Like Alaska, many states are implementing P-25, trunked, voice over IP communications technology like ALMR. ALMR is the name chosen by the ALMR Executive Council for the Alaska system. While states have the latitude to adopt technology they choose for the development of an interoperable communications system, the Federal government has adopted the P-25 technology for LMR communications as its standard and has mandated states seeking federal funding for system development install P-25 compliant systems.
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Montana
- New Hampshire
- Delaware
- Ohio
- Illinois
- Oklahoma
- Indiana
- South Carolina
- Iowa
- South Dakota
- Kansas
- Utah
- Kentucky
- Wisconsin
- Minnesota
- Wyoming
You can. However, it will continue to be inefficient, and interoperability between first responders will continue to be severely handicapped. The State and local governments had to move to a new system that supports narrow band technology and public safety communications standards by Dec 31, 2012, to meet the FCC mandate. The SOA system was over 25 years old, and was in need of replacement when replaced by the ALMR trunked technology. This was an opportunity to implement a cost shared, standards based, communication solution that allows most public safety responders from all levels of government to have interoperable communications for day to day use, when mutual aid is required such as during natural and manmade disasters, and during task force operations such as homeland security roles and missions. It ensures the State and local government Public Safety agencies are in compliance with the FCC narrowband mandate, as well as with the DHS National Emergency Communications Plan (NECP).
ALMR is a LMR system and by federal law can only be used on land. ALMR uses a different spectrum allocation than maritime radios. AMHS and the U.S. Coast Guard are required to conduct their communications in the maritime band. A gateway can be used to allow communications between land mobile radios and maritime radios when situations require. However, AMHS and the U.S. Coast Guard cannot use ALMR for their day to day maritime operations.
Currently, the ALMR coverage footprint is primarily in the Interior, Southcentral and Southeast areas of the state. For areas of Alaska not currently within ALMR coverage, the SOA DMVA has coordinated with state and local agencies to develop a plan to address the interoperability needs of those areas.
All states were required under the Federal FY 2007 Homeland Security Grant Program to develop and adopt statewide communications interoperability plans by December 2007. The SOA submitted a grant request under the Public Safety Interoperable Communications (PSIC) grant program through the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA). This program, administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Preparedness Directorate requires that interoperability be addressed on a statewide basis. The ALMR System is not a statewide system, but it does cover Alaska’s highway system and population centers.
Standards are required for interoperability and essentially define the overall architecture of the system. The Rockefeller-Morella Act (Public Law 104-113) permits Federal agencies to cite standards development in an open environment, under the aegis of an accredited voluntary industry standards organization. The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) is one of these organizations. Industry standards for LMR for public safety use are prepared under the auspicious of the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO) and the TIA. This set of standards, known as Project 25 TIA 102 has been selected by the cooperative partnership of the ALMR.
Without adhering to a standard the state, local and federal public safety entities will essentially be compelled to implement system solutions that have the same interoperability and security problems as the as their old systems. There are four barriers to implementing a secure and interoperable LMR capability between the different entities. They are spectrum, technology, planning and funding. Three of the four, spectrum, technology and planning, can be overcome through a cooperative standards approach by the different government public safety entities.
The extent of the system build out will depend on the funds allocated to the project. The system is designed with a “building block” approach and can be added to once more funding is identified. Money will not be wasted. However, the System lifecycle operations and maintenance costs are still valid and must be sustained.
It is the two-way radio system in use today by first responders and public safety officials for instant, effective, and private communications during everyday operation, and also provides the efficiency, security and flexibility required during emergencies for secure, communications on demand and in real time.
In two-way radio communications, trunking refers to the automatic sharing of a small number of radio channels between a large numbers of radio users. A trunking system efficiently distributes message traffic among the available channels and reduces channel waiting time.
Understanding the answer to this question requires one to understand the cooperative relationship enjoined by the participating federal, state and local public safety entities. That is, that State of Alaska (SOA), Alaska Municipal League, Federal DOD and Federal Non- DOD partnered to address the requirement for security and interoperability, identified a solution and established a migration path to that solution. The objectives of the cooperative is to promote system development by sharing existing resources, burden sharing system costs for operations that maximizes economies of scale, and initiates consolidated procurement and maintenance activities. The result is the ALMR System, which provides the needed communications capability for State, local and federal first responders and public safety entities in Alaska, through an integrated wireless network, that is secure and interoperable, that is cost effective and technologically sound
The increased possibility of a situation of loss of life and property due to the inability of effective interoperable communications between first responders and public safety entities during day-to-day, mutual aid and task force responses.
