Palm Beach County, FL
OCG is currently assisting Palm Beach County, Florida with the replacement of their aging 10-site simulcast system that supports public safety and local government agencies throughout the County. The new P25 Phase 1/Phase 2 system configuration includes geo-redundant network control sites, a new three-loop IP microwave system, ISSI connectivity, 50+ dispatch console positions, and a non-simulcast 700 MHz site to support communications with aircraft. The Project includes alternatives for the replacement of the Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Boynton Beach systems which are interconnected with the County. The County will retain operation of a portion of the existing system for a period of time to maintain interoperability with agencies that do not have P25 capable equipment. To improve interoperability, the County will replace and expand its current multi-site 800 MHz National Mutual Aid system.
The Project began while OCG personnel were employed by RCC Consultants, Inc. and subsequently transitioned to OCG in April 2015. OCG personnel began work with an assessment of the current system and the user needs. OCG then developed alternative system designs, a migration path strategy, and finally a detailed system design. OCG developed a “vendor-neutral” Scope of Work that was reviewed by potential system vendors prior to the release of the RFP to ensure that the specifications and requirements were truly vendor-neutral. Proposals were received from two system vendors.
OCG is currently assisting the County with the complex system implementation.
Athens-Clarke County Unified Government and the UGA Athens, GA
OCG assisted the Athens-Clarke County Unified Government (ACCUG) with the total replacement of their legacy three-site, simulcast trunked system that supports public safety and local government agencies throughout the County. The new P25 Phase 1/Phase 2 system is a joint system supporting both the ACCUG and the UGA Campus in Athens Georgia. The P25 system improvements include redundant control sites, relocation of one tower site and the addition of a fourth simulcast site to provide in-building radio coverage in downtown Athens and on the UGA campus, a new five-hop, loop IP microwave system, and fire-station and emergency weather siren alerting systems. For superior interoperability, the ACCUG implemented the 800 MHz National Mutual Aid Calling channel and three TAC channels in a simulcast overlay that can be patched to P25 talk groups. The shared P25 system provides the ACCUG with seamless interoperability with the UGA.
OCG personnel supported the Project commencing with a needs assessment, a coverage workshop, the detailed system design and tower site selection, a competitive RFP and procurement process, implementation oversight and compliance testing, and final system acceptance. The P25 system radio coverage far exceeded the clients’ expectations and cutover of dispatch traffic occurred flawlessly in November 2015.
Talquin Electric Cooperative, Inc.
Tower Site Construction, Microwave and Substation Connectivity, 5-Site DMR Tier 3 Trunked Radio System Implementation
OCG personnel have been working with TEC for the past several years on two major projects. The first project involved the upgrade of TEC's existing primary communications sites, implementation of a new 310 Mbps microwave radio system and connectivity to over 23 substation locations. The second project leveraged the new towers and communications sites and involves the upgrade of TEC's analog simplex VHF radio system to a modern multisite UHF digital trunking DMR Tier 3 system.
Coral Springs, FL
800 MHz P25 Phase 1 Trunked Simulcast System
OCG personnel have been assisting the City of Coral Springs with the replacement of their legacy Motorola SmartNet, three-site simulcast system that supports public safety and local goverment agencies throughout the City.
The SmartNet system was beyond the window of support by the manufacturer and the City had been concerned that a major system failure would result in an extended outage while they searched for replacement components.
The SmartNet system provides direct intra-agency and interagency communications with the City's interoperability partners; therefore, maintaining the current features, functionality and backward compatibility with interoperability partners was very essential and could not be compromised. The City's primary interoperability partners, most notably Broward County, all utilize Motorola proprietary trunking technology and are expected to continue with this technology for the foreseeable future. These partners are connected to the Motorola Hosted Master Site (MHS). Ultimately, the City chose to also leverage the HMS to support a new P25 system and thereby maintain superior interoperability because all individual systems using the HMS appear as a single virtual system.
OCG personnel developed a Scope of Work to ensure that the City's P25 system met the City's technical and operational requirements, assisted in the negotiation process to ensure that despite the sole source procurement process, the system was competitively price. OCG personnel assisted with the implementation, testing and cutover and the City is currently operating on the new P25 system.
Sarasota County and Manatee County, FL
800 MHz P25 Phase 1 Simulcast System (Dual Systems)
In a cooperative effort, Sarasota County and Manatee County are replacing their respective legacy Motorola SmartNet and Harris EDACS trunked radio systems that support public safety and local government agencies throughout the counties with a regional radio system. Both the legacy SmartNet system in Sarasota County and the EDACS system in Manatee County are nearing the end of manufacturers' support for key components and must be replaced.
The counties selected OCG as its consultant to assist with the implementation of this regional radio system. Additionally, OCG personnel assisted with the completed needs analysis, system design and procurement assistance phases of the project. The regional radio system will be provided and installed by Airbus DS Communications, Inc. and includes two trunked 800 MHz simulcast systems with a total of 18 transmit/receive sites, four primary dispatch locations, two backup dispatch locations, one trunked aircraft communications site, two loop microwave systems, fiber optic redundant network connectivity, greenfield and site development efforts, backup generator systems, and DC power systems for all site and core equipment.
The counties will each implement 800 MHz NPSPAC Mutual Aid channels including the calling channel and two tactical channels to provide interoperability for disaster recovery responders that may not have P25 capable subscribers. Additionally, the new regional P25 system will include P25 ISSI capability to provide enhanced interoperability with the growing list of P25 systems in southwest Florida. This project is scheduled to be completed by 2017.