The Alberta First Responders' Radio Communication System is a network being planned for and by the Province of Alberta for the benefit of all first responders (fire, police, ambulance, and other emergency and public safety agencies). It is being developed by Service Alberta and the Alberta Solicitor General's Office.
Alberta's government services use a variety of different radio systems, some of which are very near the end of their useful lives. Many of the agencies formerly used a system called the Multi-Departmental Mobile Radio System (MDMRS), which was a system of UHF repeaters across the province. Agencies on the system included Fish & Wildlife, Alberta Forest Service, Transportation (aka highways/commercial vehicle enforcement), and other similar departments. Forestry, along with Fish & Wildlife and other elements of Sustainable Resources Development (aka SRD), have switched to a VHF network of repeaters known as FireNet. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who are charged with the responsibility of almost all rural policing in Alberta and some urban duties as well, plus the expected federal mandates, use what is called PACS, or the Province of Alberta Communications System. This is yet another network of VHF repeaters.
Besides all the above, there are other agencies using MiKE phones (iDEN networks), i.e. Alberta Sheriffs; and other public safety agencies both provincial and municipal that have their own radio systems, i.e. City of Edmonton, City of Calgary, and etc.
All the radio communications of the Government of Alberta are to be put on the AFRRCS network, as well as all communications for the RCMP in the province of Alberta. Other services, like your local fire department, ambulance services (be they provincial or local/municipal), local bylaw, etc., will be able to join the network if they choose, but joining it is not mandatory.
The province will bear the costs for the towers and the equipment necessary for making the network function. End-user agencies that voluntarily join the network will be responsible only for purchasing the radios they need to use the system.
The province has pre-qualified four vendor consortiums for bidding on the network. As of October 15, 2008, the vendors have been invited to submit bids for building the system. The province will choose the winning vendor on February 18, 2009. Construction will begin shortly thereafter, and is estimated to be fully completed by 2012.
OVERALL SYSTEM DETAILS
The system will be the first trunked 700MHz public safety system in Canada. The system will use the APCO P25 standard and will be compatible with any radios that meet said standard in the 800MHz band. Many manufacturers such as Motorola, M/A-COM, Tait, and Kenwood currently offer P25/700 equipment.
As of this point (October 2008), it is too early to determine what, if any, scanners will be able to monitor the system. If the system is a pure P25/700 network, modern scanners such as the Uniden BCD396T, BCD996T, BCD396XT, GRE PSR-500, and PSR-600 will track the network properly.
However, there is incomplete information in the request for proposal to identify whether or not the system will encrypt the trunking control channel. If the system operates with encrypted control channels, monitoring via scanner will not be possible in any way.
VENDORS
The province has identified the four vendors that are vying for the network. The vendors are actually consortiums of technology companies working together. Only the major consortium partner has been identified for each vendor competing. They are, in alphabetical order:
Bell Mobility Inc.
General Dynamics Canada Ltd.
Raytheon Canada Limited
TELUS
BUILD AND DEPLOYMENT
The province has stated that construction will begin in "Summer 2009". The RFP (Request For Proposals) is scheduled to close in February 2009, so construction could possibly begin sooner.
The intent is to deploy the system in stages, broken down by
Census Divisions. The first CD to be developed is intended to be Edmonton, as a prototype system. From there, the province has a preferred order of deployment, but the vendor could override it if they can provide good reason to the province that deviating from the province's plan would be of benefit. The preferred order of deployment is included in the RFP document, which is available on the Alberta Purchasing Connection website at
http://www.purchasingconnection.ca.
Further information will be posted as it becomes available and/or relevant.