Comments on Nationwide Interoperable Public Safety Broadband Network NOI
Comments on Nationwide Interoperable Public Safety Broadband Network NOI
Topics:
Date:
November 09, 2012
- NIST Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology
- Craig Paul
- Patrick Coyle
- Doug Westmoreland
- Rex Buddenberg
- Lemko Corporation
- Dr. Michael Myers
- RCC Consultants, Inc.
- Phase One Consulting Group and Light Foundry Associates
- Potomac Institute for Policy Studies
- LiveU Ltd.
- Casco - Lincoln EMS Group
- Bechtel National, Inc.
- Lemko Corporation
- Chippewa Valley
- Mavenir Systems, Inc.
- SAIC
- In Motion Technology, Inc
- States of Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming
- Law Enforcement & Intelligence Consulting, LLC
- International Association of Fire Fighters
- Great River Energy
- FBI-LEEDA
- Tri-County Electric Cooperative
- National Public Safety Telecommunications Council
- TeleCommunication Systems, Inc.
- Emre Gunduzhan, Ph.D
- Mid-Atlantic Consortium for Interoperable Nationwide Advanced Communications
- Fort Mojave Indian Tribe's Department of Emergency Response
- Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation
- State of North Dakota
- Aepona Inc.
- Spacenet Inc.
- State of Florida
- Alarm Industry Communications Committee
- Globalstar Inc.
- WISPA Emergency Communication Action Team
- Accenture Federal Services, LLC
- Washington State Interoperability Executive Committee
- PCIA – The Wireless Infrastructure Association
- AIRCOM International, Inc.
- NATOA, NLC, USCM, NACo
- Intrado Inc.
- Roy J Hebert & Associates
- Booz Allen Hamilton
- APCO International
- General Dynamics C4 Systems
- CenturyLink
- Bay Area Regional Interoperable Communications Systems Authority
- California Chapter Association of Enterprise Architects
- Minnesota Department of Public Safety
- Wireless Innovation Forum
- DoD CIO Public Safety Communications Working Group
- Arkansas Public Safety Broadband Network Working Group
- Presidential Partners Consulting
- American Public Works Association
- Thales USA, Inc.
- City of Springfield, Oregon
- Research In Motion Limited
- ClearSky Technologies, Inc.
- City of Mesa, Arizona
- NTCH, Inc. and PTA FLA, Inc.
- Textron Systems Corporation
- Burson-Marsteller
- Scott Klug
- Commonwealth of Massachusetts
- State of Oregon
- One DHS Emergency Communications Committee
- Wireless @ Virginia Tech
- Harris Corporation
- Rivada Networks, Inc.
- Industry Council for Emergency Response Technologies
- Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
- County of Fairfax, Virginia
- Access Spectrum, LLC
- American Petroleum Institute and Energy Telecommunications and Electrical Association
- Iridium Satellite LLC
- Mississippi Wireless Communication Commission
- Major Cities Chiefs Association
- xG Technology, Inc.
- Ohio Statewide Interoperability Executive Committee
- Neustar, Inc.
- T-Mobile USA, Inc.
- Motorola Solutions, Inc.
- Nokia Siemens Networks US LLC
- City of Boston, Massachusetts
- The Datamaxx Group
- Ericsson Inc
- OtterBox Products
- Telecommunications Consulting Inc.
- Edison Electric Institute
- City of San Diego
- Lockheed Martin Corporation
- State of Hawai'i
- State of California
- DISH Network L.L.C.
- Rural Telecommunications Group
- Kodiak Networks, Inc
- iWire365 LLC & Emtec Federal Inc
- Colorado Governor's Office of Information Technology
- Oceus Networks Inc.
- Qualcomm Incorporated
- State of New Jersey
- New York City Police Department
- Southern Company Services, Inc.
- Telecommunications Industry Association
- Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System Authority
- Alcatel-Lucent
- LightSquared Inc.
- National Rural Electric Cooperative Association and National Telecommunications Cooperative Association
- AT&T Services, Inc.
