Glendale joins LA RICS

Status
Not open for further replies.

karldotcom

Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2003
Messages
1,850
Location
Burbank, CA
SUMMARY

The Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System (LA-RICS) Joint PowersAuthority (JPA) has been developed through a county wide, multi agency and multi disciplined
effort to fund, design, construct, implement, and sustain a single regional communications platform and network of sufficient capacity to accommodate aU local government public safety


radio communications needs in the Los Angeles Region. The LA-RICS vision is to establish the interoperable communications platform and have
it fully operational within ten years.

Funding of the LA-RICS project has thus far come in the form of moneys from the City of Los Angeles, County of Los Angeles, and the investment of regional Homeland Security Grant dollars from both the Urban Area Security Initiative and State Homeland Security Grants Programs, as well as the U.S. Department of Commerce Public Safety Interoperable

Communications Grant, the sums of which presently total approximately $100,000,000.00. The cost of the system for the actual build-out of infrastructure and the procurement of end user subscriber units (radios) is not known, but is estimated to exceed $1,000,000,000.00.


The LA-RICS Joint Powers Authority Agreement was crafted by a committee of attorneys representing various potential member cities and the County of Los Angeles. A representative of the City of Glendale, City Attorney's Office, was a liaison with the committee.


The JPA Agreement has been reviewed and approved by both the Los Angeles County Police Chief's Association and Los Angeles Area Fire Chief's Association.


The JPA Agreement has been reviewed by both the Fire Chief and Police Chief who ecommend the City of Glendale enter into this Agreement; furthering the City's long standing commitment to developing interoperable communications of sufficient capacity to support firstresponderemergency operations on a truly regional basis.


FISCAL IMPACT


There is no direct fiscal impact of joining the LA-RICS JPA other than that of City representatives attending related meetings and functions in the local area. Initial JPA membership does not entail any contribution or fiscal commitment to the design and implementation of the system. Any further engagement with the LA-RICS JPA that brings rise to fiscal contributions or other direct or indirect costs will be brought forth as a separate report for consideration.



BACKGROUND


The establishment of interoperable radio systems has been and remains a high priority of federal and local government. There is no substitute for the direct connection of all parties engaged in public safety services and other essential service deliveries, especially in times of crisis or disaster.



The City of Glendale and six partner cities have had the advantage of establishing the first interoperable communications radio platform in the region in the form of the Interagency Communications Interoperability System (ICIS) which exists as a JPA. The LA-RICS JPA system is expected to employ similar if not the same technologies, but on a larger scale and with wider area coverage, encompassing every aspect of local government within the county.

It is anticipated that, once developed and implemented, the LA-RICS communications platform will absorb or replace "all" existing public safety and general services communications infrastructure in the region, thus establishing a single platform of interoperability. The status of
existing infrastructure - or what LA-RICS refers to as
~Iegacy" systems - will be predicated upon their technology. age, degree of obsolescence, and compatibility with the newly designed system, to include the ICIS platform.


The completion of the LA-RICS system, as envisioned by its founding members, is a number of years in the future. The estimates range from five to ten years, or more, for complete regionalbuild-out. During this period the City of Glendale and its ICIS partner cities will continue to
maintain their own infrastructure and technologies as a robust, fully interoperable, and state of the art communications system.


Joining the lA-RIGS JPA does not obligate the Gity of Glendale to ultimately employ that system as its primary communications platform. Those determinations will be made in the future, once the LA-RICS system is implemented, and only when the LA-RICS system demonstrates the capability and capacity to sustain Glendale's communications needs and meets essential coverage and operational expectations.


Initial membership in the LA-RICS JPA will position the City of Glendale to have a voice in determining the future direction of interoperable communications in the region.


Membership in the lA-RIGS JPA does not conflict with membership in the ICIS JPA Both agencies exist with a common mission of providing effective communications through interoperable technologies. One can and will only work to enhance the other and the potential exists for the systems to

be combined as one when their technologies converge at some point in the future.

