RCMP rolls out new wireless network for G8 Summit

The RCMP’s Ontario division is installing a new Internet protocol (IP)-based wireless network in time for this summer’s G8 summit in Huntsville. While some say new network—called the P25 system—is a leap forward for emergency services communications, others say it might not be all it’s cracked up to be. “The fact that it’s IP is secondary,” said Michael Rozender, head of Rozender Consultants International, a Grimsby, Ont. communications consultancy specializing in public-sector technologies. Wireless-spectrum licensing issues and configuration glitches could keep P25 from working as well as it ought to, he said. Earlier this year, radio systems maker EADS Defence & Security announced that the RCMP had chosen to deploy EADS’ P25-based CORP25 digital radio communications network as well as its command and control centres. Representatives of the RCMP’s Ontario division aren’t commenting on the implementation. In a release, EADS said the network will be deployed in multiple stages. Phase I will be implemented in time for June’s G8 summit, when world political leaders will meet to discuss global economic issues in Huntsville, Ont. Phase II will extend the network to cover the entire province. Tami Timperio, EADS’ vice-president of marketing, said the company was awarded the contract last fall, and while it usually takes 12 to 18 months to install such a network, the firm plans to complete Phase I in six months. Phasing in the network is facilitating its deployment, she said. The Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO) started working on the P25 standard in the mid-1980s, drawing on input from private companies such as EADS, Cisco Systems Inc. and Harris Corp., as well as public safety organizations like the FBI, the FCC and the City of Montreal, according to an APCO backgrounder. P25’s advantages include better security. It’s more difficult for eavesdroppers to infiltrate digital signals than analogue signals, for example. The network also offers better range, and potentially lower equipment prices. All of the gear makers will use the same basic standard for their equipment, so that buyers can choose any P25 handset. That leads to increased competition and lower prices. “The big advantage is interoperability,” said Gavin Hayes, vice-president of APCO Canada and manager of the Halton Regional Police Service’s communications system. He said today’s analogue wireless systems don’t interoperate, so users on one system can’t connect with others without employing “cumbersome” patching techniques. Hayes said many Canadian law enforcement agencies are considering P25. The Halton Regional Police Service is preparing a request for proposals (RFP) to send to P25 systems makers. “If everyone in the GTA has P25, we can all talk to each other,” he said. Because it’s IP-based, P25 should pave the way for multimedia communication, Timperio said. “Ultimately it can be voice, video and data. That is the forward path of emergency communication.” But Rozender said there may be challenges. For instance, wireless spectrum has become a hot commodity, and over the years, Industry Canada has been dividing the airwaves into smaller and smaller chunks. In the past, Industry Canada would offer 25-kilohertz blocks. Now it’s offering 6.25-kilohertz blocks. P25 is designed to work in small blocks, but it would be difficult to fit more than voice communication onto the network when the channels are so narrow. “Forget about data,” Rozender said. He also noted that it would take some configuration to get individual P25 systems to connect. But he said the technology allows for lower equipment prices in the long-term. Rozender said some police forces in British Columbia and Saskatchewan now use P25 communication systems. Jessica Hawkins, associate analyst for government technology at Ovum, a Datamonitor company specializing in telecom analysis, said she sees emergency services organizations using more technology in the future to improve efficiency. “We are likely to see many public safety agencies using technology to streamline processes such as minimizing back office paperwork, and getting more feet on the street,” she said. “For example, mobile devices are enabling incident reports to be recorded at the scene of the incident without the need to return to the station.”

RCMP rolls out new wireless network for G8 Summit

News | February 12, 2010

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