- State of New Mexico
- Competitive Carriers Association
- Utilities Telecom Council
- TASC and BTS
- Mobile Data Users Group
- City of Fort Worth, Texas
- City of Philadelphia
- Raytheon Company
- State of Texas
- State of Arizona Public Safety Interoperable Communications Office
- Sprint Nextel Corporation
- Verizon
- Internet2
- Cassidian Communications, Inc.
- TT Government Solutions, Inc.
- Tecore Networks
- Early Builders Advisory Council
- 7Layers, Inc.
- Illinois Statewide Interoperability Coordinator and the City of Chicago
- Inmarsat, Inc.
- City of Arlington Texas
- RPM Services, Inc


Spacenet’s response to the FirstNet NOI
Mike Mazza - McLean [Mike.Mazza@Spacenet.com]
Thu 11/1/2012 3:15 PM
Good afternoon.
Attached please find Spacenet’s response to the “Notice of Intent” from the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) and the NTIA regarding implementation of a nationwide Interoperable Public Safety Broadband Network.
As one of the nation’s leading Satellite Service Providers, Spacenet has a long and rich history in supporting the communications needs of the first responder community. Spacenet feels very strongly that satellite communications must play an integral role in the network infrastructure for this nationwide broadband network. During times of catastrophic events such as hurricanes, earthquakes and tornado’s, satellite communications may be the only communications infrastructure still operational and can be deployed very rapidly.
Please forward any questions or comments to me.
Best regards and good luck.
Michael J. Mazza
Vice President, Government and Industrial Sales
Spacenet Government Services
Office: 703-848-1325
Cell: 571-230-8818
Aepona's Comments on the FirstNet NOI
Kevin Wagner [kevin.wagner@aepona.com]
Thu 11/1/2012 2:30 PM
Aepona's comments on the FirstNet NOI are attached.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment.
Best regards,
--Kevin
--
Kevin Wagner
SVP, Corporate & Business Development
(o) +1 303 482 1305
(e) kevin.wagner@aepona.com
Response from state of North Dakota
Durick, Travis J. [tdurick@nd.gov]
Thu 11/1/2012 1:55 PM
Hello,
Please see the attached response submitted on behalf of our Governor's appointed contact for FirstNet, the state of North Dakota's CIO, Lisa Feldner.
Regards,
Travis Durick
--------
Travis Durick | Broadband Technology Manager
State of North Dakota| Information Technology Department
701.328.1125 | tdurick@nd.gov | broadband.nd.gov
Northrop Grumman's Notice of Inquiry (NOI) Response
Kincaid, Royce J (IS) [Royce.Kincaid@ngc.com]
Thu 11/1/2012 1:36 PM
Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation is pleased to provide our response to the National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA’s) request for comments on the FirstNet Nationwide Network (FNN) conceptual network design and framework for developing applications.
We welcome the opportunity to meet with the FirstNet Board to explain our approach and to address any questions related to our response.
Northrop Grumman’s point-of-contact is as follows:
Name: Royce J. Kincaid
Title: FirstNet Campaign Director, Northrop Grumman Information Systems
E-mail: royce.kincaid@ngc.com
Telephone: (571)-313-2114
Mobile: (202)-642-0605
Royce
Submission of FirstNet NOI comments
Eric Jensen [ericjenzen@gmail.com]
Thu 11/1/2012 11:43 AM
Please accept these comments on the Notice of Inquiry on the proposed FirstNet Public Safety Broadband Network on behalf of the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe's Department of Emergency Response.
Comments of the MACINAC Initiative
Boley, Kenneth [ken@interopgroup.com]
Thu 11/1/2012 10:36 AM
Attached please find the Comments of the Mid-Atlantic Consortium for Interoperable Nationwide Advanced Communications ("MACINAC") Initiative submitted in response to the NTIA Notice of Inquiry dated October 4, 2012 (77 Fed. Reg. 60680). MACINAC is sponsored by the Statewide Interoperability Coordinators of the District of Columbia, the State of Delaware, the State of Maryland, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the State of West Virginia. Thank you for including these comments in the record for FirstNet's consideration.