 

KMA367

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Nov 21, 2002
Messages
1,040
Location
Redwood Coast, N Calif
Pasadena City Council also voted to join LA-RICS at their Nov 17, 2008 meeting

It's on Burbank's Council Agenda for March 24

Long Beach had a special metting for it February 10

Actually, as of today, the following entities have adopted the January 5, 2009 version of the LA-RICS JPA:

1. City of Agoura Hills
2. City of Arcadia
3. City of Alhambra
4. City of Bellflower
5. City of Bradbury
6. City of Calabasas
7. City of Carson
8. City of Cerritos
9. City of Claremont
10. City of Commerce
11. City of Covina
12. City of Downey
13. City of Gardena
14. City of Hidden Hills
15. City of Irwindale
16. City of La Cañada Flintridge
17. City of La Puente
18. City of Lakewood
19. City of Lancaster
20. City of Lawndale
21. City of Los Angeles
22. City of Monrovia
23. City of Paramount
24. City of Redondo Beach
25. City of San Dimas
26. City of San Fernando
27. City of San Gabriel
28. City of San Marino
29. City of Santa Clarita
30. City of Santa Fe Springs
31. City of Signal Hill
32. City of South El Monte
33. City of South Pasadena
34. City of Temple City
35. City of Vernon
36. City of Walnut
37. City of West Covina
38. City of Westlake Village
39. City of Whittier
40. County of Los Angeles
 

2wayfreq

Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2004
Messages
470
Location
Arizona
From what I understand, ICIS is based on the Smartzone 4.x older architecture. LA-RICS will be ASTRO25 7.7 IV&D (Integrated Voice and Data) or newer Trunking.
 

LAflyer

Global DB Admin
Moderator
Joined
Mar 4, 2009
Messages
1,827
Location
SoCal
You can add Culver City to the list.

On February 23rd the City Council authorized staff to execute the JPA for membership in LA-RICS.

This is going to be quite interesting to watch, and could be a significant change how LA area enthusiast monitor.
 

2wayfreq

Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2004
Messages
470
Location
Arizona
Has there been any confirmation on who the primary trunking system vendor will be i.e. Raytheon or Motorola?
 

monitor142

Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2002
Messages
310
Location
California
Not sure the RFP has hit the streets yet. Either way full P25 system for voice, could be Phase 2 capable by the time everything falls into place but I'm sure with all the XTS and XTL radios everyone in LA is buying, it will be Phase 1 to start. As far as vendor, we shall see. It's going to take time.
 

Tobio63

Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2009
Messages
16
How does motorola placing its Astro 25 master site in Glendale effect LA-RICS? I assume they are doing it under ICIS. Is motorola upgrading ICIS?
 

jlanfn

California Database Admin
Joined
Dec 31, 2006
Messages
366
Location
San Bernardino County
How does motorola placing its Astro 25 master site in Glendale effect LA-RICS? I assume they are doing it under ICIS. Is motorola upgrading ICIS?
Yeah, I wonder the same thing. What exactly is this Astro 25 master site upgrade project? Is it converting the older 3600 bps Smartzone control channel to a newer 9600 bps control channel? That would be one of the steps needed to prepare ICIS for integration into LA-RICS, as I understand it.
 

BmbleB

Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2009
Messages
1
Has there been any confirmation on who the primary trunking system vendor will be i.e. Raytheon or Motorola?

I've heard that that decision has been pushed back. I'm trying to imagine a way that Raytheon can beat Motorola, but I still don't see LA going with anyone else. Harris just bought M/A-Com and I would say that makes them more creditable then Raytheon. Does anyone else have an opinion about them in this?
 

KMA367

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Nov 21, 2002
Messages
1,040
Location
Redwood Coast, N Calif
Last edited:

KMA367

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Nov 21, 2002
Messages
1,040
Location
Redwood Coast, N Calif
LA-RICS big pool of frequencies

Holy Mackerel! 960 Freqs from 476 to 482.00!
That's a lot of spectrum, all right, but just as they did with TV channel 16 in the 1980s, the County, City of L.A. and other cities/agencies worked together as a team to get Channel 15 allocated exclusively to public safety in the L.A. area.

The biggest need for so many channels will be during the implementation phase of LA-RICS, when the legacy systems are being phased out and the new system (whatever flavor is decided upon) is coming on line. The agencies and facilities will need to be capable of operating on both systems for a good long time (see Step 2 in "New Voice System", below), and this greenspace will be needed as each group, city, department, whatever, transitions all their radio equipment from the old to the new, and gets their people trained.

Here's how RCC Consultants 2006 report envisioned the likely scenario for the UHF voice system migration. The data system (700/800 mHz) would be similar but on a smaller scale.

