The case for public safety radio in Australia

Picture this frightening scenario: a lone fireman stranded in the middle of a burning building. He reaches for his radio, pressing buttons by touch, not sight, because visibility is down to inches. The only sounds he hears are his colleagues rushing to the scene, still too far away to be of any real help to him or the frail civilian he’s pulled from the flames.

In the meantime, units from the local police service are stationed around the building, but he can’t reach them because their radios don’t speak the same language Â…

While I’ve taken some dramatic licence with the story, the fact remains that many of Australia’s public safety radios and radio networks aren’t designed to interoperate with each other. Practically, what this means is that different emergency services organisations could find themselves disconnected from each other during a crisis.

If we agree that communication is one of the fundamental tools available to safety officers, any impedance to cross-agency communications is, at best, highly disruptive and, at worst, doesn’t bear thinking about.

Interoperability was one of the central themes at the annual APCO (Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials) conference in Melbourne in February. Working together is a core competence for public safety. Police, fire, ambulance and mutual aid partners routinely collaborate.

State and federal agencies coordinate emergency drills and planning and, when disaster strikes, multiple entities must mount a swift and effective joint response. When every second counts, first responders must be able to talk to each other - no matter what agencies they work for.

Depending on the event in question, there are five broadly defined levels of interoperability at play, ranging from the physical handout of compatible radios on site, to using a single state or countrywide network.

The first level would apply immediately after an emergency has occurred, where personnel arriving on site are physically assigned compatible radio handsets using the same technology and frequency. Voice interoperability would be ensured, but only between the handsets themselves.

The next level extends interoperability between handsets through a dispatcher connecting users to each other - or an unmanned interface box - and introduces one or more technologies such as console patch, radio over IP, common air interface (CAI) and inter-RF subsystem interface (ISSI).

Level three, typically associated with moderate-scale events involving two or more agencies (similar to that which we saw in the recent Australian and New Zealand disasters), allows users to manually switch to assigned frequencies for communicating with each other. In most cases talk groups are set up in advance.

By level four, multiple agencies are using radios with the same technology (typically from the same manufacturer), that are interoperable over limited geographical areas. This level is already in place in some parts of Australia, but not on a scale that makes it meaningful for statewide or interstate communications.

Level five breaks down all previous barriers to interoperability by specifying a common communications standard and protocol, supported by a common infrastructure. There are no geographical limits to this level of interoperability, which incorporates multiple access technologies - including ISSI and CAI.

But what does all this mean in terms of specific technology required to enable upper levels of interoperability?

Public safety radio networks in Australia - and around the world - are primarily built on the Project 25 (P25) platform. P25 is a standard for digital land mobile radio that allows handsets from multiple vendors to communicate digitally over P25-compliant networks, and also operate in analog mode with legacy equipment.

P25 Phase 2 is currently in development as the next stage of the standard and addresses enhancements such as spectrum efficiency by employing time division multi access (TDMA) that fits more talk paths into the same number of radio channels.

ISSI is also part of P25, and provides a wireline interface for connecting multiple P25 systems together. This technology - which was prominently featured at APCO and is already part of the specification for next-generation handsets from radio vendors - allows users to roam onto other P25 systems and is currently being defined by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIG).

Another aspect worth mentioning is BSI - bridging interoperable systems - a standard approach (rather than a standard in itself) that provides for the bridging of multiple systems from different manufacturers.

It is being developed by a partnership of the Public Safety VoIP Working Group, comprising the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Office of Law Enforcement Standards (NIST/OLES) in the US, as well as emergency responders and industry representatives.

Recent natural disasters in Queensland, Western Australia and Victoria have undoubtedly reinforced the need for increased interoperability between public safety radios in Australia. The Christchurch earthquake - and Australia’s contribution towards search and rescue efforts - is another example of the significance of interoperability in enabling seamless operations across borders.

Australia’s public safety networks are among the most advanced in the world and radio network reliability during our recent disasters reinforces this. That said, times of crisis often serve as a time for reflection on how technology can be improved and enhanced into the future.

Pairing two-way radio with video, images, text messages and GPS applications will become increasingly commonplace in public safety use from an intelligence-gathering perspective.

Imagine being able to add real-time video to first responder communications, coupled with intelligent solutions that analyse the video and share it between command centres and mobile teams to heighten response awareness.

These new public safety solutions will require a new kind of interoperability that links together various platforms for coordinated communications regardless of device - whether two-way radios, commercial cellular phones, ruggedised vehicle-mounted or handheld computers.

Ultimately, interoperability is more a political decision than a technological one, because - as clearly demonstrated at APCO and at various events over the past few years - interoperability is not only possible at a statewide and national level, but is already being implemented around the world to varying extents.

Since every community, department and agency is unique, any interoperability plan is a balancing act between cost and benefit, immediate need and long-term progress. The best solution will depend on current operational procedures, needs and resources, and those of other agencies.

There is no one silver bullet, rather a range of solutions that exist to build a successful plan.

Dr Michael N’Guyen is the general manager for Government and Public Safety for Motorola Solutions in Australia and New Zealand. With more than 17 years’ experience in the IT&C industry with the likes of Optus, IBM and Telstra, Michael has extensive knowledge in the field of strategic initiatives between the communications industry and government agencies. His role at Motorola calls on his skills to expand the current understanding of the complex business-to-business issues that hamper and aid the industry, and to accelerate the adoption of class-leading technologies for the benefit of the public safety community.