By Carolyn Duffy Marsan
Copyright 2006 Networld World, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Under fire from oil pipeline problems and elevated terrorist levels, Alaska is benefiting from a new $120 million wireless network for emergency communications that was built through a one-of-a-kind partnership between federal, state and local government agencies.
The Alaska Land Mobile Radio (ALMR) system took a decade to build because of a lengthy design and approval process for its special spectrum-sharing system. Using emerging IP-based standards, Alaska has built a common communications infrastructure that is being used by federal agencies including the Department of Defense, all state agencies and local police and fire departments.
What’s unusual about ALMR is that federal and state officials are sharing the cost as well as contributing spectrum. Federal agencies donated spectrum for mobile applications of the system, while the state of Alaska donated spectrum for fixed communications services. This spectrum-sharing agreement required approval from the Federal Communications Commission.
Federal agencies are chipping in 85% of the cost of ALMR, which is estimated at $120 million with $5 million in annual operating fees. The remaining cost is being carried by state and local agencies.
“There’s a great deal of coordination and collaboration because we all have independent funding yet we’re executing actions that are dependent on each other,’' says Tim Woodall, ALMR program manager for the Defense Department in Alaska. “It’s a very complicated project management process.’' Mark Moon, corporate vice president for government and commercial markets at Motorola, says ALMR is a model of interoperability for the rest of the United States. “ALMR shows that joint interoperability can be achieved between federal, state and local agencies working together,’' he says.
Glacial Process ALMR has been on the drawing boards for years, with the initial concept of an upgraded wireless network for Alaska proposed by the Defense Department as early as 1995.
“Back in 1997, the Defense Department decided it was a good idea to invite state and local agencies into this partnership and discuss a single, shared infrastructure not only to support day-to-day operations but to improve our ability to interoperate during emergency response situations,’' Woodall says.
At the time, Alaska’s first responders had radio-based communications based on proprietary technologies that operated on different spectrum. “We had analog technology,’' Woodall says. “There was no standardization.’' In 1997, the ALMR executive council was formed to include representatives from the Defense Department, other federal agencies, the state of Alaska and municipalities in Alaska. In 1999, the council released a request for information to industry about the proposed ALMR system.
After analyzing the responses, the ALMR team came up with a basic design for the system around 2001. All the agencies involved agreed to buy radios that comply with the emerging P25 digital radio standard. An ALMR demo was completed in 2002.
Meanwhile, ALMR required special approval from the FCC and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to share spectrum between federal and state agencies. Two years after it was requested, the ALMR spectrum-sharing arrangement was approved in 2003.
The ALMR team went ahead with the initial procurement in 2004, and a contract was awarded to Motorola for the wireless network infrastructure. Because ALMR is standards based, agencies can use radios from a variety of manufacturers including Motorola, M/A-Com and others on the network.
“Any P25-compliant radio can operate on this system,’' Woodall says. “That opens up competition and lowers prices for subscribers.
The decision on what’s bought for the subscribers is an agency decision.’' Although ALMR began before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the system benefited from heightened awareness about the need for interoperable emergency communications across the country.
“What September 11 did was to assure us that we were going in the right direction in our bold move to increase our ability to interoperate,’' Woodall says. “It gave us an increased sense of urgency to get ALMR rolling and completed. It gave us support at all levels, from the senior executives to the first responder on the ground.’' ALMR at work Today, ALMR has 9,000 users, but it can support as many as 14,000 users. The P25-compliant system offers integrated voice and data. Each radio site is connected via microwave and fiber. Subscribers can use the system for mobile voice and data communications.
ALMR has four components: * Highway coverage, which includes the installation of fixed wireless assets including towers and antennas to cover highways.
Most of Alaska’s highways are covered today, with completion of this phase of the project scheduled for 2007.
* In-building coverage, including federal buildings, airports, hospitals and tunnels. This component of ALMR is being procured now.
* Gateways for older radio systems as well as maritime and cellular systems that don’t support P25. The ALMR team is in the system design and analysis for this phase of the project, which will be done in September.
* Transportable systems that can provide emergency communications beyond the fixed wireless infrastructure, replace a system that has gone down or provide additional capacity. ALMR has one transportable system, complete with power supply and satellite access, and a second system is on order.
“Alaska is one-fifth of the size of the continental United States,’' Woodall explains. “We have massive wildfires, volcanoes and floods. We have many, many natural disasters. When those disasters occur, they are often outside where we have fixed coverage.
The transportable units can be set down in an area and provide tactical emergency response communications.’' ALMR has already been put to work for military exercises and real-world operations. For example, in December 2004 a task force in Valdez, Alaska, used ALMR to protect the trans-Alaska oil pipeline system. That operation included officials from the FBI, the Alaska National Guard, the Alaska state police, the Defense Department, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, the Alaska Department of Transportation and Valdez police, fire and emergency response.
“The after-action report was excellent,’' Woodall says of the incident. “The system provided secure, on-demand communications.’' Woodall says planned emergency response exercises are key because they let users not only test ALMR technology but also develop the appropriate processes and procedures to ensure interoperable communications.
“Local training and exercises reinforce in the minds of the first responders that the technology works for them and that the processes and procedures are in place so that in the case of an emergency they don’t have to worry about those things,’' Woodall says.