Migration Plans

Migration from the existing systems to the new system is complicated by the fact that the frequencies are all currently in use, except for the 700 MHz band frequencies. [This was before it was known that TV channel 15 would be acquired] This will require that users be migrated in relatively small groups. If the 700/800 MHz voice system option is chosen, the construction of the public safety and the non-public safety systems will have to occur in parallel, and users will have to be migrated off of their old system in order to make room for the new system's users. Additionally, the immediate needs of the users must be accounted for. In particular, the LASD has a critical need to replace its outdated mobile data system. The final migration plan is expected to be quite complex, and a number of technical and administrative decisions will be required. However, RCC suggests that the implementation of the voice and data systems generally proceed in this manner:

Construct Temporary Mobile Data System for LASD:

Step 1 - Split the current Sheriffs UHF wide band data system frequencies into two
narrowband frequencies.

Step 2 - Install P25 base stations on half of the newly-created narrowband frequencies and set them up as a P25 (9600 bps) data network.

Step 3 - Install P25 mobile radios in Sheriffs vehicles and program and connect them as mobile data modems.

Step 4 - Begin using the P25 mobile data network until the new 800 MHz data network is ready. The P25 mobile radios may then be re-programmed for use as voice radios on the new UHF voice network when it is ready.

New Voice System

Step 1 - Construct as much of the infrastructure as possible while leaving the old
infrastructure in place. The remaining half of the newly created narrowband
frequencies made from the former wide band LASD data frequencies may be
used as an initial pool of frequencies for the new infrastructure. It is possible
that, due to space constraints, frequency assignment issues, and other
constraints, it will not be possible to fully construct the infrastructure before
beginning migration of the first users. This may mean that cells initially do not
have their full complement of repeaters. This is acceptable as the cells will be
initially lightly loaded.

Step 2 - Install new mobile radios and issue new portable radios to the first users
to be migrated. The new radios will contain temporary programming that gives the
user access to their new channels on the trunked system, plus the conventional
frequencies they use for interoperation with other users not on the new system
.
RCC believes it is advisable to choose administrative or other non-first-responder
user groups to be the first users to be migrated.

Step 3 - Train the first new users on the use of the new radio system.

Step 4 - Turn the new system on and the old system(s) off. Instruct the new users to
begin using the new system. Since the new system has pooled several user group's old frequencies into a trunked system, there will be excess capacity with which to add additional users.

Step 5 - Install new mobile radios and issue new portable radios to the next group of
users to be migrated.

Step 6 - Train the next group of users.

Step 7 - Turn off the old radio system(s) of the next user group. Instruct the users to
begin using the new system.

Step 8 - Add the old frequencies of the user group to the trunked system and turn them on, adding more capacity to the trunked system.

Step 9 - Repeat Steps 5 through 8 until all users have been migrated.

Step 10 - Re-program all mobile and portable radios to remove the old systems'
frequencies."​

From http://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2004/04-2499-s1_rpt_lafd_6-13-06.pdf, pp 90-92
 
Last edited:

2wayfreq

Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2004
Messages
470
Location
Arizona
Los Angeles Files 700MHz Waiver

FYI,
From Radio Resource Magazine:

Los Angeles Files 700 MHz Broadband Waiver (11/17/09)
Los Angeles has joined other large metropolitan areas in asking the FCC for a waiver to deploy a regional broadband network using 700 MHz spectrum. The Los Angeles Regional, Interoperable Communications System (LA-RICS) and its members requested the waiver to deploy a regional, mobile public-safety broadband data network leveraging the current infrastructure investment being made to deploy a Project 25 (P25) voice network. The request was filed Monday with the FCC.

LA-RICS is a regional cooperation organization that includes the county of Los Angeles, city of Los Angeles and more than 80 other cities, school districts and universities. Granting the requested waiver would allow the LA-RICS members to move ahead with the design and construction of an integrated public-safety broadband network in the 700 MHz band concurrent with its voice radio system in the UHF band. “The result would be significant cost savings, efficiency benefits, and the accelerated availability of a voice and broadband public-safety data network serving more than 11 million people in Los Angeles County,” the filing said.

The region has secured grant funding to carry it through the design of the system. “By designing and constructing an integrated voice and data network, at the same time, the region can avoid duplicated effort, efficiently marshal its resources and secure the necessary incremental funding,” the group said.

To ensure nationwide interoperability, the LA-RICS members would urge the region to deploy standards-based LTE technology, as advised by the FCC, and to meet all of the technical specifications recently proposed by the FCC in its third further notice.
 

2wayfreq

Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2004
Messages
470
Location
Arizona
Moderator:

Please remove (permalink #17). It was not properly posted per Blanton's policy. My apologies for the mistake.
 

tomasG

Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2010
Messages
152
Location
Lancaster, CA
Almost a billion dollars? Should we expect agencies to be encryped like Orange County? Time to start a legal fund to force them to stay in the clear.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top