CCP 03-28-1994 - Laserfiche WebLink

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. . . METROPOLITAN RADIO SYSTEMS pLANNING COMl~lnTUs Brieting Paper Two-way radio communication is an essential tool for effective delivery of a wide range of public services. Police, fire, disaster response, emergency medical services, public works and transit cannot function without access to reliable radio communications links. Public safety radio communications is expected to grow by 55 percent over the next 10 years as a result of regional population growth coupled with an increase in per capita public safety incidents. At the same time that the need is growing so rapidly, the ability of users to upgrade their existing UHFNHF systems is limited because all UHFNHF frequencies have been licensed to users and are not available to jurisdictions needing to upgrade or expand their systems. The availability of channels in the 800 megahertz (MHz) band frequency for public safety use provides an opportunity to meet the needs of local jurisdictions for more capacity. But even in the 800 MHz band, the number of channels available to this metropolitan area is not sufficient to meet needs for capacity unless the channels are shared by all users. . Radio frequencies available to the region are a limited resource and must be shared by all users if critical public safety needs are to be met throughout the region. . Of technologies now available or on the horizon, 800 Mhz digital trUnking is the most efficient and cost-effective to meet current and future region-wide government radio communication needs. . . Of three options studied--no-build, a phased region-wide system and a fully integrated regional system-the most cost-effective option is a phased system. The phased system assumes.that the state will build an 800 MHz digital trunked system for its metropolitan area operations and that local jurisdictions can share the basic state infrastructure at a relatively small incremental cost. . A coordinated state/regional system will provide at the outset a shared mutual aid system, integration of emergency medical services with public safety and a region-wide emergency management system for disasters. A phased system can be designed to provide a needed back- up for the Metro-911 system. . The first phase of a phased system provides coverage with 95 percent reliability for mobile radios in all counties of the seven county area. For jurisdictions such as Minneapolis or Hennepin county which are in urgent need of portablerm-building radio coverage or have large numbers of users, the basic system can be enhanced with increased controller capacity, additional towers and transmitters/repeaters at local cost. As more jurisdictions join the network, the initial basic system can grow into a fully integrated region-wide system. . Costs for basic region-wide mobile coverage for mutual aid will be relatively small. Portable inbuilding coverage with various technological options can be added by local jurisdictions which must pay the added cost. . Governance of a phased system is under study but will include a commitment to a policy board representing local interests, an advisory technical users group, local autonomy over dispatching . and guaranteed access for non-governmental public safety entities.