Wide Area Interoperability System (WAIS) Region A

[scannerboy65301]

This thread mostly comes from the Earlier Post on the MSHP Trunked System this has nothing to do with that. This was just mentioned in that thread. This will be a more detailed explanation of the system with examples. Here is a little basis of what the WAIS is and what it is capable of. WAIS , for region A, covers 8 counties in west and central Missouri. The actual heart of the system is pretty much a "Black Box" as I've heard it called. This contains many radios of multiple bands. (VHF, UHF, 700/800). It also contains a PC connected to the internet. WAIS has a central location for the "Black Box" and has the ability to have a virtual controller from many locations. For example: The Black Box is at the Sheriff's Office, but the Fire Department, Police Department and EMA also have a controller at each of their respective offices. All repeaters regardless of bands will be programmed into the Black Box PC. In theory you could connect two repeaters together or multiple and nobody has to change the channel on their radios. This will eliminate the game of cat and mouse when someone on a major scene says go to mutual aid while another says go to sheriff net and everyone becomes lost. The only person changing anything would be a dispatcher and they would not even touch a radio they would connect via a few clicks of a mouse.

Now lets take a situation that has actually happened in my county and would be a perfect candidate to utilize WAIS. Benton County was in a pursuit of a vehicle for stealing ammonia out of an anhydrous tank. The vehicle was heading for Pettis County and the Benton County Deputies switched to Sheriff Net thinking Pettis would be there too. When Pettis was actually on Mutual Aid. Nobody was communicating very well and the vehicle got away.

Now lets take that situation and apply it with WAIS. Benton would have connected to Pettis County Sheriff Repeater with their Sheriff Repeater. They also may connect mutual aid and/or sheriff net for any other LEO that may have been in the area and did not have those repeaters in their radios. Every Deputy, Officer, ETC. is now able to communicate with other county deputies as well as keeping in touch with their dispatchers. Where without WAIS they would switch back and forth from mutual aid to dispatch and may miss vital information during the switching process. That did happen and that's why the bad guy got away.

That is just one of many situations where WAIS could be extremely effective. It could also be used to coordinate major fire scenes, natural disasters, etc.

With the concern of P25, Trunking, CTCSS, DCS, I'm almost positive that the Black Box will be able to decode these so they can be monitored with any radio that is monitoring a WAIS connected system. That is a feature we'll have to wait and see.

This may all sound like an excellent plan, but (there is always a *but*) the fact that WAIS is back boned by the internet may cause some troubles in the event of a national disaster. If anyone remembers the internet on 9/11 you could not even load the most basic websites. The engineers have considered satellite and microwave backups which I can see being implemented along with internet. As everyone knows with any new technology, mostly all of it does not work flawlessly %100 right out of the box. I hope this does not have as many issues as some have found with trunking and digital radio.

Overall I'm excited about the new system as well as many other public service agencies around the state. From what I've heard this will be a complete project within the next 5 years and should be in full use by then. They have also considered the addition of HAM repeaters used for SKYWARN and other emergency services that HAM's have to offer. Right now the addition of HAM's would not work due to the licensing issues, but (there is the but again) hopefully the state can work with the FCC to make WAIS a joint licensing project with HAM's and Public Safety.

I have attached a diagram of a detailed example of the technical aspect on how WAIS will work.

Thanks for reading please reply if you have any questions or comments or anything to add.

 

[byndhlptom]

Wais

OK, as described, the link works great.....

But, since the Butler SO (per your example) is still on their frequency, as the chase extends into Pettis Co, they will eventually drive out of their systems' coverage. They will then be unable to communicate with anyone, unless they change to another channel, ie M/A, or state Sheriff and you are back to the original problem.

I have seen this system described before and don't see a lot of scenario's where it would really help. Most systems are set up to cover they "home" territory. You still need to switch frequencies if you get too far from your home system. If the area you go to has a different band of operation, you may be hosed as far as direct comm goes. I think that a common set of channel assignments would accomplish the same with significantly less money involved. If all the SO's radios had State M/A in channel 7, it is a simple thing to tell everyone to switch to 7. Several states already do this. This is often aggravated by different departments calling the same radio frequency by different names.

Just my $.02

tom

 

[INDY72]

Which is why so many states are implementing TRS's with mutual aid statewide tg's and those that are not using trs, have interop on common freqs and/or hard patches.

 

[redhelmet13]

Exactly! a unit on a citywide TRS is involved in a pursuit and drives out of the range of the citywide TRS. HE IS NOT TALKING TO ANYONE at this point. Unless the officer has the foresight to switch to the ITAC/NPSPAC freq AND the other units do the same OR the juridiction patches in to their freq/TG's A "black hole" exists. I guess I am advocating a statewide patch existing on all of the TRS in the state to 155.475 for example (National LE emer freq the last time I visited STL). I also advocate a VHF 2 way in every PD/FD/EMS unit with the mutual aid/interop freqs. EVERYONE needs be able to talk to everyone else.

 

[scannerboy65301]

I agree with everyone on the eventual black hole each department or organization would fall into. This would especially account for TRS which don't get very much coverage anyways outside of a specified zone. Usually depending on where you're at I can accuratley receive and probably be able to transmit on every county surrounding mine with a mobile and if on a good high spot a portable. But, eventually they will have to revert to one of the mutual aid frequencies...