Former RABC head comments on public safety radio interoperability

Ted Campbell, the former GM of the Radio Advisory Board of Canada, told Industry Canada that there is a definition of public safety radio interoperability and the Canadian government has already agreed to it. His comments, an edited excerpt from which appear below, come as part of proceeding (SMSE-005-06) to determine guidelines for public safety radio interoperability. There is, already, an established, international definition of interoperability which has been agreed (ratified), under the provisions of the North Atlantic Treaty, by the government of Canada. It is: "The ability of systems, units, or forces to provide services to and accept services from other systems, units, or forces and to use the services so exchanged to enable them to operate effectively together."This definition is sufficiently broad to cover all aspects of public safety interoperability, including intercommunications and, specifically, radiocommunications interoperability. It is suggested that:There is no need for another, competing definition; and The definition proposed in the consultation is too narrowly defined. There is more to interoperability – in the public safety domain – than just radio. Fire departments need to be interoperable at the hose/hydrant/pumper level, for example. One definition should cover everything; the NATO definition, already agreed by the Government of Canada, does that. The existing NATO definition, ratified by Canada, should be used by Industry Canada.On a peripheral, but related (by reference in the consultation) issue, the department should revisit the decisions in SP 4940 MHz and SP 30-896 MHz. The consultation cites both SP 4940 MHz and Spectrum Utilization Policy 30-896 MHz, Part 1, Spectrum Allocation and Utilization in Certain Bands in the Range 30.01-896 MHz (SP 30-896 MHz, Part 1) and explicitly reaffirms the policy in SP30-896 which limits access to some licenses to "…government safety services … In the specific context of this policy, the department considers government safety services to be those provided by federal, provincial and municipal governments and their affiliated agents (e.g. private ambulance services) which are exclusively related to the preservation of life and protection of property." While recognizing the requirement to provide regional and district manager and prospective licence applicants with guidance regarding eligibility for licensing in specific public safety bands, it is suggested that this level of detail is unnecessary. It is the duty and right of municipal, provincial and federal elected leaders to decide how to organize their public safety communications systems – including determining who is and is not in their public safety community. We have, within the North American community, a mix of public, private and contracted by government public safety services. Private police, fire and ambulance services already exist in certain government agencies and in railways; railway, transit and port authority police exist in several jurisdictions. Public-private partnerships are growing in popularity and importance – it is not beyond the realm of probability to suggest that some (more) ‘private’ public safety services will exist. Industry Canada should revise its eligibility rule to say something like: licences may be issued to organizations which are certified as public safety agencies by the appropriate local (municipal/regional), provincial or federal agency. Industry Canada, especially the spectrum, information technology and telecommunications group, should play a narrow but vital role in public safety interoperability: it should ensure that radio systems approved for use in Canada in selected public safety bands can interoperate in the widest possible variety of modes and situations. It is not the role of Industry Canada to decide on the operational requirements for interoperability. That is the proper domain of municipal councils, provincial governments and specific departments of the government of Canada. They alone are qualified to do that. Industry Canada does have the exclusive authority to manage the radio spectrum and it should use that authority to provide the public safety communities, at all levels, with open, internationally (at least continentally) agreed standards which:Guarantee that all radios approved for use in selected public safety bands will interoperate (frequency coverage, bandwidth, transmission techniques, defined interoperability channels) as required; Consequentially (to standards being open), guarantee that public safety agencies will be able to procure radio equipment in a competitive marketplace; and Provide the authorities (local, provincial and national) with the greatest possible flexibility in their efforts to design, develop/procure, install, operate and maintain efficient and effective public safety radiocommunications systems which form part of their overall command and control systems. To illustrate this points your attention is directed to Canada’s experience in NATO about 30 years ago.It was clear to the national staffs in some member countries that achieving the required (but then undefined) levels of interoperability for operational command and control required – at an early date, before serious and expensive development began in nations – a set of communication systems interoperability standards. National experts assembled in NATO HQ and without any useful guidance regarding interoperability requirements (because the ‘operators’ were unable, at that time, to reach agreements amongst themselves) the technical staff developed standards for digital combat net radio and trunk systems. The standards worked: several years later, when the interoperability requirements for command and control systems (which include communications) were agreed it was necessary to recall the technical staff only briefly to refine some of their standards. The NATO communication system standards were ‘modular’ – interoperability was mandated, by standard, at e.g. RF level, ‘front end’ level (modulation/multiplexing, etc), terminal equipment and cryptography. The standards were also ‘open’ – no national, proprietary standards were imposed. The standards were ratified by NATO member states. This has guaranteed command and control system interoperability in operations from the North Atlantic to Central Asia. Industry Canada and the industry can replicate this success story without defining interoperability requirements or limiting the flexibility which public safety leaders will wish to retain.

Former RABC head comments on public safety radio interoperability

News | 09/21/2006 4:00 am EDT

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