https://urgentcomm.com/wp-content/themes/ucm_child/assets/images/logo/footer-new-logo.png
  • Home
  • News
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Multimedia
    • Video
    • Podcasts
    • Galleries
    • IWCE’s Video Showcase
    • IWCE 2022 Winter Showcase
    • IWCE 2023 Pre-event Guide
  • Commentary
    • Back
    • Commentary
    • Urgent Matters
    • View From The Top
    • All Things IWCE
    • Legal Matters
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Resources
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Reprints & Reuse
  • IWCE
    • Back
    • IWCE
    • Conference
    • Special Events
    • Exhibitor Listings
    • Premier Partners
    • Floor Plan
    • Exhibiting Information
    • Register for IWCE
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Statement
    • Cookie Policy
  • Related Sites
    • Back
    • American City & County
    • IWCE
    • Light Reading
    • IOT World Today
    • Mission Critical Technologies
    • TU-Auto
  • In the field
    • Back
    • In the field
    • Broadband Push-to-X
    • Internet of Things
    • Project 25
    • Public-Safety Broadband/FirstNet
    • Virtual/Augmented Reality
    • Land Mobile Radio
    • Long Term Evolution (LTE)
    • Applications
    • Drones/Robots
    • IoT/Smart X
    • Software
    • Subscriber Devices
    • Video
  • Call Center/Command
    • Back
    • Call Center/Command
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • NG911
    • Alerting Systems
    • Analytics
    • Dispatch/Call-taking
    • Incident Command/Situational Awareness
    • Tracking, Monitoring & Control
  • Network Tech
    • Back
    • Network Tech
    • Interoperability
    • LMR 100
    • LMR 200
    • Backhaul
    • Deployables
    • Power
    • Tower & Site
    • Wireless Networks
    • Coverage/Interference
    • Security
    • System Design
    • System Installation
    • System Operation
    • Test & Measurement
  • Operations
    • Back
    • Operations
    • Critical Infrastructure
    • Enterprise
    • Federal Government/Military
    • Public Safety
    • State & Local Government
    • Training
  • Regulations
    • Back
    • Regulations
    • Narrowbanding
    • T-Band
    • Rebanding
    • TV White Spaces
    • None
    • Funding
    • Policy
    • Regional Coordination
    • Standards
  • Organizations
    • Back
    • Organizations
    • AASHTO
    • APCO
    • DHS
    • DMR Association
    • ETA
    • EWA
    • FCC
    • IWCE
    • NASEMSO
    • NATE
    • NXDN Forum
    • NENA
    • NIST/PSCR
    • NPSTC
    • NTIA/FirstNet
    • P25 TIG
    • TETRA + CCA
    • UTC
Urgent Communications
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • News
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Video
    • Podcasts
    • Omdia Crit Comms Circle Podcast
    • Galleries
    • IWCE’s Video Showcase
    • IWCE 2023 Pre-event Guide
    • IWCE 2022 Winter Showcase
  • Commentary
    • Back
    • All Things IWCE
    • Urgent Matters
    • View From The Top
    • Legal Matters
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Reprints & Reuse
    • UC eZines
    • Sponsored content
  • IWCE
    • Back
    • Conference
    • Why Attend
    • Exhibitor Listing
    • Floor Plan
    • Exhibiting Information
    • Join the Event Mailing List
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Cookie Policy
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Statement
  • Related Sites
    • Back
    • American City & County
    • IWCE
    • Light Reading
    • IOT World Today
    • TU-Auto
  • newsletter
  • In the field
    • Back
    • Internet of Things
    • Broadband Push-to-X
    • Project 25
    • Public-Safety Broadband/FirstNet
    • Virtual/Augmented Reality
    • Land Mobile Radio
    • Long Term Evolution (LTE)
    • Applications
    • Drones/Robots
    • IoT/Smart X
    • Software
    • Subscriber Devices
    • Video
  • Call Center/Command
    • Back
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • NG911
    • Alerting Systems
    • Analytics
    • Dispatch/Call-taking
    • Incident Command/Situational Awareness
    • Tracking, Monitoring & Control
  • Network Tech
    • Back
    • Cybersecurity
    • Interoperability
    • LMR 100
    • LMR 200
    • Backhaul
    • Deployables
    • Power
    • Tower & Site
    • Wireless Networks
    • Coverage/Interference
    • Security
    • System Design
    • System Installation
    • System Operation
    • Test & Measurement
  • Operations
    • Back
    • Critical Infrastructure
    • Enterprise
    • Federal Government/Military
    • Public Safety
    • State & Local Government
    • Training
  • Regulations
    • Back
    • Narrowbanding
    • T-Band
    • Rebanding
    • TV White Spaces
    • None
    • Funding
    • Policy
    • Regional Coordination
    • Standards
  • Organizations
    • Back
    • AASHTO
    • APCO
    • DHS
    • DMR Association
    • ETA
    • EWA
    • FCC
    • IWCE
    • NASEMSO
    • NATE
    • NXDN Forum
    • NENA
    • NIST/PSCR
    • NPSTC
    • NTIA/FirstNet
    • P25 TIG
    • TETRA + CCA
    • UTC
acc.com

