Transcript Sales Presentation - Saratoga County EMS

Saratoga County
System Design Review
Mark Hoppe
Andrew Maxymillian
Overall Objectives
 #1 - Provide Reliable Effective Public Safety
Communications for Saratoga County
 Develop a System that would provide the foundation for Public
Safety Communications for the next 20 plus years
 Provide Reliable Coverage throughout Saratoga County
 Enhanced Operations via Voice and Data
 Enhance Interoperability with neighboring cities and counties,
and state agencies
 #2 – Achieve the Public Safety Communications Goals
with the least impact on the community
 Environmental impact of sites
 Share resources as with other groups to reduce overall costs
Current System
Departments Overview
Departments
Fire
EMS
Sherrif/Police
Public Works
Total
Radios
949
641
331
578
2,499
Operations
Voice Data
N Rpt No
N Rpt No
Rptr
Yes
Rptr
No
Band
Paging VHF Low VHF High
Voice
Voice
No
No
Current System
Issues
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Reliability and Repairability
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Basic System Design dates back to the 1960’s
Components
 Fire late 1950’s
 EMS - 1970’s
 Sherriff/Police system – 1960’s
Systems have many older components and components no longer available
Issue will remain with unpredictable outcome and consequences
Operations
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Voice
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Data
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Paging
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Coverage Issues
No data in most operations, limited coverage and use
Voice only
No data
Reliability of receiving
Current System
Issues
 Interference

VHF Low-Band
 Interference due to propagation characteristics of the band – generally
ducting from distant areas
 Unpredictable
 Unavoidable – Most parties are operating within FCC guidelines
 Low-band equipment lifecycle is near end
 Coverage
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VHF Low-Band and High-Band
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Southern part of the county - Clifton Park, Halfmoon, Waterford
Eastern areas along Hudson
APA Areas - South shore and Military Road
Corridor Between Saratoga Springs and South Glens falls
Current System
Issues

