had reached end of life, which means that vendor support no longer was available and replacement parts were becoming more and more difficult to procure — both factors made maintenance and troubleshooting exceedingly difficult. The new system eliminates that issue. • Improved in-building coverage — Digital radio systems provide better in-building coverage compared with analog systems. Operating on UHF frequencies helps in this regard, because that band offers building-penetration characteristics that are considerably better than those offered by the upper bands, i.e., 700, 800, and 900 megahertz (MHz). It is anticipated that the improved in-building coverage will reduce reliance on distributed antenna systems and bidirectional amplifiers in the county, but that won’t be known until the new system is operational. • Improved security — P25 systems have certain protections that are baked into the standard, such as encryption, use of multiple frequencies, and a feature called “radio inhibit,” which enables system managers to identify a rogue radio and render it useless. Further, the new system will employ radio authentication. Each user will be issued a unique identifier that will give them access
to the system — no identifier, no access. This should eliminate the problem of rogue radios joining the system, which can create havoc, especially during large-scale, multijurisdictional events. If a radio is lost or stolen, the user simply notifies ACES, which will use the radio-inhibit feature to disable the device and knock it off the system. Non-tactical communications on the new system will not be encrypted, but encrypted communications will occur on tactical channels used by fire/rescue/emergency medical agencies during major incidents. • Improved interoperability — The Common Air Interface (CAI) is a component of the P25 standards suite; it enables P25- compliant conventional and trunked systems to interoperate natively, regardless of vendor, via over-the-air modulation. Native interoperability is the ideal form. Another component is the Inter-RF Subsystem Interface (ISSI), which enables disparate P25 systems unable to leverage the CAI to interconnect at the controller level. As with the legacy analog system, the new system will be able to interconnect with any other disparate non-P25 radio system via gateways and patches. This project will be completed over a five to seven year period, but will be implemented in phases as phases are completed. Training Fire and emergency service training demand has increased following a decline during the pandemic. The annual Spring Fire Essentials class had 62 students in attendance, one of the largest classes for fire essentials training.
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