--
Kenneth R. Boley
The Interoperability Group
ken@interopgroup.com
202-746-4600
Using PSBN for Public Alerts and Warnings
Gunduzhan, Emre [Emre.Gunduzhan@jhuapl.edu]
Thu 11/1/2012 10:27 AM
Greetings,
Attached please find our comments in response to the FirstNet Notice of Inquiry. We appreciate this opportunity to provide our thoughts on this initiative, and thank you for taking our comments into consideration.
Best regards,
Emre Gunduzhan, Ph.D
Project Manager / Section Supervisor, Next-Generation Network Systems
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
Asymmetric Operations Department
11100 Johns Hopkins Road
Laurel, MD 20723
443-778-7269 (Baltimore)
240-228-7269 (Washington)
NTIA FirstNet - TCS Response
Marcus Gough [MGough@telecomsys.com]
Thu 11/1/2012 9:47 AM
To whom it may concern,
TeleCommunication Systems, Inc. (TCS) would like to submit the attached document in response to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Notice of Inquiry (NOI) on behalf of the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet), Docket No. 120928505–2505–01. Please respond to this email to confirm receipt.
Regards,
Marcus A. Gough
Proposal Manager, Business Development Services Group (BDSG)
TeleCommunication Systems, Inc. (TCS)
275 West Street
Annapolis, MD 21401
(410) 280-4829 office
(443) 534-8325 cell
(410) 295-1823 fax
mgough@telecomsys.com
NPSTC's Comments
Sandy Dawkins [sdawkins@npstc.org]
Thu 11/1/2012 9:18 AM
NTIA NOI re FirstNet:
Please find the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council comments attached.
Regards,
Support Office
National Public Safety Telecommunications Council
8191 Southpark Lane, Number 205
Littleton, Colorado 80120-4641
866-807-4755
Tri-County Electric Cooperative Response
William Hadala [williammichael@iwire365.com]
Wed 10/31/2012 11:27 PM
Hello,
For your review and consideration I have attached a formal response for the FirstNet Notice of Inquiry.
Our attached response / document is entitled, "FirstNet Tier II & III Utility / Electrical Cooperative Network Architecture, Planning and Auditing Recommendations".
I look forward to receiving a receipt of confirmation that you have accepted our formal comment.
Thanks!
All the best,
William
William Michael Hadala, Jr., PMP
President & Chief Executive Officer
iWire365
972.994.6650 ext. 113
805.906.9438
www.iWire365.com
FBI-LEEDA’s Response
Tom Stone [TStone@leedafbi.org]
Thu 11/1/2012 4:20 PM
Greetings,
Attached please find a revised version of our Notice of Inquiry. Please distribute this new version in place of the one submitted October 31, 2012.
The original presentation of the Notice of Inquiry contained 2 typos in the survey numbers. The numbers contained herein have been corrected and updated as of November 1, 2012 4pm EDT. These numbers are based on 425 results. Due to the interruption of Hurricane Sandy, responses have been delayed. We will continue to document survey results as they are received. Please contact us for updated information.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
______________________________________________________________
Wed 10/31/2012 4:07 PM
Greetings,
Attached in FBI-LEEDA’s response to the U.S. Department of Commerce National Telecommunications and Information Administration First Responder Network Authority Notice of Inquiry.
Regards,
Tom Stone
Executive Director
FBI - LEEDA
5 Great Valley Pkwy, Ste 125
Malvern, PA 19355
Telephone: 877-772-7712
Fax: 610-644-3193
Email: tstone@fbileeda.org
www.fbileeda.org
Great River Energy Comments FirstNet NOI
Nelson, Kathleen GRE-MG [knelson@GREnergy.com]
Wed 10/31/2012 4:48 PM
Great River Energy respectfully submits comments on the FirstNet NOI.
