HomeMy WebLinkAboutESD-004-12 Clarhwn REPORT
EMERGENCY AND FIRE SERVICES
Meeting: GENERAL PURPOSE AND ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE
Date: March 19, 2012 Resolution#: P By-law#:
Report#: ESD-004-12 File#:
Subject: Next Generation Common Communications Platform
RECOMMENDATIONS:
It is respectfully recommended that the General Purpose and Administration Committee
recommend to Council the following:
1. THAT Report ESD-004-12 be received be received for information.
t,
Submitted by: Reviewed by:
Gord Weir, Franklin Wu,
Director of Emergency Chief Administrative Officer
Services/Fire Chief
MB/jm
CORPORATION OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF CLARINGTON
40 TEMPERANCE STREET, BOWMANVILLE, ONTARIO L1 C 3A6 T 905-623-3379
REPORT NO.: ESD-004-12 PAGE 2
1.0 BACKGROUND
1.1 In September 2009, Durham Regional Police Services, with the support of the
Regional Fire Services Coordinator, engaged the Chief Administrative Officers of
the Region and each Municipality regarding the potential of procuring one radio
system that meets the needs of all first responders. It was apparent and agreed to
by all, that the idea of one radio system that meets the needs of the various
stakeholders would greatly enhance interoperability and safety.
1.2 The CAO's agreed in principle and a Report (2009-A-47) was constructed for
Regional Council for their consideration on November 4, 2009.
1.3 Project oversight was undertaken by a Joint Management Team (JMT) comprised
of representatives from each stakeholder. This group is chaired by Deputy Police
Chief Scott Burns (DRPS) and Fire Chief Mark Diotte (Ajax Fire) as the Vice Chair.
1.4 A Working Group Committee (WGC), chaired by Superintendent Joe Maiorano
(DRPS) and vice-chaired by Deputy Fire Chief Mark Berney, has been formed to
ensure individual requirements are maintained.
1.5 The role of project management for this multi-year project was awarded to
Lansdowne Technologies Inc.
1.6 This multi-year project will continue through the implementation phase anticipated
in 2013, until full transition to the new system is complete, anticipated to be in
2014.
2.0 COMMENTS
2.1 The release of the NextGen Request for Proposal (RFP) occurred on January 27,
2012 culminating a 9-month process, where members from each organization were
consulted at both the organizational and unit levels, to determine their operational
requirements, as well as the technical functions and characteristics required to
conduct their daily and specialty operations.
Attachment 1- New Capabilities For Radio Users in Durham Region, lists key
capabilities that will be delivered and some additional optional user gear features
requested with the new system.
Attachment 2- Radio Coverage In Durham Region, addresses the current and
future area coverage in the Public Safety Grade radio system.
REPORT NO.: ESD-004-12 PAGE 3
3.0 CONCLUSION
This report provides Council with information regarding the new capabilities for
radio users and radio coverage in Durham Region with the Public Safety Grade
radio system scheduled to be operational in March 2014.
4.0 CONCURRENCE:
Not Applicable
CONFORMITY WITH STRATEGIC PLAN —
The recommendations contained in this report conform to the general intent of the
following priorities of the Strategic Plan:
(Replace the underline with an "X" for all that apply)
_ Promoting economic development
x Maintaining financial stability
_ Connecting Clarington
_ Promoting green initiatives
_ Investing in infrastructure
_ Showcasing our community
Not in conformity with Strategic Plan
Staff Contact: Mark Berney, Deputy Fire Chief
Attachments:
Attachment 1 - New Capabilities For Radio Users in Durham Region
Attachment 2 - Radio Coverage In Durham Region
List of interested parties to be advised of Council's decision:
Attachment 1 to Report ESD-00412
NEXTGEN
DURHAM REGIONAL INTEROPERABILITY /y
Next Generation Common Communication Platform
NEW CAPABILITIES FOR RADIO USERS IN DURHAM REGION
Project NExTGEN:Emergency service responders within Durham Region are currently supported by independent voice communication
systems.These communications systems are not fully interoperable and will be unsupportable beyond 2014.In response,the Regional
Municipality of Durham, in conjunction with the Durham Regional Police Service,the Fire services of Ajax,Brock, Clarington,Oshawa,
Pickering, Scugog, Whitby and Uxbridge, and Ontario Power Generation have come together to identify and select a common
communication platform for voice communications. NExTGEN aims to implement a region-wide, integrated, and interoperable voice
communication system that will meet the requirements of Public Safety agencies while.achieving cost efficiencies through multiple
stakeholders sharing the same radio system platform. This approach will also make major inroads in facilitating interoperability
between first responder stakeholder groups at the regional level and beyond, and ultimately help all stakeholders in the region to
better serve the community.
As the official release of the NExTGEN Request for Proposal (RFP) occurred on January 27, 2012, we at
Project NExTGEN would like to take this opportunity to review the enhanced capabilities requested for the
Next Generation Common Communications Platform (NGCCP).
The RFP was developed over a 9-month period, and members from each organization were consulted at
both the organizational and unit levels, to determine their operational requirements, as well as the
technical functions and characteristics required to conduct their daily and specialty operations.This
engagement process involved: organizational surveys; external partner and regional workshops;
communications centre visits; and finally, an audit of stakeholder-specific data and requested
operational needs.
The following are KEY CAPABILITIES that will be delivered:
All participating stakeholders will have a P-25 Public Safety-grade radio system that will provide
interoperability between all NextGen stakeholders.
O'') The NExTGEN system will be a dedicated system for Durham region stakeholders that will provide
all users with improved coverage across the entire region along with enhanced signal and audio
quality for fewer "dead spots" and less "say again" messages.
