Gateway Training
Workshop
Module One
Basic Gateway Overview
Office of Emergency Communications
Basic Gateway Overview
 General Interoperability Methods
 Urban Area’s Specific Interoperability
Technologies
 Gateway Operations




Deployment Considerations
Activation / De-activation
Limitations
Best Practices
Office of Emergency Communications
Interoperability Methods
SAFECOM Interoperability
Continuum
Office of Emergency Communications
Interoperability Methods
(Continued)
Radio Communications
Interoperability Strategies
System-to-System
Gateways
Same Radio System
Common
Frequencies
Swap
Radios
Shared
System
Commercial
Services
Multimode
Radios
Console
Interface
MultiSystem
Controllers
Office of Emergency Communications
Interoperability Methods
(Continued) P25 Standards
Will Fix
 Common Air Interface
 Modulation Schemes
Will NOT Fix
 Different Frequency
 Lack of Coverage
 Conventional radios
 Digital radios
 Trunked radios
 Internet connectivity (Phase 2)
 Data Transfer (limited)
 Narrowband Requirements
Office of Emergency Communications
Urban Area’s Specific
Interoperability Technologies
 Insert Slide from TICP Information
Office of Emergency Communications
Gateway Operations
ICRI
ACU-1000
InfiniMux
TRP-1000
ACU-T
RIOS Rack Mount
RIOS Portable Office of Emergency Communications
Deployment Considerations
Portable
Portable
Fixed
Transportable
Incident Area Network (IAN)
– Small, temporary network
created for a specific incident
Incident Area Network (IAN)
– Small, temporary network
created for a specific incident
Jurisdiction Area Network (JAN) - Main
communications network for first responders;
provides connectivity to the Extended Area
Network (EAN).
Extended Area Network (EAN) - Links city,
county, regional, state, and national systems
Office of Emergency Communications
Deployment Considerations
Remote Sites
Network
Cellular
VHF
UHF
700/800
MHz
Iridium
Interface Devices
Note:
The Audio Bridge/Gateway
doesn’t transmit or receive
any signals. All modulation
and demodulation is
accomplished by the
interface devices.
Audio
Gateway
Network
PSTN
802.X
LAN
Interface Devices
Office of Emergency Communications
Deployment Considerations:
Gateway Placement
SmartNet
GATEWAY
Good Signal
Out of Range
Conventional
EDACS
Office of Emergency Communications
Deployment Considerations:
Extending Coverage Area
Gateway
Gateways interfaced to
radios using talk-around
frequencies requires a
smaller coverage area and
can work well for Incident
Area Networks
Office of Emergency Communications
Activation/De-activation
 Insert information from TICP
Office of Emergency Communications
Gateway Limitations:
Overview
Gateways retransmit across multiple frequency bands and/or
systems providing an interim interoperability solution as
agencies move toward shared systems. However, gateways
have the following limitations:
 No Encryption
 Inefficiencies




Geographic Area
Portable Battery Life
Set-up Time
Frequency conflicts/interference
Office of Emergency Communications
Gateway Limitation: No
Encryption
 The Gateways don’t transmit or receive any
signals
 Gateways pass baseband audio (audible voice)
 All modulation / demodulation and
Encryption/Decryption is accomplished by the
interface devices
Example: An encrypted signal comes into an interface device, it decrypts the
signal and passes the baseband audio to the devices patched to it. If the other
devices are encrypted the audio is re-encrypted and sent out. However, if a
device isn’t encrypted the audio is still retransmitted in the clear. Remember, at
a minimum the audio can be monitored in the clear at the gateway.
Office of Emergency Communications
Gateway Limitation:
Inefficiency
Additional Assets
 To provide interoperability on the scene of an incident
each agency needs to provide a mobile radio in
advance or a portable on the scene of the incident
 This ties up one radio asset for each system/channel,
the more channels you tie together in a talk group the
more radio spectrum being utilized
Example: If we share a common frequency and everyone turns to that frequency
we have interoperability, no extra radios or radio frequencies are being used. If
we are patched through a gateway, we are still using our radios on the scene but
now there are two extra radio assets patched through the gateway and we are
using twice the radio spectrum.
Office of Emergency Communications
Gateway Limitation:
Coverage Area
Gateway's effective
geographic coverage
area is limited to the
area that is common
to all systems
participating in that
Note: In this usage the Gateway does not
link.
increase your coverage range.
Common
Area
Your radio must be able to hit you
normal network to communicate
Office of Emergency Communications
Gateway Limitation:
Set-Up
 Some gateways require significant time to
configure, others are a matter of simply hooking
up radios and turning the system on.
 It doesn’t matter the type of gateway you use, it is
imperative the gateway be configured in it’s
standard operating configuration prior to
deployment
Example: The gateway will be used to connect an 800 MHz trunked system to a
conventional system on a regular basis. The trunk channel requires time to get
an acknowledgement tone back from the system prior to transmission; the
gateway must be configured to allow for this delay so none of the message is
lost during transition. All gateways must pass the shoot/don’t shoot rule loosing
one word can ruin someone’s day.
Office of Emergency Communications
Gateway Limitation:
Battery Life
Battery Life of Portable Radios have a Limited Use
Time
 Mobile gateways are designed to enable
interoperable communications for short duration
events.
 In the event that the mobile gateways will need
to be used for an extended period of time,
precautions should be taken such as an
additional power supplies, radio chargers, and/or
batteries should be considered.
Office of Emergency Communications
Gateway Limitation:
Frequency Conflicts / Interference
 Antennas must be properly positioned to prevent
radio interference or desensitizing the radio receivers
 In regions where multiple mobile gateway devices are
accessible, it is critical to coordinate the use of these
devices to ensure that multiple gateways do not “stepon” each other
Example1: Patching multiple VHF channels on the same Gateway (GW) can raise the noise level in
the immediate area of the GW so the effective range may be reduced.
Example 2: If GW 1 has 12 radios interfaced to it and the radios are programmed to frequencies 1-12.
GW2 has 5 radios interfaced to it and they are programmed to frequencies 1-5. GW1 creates a
patch between 1, 6, and 8. GW2 creates a patch to 1, 3, and 5. This is the same as if you had one
GW patching channels 1, 3, 5, 6 and 8 together. At best this scenario will add confusion, at worst
the radio chatter will make both systems unusable. Coordinate all patches through the Incident
Communications Leader (COML).
Office of Emergency Communications
Best Practices
 No Encryption
 Treat all conversations as if they are in the clean
 Inefficiencies
 To prevent excess chatter, only patch those systems that
really need to talk to each other for the time they need to
talk. Remember, just because you can patch someone
doesn’t mean you should
 Never patch talkgroups on the same trunked system
together; you could cause your own system busy.
 When using an audio gateway with a trunked system, its
best to have a high priority talkgroup on the system
dedicated for gateway use
Office of Emergency Communications
Best Practices (Continued)
 Geographic Area
 Use talk-around frequencies for localized incidents
 Portable Battery Life
 Use mobile radios whenever possible
 Set-up Time
 Interface radios should be tested and adjusted with the
audio gateway prior to initial deployment. Some mobile
radios require special programming, others may require
hardware modification
Office of Emergency Communications
Best Practices (Continued)
 Setup Time (Continued)
 All gateways require special interface cables to
connect to the various types of radios. If a radio must
be added ad hoc, the requesting organization should
provide a portable radio, additional batteries, charger,
and the interface cable
 Frequency conflicts/interference
 Coordination is the key, always go through the
Communications Leader prior to creating a patch and
know what is being patch
Office of Emergency Communications
Questions
????
Office of Emergency Communications