PPSTN NEWSLETTER –

PPSTN
March 2014
NEWSLETTER
Public Safety Radio Interoperability in Saskatchewan –
A Culture of Collaboration
The Big Picture
A major part of Saskatchewan’s effective and responsive front-line emergency response communications is
the development and the implementation of the Provincial Public Safety Telecommunications Network
(PPSTN). PPSTN is unique in the sense that it is currently the only province-wide, fully operational and
interoperable network in the country.
Both PPSTN and Sask911 lead the field in implementing multi-agency response and emergency incident
management communication solutions. And, it has become clear that the multi-agency coordination of
response will be absolutely critical in the future. In response to that we and our public safety partners have
developed the Saskatchewan Interoperability Development Office (SIDO).
We also have to be prepared to adopt emerging technology in several areas including data applications in the
field with 700 MHz Public Safety Broadband and Next Generation 911. These emerging technologies will
enable tools that are potentially very powerful and could greatly enhance our capacity to both effectively
respond to emergencies and keep our responders safe.
It is essential that all public safety and related stakeholders in Saskatchewan are informed and have a say in
developing and deploying these technologies. To fully support and develop the culture of collaboration the
Saskatchewan Interoperability Interest Group (SIIG) has been formed. SIIG consists of representatives of
key stakeholder groups who meet as required to review and provide input about emerging public safety
interoperability challenges. It is anticipated that SIIG will be a key contributor to building future public
safety interoperability capacity.
The SIDO Project
The SIDO project was initiated through the Ministry of Government Relations (GR) under the direct
governance of the Emergency Management and Fire Safety (EMFS) Branch. Commissioner Duane McKay
recognizes and supports the critical nature of this initiative.
The SIDO team will move the interoperability initiative forward with the support of the dedicated staff in
EMFS, the Ministry and our collaborative partners.
Who We Are
Rick Galloway - Project Lead and PPSTN Strategic Manager
Maureen Schmidt - 700 Public Safety Broadband Project Lead
John Leitch - Client Services and Research Liaison Lead
Howard Georgeson - PPSTN Operations and Interoperability Lead
Mike Fraser - Technology Management Lead
The SIDO project supports our Provincial Strategic Plan to be an enabling partner on building safe, healthy
and vibrant communities. SIDO is founded on core values and principles:
Values
Will foster a climate which encourages the advancement of interoperability among emergency
management professionals.
Will operate in accordance with the highest standards in all relationships with first responders,
communities, government ministries, non-government organizations and the private sector.
Principles
Collaboration: SIDO will encourage and support collaborations between agencies and communities
who currently have or are about to implement and operate an interoperability program.
Simplicity: We will not reinvent the wheel – SIDO will build on and advance the good work that is
already in progress or completed and recognizable.
Leadership not ownership: SIDO will recognize that interoperability in Saskatchewan is driven by
necessity. SIDO’s job is to ensure that good work among stakeholders is identified and remains
nested in both Provincial and National Strategies.
Innovation: SIDO will pursue and share progressive and innovative interoperability solutions
Achieve professional excellence: SIDO will continue to build its professional acumen and dedicate
this competency to all stakeholders.
Communication: SIDO will maintain vigorous communication by sharing issues, views and
challenges with the members of any agency who wish to stay informed, understand or implement an
interoperability program.
Deliverables
Use collaboration to create a common vision for interoperability in Saskatchewan.
Develop a centre of excellence which provides a centralized, internet-based resource for our public
safety partners. Support the ongoing evolution of the Provincial Public Safety Telecommunications
Network as the primary mission critical voice platform for its users.
Encourage developing and deploying interoperable solutions by identifying and selecting research
and program funding opportunities.
Identify what needs to be achieved by all partners to create and support a Provincial Interoperability
Program.
Produce and present provincial documents about appropriate allocation of the 700MHz public safety
broadband spectrum for emergency stakeholders and associated business models.
You may ask why all of this information is in the PPSTN Newsletter? The reason is quite simple: PPSTN
users are the largest front-line stakeholder group of this kind in Saskatchewan. Along with the front-line
responders who are not on the network, PPSTN users represent the critical front-line of public safety
response. The SIDO project exists solely to support the front-line responder and those they serve – you.
Rick Galloway
Manager, Public Safety Communications
Interoperability – Sturgis, Saskatchewan
Interoperability is alive and
well in the Sturgis area! The
Sturgis Fire & District Fire
Co-op in conjunction with
the Canora RCMP and
Preeceville Ambulance
have successfully utilized
interoperability on a
number of occasions in the
past year with only a few
minor glitches.
