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Pennsylvania County Deploys New Mobile Network (6/2/08)
Pennsylvania's Cambria County activated its countywide, multiservice communications network designed by Conxx. The network enables the county to use a single, carrier-grade network for county government, education, public safety, commercial and residential applications.
The Cambria Connected network can deliver services including LMR with simulcast backhaul, automatic meter reading (AMR), business and residential broadband, video surveillance, high-speed mobility, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), metro-LAN services and community Wi-Fi. "The county took the opportunity to build a network to improve public safety while simultaneously accelerating broadband availability to benefit the local residents and businesses," said Brent Mortensen, president of Conxx.
The new public-safety communications platform is a M/A-COM system provided through TransCore. The analog UHF network is Project 25 (P25) digital ready with a software upgrade. It consists of 18 operational 12.5-kilohertz channels and two simulcast channels. The county decided on an analog system to retain interoperability with surrounding counties and for cost reasons, Conxx officials said.
The system is tightly integrated into the Conxx backbone and improves coverage in areas where public-safety communications has been a long-standing problem, Conxx officials said. The new mobility capability includes a 900 MHz unlicensed radio in a police vehicle communicating to a 900 MHz receiver/base station and tying into the network backbone with advanced encryption standard (AES) encryption.
"Our new public-safety network not only enhances voice communications, but it is the first such network in Pennsylvania capable of supporting high-speed mobile data applications, including live streaming video, CAD and access to geographic information system (GIS) applications from the public-safety vehicles and station locations throughout the county," said Brian Feist, Cambria County's executive director of emergency services. "This capability significantly improves first-responder safety and the quality of the services we provide."
The network is modeled after a similar network in Allegany County, Md. Mortensen said the county had looked at a $5 million upgrade for just the public-safety network but instead opted for the Conxx backbone network for about $10 million, which allows three Internet service providers (ISPs) to resell services to county business and residents, providing a revenue stream for the county.
Conxx, a private company formed in 2004, is focused on rural markets because they are underserved, company officials said.
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