Wireless Networks


Pennsylvania: M/A-COM’s OpenSky works here

Pennsylvania: M/A-COM’s OpenSky works here

Despite the struggles that Tyco Electronics M/A-COM has had with the state of New York, the vendor’s OpenSky system is working well in Pennsylvania, even though the statewide system is still not complete, according to a state official.
  • Written by Urgent Communications Administrator
  • 6th February 2009

Despite the struggles that Tyco Electronics M/A-COM has had with the state of New York, the vendor’s OpenSky system is working well in Pennsylvania, even though the statewide system is still not complete, according to a state official.

Last year, the Pennsylvania system boasted 17,500 radios on the network and supported 39 million push-to-talk communications, said Charles Brennan, deputy secretary of Pennsylvania’s office of public-safety radio services.

“People used it 39 million times last year, so I assume it works,” Brennan said during an interview with Urgent Communications, noting that the network also provides low-speed data and network-based interoperability.

However, the system is not finished yet, even though the money for the project was allocated in 1996 and construction began in 2001. While all 235 high-profile towers in the system have been completed, original estimates that an additional 500 cell sites would provide the needed coverage have proved inadequate, Brennan said. Instead, it likely will take 700-800 cell sites to finish the project.

Brennan said the disparity was caused by language in the original contract, which stated that the radio network would provide coverage to 95% of the land mass of the 45,000-square-mile state, with no roadway-coverage requirement. This proved to be problematic in the northern part of the state, which is very rugged and mountainous, he said.

“What we decided to do here is to go back and make sure we hit 95% roadway coverage—that is not in the contract, but we had no other choice,” Brennan said. “If we just built to the specifications in the contract, no one would use our radio system in the northern part of the state; it would be virtually unusable.

“Everybody today that puts out an RFP includes a land-mass coverage figure and roadway-coverage figure. Pennsylvania never had that in its original requirements. I can’t blame M/A-COM for that; they were just responding to the RFP.”

Brennan credited M/A-COM for being willing to change the scope of the project “for the good of Pennsylvania.”

But building out the cell sites in the mountainous northern regions of the state has proved to be very difficult and costly, because many landowners refuse to let the state build radio infrastructure on their property, Brennan said. Meanwhile, even when the state can get access to a site location, it frequently lacks the electrical or telecom infrastructure needed to support its operation.

“The reason Pennsylvania isn’t built out has nothing to do with the technology; it always has to do with site acquisition, electricity and telephone—those are the three big issues,” he said.

Brennan said the two key technological issues—quicker portable connections to vehicular tactical repeaters and functionality with a microphone used by state police—are in the process of being addressed with new software from M/A-COM.

When completed, Brennan said the Pennsylvania state system likely will cost about $500 million—a figure well beyond the original $179 million contract. This has been a sore spot for critics of the project, but Brennan said the scope of the project was changed dramatically and that that the initial $179 million price tag was based less on engineering studies than elected officials’ intent to have the cost be in line with the $180 million Michigan was prepared to spend for the statewide network it was building at the time.