Regards,
Kathy Nelson, PE
Principal Telecommunications Engineer
Great River Energy
O: (763)445-5559
C: (612)865-3485
knelson@grenergy.com
IAFF Response to: Notice of Inquiry
Moore Jonathan [jmoore@iaff.org]
Wed 10/31/2012 4:07 PM
Please see the attached submission from the International Association of Fire Fighters.
Jonathan W. Moore
Director, Fire and EMS Ops/GIS
International Association of Fire Fighters
Washington, DC
(202) 824-1595
LEIC FirstNet NOI response
Mark Tanner [lawenforce.intel@gmail.com]
Wed 10/31/2012 5:13 PM
The FirstNet Board has demonstrated commitment to first responders. Their solicitation of comments to their inaugural board meeting and the presentation is representative of their desire to meet the requirements of first responders and the public.
Thanks for the opportunity,
Mark
--
Mark A. Tanner
President
Law Enforcement & Intelligence Consulting, LLC
443-223-5055
Joint States Comment
Magenheimer, Chris [cmagenheimer@washoecounty.us]
Wed 10/31/2012 6:05 PM
Attached please find the Joint Comments of the States of Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming in the matter of :
DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATIONWIDE INTEROPERABLE NATIONWIDE PUBLIC SAFETY BROADBAND NETWORK – Docket No. 120928505-2505-01.
Respectfully submitted,
Chris Magenheimer
Project Manager of SONNet – State of Nevada Network
Chris Magenheimer
North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District
Project Manager
SONNet - State of Nevada Network
NDIP - Nevada Dispatch Interconnect Project
775-742-5215
Comments from In Motion Technology
Larry LeBlanc [larry.leblanc@inmotiontechnology.com]
Wed 10/31/2012 7:03 PM
Please find attached comments from In Motion Technology, Inc in response to the FirstNet NOI of October 04, 2012.
Larry LeBlanc
Chief Technology Officer
T 604.523.2371 x433
F 604.648.9629
M 604.790.3577
larry.leblanc@inmotiontechnology.com
www.inmotiontechnology.com
350-625 Agnes Street - New Westminster, BC - V3M 5Y4
SAIC Response to FirstNet NOI
Chang, Paul H. [PAUL.H.CHANG@saic.com]
Wed 10/31/2012 6:54 PM
SAIC respectfully submits our comments in response to NTIA Notice of Inquiry (Docket No: 120928505-2505-01).
Please direct any questions regarding this response to:
Paul Chang or Kerry Allen
SAIC
4015 Hancock Street
San Diego, CA 92110
Paul.H.Chang@saic.com or Kerry.C.Allen@saic.com
Respectfully,
Paul Chang | SAIC
Broadband Wireless Networks
(o) 858-826-6286 (m) 858.414.6286
changp@saic.com |www.saic.com
Science Applications International Corporation
NATIONAL SECURITY ● ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT ● HEALTH ● CYBERSECURITY
Mavenir Comments to FirstNet NOI
Madan Jagernauth [madan.jagernauth@mavenir.com]
Tue 10/30/2012 6:09 PM
Please find enclosed comments prepared by Mavenir Systems, Inc. to the Notice of Inquiry.
Regards,
Madan Jagernauth
VP Marketing & Strategy
Mavenir Systems, Inc.
1651 N. Glenville Drive, Suite 216
Richardson, Texas 75081 USA
Mobile: +1.214.228.1196
Office: +1.469.916.4393 x 5061
Chippewa Valley
John LeBrun [John.LeBrun@eauclairewi.gov]
Tue 10/30/2012 1:08 PM
The City of Eau Claire is participating in the CCI portion of a recent BTOP grant to provide broadband services to the Chippewa Valley. Part of the project is a WiMax pilot to be used for public safety, education, medicine, and municipal operations.
We are currently using WiMax for our deployment but plan to upgrade to LTE once an open standard is established. The 700 MHz freq. will be also be considered once the open standard is accepted and equipment is available.
