Affordable CAD system?

[BMDaug]

Hey guys, does anyone here know of an affordable CAD system available for P25C? I’m trying to find something for about a dozen subscribers that offers things like status polling, messaging, unit ID, inhibit, icall, group call, and all the other standardized P25C features. Is there something with a subscription model or tiered pricing based on the number of subscribers? I’ve checked a few of them I’ve found through web searches, but they all want to set up a demo and almost none of them allow me to see pricing without calling around. Any ideas?

Thanks for reading!

-B

 

[K4EET]

Howdy @BMDaug,

Seeing that nobody has responded yet, I’ll jump in since I used to manage a very expensive CAD system (among other things). I think before anybody is going to even try to respond, some questions need to be answered first, in order to get started.

1. What is the ballpark budget? Is it $1K, $10K, $100K, $1M, $10M or $100M?
2. Are the dozen or so subscribers public safety, towing operators, delivery services, etc.?
3. How often do you anticipate polling the subscribers and what quantity and type of status information are you planning on receiving? For example, will AVL be part of the polling? Looking for data loading estimates.
4. How often and what type of messaging will be sent? Is this between dispatch and vehicles only or is vehicle to vehicle messaging also required?
5. Is the radio infrastructure existing or will that be procured with the CAD system?
6. If the radio infrastructure is existing, what band, analog vs. digital, clear vs. encrypted, number of sites, etc.?
7. If the radio infrastructure is to be procured with the CAD system, please elaborate on what you foresee as being required based on the items in Question 6 above.

Those questions are just a start to try and quantify the size and type of CAD system that you are asking for. There is no sense in us talking about a $250M CAD/AVL/RMS system for Public Safety if that is not what you are looking for.

As for the sales reps wanting to do a demo before throwing out cost figures, that is how they will be able to “size up” what they have with what you need. We are in the same boat here.

Looking forward to seeing what type of system you foresee your agency/company/etc. will need.

Dave K4EET

 

[BMDaug]

Hi @K4EET , thanks for your help! Right now I’m just running VHF P25C encrypted and I’m running simplex so there is no real infrastructure at this point. I’m trying to put together a mobile base IC station with CAD running in the IC for Search & Rescue and disaster relief so the feature set would probably match a public safety template best.

All of my subscriber units are Harris so standard P25C messaging and status polling is supported. I can program a list of 10 statuses and 10 canned messages. I would like messaging have the ability to go subscriber to subscriber and to IC while allowing the IC to poll status. I would not expect this to be too frequent, maybe once every 20 min. while on a mission.

As for the budget, it’s not huge, however, part of the issue is knowing how to set that budget. I have no point of reference or expectations, other than that pricing varies quite a bit, but I haven’t proposed a budget yet either. The radios work as they are now, with AES encryption, individual calling with a ‘who has called’ list, talk groups, unit number display, emergency with hot mic and some of them support situational awareness, though I expect SA integration with a CAD to be a premium feature.

My goal is to allow the IC station to extend coverage and to better communicate with individual subscribers quickly. Im looking at a single site, and wanting to stick with P25C encrypted. I can procure a nice Tait TB8100 or TB9100 P25 base/repeater but I’m unsure of exactly what additional interface I would need between the CAD and the repeater if any. These repeaters already have a TCP/IP interface so I’m hoping I don’t need additional hardware just to simplify installation in a small space.

Hopefully this answers most of your questions and give some info about how the equipment will be used. Thank you VERY much for your help!

-Brian

 

[mmckenna]

While you may need a CAD system, it sounds like you also need an actual dispatch console to do all this.

Setting a budget would be your first step. This isn't a venue for the small guy, this stuff is expensive.

If you want something easy/basic, take a look at the Mindshare consoles. Flexible and easily set up in small numbers. You are still looking at $thousands if not $tens of thousands.

 

[BMDaug]

While you may need a CAD system, it sounds like you also need an actual dispatch console to do all this.

Setting a budget would be your first step. This isn't a venue for the small guy, this stuff is expensive.

If you want something easy/basic, take a look at the Mindshare consoles. Flexible and easily set up in small numbers. You are still looking at $thousands if not $tens of thousands.

You’re totally right… I’m a noob when it comes to site setup. I’m better when it comes to subscribers feature set, but like I said, I’m simplex right now, so when it comes to a site install, I’m green. I really appreciate your guidance here and if you can point me to any good resources, I’m happy to read or pay for a class!

The Mindshare Console sounds perfect for me so thanks very much for pointing me toward that!!

-B

 

[speedway_navigator]

Spent some time with the Mindshare folks at IWCE, nice folks. I've heard good things about them from techs I've had in class.

When I worked in Indycar racing we had a saying, 'speed costs, how fast do you want to go?'
We joked that F1 teams had cubic dollars for their projects, I remember when teams were too tight to buy a new car radio for the season when they were under a grand each.
This was in the xtal days and radios took a beating.

Looking forward to hearing about your progress.

 

[K4EET]

First, I want to thank @mmckenna and @speedway_navigator for chiming in. I still know what questions to ask but I’m no longer in the trenches since becoming disabled and no longer have access to the masterminds that make great equipment. I truly appreciate and respect those still out there keeping the wheels of the delicate clock infrastructure ticking away without ever missing a beat. You all are the best!

So Brian @BMDaug, let’s see where the Mindshare consoles takes your project. Don’t hesitate to ask questions here and please do let us know how things are progressing for you. No matter how you slice it, things can get complicated real quick and at some point you will need a sales engineer from the vendor to sort things out and make sure everything will play nicely together. You certainly don’t want to drown in your own project.

Cheers! Dave K4EET

 

[Firebuff880]

So the title of the thread is "Computer Aided Dispatch" but the contents seem to be more console orientated --

So for a console in addition to the MIndshare reference I would also look at Omnitronics, and Telex CSoft.

If you really do need a CAD then 10-8 Systems, is a great SaaS solution I found recently but you might also like at the Open Source Tickets solution, there is a thread a few weeks ago here about it.

 

[BMDaug]

So the title of the thread is "Computer Aided Dispatch" but the contents seem to be more console orientated --

So for a console in addition to the MIndshare reference I would also look at Omnitronics, and Telex CSoft.

If you really do need a CAD then 10-8 Systems, is a great SaaS solution I found recently but you might also like at the Open Source Tickets solution, there is a thread a few weeks ago here about it.

Hey thanks! So since mindshare hasn’t gotten back to me, another recommendation is wonderful!! Thanks!

-B

 

[jbuchbinder]

If you're not averse to opensource solutions, ResGrid might work for you.

Open Source Dispatch (CAD) Solution | Resgrid

resgrid.com

 

[BMDaug]

If you're not averse to opensource solutions, ResGrid might work for you.

Open Source Dispatch (CAD) Solution | Resgrid

resgrid.com

Actually, this might be perfect. As some have pointed out, I need a console system first, but just browsing around the website, this could work well for me.

Thanks,
B

 

[jbuchbinder]

I'm glad it was helpful.