NPSTC is a federation of organizations whose mission is to improve

public safety communications and interoperability through collaborative leadership.

Interoperability

Definition and History

John S. Powell, Chair

NPSTC Interoperability Committee

NPSTC is a federation of organizations whose mission is to improve public safety

communications and interoperability through collaborative leadership. 2

Interoperability Defined

“Interoperability is the ability of Public Safety responders to share information via voice and data communications systems on demand, in real time, when needed, and as authorized.”

– National Task Force on Interoperability, 2002

– National Emergency Communications Plan, (NECP) Revision 1 (pending)

Note: Interoperability is NOT the ability to talk with everyone all of the time (that is chaos)!

NPSTC is a federation of organizations whose mission is to improve public safety

communications and interoperability through collaborative leadership. 3

Interoperability: The Last 50 Years

• Early 1960s: Advent of the Two Channel

(Crystal Controlled) VHF Mobile Radio – The California Law Enforcement Mutual Aid Radio System

(CLEMARS)

• Art McDole, Father of Interoperability

• 154.920 MHz

– The Illinois State Police Emergency Radio Network (ISPERN)

• 155.475 MHz

• Development of the National Law Enforcement

Emergency Channel (155.475 MHz, now VLAW31)

• Wildfires of the 1970s

– Designation of the VHF Fire “Intersystem” (mutual aid)

channels (154.265, 154.280, 154.295 MHz, now the VFIREs)

NPSTC is a federation of organizations whose mission is to improve public safety

communications and interoperability through collaborative leadership. 4

Interoperability: The Last 50 Years

• 1987: The 800 MHz National Public Safety

Planning Advisory Committee (NPSPAC) – Docket 87-112

– First assignment of Calling and “General Tactical” channels

(1 Call, 4 Tactical)

• 1994-1996: FCC/NTIA’s Joint Public Safety

Wireless Advisory Committee (PSWAC)

– Interoperability Subcommittee definitions and

recommendations

• Identified 3 different/specific types of interoperability

– Day-to-Day (> 93% of all interop PTTs)

– Task Force (> 3% of all interop PTTs)

– Mutual Aid (< 3% of all interop PTTs)

NPSTC is a federation of organizations whose mission is to improve public safety

communications and interoperability through collaborative leadership. 5

Interoperability: The Last 50 Years

• PSWAC Final Report (released Sep 11, 1996) – Recommended 25 MHz of added narrowband voice spectrum

with 10% to be reserved for interoperability

– 700 MHz band established by Congress in 1997 per PL105-33

• National Public Safety Telecommunications

Council (NPSTC) • Established in 1997

• Charter is to continue work of the PSWAC and (later) the NCC

• FCC 700 MHz National Coordination

Committee (NCC) and FCC Docket 96-86 – Largest allocation of interop spectrum (32 pairs @ 12.5 kHz)

– Recommendation for standard interop channel naming

NPSTC is a federation of organizations whose mission is to improve public safety

communications and interoperability through collaborative leadership. 6

Interoperability: Post 9/11

• National Task Force on Interoperability (NTFI) – Developed today’s definition in 2002

• Office for Domestic Preparedness (ODP) – RapidComm exercises in 10 largest cities

• SAFECOM Interoperability Continuum – Jointly developed by ODP and OIC, released December 2004

– Developed with Lessons Learned from RapidComm

– Only minor modifications in intervening years

– Basis for all DHS interoperability grants & measurements

• NPSTC National Channel Naming Standard – Prompted by 9/11 and Katrina Federal Reports

– ANSI Standard APCO/NPSTC ANS 1.104.1-2010 (06/09/2010)

NPSTC is a federation of organizations whose mission is to improve public safety

communications and interoperability through collaborative leadership. 7

SAFECOM Interoperability Continuum

NPSTC is a federation of organizations whose mission is to improve public safety

communications and interoperability through collaborative leadership. 8

Contact Information:

John S. Powell, Chair

NPSTC Interoperability Committee

Senior Consulting Engineer

PO Box 7172298

Stateline, NV 89449

(775) 410-2858 Office

(510) 410-2858 Mobile

jpowell@berkeley.edu

Inter-System Roaming between Project 25 systems in Missouri

Stephen Devine Assistant Director

Missouri Statewide Interoperability Network

Missouri Project 25 Environment and Opportunities

• The Missouri Statewide Interoperability Network has the potential to interface with all systems in Missouri via either Project 25 ISSI or proprietary Motorola system interface.

• All trunked systems in Missouri are Motorola systems.

• Multi-Band radios operating in VHF and 700/800 by users of multiple agencies can have multiple system ID’s and access multiple systems or interface with systems other than their own through Project 25 or proprietary Motorola system interfaces.

Kansas City MARS 800MHz System ID B

St Louis City 800 MHz System ID A

MOSWIN VHF/700 MHz System ID A

Other Missouri Systems St Joseph, Springfield, Joplin System ID’s C,D and E

City of Richardson Overview of Community • Spanning 28 square miles and nestled just

north of downtown Dallas, TX

• Home to the Telecom Corridor® and over

500 high tech and telecom companies

• 100,000 Population

• Also Services University of Texas at Dallas

(UTD)

Cassidian P25 System • Avtec System Consoles

• Motorola APX 6000/7000 Radios

• Zetron Fire Alerting

• 4-Site Simulcast, 8 Channels Trunked

• 1400 Customers/Users

Portable & Mobile Radio Testing

Virtual

Communications

Center

Open Standards

Traditional IT

Tait Radios, Etherstack,

Backbone, Avtec

Console, ISSI Interface to

Harris Radio System

A Managed Services Approach to Interoperability

Barbara A. Jaeger, ENP 9-1-1 Administrator

State of Arizona Barbara.Jaeger@azdoa.com

602-542-0911

Interoperability: Near-term, Middle-term, Long-term

• Today, gateways enable the movement of data between public-safety answering points (PSAPs)

• PSP interoperability is limited today on the radio side, not the 911 side

• Eventually, NG-911 will enable seamless sharing of data between PSAPs

• No islands—All PSAPs ultimately will have to have some connectivity to FirstNet

• Funding is the biggest obstacle to achieving interoperability

The Role of Managed Services

• One cost, per seat, per month

• Would include all necessary equipment and network component upgrades, and all maintenance

• May include some hosted solutions, e.g., a third-party data center

• Uncommon in public-safety sector, but readily used in the enterprise sector

• Eliminates capex costs

• Possible to roll managed-service expense into existing opex budgets

• Cost-effective way to upgrade gear