q NYS TEC New York State Technology Enterprise Corporation presents its Options for a Public Safety Wireless Communications System: Synthesis and Evaluation Report for the Tompkins County Radio System Project February 28, 2001 Version 2 Options for a Public Safety Wireless Radio Communication System: NYS TEC Synthesis and Evaluation Report Tompkins County Radio System Project Table of Contents 1. OVERVIEW ..................................................................................................................................................1 2. WIDE-AREA WIRELESS MOBILE TECHNOLOGY ............................................................................3 2.1 RADIO FREQUENCIES .......................................................................................................................................3 2.2 CONVENTIONAL RADIO SYSTEMS ..................................................................................................................10 2.3 DIGITAL VOICE, DATA AND ENCRYPTION......................................................................................................13 2.4 VOTING SYSTEMS ..........................................................................................................................................17 2.5 TRUNKED RADIO SYSTEMS ............................................................................................................................17 2.6 SIMULCAST ....................................................................................................................................................24 2.7 MICROWAVE TECHNOLOGY ...........................................................................................................................28 2.8 APPLICATION OF WIRELESS TO THE PUBLIC-SAFETY/SERVICE CLIENT..........................................................42 3. PROPRIETARY TRUNKED SYSTEMS .................................................................................................46 3.1 OPENSKY .......................................................................................................................................................46 3.2 EDACS..........................................................................................................................................................51 3.3 SMARTNET.....................................................................................................................................................52 3.4 IDEN .............................................................................................................................................................53 4. STANDARDIZED TRUNKED SYSTEMS...............................................................................................56 4.1 STANDARDS REFINEMENT AND CONVERGENCE .............................................................................................56 4.2 APCO PROJECT 25 ........................................................................................................................................57 4.3 TERRESTRIAL TRUNKED RADIO (TETRA).....................................................................................................63 5. SATELLITE TECHNOLOGY ..................................................................................................................70 5.1 SATELLITE DYNAMICS ...................................................................................................................................71 5.2 GENERAL OVERVIEW OF SATELLITE SYSTEMS...............................................................................................72 5.3 GENERAL SUMMARY OF SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS.................................................................92 5.4 SPECIFIC SYSTEMS THAT HAVE LIMITED USE IN PUBLIC SAFETY..................................................................94 5.5 DRAWBACKS OF SATELLITES .........................................................................................................................97 6. WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS AND HUMAN HEALTH ..............................................................99 6.1 BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF RF EXPOSURE........................................................................................................99 6.2 RF SAFETY STANDARDS ..............................................................................................................................100 7. TOMPKINS COUNTY PUBLIC SAFETY COMMUNICATIONS AND COMMERCIAL CARRIERS ..............................................................................................................................................................103 7.1 PUBLIC SAFETY COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY ......................................................................................105 List of Figures Figure 1, Electromagnetic Spectrum and Radio Frequencies .......................................................................................4 Figure 2, Plot of Propagation Loss vs. Distance Across the LMR Frequency Bands...................................................5 Figure 3, Sunspot Activity Dating back to the Late 1700s ...........................................................................................7 Figure 4, Sunspot Activity Predicted for Sunspot Cycle #23 .......................................................................................8 Figure 5, Measured 155/863-MHz Coverage Multiplier ..............................................................................................9 Figure 6, Simplex Radio Communications.................................................................................................................11 Figure 7, Full-Duplex Operation ................................................................................................................................11 Figure 8, Half-Duplex, or Repeater-Operation, Mode................................................................................................12 i Options for a Public Safety Wireless Radio Communication System: NYS TEC Synthesis and Evaluation Report Tompkins County Radio System Project Figure 9, Operation of a Vocoder...............................................................................................................................13 Figure 10, Encryption/De-Encryption Process ...........................................................................................................16 Figure 11, Voting Bridge (Comparator) Technology .................................................................................................17 Figure 12, Telephone Trunked Lines..........................................................................................................................18 Figure 13, Generic Trunked Radio System.................................................................................................................20 Figure 14, Example Five-Channel Trunked System with Control Channel ...............................................................21 Figure 15, Trunked Radio System Hierarchy .............................................................................................................22 Figure 16, Fault-Tolerant System Hierarchy ..............................................................................................................22 Figure 17, Simulcast Coverage Example by Time Domain........................................................................................25 Figure 18, Simulcast Example....................................................................................................................................28 Figure 19, Frequency-Selective Fading......................................................................................................................34 Figure 20, Fundamental Requirements of Public Safety LMR...................................................................................42 Figure 21, Fundamental Aspects of Public-Safety LMR Systems..............................................................................43 Figure 22, Simple Conventional System ....................................................................................................................44 Figure 23, Modern Public-Safety Communications System.......................................................................................45 Figure 24, OpenSky Architecture ...............................................................................................................................48 Figure 25, OpenSky System Components ..................................................................................................................50 Figure 26, EDACS System Architecture ....................................................................................................................51 Figure 27, SmartNet Domestic Offerings from Motorola...........................................................................................53 Figure 28, iDEN System Components........................................................................................................................54 Figure 29, Domestic and International Standards Tracks...........................................................................................57 Figure 30, APCO 25 Features & Functions................................................................................................................58 Figure 31, APCO 25 Background...............................................................................................................................59