WA Emergency Radio Network Graham Barron Fire and Emergency Services Authority of Western Australia (FESA) 480 Hay Street Perth, WA , 6000, graham.barron@fesa.wa.gov.au Abstract WA Emergency Radio Network Many major emergency incidents involve multiple Emergency Service Organisations (ESOs). The ability for these ESOs to have radio contact is crucial to the management of the emergency. This ability has been a real gap in the efficiency and operational effectiveness of ESOs in Western Australia. The issue of lack of rad io interoperability has been identified in numero us post emergency incident reviews, reports and coronial inquiries. Current Limitations of the existing “WA Emergency Radio Network”

• Incompatible separate networks – FESA divisions (State Emergency Service (SES), Fire and Rescue Service (FRS), Bush Fire Services (BFS), Volunteer Marine Rescue Service ( VMRS) operate in isolation with regard to radio communications.

• Both the Fire Services and SES radio networks are approaching capacity in certain areas and experiencing congestion to some degree.

• No SES radio repeater network currently exists (limited coverage). • Limited Volunteer Marine Rescue Service (VMRS) inclusion on the current FESA radio

network. The Western Australian Emergency Radio Network (WAERN) Project The WAERN project is made up of three components, these being:

• Consolidate FESA operational radio networks to VHF High Band in regional areas and UHF in the metro area.

• Purchase dual band radios (VHF High and UHF). • Implement Radio Over Internet Protocol (ROIP) as a cross connect, operational and command

channel option. The benefits of the WAERN project

• Improves the overall effectiveness and reliability of the WA Emergency Radio Network. • Provides maximum safety for Emergency Service personnel due to increased number of

people monitoring the radio network. • Provides maximum intra-operability for Emergency Response. • Provides maximum inter-operability for FESA and other Government agencies such as the

Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) and the Police. • Allows FESA to extend its radio network to other Hazard Management Agencies (HMA). • Extends the emergency service command channel by combining tower infrastructure and

utilising ROIP technology. • Incorporates the UHF CB channels into the FESA emergency network. • Permits in-vehicle cross-band repeating which will aid incident communications management

and minimise the impact of dead spots. • Permits FESA to share Volunteers in communications roles across divisions.

• Common equipment and training requirements for all FESA divisions. • Common radio communications Standing Operating Procedures for FESA. • Permits the interconnection of disparate radio system via ROIP. • Minimal impact required for implementation.

Paper Background

The Fire and Emergency Services Authority of Western Australia (FESA) are the primary Emergency Service Organisation in Western Australia. The following Emergency Services operate under the FESA banner:

• Fire and Rescue Services (FRS); • Bush Fire Service (BFS); • State Emergency Service (SES); • Volunteer Marine Rescue Services (VMRS); and • Volunteer Emergency Services (VES).

FESA Operate an extensive Radio Network covering great distances. To deliver radio coverage over this area the WAERN comprises approximately:

• 300 Repeater sites; • 7,500 mobile radios; and • 1,000 handheld radios.

The existing Emergency Radio Network consists of a number of conventional radio systems developed by the organisations that were amalgamated to form FESA.

Emergency Service Radio Band Fire and Rescue Services (FRS) VHF Mid Band Bush Fire Service (BFS) VHF Mid Band State Emergency Service (SES) UHF Volunteer Marine Rescue Services (VMRS) VHF Marine (High Band)

These systems were built over time in isolation when funding was available and systems served the purpose of an Emergency Service operating in isolation. However with the formation of FESA and changes in operating requirements these networks are now functionally limited. Current limitations

• Incompatible separate networks – FESA services (SES, Fire Services, VMRS) operate in isolation with regard to radio communications;

• Both the Fire Services and SES radio networks are approaching capacity in certain areas and experiencing congestion to some degree;

• All FESA radio networks were designed to meet individual agency requirements pre FESA and as a result there is considerable coverage overlap and common dead spots;

• Inversion layer interference (ducting) within the “band plan” channel allocation is an issue for FESA;

• FESA radio networks and radios although maintained are approaching their use by date. • No SES radio repeater network currently exists (limited coverage); and • Limited VMRS inclusion on the current FESA radio network.

The following radio spectrum diagram (figure 1.) highlights the intra and interoperability difficulties experienced by the current radio networks.

