About the Multi-Band Radio Project
Effective and dependable radio communications are essential to the mission of emergency responders during day-to-day operations and coordinating response efforts. The Federal Communications Commission issues licenses to agencies on spectrum located across several radio bands. Often, agencies operate on more than one band and split the bands by discipline. For example, the police department would operate on one band, and fire and emergency medical services would operate on another. This creates a serious interoperability issue when the two disciplines need to communicate, because today’s equipment is only capable of operating within a single radio band. Consequently, local, tribal, regional, state, and Federal agencies and support units that operate on multiple radio frequency bands often carry multiple radios or use dispatchers to relay information between emergency responders.
Multi-Band Radio Project Goals
The introduction of Multi-Band Radio (MBR) technology to the emergency response community will offer an opportunity to improve interoperability across agencies, disciplines, and jurisdictions. The project goals include:
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Advancement of MBR technology to improve key communications between local, tribal, regional, state, and Federal agencies.
Stimulation of the marketplace by encouraging additional manufacturers to develop MBRs that meet the mission requirements identified by the emergency response community.
Development of a final report and case study that documents input from the laboratory testing and evaluation (T&E), short-term demonstrations, and long-term pilot projects as well as lessons learned and best practices.
Testing Methodology
This project will put equipment into the hands of the users who will report on their findings. The first phases of testing include laboratory T&E and short-term demonstrations by recognized laboratories and local and state agencies. Each agency testing the MBR will submit a thorough evaluation of the MBR test results.
Laboratory T&E and short-term demonstration participants include:
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Boise Fire Department
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National Interagency Fire Center
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Institute for Telecommunication Sciences
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Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
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National Guard Bureau J6
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Louisville, Kentucky Joint Emergency Services Unit
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41st Civil Support Team
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Louisville (Kentucky) MetroSAFE
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Louisville (Kentucky) Metro Police Department
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Michigan Emergency Medical Services
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Fire Department of New York
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New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications
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New York City Office of Emergency Management
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New York City Police Department
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Federal Air Marshals Service
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Kentucky State Police
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Murray State University
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DHS Office of Operations Coordination and Planning
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Carmel (Indiana) Fire Department
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Pittsboro (Indiana) Fire Department
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection National Law Enforcement Communications Center
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Blaine, Washington (WA) Police Department
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
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British Columbia Ambulance Service
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Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
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City of Bellingham (WA) Communications
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Whatcom County (WA) Sheriff’s Office
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North Whatcom (WA) Fire and Rescue
Feedback from the laboratory T&E and short-term demonstrations will be reviewed and taken into account to develop a production-ready radio. This upgraded radio will be used in the project’s second phase of testing, which consists of long-term pilot projects. These pilots will involve a variety of local, tribal, regional, state, and Federal agencies and organizations both in the U.S. and Canada. DHS announced the pilot site selections in July 2009 and the pilots will be conducted Fall 2009 through Spring 2010.
Lead organizations for the 14 pilot sites include:
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2010 Winter Olympics Affiliates (Blaine, Washington and Vancouver, BC Canada)
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Amtrak (Northeast Corridor)
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Boise Fire Department (Boise, Idaho)
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Canadian Interoperability Technology Interest Group and Calgary Fire (Calgary, AB Canada)
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Customs and Border Protection (Detroit, Michigan)
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Federal Emergency Management Agency (Multiple Locations)
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Hawaii State Civil Defense and Pacific Land Mobile Radio (Honolulu, Hawaii)
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Interagency Communication Interoperability System (Los Angeles County, California)
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Michigan Emergency Medical Services (Lower Peninsula Areas)
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Murray State University and Kentucky Division of Emergency Management (Southwest Kentucky)
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Phoenix Police Department and Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs (Greater Phoenix and Yuma County)
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U.S. Marshals Service (Northeast Region)
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National Capital Region Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (District of Columbia)
Future of Multi-Band Radio
The development of MBR technology for the emergency response community is an exciting advancement for both practitioners and manufacturers. Compiling data and feedback from all three testing phases, OIC will produce a detailed final report on the mission impact and the improvement and enhancement of radio communications interoperability. However, this report only marks the beginning of DHS involvement with the MBR technology. By demonstrating the benefits of the MBR, DHS hopes to stimulate the marketplace and encourage additional manufacturers to research, develop, design, and manufacture similar technology. As the availability and production of similar equipment by other manufacturers increase, DHS envisions that agencies will have the option of selecting multi-band radio equipment and accessories from multiple vendors with options that fit their specific missions. DHS plans to continue coordination of testing and evaluation of MBR technology to support the goal of improving communications and interoperability for emergency responders.
Documents
Multi-Band Radio Fact Sheet
DHS Announces Sites for MBR Pilot Press Release
Additional Resources
1. U.S. Department of Homeland Security