Our coverage area includes a majority of Eau Claire and Chippewa County and a portion of Dunn and Clark Counties. We are utilizing 14 tower sites and the pilot involves 20 different organizations. We are also looking at connecting our system with the Wausau area 70 miles to the east to share the controlling systems to provide interoperability between the two wireless networks.
This pilot has proven to be a tremendous improvement in delivering connectivity to applications both mobile and point–to-point, when and where it is needed. However, it is just a pilot, and further funding is required to expand coverage to the rest of our frequency area.
With our communities current budget challenges it may be years before expansion of this interoperable network could take place. Please consider Western Wisconsin for future grant funding to expand our network to other communities that would value from it.
If you are interested, and want more details on what we are doing, feel free to contact me.
Thanks,
John LeBrun
Information Services Manager
City of Eau Claire
203 South Farwell Street
Eau Claire, WI 54701
phone: (715)839-5044
fax: (715)839-5110
John.LeBrun@EauClaireWI.gov
Lemko Corporation Response
Erin Hankforth [erin.hankforth@lemko.com]
Tue 10/30/2012 12:11 PM
Hello,
Attached you will find Lemko Corporations response on behalf of Chris White, Vice President Lemko Corporation, to the call for comments on the Development of the Nationwide Interoperable Public Safety Broadband Network.
Please let me know if any further steps must be taken to fulfill our submission.
Thank You,
Erin Hankforth
Erin Hankforth
Marketing
Lemko Corporation I One Pierce Place, Suite 700 |Itasca, Illinois 60143
Direct 1 630 225 9309
Office 1 630 948 3025 x328
www.lemko.com
Bechtel's Response to NTIA and FirstNet NOI
Dufour, Peggy [pdufour@Bechtel.com]
Wed 10/31/2012 3:20 PM
Bechtel National, Inc., is pleased to submit the attached response for your consideration.
For additional information, please contact:
Mr. Gregory L. Frank
General Manager, Defense & Security
Bechtel National, Inc.
12011 Sunset Hills Road
Reston, VA 21090-5919
Office: 703.429.6331 Cell: 240.409.3494
Email: glfrank@bechtel.com
We appreciate this opportunity to provide the enclosed information and look forward to further discussions with you.
Sincerely yours,
Peggy Dufour
Manager, Frederick Proposal Center
Bechtel National, Inc.
5275 Westview Drive | Frederick, MD | 21703-8306
Office: 240.379.3323 |
Casco - Lincoln EMS Group
Brad Legreve [blegreve@johnsonjonet.com]
Tue 10/30/2012 12:01 PM
Good morning, I received a email on welcome comments on the WISCOM system. Just a explanation of who we are, we are a non profit volenteer ems group that has 28 members. Our county is Kewaunee county and we just started to change over to the wiscom system. I do believe this is a good route to our radio situation however the cost of the system will determine the ability of our group to continue. We purchase all new radios 2 years ago and are told the grant money is already used up. It would be very helpful if there was more grant funds or no interest funding to allow groups like ours to make the switch over to these radios and pay them off over a time period. We simply can not afford to supply 28 new radios at $1800 per radio.
Brad LeGreve
Johnson & Jonet Mechanical Inc.
Technical Services Group Lead
LiveU response to NTIA NOI concept, architecture, application
Baruch Altman [baruch@liveu.tv]
Wed 10/31/2012 5:39 AM
Dear lady, sir,
Attached please find our comments in response to the NTIA FirstNet NOI on the September 25th presentation and additional requested information about applications.
We appreciate the opportunity to respond and would gladly be at your service for further clarifications and responses.
Please do confirm receipt of this response.
BR,
Baruch
Baruch Altman
Director
LiveU Ltd.
