Showing posts with label interoperable communications. Show all posts
Showing posts with label interoperable communications. Show all posts
Monday, March 9, 2009
NEWS-STAR: Emergency agencies advance plans to talk on same frequency
More than three years after hurricanes Katrina and Rita exposed Louisiana's patchwork system of communication, homeland security grants will focus on creating a single communications channel for all state emergency agencies.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
SF EXAMINER: Public safety agencies getting in sync
REDWOOD CITY – If a major earthquake were to strike one of the fault lines that runs through the Bay Area, emergency officials from across the region would largely rely on cell phones and land lines to communicate with one another.
Most radio systems used by the region’s public-safety agencies are not compatible with those in other regions. The consensus is that this problem must be solved before a catastrophic emergency puts the region to a test, but the precise method for doing that is the subject of a heated debate — particularly in San Mateo County.
The controversy centers around disagreements over which system is better: the analog system that has been used by most emergency officials for decades, or digital technology that many — including the federal government — believe is the radio system of the future.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
GT EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Orange County, Calif., May Be Successful Model for Interoperable Communications Systems
The assertion that all responders from cities within one county should share an interoperable communications system really isn't debatable in the United States. The delays caused by a lack of interoperable communications between fire and police at the World Trade Center on 9/11 are common knowledge. But many counties still struggle to persuade first responder agencies in cities to agree on uniform system specs.
Their concerns are serious. In 2003, the National Task Force on Interoperability outlined five obstacles to achieving county interoperability. The task force blamed:
- aging and incompatible equipment;
- fragmented budget cycles;
- limited and fragmented planning and coordination;
- limited and fragmented spectrum; and
- agency resistance to uniform equipment standards.
However, four years before that report, Orange County, Calif., managed to connect all of its responders in 31 cities on the same 800 MHz trunk radio system. The system supports more than 17,000 radios and averages about 55,000 transmissions daily. The trunk system uses 81 channels and has nearly 400 talkgroups.
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