The State of Alaska Telecommunications System (SATS) is the backbone network in which ALMR operates. The network is a highly secure, multi-protocol wide area network that is built using public safety grade equipment. The network primarily uses microwave connections to connect tower sites and other facilities (e.g. dispatch centers) to the ALMR core equipment.
SATS includes much of the physical infrastructure required for ALMR to operate such as towers, equipment shelters, generators, HVAC, and other needs. In addition to ALMR, the system carries other two-way radio traffic in areas not served by ALMR, highway call boxes, and other uses that are related to public safety services.
The communities that choose not to use the system will continue with their existing systems that don’t provide for full user interoperability for day-to-day, mutual aid and task force situations. Other system interface provisions can be researched to allow some lesser degree of interoperability, but at the detriment of the new infrastructure, which must reduce its capability to that of the lesser connected system at that time.
This is a complicated question, but essentially, it is currently the way first responders and public safety officials communicate. The reason that public safety first responders use LMR systems is because they provide a private dedicated wireless communications capability in mobile environments where these agencies primarily operate. The use of other systems such as cellular and the public telephone does not provide by law, the priority and security required by first responders in public safety roles.
Microwave connectivity is a technology that uses a wireless link between two points. This technology is extremely reliable, with high bandwidth capacity when using these types of links. It provides several important benefits: When using microwave, the infrastructure is only at the two end points (or ALMR towers) with nothing in-between. Contrast that with fiber optic cable, which is often buried or strung on power poles. That type of connection is at risk from intentional or accidental disruption due to digging or other activity.
Microwave connections are much easier to establish than a terrestrial cable, due to the lack of extensive infrastructure required. This allows the State to create a network based on the needs of the system, and provides for redundancy at many sites. With two microwave connections at a site, that allows the radio traffic to take either path. That means in case of a failure or scheduled maintenance, the ALMR site remains online.
There are some disadvantages. Mainly, the connections require extremely accurate alignment and line of sight. this means that each point of the microwave network must be able to visually see the next node in the network. That can be difficult due to the terrain in Alaska, however the cost is typically much less than trying to connect via fiber or other types of terrestrial cable.
- ALMR provides a single, shared and secure interoperable communications system for all emergency responders along the State’s road corridors: SOA, local municipalities, DOD and Federal non-DOD agencies.
- ALMR satisfies mission and role requirements for 9/11, Homeland Defense, Homeland Security and Defense assistance.
- ALMR meets the day-to-day needs for all participating agencies.
- Day-to-day ALMR system use generates the knowledge and expertise of system use when needed for an emergency that requires interoperability across various agencies/jurisdictions.
- Satisfies FCC mandated Narrow Band requirements for 2012 within ALMR footprint.
- The ALMR system generates cost efficiencies for all agency users by providing an interoperable communications system that meets dual demands for day-to-day use as well as for higher levels of emergency response and incident command.
- The ALMR consortium structure generates cost efficiencies for operations and maintenance.
ALMR supports various gateways that can connect disparate systems together. This product, used to be known as a “Motobridge” is no longer supported by Motorola. While replacement products are available, gateways provide limited interoperatbility between radio systems, typically limited to voice-only transmission. Using an ALMR radio on the ALMR system provides full interoperability which is the recommended goal of the Federal Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Many of the current ALMR sites are constructed in areas without access to existing fiber optic cable. Additionally, using existing sites and infrastructure has substantially reduced the overall costs of implementing ALMR. Operating the ALMR system on the existing State of Alaska Telecommunications Systems (SATS) microwave backbone also provides a stand-alone communication system unencumbered by commercial traffic. Longterm development and expansion of the SATS system requires examining the incorporation of fiber optic connectivity where appropriate, especially as the private telecommunications industry continues to expand its fiber optic footprint. In some locations, partnerships with others that have fiber optic connectivity have occurred, and there are some sites that use fiber as a backup link.
ALMR provides communication infrastructure in support of emergency first responders i.e. police, fire, and Emergency Medical Services. By law these agencies are required to communicate via LMR in a specified spectrum range and are “dispatch centric,” meaning they provide the capability for communication from one (dispatch) to many (field units). Radio sites with antennas would still be required to broadcast the signal to the radios carried by the first responders. Additionally, satellite connectivity for day-to-day operations would be considerably more expensive than the current microwave technology to deploy and operate.