Although the New York system also was supposed to be an OpenSky system, Brennan said Pennsylvania’s configuration is “much different,” lacking some features New York wanted that created “this big overhead in an RF pipe that was just killing them.”

Upon learning of the problems M/A-COM was having in New York, Brennan acknowledged that he became “a little nervous” about the well being of a vendor that was so crucial to Pennsylvania’s statewide network, but he now believes M/A-COM will be fine. Besides, at this point, Pennsylvania is virtually obligated to continue moving forward with M/A-COM, he said.

“New York put their toe in the pool and, when they didn’t like what they saw, they drew it out,” Brennan said. “In Pennsylvania, we’ve gone off the diving board, and we have nowhere to go but into the pool.

“By the time we’re done with this project, we’ll probably be in for a half a billion dollars. We have over 700 sites—235 high-profile sites and 508 cell sites right now—all with M/A-COM hardware and M/A-COM proprietary software. I have 20,000 radios with M/A-COM proprietary software on them. Really, what choice do we have? I can’t pull my toe out of the pool.”

Tags: content Wireless Networks

Most Recent


  • Lynk inks New Zealand deals seeking cash to grow satellite fleet
    In the first few days of June, Lynk Global made two announcements relating to New Zealand – the first being a successful trial of satellite-enabled texting with local telco 2Degrees and the other a partnership with another operator, Spark. While the company’s technology holds the promise to improve connectivity in areas with zero coverage, more […]
  • NTT Docomo sees smart surfaces as key to 6G
    Could smart surface tech be one of the keys to 6G radio? The 6G network will have to do a lot of heavy lifting in very high frequency bands, requiring dense clusters of very low cost transmitters and receivers. NTT Docomo is advancing the idea of metasurface reflectors that dynamically redirect signals to mobile devices […]
  • CMA plans to release Airwave price-control order by end of July, impacting Motorola Solutions
    An order that would set price controls on the Airwave TETRA network that would cost Motorola Solutions more than $1 billion is expected to take effect within the next two month, although Motorola Solutions has indicated that its appeals likely will delay the effective date until next year. Last month, the UK Competition and Markets […]
  • As users leak to Starlink, Austalia's NBN Co weighs future satellite options
    Australia’s NBN Co is reviewing its satellite services as they wilt in the face of competition from Starlink. Musk-owned Starlink, which only began service last year, already claims more customers than NBN’s Sky Muster service, which has been delivering broadband to remote Australia since 2015. Starlink reportedly claims more than 120,000 Australian customers, while Sky […]

Leave a comment Cancel reply

To leave a comment login with your Urgent Comms account:

Log in with your Urgent Comms account

Or alternatively provide your name, email address below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • The battle over connected cars drags on
  • UK officials revamp ESN plans again, target Airwave-to-LTE transition for end of 2026
  • PSCR: Dereck Orr highlights features of June 21-24 virtual event
  • FirstNet buildout on pace for March 2023 completion, AT&T official says

Commentary


Updated: How ‘sidelink’ peer-to-peer communications can enhance public-safety operations

  • 1
27th February 2023

NG911 needed to secure our communities and nation

24th February 2023

How 5G is making cities safer, smarter, and more efficient

26th January 2023
view all

Events


UC Ezines


IWCE 2019 Wrap Up

13th May 2019
view all

Twitter


Newsletter

Sign up for UrgentComm’s newsletters to receive regular news and information updates about Communications and Technology.

Expert Commentary

Learn from experts about the latest technology in automation, machine-learning, big data and cybersecurity.

Business Media

Find the latest videos and media from the market leaders.

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our digital and print audiences? Learn more here.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • American City & County
  • IWCE
  • Light Reading
  • IOT World Today
  • Mission Critical Technologies
  • TU-Auto

WORKING WITH US

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Events
  • Careers

FOLLOW Urgent Comms ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2023 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.