The first incident occurred
in June 2013 when the
Sturgis Fire Department
was dispatched to an
anhydrous ammonia leak at
the bulk depot near Sturgis.
Sturgis & District Fire Co-Operative
Upon arrival, the Sturgis
Fire Department requested an interop channel to use with responding EMS and the RCMP. Dispatch advised
Sturgis Fire to use Public 3. While EMS unfortunately had an issue with the interop channel and instead
used cell phones to communicate, the RCMP was able to utilize the interop channel and communication was
established. Information was relayed between the RCMP and Sturgis Fire in regards to establishing a traffic
stop due to a plume of gas that was moving east. The incident was resolved with no injuries and the leak was
fixed.
The second incident was a motor vehicle collision involving a semi-trailer unit. En route to the incident,
Sturgis Fire requested an interop channel to use with responding EMS and RCMP. Upon arrival, Sturgis Fire
was able to successfully relay vital details on the occupants of the semi to EMS as well as relay important
information on to the RCMP.
The third incident occurred shortly after arriving back at the fire hall following the second incident. The
RCMP requested assistance from the Fire Co-op to locate a missing person. Once again, Sturgis Fire
requested dispatch to go interop with the RCMP. In this instance, interoperability proved to be a useful
communication tool as the two parties were able to communicate their positions so they did not overlap the
search area. As well, when the missing person was located each party instantly knew that the person had
been found.
Sturgis Fire Chief Brad Secundiak stated:
“The interoperability channel did what it was supposed to do and that is give
us the communication we need with responding agencies. I will continue to request and use
the interop channel when needed, as this is an excellent tool to have at our disposal. It
opens up a needed line of communication that was lacking in the past.”
Meet the Professors of Radio University
The PPSTN is one of the largest of its kind in North America in terms of area covered and number of towers.
The 8000 member client list is diverse and includes agencies such as the Canadian Armed Forces, the
RCMP, Highway Transport Compliance, conservation officers, police departments, nearly 300 fire
departments, EMS and many others.
Other jurisdictions are wowed by the fact that every PPSTN user can communicate directly with any other
user. This level of interoperability is practically unheard of everywhere else however; there is a minor
problem. While PPSTN carries leading technology for its users, sometimes the users don’t have the
knowledge to use it effectively. Public safety responders train regularly on their own specialized equipment
such as firearms, breathing equipment and medical procedures. This does not hold true for radios.
The gap in radio training is recognized and PPSTN has professional
trainers who are ready to help fill that gap. The PPSTN’s radio trainers
are highly qualified individuals - two men who have both been there and
done that and have the t-shirts to prove it! They are both book-smart and
have the operational experiences to directly relate to most situations.
Meet the trainers:
Ken Dobra
Ken Dobra
Once a professional teacher and a fire fighter Ken is currently the
Executive Director of the Saskatchewan Volunteer Fire Fighters
Association (SVFFA) in addition to conducting radio training sessions
for PPSTN. Ken has been with PPSTN since its conception and has
trained hundreds of radio clients.
Randall (Randy) Warnock
After serving 35 years as an RCMP officer, Randy joined PPSTN in
2010 as a radio trainer. Randy has also worked to develop training
systems within the RCMP and has travelled extensively with PPSTN to
train emergency responders throughout the province.
Both of these experts are available to deliver quality radio training at any
location, at no cost. They will encourage multi-agency attendance to
permit live inter-agency communications right in the classroom. They
will also cover every aspect of radio operation including voice
procedures and control functions.
Randall Warnock
Training sessions typically run about two hours but training sessions to
fit specific needs may also be developed by contacting Ken and Randy.
New staff? Need a refresher? No problem. Want to try a few multiagency exercises? PPSTN can help with that too.
For all radio training needs give our Help Desk a call at 1-888-953-3693.
We Never Close
During the coldest mid-winter nights, under a blistering August sun, on Christmas Day or New Years Eve,
24 hours-a-day and seven-days-a-week emergency response professionals throughout the province are on
duty to respond to crisis at a moment’s notice.
The Ministry of Government Relations (GR), SaskPower and the RCMP have teams of dedicated personnel
who are ready to respond day and night to problems that may affect one or several of the more than 250
radio towers located in the province.