Figure 1. Emergency Radio Spectrum use in Western Australia The current radio networks provide only two isolated interoperable groups:

• FESA Fire Services, Local Government and the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) Fire Services can communicate via the VHF mid band network.

• FESA State Emergency Services and Western Australian Police Service can communicate via the UHF band.

The Plan

A combined Emergency Services Radio Network is required for effective co-ordination, efficiency and management of emergency incidents in Western Australia. With both day to day and significant emergency incidents comes a requirement for emergency service response groups to communicate effectively. At present in Western Australia this functionality is limited. It is proposed to upgrade the existing systems with a coordinated approach that will provide a single system offering enhanced functionality and interoperability within and external to FESA. The urgency of this initiative has been highlighted in recent Coronial enquiries and in the Auditor General’s Report. The FESA goal is to implement a radio communications solution that will:

• Improve the day-to-day radio communications at emergency incidents for FESA emergency services (Fire Services, State Emergency Services, Volunteer Marine Rescue Services);

• Improve the radio intra-operability within FESA emergency services (Fire Services, State Emergency Services, Volunteer Marine Rescue Services);

• Improve the routine radio interoperability of Emergency Service Organisations (ESOs) in Western Australia (FESA, Police, DEC, Ambulance, Hospitals etc.) ; and

• Enhance Public safety radio communications and interoperability during major emergency situations in Western Australia (FESA, Police, DEC, Ambulance, Hospitals etc.).

The WAERN solution has three components: • Moving all FESA and Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) radio

communications to the Very High Frequency (VHF) radio band for regional and remote areas and Ultra High Frequency (UHF) for the Perth CBD area;

• Introducing a multi-functional dual band mobile radio; and • Implementing a Radio Over Internet Protocol network. After analysing the effective spectrum it was decided to move all regional radio operation to the VHF High Band spectrum and the CBD area to UHF spectrum. In this way the radio band that is fit for purpose is used. For example VHF High band spectrum is very suited to regional areas where propagation characteristics suit the coverage distances required. This band however is not suitable for transmission into high rise buildings, consequently the UHF band will be used in the CBD as this is the band most suited to incidents in this area. The second part of the solution is to utilise multi-functional dual band mobile radios in FESA and DEC operational vehicles. The dual band radios will come in two versions:

• A green VHF Mid Band to VHF High Band radio; and • A yellow VHF High Band to UHF radio.

The Yellow VHF High to UHF dual band radios will be installed in all FESA and DEC operational vehicles and the Green VHF Mid to High band unit will be used a base station radio primarily for a seamless migration to the VHF High Band spectrum.

Figure 2. The two types of Dual Band radio used in the WAERN project. Green - VHF Mid Band to VHF High Band and Yellow - VHF High to UHF.

The following radio spectrum diagram (figure 3.) demonstrates the coverage of all Emergency Service channels with a VHF High Band to UHF dual band radio.

VHF High BandHigh Frequency

MarineVHF Mid Band UHF

SES - BFS - WAPS -RFDS - CALMHF Radio

VHF Mid Band RadioVHF MarineBand Radio

VMRS

Fisheries, Mining, AFPVHF High Band Radio WAPS- UHF CB ,

Customs, St John AmbulanceUHF Radio

FESA (SES-Fire Services-VMRS), DECFESA Dual Band Radio

EMERGENCY RADIO SPECTRUM USE IN WA

Land Mobile

Proposed FESA Radio Strategy

BFS Bush Fire ServicesFRS Fire and Rescue ServicesSES State Emergency ServicesVMRS Volunteer Marine Rescue ServicesDEC Department of Environment and ConservationWAPS Western Australian Police ServiceLG Local GovernementRFDS Royal Flying Doctor Service

2MHz

300MHz

3GHz

30MHz

148MHz

FRS-BFS-LG-DEC

Figure 3. Emergency Radio Spectrum use in Western Australia after the VHF High Band migration. The dual band radio is not simply two radios joined to cover the VHF High and UHF spectrum areas. The functionality FESA Radio Engineers added to the design of the radio is critical in meeting the requirements of Western Australia’s Emergency Services. The four functions are:

• Single band Receive, Transmit; • Dual band Receive, Single band Transmit; • Dual band Receive, Dual band Transmit; and • Cross Band repeat.

