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Frequently Asked Questions
Send questions about OakWIN, the Oakland County Public Safety Radio Communication System to radio@oakgov.com.
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Why did we go with the M/A Com system over the Motorola (or MSP) system?
When will the project be completed? When will our department go "on line" with the new radios?
Will we be able to scan or monitor our neighboring communities?
How many portable and mobile radios will be issued?
Will I be able to recognize voices with the digital system or will they sound "robotic"?
Why did we go with the M/A Com system over the Motorola (or MSP) system?
The Radio Oversight Committee developed the specifications for a digital, Voice over IP system that would provide extensive in-building portable coverage and interoperability among all Oakland County agencies.
It was also considered desirable that the system would utilize the County's fiber optic network for connectivity, affording greater reliability than microwave. Lastly, the system needed to maximize the efficiency of the relatively few frequencies that were available in Southeastern Michigan.
The MPSCS was evaluated.
The MPSCS, which was designed for mobile only coverage, did not meet the in-building coverage requirements without an extensive addition of tower sites and frequencies. The State required that the County turn all frequencies over to them, with a promise that they would be returned should the County ever leave the MPSCS.
However, once the frequencies are licensed by the State and reused throughout their network, there would be very little likelihood of returning them. Coupled with the user fees that the State required, and connectivity issues for the dispatch centers, this option was eliminated, and the County rejected the State's proposal.
M/A COM was the only system that met the specifications of the Radio Oversight Committee.
It is the only system that is truly end-to-end digital voice over IP capable of utilizing the fiber. Because it is IP based, it is also capable of transmitting data as well as voice communications. It also uses TDMA technology, dividing each frequency into 4 time slots, so that four conversations can occur simultaneously on each channel.
The other vendors offered traditional FDMA, or one conversation per channel. With the other vendors, our 43 frequencies would have resulted in a maximum of 42 simultaneous transmissions, since one channel is dedicated to a control channel. With the MA COM system, the same 43 frequencies can allow 172 simultaneous transmissions, more than quadrupling the system capacity.
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When will the project be completed? When will our department go "on line" with the new radios?
The project is very close to completion, but there are several remaining milestones that must be met before implementation.
The first is a 60 day operational acceptance test. The Farmington Department of Public Safety has been selected to perform this test, and it is anticipated that it will begin in October of 2007.
If there are no "major" problems that cause the 60 day "clock" to reset, implementation of the remaining agencies will begin in December of 2007. All Farmington radios have been installed and preliminary testing is occurring in September of 2007.
In the meantime, pre-installation has been completed on more than 400 fire vehicles within the County, and consoles are being installed at the remaining four PSAPs. Additionally, a group of public safety volunteers have been testing the hardware and software for the P7200 portables. The Policy Subcommittee has also been finalizing the user training. All of these pieces of the puzzle are expected to come together in October.
The order in which departments will be transitioned has been approved by the Radio Oversight Committee. This implementation is dependent upon receiving all of the necessary information from the agency radio system administrators, including fleet mapping files and mobile radio installation worksheets. This implementation order is also dependent upon moving agencies (the Sheriff Department, Waterford PD, Pontiac PD and FD, Wixom PD, Clarkston PD, hospitals and EMS, etc.) off the County's legacy 800 MHz system.
The new system will be reusing frequencies from the legacy system, so some tower sites in the northern portion of the County cannot be used until frequencies are available.
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Will we be able to scan or monitor our neighboring communities?
Scanning is available on the new system.
Users will be able to scan talk groups within their "Home" profile and within a scan-only profile called the "Global" profile. Users can set up to two priority talk groups for scanning from within these two profiles, and can lock out talk groups they do not wish to scan.
Neighboring agencies can also determine whether a shared primary dispatch talk group is a viable alternative, eliminating the need to scan or patch. Several agencies have elected this option.
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How many portable and mobile radios will be issued?
Each department has turned in a request for a desirable number of mobile and portable radios, but the project does have budget constraints. The Radio Oversight Committee established an equitable formula for distribution of field equipment.
Several departments are also pursuing grants for additional equipment above the initial allocation.
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Will I be able to recognize voices with the digital system or will they sound "robotic"?
Digital transmissions do sound different than analog and it may take users time to become accustomed to the difference. The degree to which the transmission sounds different is also a product of the user's voice. Many users will be easily recognizable immediately, and other voices with higher or lower pitch, may be more difficult to recognize.
Users testing the radios have reported that the audio quality is actually very good once they became accustomed to it.
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