(T) +972 (9) 763-8010
(F) +972 (9) 763-8000
(M) +972 (52) 616-7882
Email: <baruch@liveu.tv>
LiveU - Go Live Anywhere, Anytime www.liveu.tv
Comments of Potomac Institute
Barnett, Jamie [Jamie.Barnett@potomacinstitute.org]
Wed 10/31/2012 10:53 AM
Please find attached the comments of Potomac Institute for Policy Studies in response to the NTIA Notice of Inquiry (NOI) on behalf of FirstNet, Docket No. 120928505–2505–01, RIN 0660–XC002, regarding Development of the Nationwide Interoperable Public Safety Broadband Network, in the form of a 25-page excerpt of the report “What Should FirstNet Do First? State Integration into the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network” which has been numbered and submitted per the instructions in the NOI. I request that the attached be included in the record of comments in response to the NOI.
The full text of the report is available online at: http://www.potomacinstitute.org/attachments/article/1294/FirstNet%20NPSBN%20Report.pdf.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me by email or at the number below. With best wishes,
Jamie Barnett
James Arden Barnett, Jr., J.D., Rear Admiral (Retired)
Senior Vice President
Potomac Institute for Policy Studies
901 N. Stuart Street, Suite 200
Arlington, Virginia 22203
Office: (703) 525-0770 Ext. 234
FirstNet NOI Comments from Phase One and Light Foundry
Andrea Heithoff [aheithoff@phaseonecg.com]
Mon 10/29/2012 6:40 PM
Phase One Consulting Group and Light Foundry Associates worked together to prepare the attached comments in response to the Department of Commerce / National Telecommunications and Information Administration Notice of Inquiry Docket Number 120928505–2505–01. Our set of comments focus on the programmatic support and considerations apart from the network itself that are crucial to the success of FirstNet as a national network is designed and established. If you have any questions about our response or our two companies, please don’t hesitate to contact me at the information below.
Andrea Heithoff | Associate Director | Phase One Consulting Group 202.641.8663 | www.phaseonecg.com | @aheithoff
Response of RCC Consultants, Inc.
Carl Robert Aron [c.aron@att.net]
Fri 10/19/2012 4:50 PM
The attached is the response of RCC Consultants, Inc., to the outstanding Notice of Inquiry of NTIA on behalf of FirstNet.
Carl Robert Aron
2024 E. Southeast Boulevard
Spokane, WA 99203
Phones: (509) 536-2966 and
(509) 533-9219
Fax: (509) 534-3186
Email: c.aron@att.net
Response to: Notice of Inquiry
dr.myers@me.com
Thu 10/11/2012 10:45 PM
Thank you for the chance to provide information to such a great national program. Attached you will find my response to the questions relating to the rollout of the Nations Broadband Network for First Responders. This document is by no means complete, but rather touches on a few important topics.
Sincerely yours,
Dr. Michael Myers
Submitted Comments Middle Class - Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, Pub. L. No. 112-96, 126 Stat. 156 (2012) (Act).
Dear FirstNet:
Attached is a white paper from Lemko Corporation that offers a different network architecture than the traditional centralized core architecture. It is revolutionary and game changing. It can be deployed at less than half the cost (considering Cap Ex and Op Ex expenses) as a centralized core network. It eliminates single point of failure issues and is the most redundant and robust approach available. The paper discusses disasters of the past and compares the failures of the networks versus what could happen with a Lemko based network. Thank you for your consideration.
