications through the app.” Agent-IC provides capabilities similar to an intercom control panel connecting diverse teams across a variety of environments.

Clear-Com also has another deployable solution having showcased the Gateway at I/ITSEC 2015. The Gateway is “ideal for immediate on-site communication across different radio frequencies.” Combining advanced interface technology for analog and digital radios, it has a suite of programmable features. By bridging radio channels across radio platforms (port-to-port, port-to-multi-port or Radio-over-IP [RoIP]) cross-communication between different frequencies is enabled. The Gateway, “allows us to tie 2-way radios into the audio matrix so if outside communications goes away you can still run an emergency center with this system,” says Kruman. As far as cost, Kruman believes this is an affordable solution for mobile deployment.

VIDA cores and LTE

Clear-Com is not the only company working towards mobile communication deployment. In fact, the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) has set a milestone reference deployable solutions and company engineers are hard at work in collaboration with law enforcement designing systems that meet these requirements and allow communications to go mobile. Harris is one of those companies. “We believe in the flexibility of our solutions,” says Joel Morgan, Senior Manager of Infrastructure Products. “When we talk about deployable infrastructure sometimes it needs to be more mobile than the networks of the day and we are able to meet them there. We want to design technology that is useful to them and their needs.” Harris accomplished this with the VIDA core.

The Voice, Interoperability, Data & Access (VIDA) services platform is a “fully-integrated solution that provides unified interoperable communications for voice, data and applications across a multitude of technologies.” VIDA is the heart of Harris’ LMR network. “We’ve been able to take our VIDA platform and deploy it on a mobile server that can be mounted on a vehicle,” explains Morgan. “You can bring that to the front line, the edge of the scene. This is narrowband voice and data.” These rack-mountable stations would be sprinkled around where the agency wanted coverage. VIDA provides the networking of all of these together. “If a disaster wipes out the infrastructure you can move in with a set of trailers which would act as your hub,” says Morgan. Like Clear-Com’s solutions, Harris’ system relies on an established network of antennas and repeaters. These can be fixed on a building or located on a command vehicle. “The architecture we are talking about is the same architecture we deploy in fixed mode across the country and world,” explains Morgan. “What we’re doing is changing the platform.” In 2013, Harris donated 100 pieces of communications equipment, including the VIDA core with a satellite link to help in relief efforts after Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines. Due to this, first responders were able to get their communications up fast to help the community.

Harris didn’t stop developing mobile technology with their VIDA platform. They also designed a LTE deployable solution. The MBC-200 LTE Mobile Router gives access to commercial and private LTE now and will connect to FirstNet networks in the future. Like the LMR system, Harris’ LTE system has a compact enclosure suitable for trunk or in-vehicle mounting. It also relies on an external transmit and receive antenna. In response to the FirstNet milestone, Michelle Johnson, Director of Business Development, Harris states, “That is something we already have in our portfolio and have demonstrated throughout the US. It’s a very compact solution. It has a mobile edge computing card which allows us to put applications on the unit.” The deployable system is very affordable she says indicating it is a compact version of the macro system which is appealing to some small clients. As far as agencies using the system, there aren’t many yet since LTE is relatively new for public safety. “There aren’t as many deployments, but we have done several demonstrations,” Johnson says. A current trial is being done in New Zealand. “What I’m bringing out to the edge is the narrowband,” says Morgan. “Michelle (Johnson) is bringing broadband out to the edge.”

Inside the box

While most companies try to think outside the box, Mindshare by CSS is doing the exact opposite. The MAXplus Dispatch Position Processor is an Intel Core i3-based computer and audio accessory interface that runs a customizable Debian Linux OS. “The MAXplus is a fairly evolutionary box,” says Doug Ehlers, President. “We had the audio box, so we moved the PC inside. Instead of a PC and a box, we’re now down to a box that is a couple inches wide and a couple inches tall and deep and it’s a complete dispatch position.” This system is independent of any other system. “The dispatch console provides the human interface and you have to have something on the other end to talk to,” says Ehlers. “It’s a Swiss army knife of radio interface. It has the ability to interface with any stand-alone radio. It supports legacy and direct interface if the IP location is co-located with the radio itself. It also has the ability to do digital interface as well using advanced features.” The box can also just be disconnected, picked up and taken away.

“The fact that the products are IP-based makes it fairly easy to set them up for remote access to be used anywhere there’s a network connection, which is pretty much anywhere these days,” Ehlers explains. “On the other end of the system, the radio interface supports a multitude of radio platforms with the MRI card, which is small and scalable.” The system boasts it has the industry smallest footprint for a CRT-based dispatch system. Running a Linux OS for the both the computer portion and an embedded Linux kernel for the audio sub system creates the most stable platform possible. As far as users-“We have one system that is just starting to deploy,” Ehlers explains. “The dispatch consoles are in Washington DC and the radios themselves are located in other individual cities. The dispatch network can be used from any location.”

Like the other systems, the question of how much an agency can extend their network from their current location has to be asked. “If you’re going to go mobile, you need to make sure you have the bandwidth to support it or you’re looking at diminished services. Depending on the technology used to extend that network, if you have a set designated location you’re going to move to you can have the network in place. If you’re going to be mobile and use a wireless system, you need to make sure you have relatively low latency so the system works and responds like the dispatcher is used to.” Ehlers believes that the cost of systems should be coming down as remote service and off-the-shelf parts become more common. Mindshare also offers trade-outs of existing systems and free upgrades for the life of their product. “We have a lot of experience in the industry,” Ehlers says. “Making our systems work right and making the customer happy is really what matters.”

Currently Rock County (Wis.) Communications Center uses the Integrated Dispatch Solutions (IDS) Mindshare Console System in their primary and back-up sites. Although stationary consoles, they can see how the system could lend itself to being mobile. “From what I’ve heard it would be possible and it would be nice because we would have the same set up as in the dispatch center with the same tower coverage and capabilities,” explains Kathren Sukus, Communications Director. It would be similar to what they have with their back-up sites being just like their primary center. Unfortunately due to budgetary concerns, a truly mobile option is not in the cards. “It would be a great thing to be able to do, but there is no discussion on it right now because of other priorities.”

Although a completely deployable communications solution has yet to be developed and most solutions are still reliant on network infrastructure, industry professionals are working hard to make mobility happen. In the meantime, they have a wide variety of solutions available. As FirstNet continues to guide deployable solutions, and the products mentioned pass from the testing stage to commercial availability, mobile communications will move from being a pie-in-the-sky dream to a reality. Johnson sums it up best when she states, “We understand (our customer’s) unique situations on a day to day basis. We want to make sure they have those trusted tools to do their jobs.” So, when the day comes when dispatch has to get up and go, they will have the equipment necessary to move out while still doing their jobs.