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Airwave steps up to the mark
With just two weeks to go before the Irish peace talks were due to take place at the Fairmont Hotel in St. Andrews, Gordon Hunter, Airwave Systems Manager with Fife Constabulary, phoned Tony Stamper, his O2 Airwave Account Manager.
The purpose of the call was to secure better Airwave service coverage within the hotel during the four days of the talks, which were to be attended by the British and Irish Prime Ministers and senior political figures from both sides of the sectarian divide…
Toward the end of September, Fife Constabulary contacted O2 Airwave to request the provision of in building coverage during the Irish peace talks to enable police officers at the hotel and command and control to communicate with each other.
“Guaranteed in building coverage is not something that O2 Airwave provides as part of its standard service offering. That said, hand portable coverage around the venue was pretty good. Which was a bonus, as no enhancement to the Airwave service would be required for officers patrolling the grounds of the hotel,” commented Tony Stamper, O2 Airwave.
Gordon Hunter, Airwave Systems Manager, Fife Constabulary was also aware that O2 Airwave required at least 30 working days to fully prepare for a special event of this nature. “Thankfully, the worst of my fears were allayed after speaking to Tony. He assured me that he would pull out all the stops to ensure that we got the coverage we needed, although the time constraints meant that it was pretty much touch and go at first.”
“Our engineering people said that they might be able to deliver a solution similar to the Airwave service special coverage we provide inside airport terminals and at an increasing number of major sporting venues around the country,” confirms Tony. “It’s based on dedicated cabling within a building, connected to an aerial on the roof that functions as a mini Airwave service base station in its own right. However, as a mobile base station connected to the Airwave network by a fixed link would do an equally effective job at an even lower cost; this was the solution Fife Constabulary favoured. It came complete with resilience in the form of a satellite dish that could be quickly fitted to the vehicle’s roof, had the fixed link failed for any reason.”
One of O2 Airwave’s mobile base stations arrived at the Fairmont Hotel soon after the initial request, and offline trials started almost immediately.
It was quickly established that the mobile unit was more than capable of providing the required quality of coverage on all the hotel’s floors and in the conference area, which was located below ground level. Of equal importance was the fact that the mobile unit would provide enough network capacity for the 300 officers policing the talks, including representatives from Strathclyde, Central, Tayside, Lothian & Borders forces and specialist units.
Fife also took advantage of the offer of a dedicated technician at O2 Airwave’s Network Management Centre (NMC) and a dedicated O2 Airwave Incident Manager at its control centre on each day of the talks.
Managing the talkgroups
“We were already doing everything we could to make the most efficient use of capacity on the three Police Mutual Aid (PMA) talkgroups. For example, all the officers policing the talks had been asked not make point-to-point or telephony calls over the Airwave service.
“Even this precaution – along with the fact that our PMA talkgroups took priority over ‘business as usual’ talkgroups – did not prevent the potential for congestion. At one stage, the NMC informed us that 22 different talkgroups were affiliated to our mobile base station, which was unsustainable. Because we knew about this situation as it arose, we were able to quickly reduce the number of affiliated talkgroups to a more acceptable level. To further conserve capacity, the officers in the remaining talkgroups – like the officers in our own PMA talkgroups – were also asked to refrain from making point-to-point and telephony calls.”
“As it happens,” adds Tony, “Fife Constabulary didn’t need the data on who was actually making embargoed calls. Very few officers did so during these talks. For the record, the NMC can identify anyone who breaks the rules and inform command and control accordingly, enabling them to take swift action.
“I did have a minor problem securing the PMA talkgroups Gordon needed. Two were free, but he needed a third. I managed to borrow one from Dyfed & Powys Police, who had reserved a number for a special event of their own.
“We also had some configuration work to do at Fife Constabulary’s control room interface. Even though this was a considerable technical challenge in its own right, we managed to get the work completed within the required timescales.”
“O2 Airwave delivered the capacity and coverage we needed. They also managed network utilisation brilliantly and were very helpful on the administrative front,” continues Gordon.
“For example, Tony saved me a lot of time and hassle by accurately completing O2 Airwave’s special events proforma for me to sign, while I was up to my eyes in it sorting out details like the availability of battery chargers, earpieces and the like.
Dynamic tracking
“On the wider area connectivity front, the convoy challenge was to safely escort politicians from and to three airports. This was the first time that we had used the Airwave service for automatic vehicle location. It turned out to be an eye opener in every sense.
“Whereas traditional convoy commanders would be reporting their positions on a regular basis, we were able to track them dynamically in the form of a moving dot on the map. This made everyone’s life easier; particularly the commanders’, who only reported in when they needed to amend agreed procedures.
“Our in house debrief after the talks certainly praised O2 Airwave for their sterling efforts. Having the peace of mind of an engineer on the spot was a big benefit, as were the NMC capacity updates and the automatic vehicle location application. Ultimately, though, it was the level of co-operation we received from O2 Airwave, not just from Tony, but from their entire team, that delighted us. They certainly went above and beyond the call of duty on this one. “
“O2 Airwave even did a pre-event maintenance check on all our sites and provided us with a fault history that enabled us to spot trends and take corrective action where necessary. You can’t say better than that!”