Dave
WE HAVE MOVED! Please note as of 8/28/12 NEW contact info will be:
David M. Kauppi
Director, Lemko Strategic Alliances
Lemko Corporation
One Pierce Place, Suite 700
Itasca, IL 60143
D 630 225-7693
O 630-948-3025 X 327
630-948-3030 Fax
Cell: 630-215-3994
email: dkauppi@lemko.com
Corporate Site: www.lemko.com
NOI response
Attached is my response to:
National Telecommunications and Information Administration Docket No: 120928505-2505-01
RIN: 0660-XC002
Development of the Nationwide Interoperable Public Safety Broadband Network
--
Rex Buddenberg
FirstNet Comments and lessons learned
To whom it may concern,
I have been one of the main system engineers on the UK Airwave Tetra system (2000-2005) and the now defunct New York Statewide Wireless System (SWN: 2005 – 2008) and I have some comments, lessons learned, and observations that I would like to provide:
· I agree: It is wise to work with the cell phone operators especially with respect to digital data. The data feeds available through the trunked radio are very limited ( a few Kbits/sec) and will never provide the bandwidths that are required for some of the nice-to-have applications. In the UK packet data (GPRS) from commercial cell phones was encrypted and “tunneled” into a secure subnet within the IP network. Within this subnet there were servers available that would permit warrant, CAD, and other types of direct searches. Access to these servers systems is available only if the user can be sufficiently authenticated. The authentication and the access to nation databases will likely be an issue that needs to be worked on from the beginning, since many older rules still apply from mainframe days. Encryption standards were equivalent to FIPS II in the UK. The ground rules for the trunked native classified voice and data also enter into the equation here since secure access by federal services will likely be required at some point. Will voice and data be rated at a secret level or potentially higher? The UK wanted military access at the secret level, and hence radio basestations had their own keys that reported to encryption servers. Will there be similar requirements on FirstNet? Voice and data integrity needs some deep though for this new system, and will likely require packet switching, labeling, and prioritization. In the UK data from the police/fire radios also tunneled into the same subnet within the system. This IP data from the radios could also access the national databases via a reduced graphic interface. The suggestion is that the radios have the ability to roam to the data network with the most available bandwidth. This would include the tunked radio bands, the commercial data networks, and WIFI networks. For example fire may need to download maps of building. This might be done at lease partially by WIFI before the crew leaves the building and might be able to require WIFI at the local destination. Police cars might have a WIFI link that broadcases locally in the vicinity of their car so that a portable table can be taken into the house or locality to do reporting and requests searches. The car then uploads the buffered results into the network. Bottom line: the basic bandwidth is sufficient for voice and very limited data, the future data expansion needs to come from the radios roaming to other networks when they are available. One of the major benefits of central application infrastructure is that CAD systems and access to national, state, and local resources can be cost shared.
· Caution: one of the reasons that SWN failed was that the radios attempted to download user talk groups and other local site information before the radio could effectively be used. This resulted in some radios not being “on-line” for a few minutes while this data became available in low signal areas. This was totally unacceptable since officers going to a bank robbery, for example, were unacceptably delayed. The Tetra radios on the other hand had a built in chip that supplied user talk group, encryption, and personal information. The problem with the tetra radios was that the radios became user or user group specific and the chip was too fragile to be put in and out on a daily basis by specific user. Good radio requirements make a difference here.
· The major issue with a large police radio networks is availability and reliability. It’s very hard to take down individual radio system that are scattered around a very diverse area. A national system must have multiple redundancies: multiple trunking lines, multiple redundant servers, switches, and server sites. The big issue with the associated commercial vendors is going to deal with the details of how reliability is implemented during normal and emergency situations. Who gets the bandwidth when something important is happening? How will the basestations implement emergency level priorities on the sites switching? How will the firenet developers know that sufficient testing of these emergency protocols is implemented correctly in a network that is shared? What is to stop them making a change in the basestation and network code after the testing is complete? Who will approve code changes? How will an industry that is known for its speed to deploy new features deal with the need for increased security, availability, and reliability? …which takes much more time. The main argument is that police and fire radio systems must be always up and always available because people’s lives are at stake. I am not saying that such a shared system cannot be deployed but the system engineering and operational concepts are going to be very important and everyone is going to have to buy into the agreed concepts. They need to be written down (see my bullet on requirements below).
· Systems and applications need to be tested before being deployed with a new change. That is, applications for radios or tables and the radio code itself must be tested before it is upgraded or patched in a separate independent facility. Changes to servers or other part of the infrastructure need to also be tested before going live – too many lives at stake. This is done in the UK and it is effective.