The response SaskPower has to power outages is exemplary; restoring grid power to PPSTN towers that are
affected well within the backup battery power timeframe. Inter-departmental information sharing during
outages assists GR and the RCMP in assessing potential threats to the system as well as reacting to minimize
potential threats.
The RCMP monitor the network and site status in real time. Information is forwarded to GR Facilities
Support when there is a requirement to respond to shelters and/or address other anomalies.
GR’s Radio and Technical Support respond to issues and concerns received through the GR Help Desk for
Fire, Police and EMS clients. GR Facilities Support, in addition to the others, is ready 24 hours-a-day,
seven-days-a-week and 365 days a year. Personnel are on standby throughout the province to respond as
required.
The support that is provided behind the scenes is an integral part of PPSTN. A number of radio, network,
power and mechanical technicians continually service, upgrade and repair the infrastructure for PPSTN. It is
never a nine-to-five job as a team is continuously on-call and prepared to respond to ensure that the network
is operational and available to front-line emergency responders.
We are simply never closed!
Portable PPSTN Mobile Communications Tower (MCT) Radio Site
The equipment trailer with a 100 foot telescoping tower can replace a damaged site or provide temporary coverage for
incident response. The MCT is completely self-contained and includes an on-board generator and satellite link system.
The CITIG 2013 Annual Meeting
The Canadian
Interoperable
Technology Interest
Group (CITIG) held
its seventh annual
meeting in
Vancouver, British
Columbia in
November 2013. As
a presenter for
Saskatchewan, Rick
Galloway
showcased the
PPSTN (and
discreetly promoted
the Grey Cup
Champions).
This international
gathering of more
than 300 public
safety professionals
Rick Galloway, CITIG 2013 Annual Meeting
exists to share
experiences and solutions surrounding communications issues as well as to give the industry an opportunity
to showcase the next big thing. Suffice to say the future goes “beep”. Data is important to have in order to
react to and embrace the stunning advances in everything from biomedical monitoring to location-based
services which was a buzz-phrase at the meeting.
Many principal responders to the Lac Megantic rail tragedy and the Calgary flood were present to share the
challenges and successes they encountered while responding to those major events. From their stories it
became evident that there is still a long road to travel in interoperability.
It is also apparent that voice communications are here for the foreseeable future. While Saskatchewan is still
an obvious leader in multi-agency interoperability Alberta is building a similar system which is scheduled to
go into operation in 2014. Other provinces are not far behind.
Trends to follow:
Next Generation 911
Broadband 700 MHz LTE devices
Multi-band radios
Social media in public safety
Wide-area public alerting
For more information go to www.citig.ca.
Just Between You and Me…
True story: a few years ago an off-duty police officer was working
at a charity bingo and was thanked by name by the unfamiliar lady
who bought the card. Puzzled, he asked if they had ever met. “No,”
she replied. “I recognize your voice from my scanner.”
This is a reality. People are trying to listen in to your radio
conversations and some of those people are very determined and
sophisticated. The internet enables anyone to listen live to public
safety activities around the world, have a look at
www.radioreference.com.
Some PPSTN clients utilize voice privacy systems in their radios to
ensure sensitive information is not overheard. The encryption used
is called P25 AES 256 and for all practical purposes, is
unbreakable. Do note that if your organization wishes to use an
encryption you will need to budget approximately $800.00 per radio.
The only realistic way for AES 256 encryption to be broken is to have a radio with the correct numeric key.
This key is loaded into each agency’s radio with a calculator-like keyloader. Some can be updated over the
air. Each radio in the conversation must have exactly the same key loaded to participate. Although
keyloaders can be purchased by anyone, without the correct numeric sequence they cannot be used to
eavesdrop.
There are at least three possible ways to enable eavesdroppers:
Forget to use the encrypted channels, which is the case in almost 20 per cent of all conversations in
one big-city analysis.
Find an unencrypted part of the voice path which might be part of a cross-system patch or an
unsecured site-to-site link.
Through an outside party using a lost or stolen radio.
The third method is more common than you would think. A regular hands-on, comprehensive inventory of
your encrypted radio equipment is important. Contact PPSTN if you have lost track of a radio as a radio can
be electronically stunned, rendering it unusable. If found, the radio can be turned on again - just as easily.
However, there is a fourth method used to eavesdrop - by listening to the cranked-up radio on your belt as
you sip your coffee at the local diner. Be sure to maintain good radio privacy practices even if you are
confident in your encryption system.
If you require more information please contact the Help Desk at 1-888-953-3693.