Single band Receive, Transmit is functionally like having two radios in a vehicle with a single microphone and control head. Dual band Receive, Single band Transmit mode is where the Emergency Service will be working on their operational VHF High Band and monitor the Police or UHF CB on the other channel. The foreground channel audio is configured to be higher than the background channel to enable the operator to discriminate between the two channels. Dual band Receive, Dual band Transmit mode is where Radio traffic is received and transmitted on both VHF High Band and UHF simultaneously. Cross Band repeat mode is where the real flexibility in the Dual Band Radio comes into play.

In this mode all traffic received on UHF is retransmitted on VHF High Band and all traffic received on VHF High Band is retransmitted on UHF implicitly (ie No Push to talk (PTT) operation is required). If UHF handhelds are used then this mode is the In Vehicle Repeat (IVR) mode extending the range of radio coverage. The third part of the WAERN solution was to implement a Radio Over Internet Protocol (ROIP) Network to further extend the functionality of the radio system. ROIP provides the extension of radio voice and control signals over the computing network. This will enable virtually all radio repeaters to be accessed from anywhere there is a computer connection to either the FESA Wide Area Network (WAN) or the internet. Each dual band mobile is equipped with Global Positioning System (GPS) capability. This GPS data is appended to the radio message every time the radio is used. This provides an Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) facility. Functionality possible under the ROIP component:

• Capability to establish a voice connection to a selected vehicle or location (triple 000 dispatch);

• The ability to join ROIP Points (dynamic talk groups); • Selective Voice Recording of a ROIP Point; • Ability to broadcast Short text Messages to selected radios (Paging); • Display Location details from selected radios (Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL)); • The ability to change channel on a ROIP Point radio; and • Discover what Radios have been used on a ROIP Point or repeater.

Implementation The WAERN implementation plan is as follows:

• Each existing FESA and DEC mid band repeater will be duplicated by a VHF high band radio repeater; and

• Two types of dual band mobile radios will be provided, the bulk b eing VHF high band /UHF (yellow) mobile radios. These will be installed in all FESA, DEC and Sh ire emergency vehicles. A number of dual band VHF mid band/high band (green) radios will be installed for use by local government. These will be installed at each Shire office and Emergency Service Unit or Fire Station. It is these dual band radios that will allow the seamless integration of the VHF high band spectrum into the WAERN.

This implementation plan of running the VHF Mid Band and VHF High Band networks in parallel has been devised for a number of reasons:

• That the process of changing over emergency service vehicles from VHF Mid Band radios to the dual band radios does not compromise any emergency operational communications required during this time;

• The use of Monitoring or privately owned radios on the VHF Mid Band spectrum can continue; and

• The fact that some utilities (Western Power and WaterCorp) are still operating on VHF Mid Band and may at some stage need to be incorporated into the interoperable emergency radio network (WAERN).

Benefits

The final result will be a state-wide emergency radio network that is independent of regional and organisational boundaries by facilitating direct interoperability with all agencies operating conventional radio in any band from VHF Mid through to UHF. The project will provide inter-operability and direct radio communication between the following agencies:

• FESA Fire Services, State Emergency Service, Volunteer Emergency Services and Volunteer Marine Rescue Services;

• Local government bush fire brigades; • UHF CB channels (used extensively by local government bush fire volunteers); • WA Police Service; • St John Ambulance; • Department of Environment and Conservation; • Fisheries; • Mining organisations; and • Customs.

As well as radio inter-operability, other benefits of the project include:

• Improves the overall effectiveness and reliability of the radio network; • Provides maximum safety for FESA personnel due to increased number of people monitoring

the radio network; • Allows FESA to extend its radio network to other Hazard Management Agencies (HMA); • Improves radio infrastrucure efficiency for FESA by removing duplication and overlap of

existing radio infrastructure (close by infrastructure); • Extends the emergency service command channel by combining tower infrastructure and

utilising radio over Internet Protocol (ROIP) technology and the FESA Wide Area Network; • Permits in-vehicle cross-band repeating which will aid incident communications management

and minimise the impact of dead spots; • Permits FESA to share Volunteers in communications roles across services; • Provides a state-wide AVL capability via ROIP; • Provides additional paging facilities via ROIP; • Common equipment and training requirements for all FESA and DEC services; • Common radio communications Standing Operating Procedures for FESA and DEC; • Permits FESA to refine and improve incident communications; • Permits the interconnection of disparate radio systems via ROIP; • Provides future benefits as a result of coordinated planning; and • Brings FESA back into line with other states in regard to RF spectrum use in Fire Services.