Attachment H Regional Communications North Central Texas Regional Coordination Plan

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1 I. GENERAL Attachment H Regional Communications A. The purpose of this attachment is to provide guidance on the priorities and standards for interoperable communications within the sixteen County NCTCOG regions. This attachment will be maintained, reviewed and updated the procedures outlined in the region s Plan. An Executive Summary is enclosed that will describe the progress of interoperability in the North Central Texas Region. B. Communications are key to the rapid response and successful completion of any emergency operation. In the event of a catastrophic incident, the ability to communicate the situation and response requirements across the region is even more essential. Widespread damage to infrastructure, to include commercial communications systems, will make it more difficult to maintain awareness of the incident. Each jurisdiction must ensure that interoperable, robust, redundant and reliable communications capabilities exist within their jurisdiction. C. It is the responsibility of all governments to insure that communications are maintained to facilitate the necessary coordination required to provide local and regional response to a catastrophic incident. The equipment standards and capabilities must be sufficient to protect the citizens as well as provide continuity of government. The systems must be capable of providing simultaneous, real time or near real time communications between agency Incident Command Posts, EOCs, the NCTRCC, and numerous State, Federal agencies. II. CHARACTERISTICS OF COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS A. The four key characteristics of communications systems are: 1. Interoperability: Any system acquired for communications in support of emergency response missions must be interoperable with like systems used by agencies known or anticipated to support the incident. Repeatedly it has been demonstrated that, without interoperability, multiple organizations responding to any type of crisis will, at a minimum, waste effort and delay response if they cannot communicate. Interoperability allows multi functionality for a single system, which both decreases the overall equipment requirement and increases capabilities for users. 2. Robustness: The systems must be able to withstand both the natural and man made interference that may be in the area. Weather (heat, cold, rain, high winds, flooding, etc) can dramatically impact systems, and its impact must be evaluated prior to selecting systems for acquisition or development of the network. Man made factors such as H 1

2 interference created by urban areas, high tension power lines, commercial radio transmitters, cell phone towers and interference from radar and directional systems will impede communications and must be identified and factored into the plan prior to system establishment. 3. Redundancy: A system must be redundant and offer multiple links. Reliance on any single form of communications (radio, telephone, computer, etc) will not support emergency response requirements. In planning, the goal should be for every command post (incident, EOC, NCTLGCG, etc) to have a minimum of three alternate means of communications (properly identified as primary, secondary and tertiary) that work as fail safe systems in the event of a major communications loss due to weather or interference. These three systems should be separate in type so as not to be impacted by the same event. 4. Reliability: systems must be reliable. Use of commercial off the shelf (COTS) communications technology is the norm, but each system and network must be researched as to its specific reliability. Systems with low mean time between failure or limited capabilities must not be relied on as key systems. Additionally periodic and thorough maintenance of all systems must be directed and properly conducted to insure system reliability. III. RESPONSIBILITIES & MANAGEMENT Local jurisdiction. Local jurisdictions are responsible to develop and maintain a communications architecture that is interoperable, robust, and redundant. Acquisitions for new equipment will be guided by these tenants, of which interoperability is essential. Local jurisdictions will manage communications equipment and systems for their specific jurisdictions. This includes identification of available resources and prioritizing resources against requirements. Resource shortfalls will be provided to the NCTLGCG as they are identified. IV. REGIONAL COMMUNICATIONS CAPABILITIES EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I. Background The NCTCOG Region has long understood the importance of interoperable wireless communications and also the deficiencies in the management and deployment of such a system that have occurred over the years. H 2

3 To that end, NCTCOG formed an Interoperable Communications Committee to oversee the development of a plan and methodology to foster beneficial use of existing technology as well as a roadmap that will allow this critical capability to evolve over time as newer technologies and unforeseen needs emerge. NCTCOG and the Committee commissioned the development of a comprehensive interoperable communications plan that would: 1) Leverage existing wireless communications equipment 2) Re allocate fixed wireless equipment to enhance coverage and mitigate interference 3) Define, on an agency by agency basis, needed equipment along with budgetary pricing needed to provide a baseline of interoperability functionality 4) Suggest a procedure for managing the technical aspects of the resulting system 5) Outline future phases of the plan, each proposing a higher level of technical sophistication and operations management. Phase 1 of the NPSPAC Mutual Aid Plan has been written and adopted by the Interoperable Communications Committee, and is included here by reference as the preferred communications plan for this Regional Response Plan. Phase 2, which will further detail the circumstance and manner of communications between multiple agencies, is underway. A memorandum of understanding (MOU) especially for interoperable communications between agencies has been drafted with the intent of getting buy in from area responders. II. Executive Summary of the Phase 1 NCTCOG Region NPSPAC Mutual Aid Plan The goal of this plan is to return functionality and allow improved interoperable communications through the managed use of the NPSPAC mutual aid radio channels (five paired 800 MHz frequencies mandated for mutual aid, nationwide) for a greater part of the NCTCOG region. Success of the plan requires a very high level of regional cooperation and strict adherence to the adopted NPSPAC Mutual Aid Plan. The framework is outlined in the plan. The NPSPAC Mutual Aid Plan is comprised of two major elements. The first addresses the existing situation in the five county urban areas of Collin, Dallas, Denton, Rockwall, and Tarrant Counties. The second element speaks to the solution for the remaining counties of NCTCOG. H 3

4 Certain radio sites have been identified as Primary Calling Channel Sites with the associated dispatch center always monitoring and responding to the calls. A Tactical Channel is also assigned. Designated Primary Tactical Sites are assigned at least one working or tactical channel, and use this channel as the means for general communications when interoperable communications are required. The number of active Calling and Tactical Sites and associated stations are limited in order to minimize interference. Dispatch centers associated with these sites are responsible for their operation. Stations not assigned as Primary Sites, are held in Reserve, and can be activated in the event a nearby Primary Site is disabled. Additionally a Reserve site may be utilized, with the permission of the nearest co channel Primary site operator, if the Reserve site will provide better radio coverage for a particular incident than the designated Primary station. For those agencies that have back up sites, these stations are not be used unless their Primary Site is off the air. Stations that are assigned specific operating tactical channels must adhere to the plan in order to reduce self induced interference. In addition to improving 800 mutual aid communications in the five county urban core of NCTCOG, recommendations have been made to provision a number of counties on the periphery with equipment that will provide 800 MHz communications capability. This action will allow 800 MHz radio units from the five county urban area to travel outside their normal areas of operation and still maintain communications with other 800 MHz radio units as well as the local agencies in the non urban area. Designated agencies in these non urban areas will be equipped with calling channel and tactical channel repeater stations and the associated dispatch center will be responsible for the proper operation of these channels. The non urban areas include Hunt, Kaufman, Ellis, Johnson, Navarro, Wise, and Parker Counties. Wise and Parker Counties are slated for a future implementation of the NPSPAC mutual aid channels and their assignments are included as part of the Plan. H 4

5 Radio Telephone Computer STATE SOC DDC COORD. CENTRE STATE AGENCIES EOC NGOs EOCS COUNTY AND CITY EOCS Regional Communications Priorities Primary Secondary Tertiary IC to EOC: Radio Telephone None EOC to RCC: Computer Telephone Radio RCC to DDC Computer Telephone None H 5