NExTGEN users will have the capability to be interoperable with other external agencies through
the use of shared talk groups and Inter-radio frequency Sub-System Interface (ISSI) gateways.
(`'°.'') All Fire Services within the region will have intrinsically safe, water-resistant user gear. All Fire
Services will have regional interoperability, as well as interoperability with other adjacent fire
services that become P-25 equipped in the coming years. Additionally, technology and
interoperability Standard Operating Procedures (SOPS) will be implemented to meet all current
Mutual Assistance Agreements that Police and Fire Services currently honour.
(`'d'') Police and some Fire Services will have access to encryption. Other users may also have
encryption, should their organizations choose to acquire User Gear that will access the system-
wide encryption capability.
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N EXT G E N
DURHAM REGIONAL INTEROPERABILITY
Next Generation Common Communication Platform
The NEXTGEN system will have failure redundancy and will be independent of other communication
systems; consequently, should cell or land-line telephone systems be unavailable during
emergencies due to over-use or power failure, the NextGen radio system will continue to be
available for all stakeholders engaged in the provision of Emergency Measures.
(`°t,'') In addition to the interoperability listed above, the Police helicopter, Air1, will have improved
coverage and enhanced redundancy.
Air1, Marine Units and Public Order Unit Commanders will have new radio features that enable
access to Ground Search and Rescue (GSAR) channels and provide interoperability with Canadian
Coast Guard vessels, civilian volunteer search and rescue teams, and the Rescue Coordination
Centre (RCC) in Trenton.
Some additional optional User Gear features requested with the new system may include:
Wireless microphone/speaker for undercover police operations and for integration with the fire
fighters breathing apparatus;
(`;x'') public safety grade lapel speaker/microphones;
(`1'') wired headsets and /or earpieces and microphones for motorcycles, snowmobiles, all-terrain
vehicles, marine units and bicycles;
i`'') high capacity and intrinsically safe batteries;
('7,%'') GPS location capabilities; and
low power options, such as 1.0 and 0.6 Watt output for use in restricted Radio Frequency
Interference (RFI) areas.
Although the NEXTGEN RFP process and this communications product have focussed on the technical
aspects of the project, the major portion of Project NEXTGEN will be on developing and implementing the
Regional Communications Interoperability Strategy (RCIS). This RCIS will ensure that stakeholders have
everything in place so that they can use the radio system effectively and know how to interoperate with
other system users; stay tuned for a communications product that describes the RCIS.
The NEXTGEN system is scheduled to be operational in March 2014.
If you have any questions, please send them to: Info@ NextGenDurham.ca
NextGen (NGCP005)2012-03-07 Version 1.1 Page 2 of 2
Attachment 2 to Report ESD-004-12
NEXTGEN
DURHAM REGIONAL INTEROPERABILITY
Next Generation Common Communication Platform
DI® COVERAGE IN DURHAM REGION
Project NExTGEN:Emergency service responders within Durham Region are currently supported by independent voice communication
systems.These communications systems are not fully interoperable and will be unsupportable beyond 2014.In response,the Regional
Municipality of Durham, in conjunction with the Durham Regional Police Service,the Fire services of Ajax, Brock,Clarington,Oshawa,
Pickering, Scugog, Whitby and Uxbridge, and Ontario Power Generation have come together to identify and select a common
communication platform for voice communications, NExTGEN aims to implement a region-wide, integrated, and interoperable voice
communication system that will meet the requirements of Public Safety agencies while achieving cost efficiencies through multiple
stakeholders sharing the same radio system platform. This approach will also make major inroads in facilitating interoperability
between first responder stakeholder groups at the regional level and beyond, and ultimately help all stakeholders in the region to
better serve the community.
The following is a brief summary and explanation of the area radio coverage that currently exists in the
Region and the enhanced coverage that will be provided by the NExTGEN system.
The Current Area Coverage experienced by Police and Fire Services is of a high level and the systems are
available virtually all of the time. The current system utilized by Police, however, is shared with
commercial users of TELUS, is not encrypted, is not public safety grade quality, and as such, there have
been some coverage and voice clarity issues that have emerged over the years. At present, both Police
and Fire receive a moderate digital audio quality where speech is understandable with slight effort and
occasional repetition is required due to noise or distortion. In effect, there are times when system access
is unavailable or transmissions have to be repeated.
The Future Area Coverage being procured, is for the sole-use of all NEXTGEN Stakeholders, and will
enhance the existing coverage, especially in the North for Police. It will meet or exceed Public Safety
Radio Industry Standards for all users and achieve a better digital audio quality, which represents a
significant improvement over the current Police and Fire systems. It is important to note that digital
audio quality is critical to the end-user on the street or in a building, as it represents the actual audibility
of the radio transmissions. The NExTGEN's higher digital audio quality will mean that radio calls will be
clearer and speech will be understandable without repetition. In-building coverage will be provided
directly from the NExTGEN'S tower infrastructure or through a combination of infrastructure and vehicular
repeaters.Additionally, the in-building coverage will be improved over the current systems, especially in
the North.
What does all this mean? Compared to the radio systems now in use, the NextGen system will be a more
robust and secure Public Safety Grade radio system, dedicated solely to the NExTGEN partners. Equally
important, it will provide better coverage, enhanced audio quality, improved in-building penetration,
high-level encryption, and will enable more reliable interoperable communications for all staff who
require radios for essential communications.
The NEXTGEN system is scheduled to be operational in March 2014.
If you have any questions, please send them to: Info@ NextGen Durham.ca.
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