The Airwave digital radio project, designed for use by
all three emergency services, aims to speed up response times. But
Jane Dudman finds that slow take-up has meant that some police
forces have adopted alternative mobile technologies.
The Home Office first recommended a joint police and fire
service radio system more than a decade ago. The need to get all UK
emergency services onto a common communications platform is now
even greater. But implementing the communications system is proving
a prolonged process. The government's strategy rests on the Airwave
project, a scheme to replace all existing police radio systems in
England, Scotland and Wales with a national digital radio service,
based on Motorola's Tetra (Terrestrial Trunked Radio)
technology.
Airwave is a massive investment, worth just under £3bn. When the
deal was awarded to BT (it is now run by O2 Airwave, a subsidiary
of BT's former mobile offshoot mmO2) by the Police Information
Technology Organisation in 2000, it was the largest public/private
partnership contract to date. The aim is to migrate all 52 UK
police forces over to Airwave by 2005. So far, it has been
delivered to 35 forces, of which 12 are fully operational.
Preparing for Airwave and getting ready for service has dominated
the IT and communications budgets of many police forces for several
years and accounts for up to one-third of all IT and communications
project spending in the police sector, according to public sector
IT research firm Kable.
The move to digital radio provides substantial benefits for police
forces by replacing ageing, inefficient and incompatible systems,
but questions remain about Airwave's capability, particularly
whether its data throughput of 3kilobits per second offers enough
bandwidth for mobile data applications.
O2 Airwave says bandwidth is not a problem. It says Police National
Computer checks take no more than 5 seconds over the existing
network and that four police forces are already using Airwave for
data applications such as vehicle tracking. But PNC access to
Airwave will only be available to half the police forces by the
middle of 2005.
Some forces have overcome the issue of bandwidth by implementing
their own mobile data systems. North Wales police, for example, has
issued more than 150 handhelds and 30 tablet PCs, which use the
GPRS mobile network. "We have targeted these systems in the places
where we will gain greatest operational benefits, such as officers
in geographically remote areas," says Mike Hughes, project manager
for the North Wales mobile data project.
He says this approach to mobile data is not intended to replace
Airwave, which will be ready for voice and data service by the end
of this year. "We have no intention of discounting either approach.
We will be using Airwave where appropriate. Where the difference
lies is in the bandwidth capability. We hope to see a bridging of
the technologies through the development of Airwave, so we can use
both."
Other emergency services have yet to be convinced that they should
adopt Airwave. The police are heavy voice users with the Short Data
Service used for text messaging, which is available with Airwave.
"The police are very much voice-driven, whereas the ambulance and
fire services tend to be very heavily data-driven," says Gary
Maughan, business director at Motorola.
The use of data has not prevented places such as the Isle of Man
and the Channel Isles, which use Tetra systems but not the UK
Airwave network, from implementing common systems for all their
emergency services. "Other [UK] services are looking and although
the applications may be different, the requirements will be
similar," he says.
Maughan says the combination of GPS location systems and the
ability to send images to Airwave terminals will bring big
advantages to the way police forces are able to handle
communications. Motorola claims to be able to send high-resolution
pictures to its MTH800 terminals in 20 seconds, enabling officers
to receive pictures of stolen cars or missing persons. "If you
consider we used to distribute those kinds of images by
photocopying, we start to see a real differentiation in police
radio," he says.
Initial implementations of Airwave raised questions about
reliability and safety, both of which are being addressed. Last
year, the government launched a £5m monitoring programme to look at
the safety of Airwave after some problems were reported, and early
users of Airwave, such as Lancashire Police, have been having
problems with coverage, but say these are not insuperable.
A growing number of agencies are considering Airwave. Darlington
Borough Council has linked its community wardens to Airwave.
Although this is not a large deal, it is an important stepping
stone because it illustrates one of the facets of Airwave that was
always intended to be important: interoperability. Airwave is
already in use at Durham Constabulary, which includes the
Darlington area, and the wardens now have direct contact with
Durham police.
Similarly, the Highways Agency has signed a seven-year Airwave
contract. Eric Belfield, divisional director at the agency, says
using Airwave will enable traffic officers to work more closely
with police officers.
Airwave is already in use at Hereford and Worcester Ambulance Trust
and it has been delivered to two fire and rescue services. But the
biggest projects for which Airwave is now being considered is the
national contract for the fire service radio system and the NHS
Information Authority Radio Re-Procurement Project, which O2
Airwave is bidding for with third-party provider Vivista.
If Airwave is chosen for these contracts it will be a huge step in
the direction of national coverage. In the meantime, with some
police forces choosing other mobile data options, questions remain
about whether Airwave can fulfil its initial promise.
This article is part of Computer Weekly's Special Report on
mobile IT produced in association with Vodafone