FCC Issues
 Narrow banding
 Narrowing channels from 25 kHz to 12.5 kHz for spectrum efficiency double the number of channels, but narrowing the FCC allowable channel,
currently Saratoga County is non-complaint with future requirements.
 Manufacture and importation of any equipment on 25 KHz channel will be
not be permitted after December 31, 2010
 Systems operating on 25 KHz channels will not be allowed after December
31, 2012, all system after this date must operate on 12.5 KHz channels
Current System
Issues
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Inhibiting Enhancements
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Voice Features
 Enhanced console abilities
 Direct Interoperability between agencies
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Data
 Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) functions for dispatching does not have
the RF pipe and end-user radios to use functions
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Paging
 CAD functions for paging has the RF pipe, but not the end-user equipment
– pagers - to use enhanced features
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Overall
 Many advanced functions that are becoming commonplace for public safety
operations are not available until one has the RF delivery mechanism and
end-user equipment
Evaluation Process
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Requirements Review
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Site Analysis
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Develop understanding of APA requirements, tendencies
Review NYS - SWN design to determine if shared site placement achieved
Review existing sites and potential sites
Develop Candidate Site List
APA View Shed by Chazen
Propagation Analysis
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Review and validate existing County licenses
Review frequencies to determine availability (VHF, 700, 800)
Review traffic and loading to determine channel requirements
Review Functional Requirements with County (multiple radios, connectivity, coverage, etc.)
Preliminary Propagation Review
Review NYS - SWN design to determine if shared site placement achieved
Send out propagation request to Motorola and MA/Com to confirm coverage
Propagation drive test to confirm coverage
Finalize Candidate Site List
Report Development
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Draft Final Report that contains findings and recommendations
Present and Discuss Final Report to Saratoga County
Review Requirements
Frequency Resources
 VHF
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Find at a minimum 3 pairs for VHF simulcast or 9 pairs for preferred VHF multisite
solution
Review frequency reuse, splinter frequencies or use of other non-County
controlled VHF assets
 700 MHz
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(16) 700 MHz 25 KHz Frequencies Available for Use in Saratoga County
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Involvement in process will ensure maximum amount of frequency allocation
 800 MHz
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(22) 800 MHz NPSPAC County Frequencies
Licensed currently to existing sites
Frequencies are available for licensing including Spruce Mountain
Rebanding
 Frequencies will have to be rebanded in the future
 Rebanding will not have significant impact on the use of the frequencies
Requirements Review
Traffic and Loading
 Channel Requirements
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Based on traffic characteristics, radio users, channel loading requirements, and
earlier traffic analysis
Channel requirements
 (3) Voice/Data channels in the APA region per Site
 (8) to (12) Voice/Data channels in the non-APA region per Site
Number of Radios
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APA Region (2) Two Radios - VHF High-band and 700/800 MHz
 Hadley is dispatched from Warren County on VHF High-band
 Edinburg/Day have significant weekly operations with Fulton on
VHF High-band
 NYS DEC operates on VHF High-band for lost person and fire
operations
 non-APA Region
 (1) Radio - 700/800 MHz
 Currently, there is cross band operations occurring, most or all
could be eliminated via cross-banding thru console and migration
of users to one common system
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Review Requirements
Functional Requirements
 Coverage
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Most important element in communications systems is coverage
Use defacto standard and commonly applied measure of 95% coverage,
95% of the time
Non - APA
 700/800 Mobile Coverage - 95%/95% of the Non-APA Area
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APA Area
 700/800 Mobile Coverage - 95%/95% of the most populated areas of the APA
 VHF Mobile Coverage - 95%/95% of the land area of the APA
 Connectivity
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Simulcast technology mandated the use of microwave
If Simulcast not a requirement, Microwave preferred because of
reliability
Site Analysis
Develop understanding of APA requirements, tendencies
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Met with APA at Ray Brook and in the field
 Defined conditions
 Refined and gave feedback on findings
 Reviewed View Shed and loading criteria
Refined "Substantially Invisible"
 Minimal access, road and power requirements
 Minimize ridge line sites that are back light
 Reduce height to minimum required
 Minimize size of antennas - especially MW
 Blend/camouflage if improves substantially invisible
Other Criteria
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Land ownership
 Review focused on county or city owned property
 Focused on willing land owner
Developed or minimum access requirements
Review existing sites and potential sites
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Reviewed SSI work and site identified
Existing tower sites
Other tower sites and identified sites
Findings
Sites
 APA New Builds
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Fraker (Original Design - New Build)
Lakeview (Original Design - New Build)
Conklingville Dam (Replaces Mt. Anthony - Willing Landowner)
Lake Luzerne (Replaces Mt. Anthony - Town Property)
 APA Existing Sites
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Spruce Mountain (Existing Site - Potential Upgrades)
Corinth High School (Existing Site - Antenna on building for MW)
 Non-APA Sites
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McGregor (Original Design - New Build)
Providence (Original Design - Existing Site - Upgrades)
Halfmoon (Original Design- Existing) or Bald Mountain (Alternative - Existing)
Saratoga Springs Area (Existing)
Stillwater (Existing ) or Willard (Alternative - Existing)
Findings
Coverage
 New Design - Key Elements
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Meets coverage Replace Mt. Anthony with two low lying sites
Conklingville Dam and Lake Luzerne
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Brings Spruce Mt. into design for coverage and redundancy
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Allows a vendor neutral solution for any vendor - Motorola or MA/Com
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Provides Microwave connectivity to sites
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Places sites to provide better coverage in critical portable patrol areas
Next Steps
 Coverage and Connectivity Field Tests
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VHF and 800 MHz Coverage Tests to finalize Height of Antennas above trees
960 Links Tests to Verify Path Loss
 Frequency Issues
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Refine 700 MHz availability
Complete research on additional VHF frequencies
 Site Agreements
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Finalize Site Agreements with land owners at Lake Luzerne, Conklingville Dam and
Corinth High School
 Site Approvals
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Complete site documentation for new APA sites for various government
applications
FCC
 Complete NEPA and other required Federal approval for new towers
Local Approval