· UK tetra provided coverage via satellite feeds in areas where it was difficult to connect a basestation into the voice and data backbone. The users suffer from a ½ second delay due to the radio propagation times to the satellites. Communication was still possible within these limitations.
· The requirements and political will for the UK tetra system took on the order of 10 years to manifest and agree. Requirement generation is the first step for the RFP process. Similarly the requirements for the SWN project took over 8 years to create. Much of this time can be saved by getting a copy of these system requirements and updating them, using the best parts of both, and adapting old requirement to reflect the firstNet network. What is important is the categories and the types of requirements that are contained within the existing requirements specifications, that formed the basis for the RFP. The same type of functionality must be provided and does not need to be redone from scratch. Other states can also contribute their requirement sets: Ohio, Pennsylvania, Oregon, etc. There is always something that is forgotten and could be made better. SWN lacked a complete Network Operating Specification and its reliability requirements had a few flaws that caused problems in the RFP process. UK forgot to include details on how aircraft were integrated into the ground network, and the coverage plan requirements poor such that airwave took over coverage planning from the vendor. Hence a very major lesson is that a system engineering framework for the billion dollar system is important. Consider the DOD Compreshensive system framework or something similar: http://dodcio.defense.gov/dodaf20/dodaf20_models.aspx
Use some subset of the above that is doable in the time frame permitted (taylor the types of upfront documentation that will be required).
§ Create an operational concept document
§ Design reviews at the system level, state, and local dispatch center level are very important
§ Test plans and procedures must be formal and complete. Every test must be executed and formal. The SWN vendor did not test every requirement on the basestations before they were deployed at 100k+ per site. This caused very significant issues when they were fielded with issues that were unknown by SWN and by the vendor.
§ Specify who does the integration
§ Specify how training is accomplished
§ Specify how coverage will be automatically tested. This is important and caused no end of issues for SWM and for the UK.
§ Make sure that all technical details are available about the vendor implementation of the radio. SWN could not get the subsystem details and system models of the radio system from the vendor so we did not know the lowest acceptable radio signal level, and therefore we did not know if their coverage models were accurate (they did have problems). There were also interference issues that only because apparent in NYC because the technical analysis did not have enough details.
§ Make sure that CPI/SPI for the detailed schedules are available from everyone playing a part in the design and implementation. SWN knew there were CPI/SPI issues and that the project was understaffed significantly but it was difficult/impossible to understand how bad the situation was getting. There was insufficient reporting on a project / business level for a project of this magnitude. The DOD knows how to ask for this type of information when writing an RFP.
Last point: SWN developed very good coverage planning software that the state of NY owns. It was developed through NYSTEC and SRC (mainly SRC). It was capable of optimizing thousands of frequencies across the state, and across state lines through a special automatic optimization algorithms. This software will save you years of work that really can’t be matched by anything on the market. It is a fantastic tool that you are going to want to get or need to redevelop the capability.
I could probably go on but this is all for today. I wish you all the best. You can call or write to me via the details shown below.
Doug Westmoreland
Doug.westmoreland@gmail.com
518-489-1350
Development of the Nationwide Interoperable Public Safety Broadband Network
The attached comments for NTIA consideration were published today at http://chemical-facility-security-news.blogspot.com/2012/10/comment-on-public-safety-broadband.html
Patrick Coyle
Chemical Facility Security News
PJCoyle@aol.com, 706-888-8459
Twitter: pjcoyle
FirstNet setup
On the radio side a technology that is robust in the presence of multipath (and can take advantage of it) and has a high spectrum-reuse should be used. CDMA technologies fulfill that. OFDM does not.
CDMA technologies also currently have the push-to-talk capability, perfect for law enforcement use. Site-teaming allows for multiple antennas at different "masts" to be
"bonded" for higher throughput.
Thank you!
Craig Paul
Lawrence, Kansas.
FIRSTNET NOI Docket 120928505-2505-01
Please see attached submission from the NIST Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology
Vinton Cerf
Chairman, VCAT/NIST