kimmo markkanen presentation twc 2009: developing a control system for public warning and...

Länsi-Uudenmaan pelastuslaitosVästra Nylands räddningsverk

Länsi-Uusimaa Department for Rescue Services

27th May 2009 Tetra World Congress 1

Developing a Control System for Public Warning

and Mobilising Rescue Personnel

Kimmo Markkanen

Director of Risk Management




Presentation will consist

• Background:– Rescue Services in Finland– Länsi-Uusimaa Department for Rescue Services

• Developing a Control System for Public Warning and Mobilising Rescue Personnel

• Public Warning System• Mobilising Rescue Personnel• Controlling the system

• Conclusions and future work.




Rescue Services in FinlandRescue Services in Finland




Rescue ServicesRescue Services

• The rescue authorities are responsible for the safety of people in any kind of everyday incident, disaster or war.

• Rescue services mean actions carried out urgently in the event of accident, actions needed to protect and save life, property and the environment, to limit damage and alleviate the consequences.

• Rescue services are divided into: 1) accident and fire prevention

2) rescue activities3) civil preparedness.




• Fire and accident prevention• Firefighting and rescue work relating to

accidents or natural events (explosion, oil spills, incidents on water, landslides, road accidents, gas or liquid leaks, floods, heavy rain, radiation)

• Firefighters are multiskilled rescuers. In addition to firefighting and rescue work, they also take part in accident prevention, medical care and ambulance service as well as civil preparedness

Rescue Departments (Regional Rescue Services) are responsible

for:




Three major changes in Fire and Three major changes in Fire and Rescue Services in Finland Rescue Services in Finland

• Regionalization of Rescue Services• Centralization of Alarm Centres

Emergency Response Centres (ERC)• New national digital radio network “VIRVE” for all

authorities (TETRA)

VIRVE made other two possible




2. Länsi-Uusimaa2. Länsi-Uusimaa

Consists of 12 municipalitiesCentral municipal Espoo is second biggest city in Finland, west from HelsinkiOther municipalities are: Hanko, Inkoo, Karjalohja, Karkkila, Kauniainen, Kirkkonummi, Lohja, Nummi-Pusula, Raasepori, Siuntio, Vihti.




Keski-UusimaaDept. for Rescue Services

HelsinkiDept. for Rescue Services

Kanta-HämeDept. for Rescue Services

Varsinais-SuomiDept. for Rescue Services

• Organisationally a part of City of Espoo

• 12 municipalities• app. 425 000 inhabitants• 12 full-time fire stations• 43 voluntary fire brigades

(+ 4 Lifeboat Associations)• app. 400 employees• over 1 000 volunteers• annual budget 30 M€ (incl.

ambulance services 3 M€)

RAASEPORI DISTRICTRAASEPORI DISTRICT

• app. 45 000 inhabitantsapp. 45 000 inhabitants

• area 1950 km2area 1950 km2

• 3 full-time fire stations 3 full-time fire stations (Tammisaari, Hanko, Karjaa)(Tammisaari, Hanko, Karjaa)

• 13 voluntary fire brigades13 voluntary fire brigades

ESPOO DISTRICTESPOO DISTRICT

. app. 290 000 inhabitants. app. 290 000 inhabitants


• 6 full-time fire stations6 full-time fire stations

• 17 17 voluntaryvoluntary fire brigades fire brigades

• Ambulance services in Espoo and Ambulance services in Espoo and KauniainenKauniainen

LOHJA DISTRICTLOHJA DISTRICT

• app. 90 000 inhabitantsapp. 90 000 inhabitants


• 3 full-time fire stations 3 full-time fire stations (Lohja, Nummela, Karkkila)(Lohja, Nummela, Karkkila)

• 13 voluntary fire brigades13 voluntary fire brigades




Developing a Control System for Public Warning

and Mobilising Rescue Personnel




Where we started

• Different municipalities had different solutions.• There were three alarm centres (for rescue and

ambulance services) and their solutions were different.

• Now there is only one joint alarm centre and interfaces for alarm centre are simply – practically only VIRVE (TETRA).




Controlling Public Warning Sirens

• Control method were ”alarm and inform”• in other words: Alarm Centre launched alarm code and sent

information to media that public warning has launched and reason for that

• but there were no idea in Alarm Centre whether the siren worked or not, and is the system operational at all.

• or has the siren worked spontaneous, given wrong signal.

• The Rescue Services is responsible that system is always on-line Rescue Services need a control system for securing that

Public Warning system is in good condition and system to monitor it’s components




Mobilising Personnel

• At the region there has been several different methods for mobilising personnel (voluntary and full-time) from analogue telephone systems (“command phones”) to radio beepers (pagers)

• The system worked almost on “alarm and wait” –method• Alarm Centre gave alarm• Then waited for some time depending what it is supposed to be (1-30

minutes)• If the fire brigade didn’t depart in that time (sent acknowledgement or “alarm

received” –status), the Alarm Centre sent new alarm or sent alarm to another unit and tried other methods (telephone call)

• The Alarm Centre had no information is the system working at all So we needed a solution that controls it’s state and gives

feedback.




Goal of the Control System

The main goal was to optimise costs (operating costs and frequency licenses) using COTS-ideology

(Commercial-off-the-Shelf) and built robust system that secures alarm

functions for the public warning and fire brigades and control the state of

the system.




Voluntary fire brigades

• Finland: app. 1 000 voluntary fire brigades• Important element for rescue services as a reserve• In rural, sparsely populated areas primary response as well• Skills, training and number of volunteers vary among

brigades• No public authority status• Länsi-Uusimaa:

– 43 brigades, over 1 000 volunteers– Response time 6, 12 or 30 minutes from call




Using cellular phones for mobilising

• We needed answer to following questions:• Do we need also a pager? Or is person’s own

cellular phone enough?• Is the cellular network reliable enough?• Is the contact information up-to-date at the alarm

centre?• Is the alarm centre’s dispatching system reliable or

do we need alternatives?• Is the cellular phone in that state that the alarms

can get through (i.e. meetings)?• Can we control that alarm has got across?




Using Pagers for Mobilising

• Following questions were made:• Can we use analogue POCSAG-pager instead of

conventional five tone pager (CCIR) at VHF-band?• How many base stations do we need?• How many frequencies do we need?• Can we use one base station for multiple fire

brigades?• How can we control state of the system?




Cost Analysis

• VIRVE is quite cost-effective, if there isn’t operating costs.• But the investment would still be at least double to paging solution.

• Good reason to use cellular phone with POCSAG-pager, is that they are independent to each other.

• Pager can receive messages when cellular phone is in quiet-mode or even when cellular network is off-line.

• cellular phone alone or POCSAG-pager alone is not reliable enough!

• If the terminal costs were about half and there were no operating costs for end-user, VIRVE would be feasible solution

• Still there is a need to keep public cellular network as an alternative and for a backup – in it’s simplest mode.

• In real life, there is a need for lighter terminals and proper software, if TETRA is going to be in large-scale use for mobilising voluntary personnel.




Controlling the Public Warning Sirens

• Main question was that has the siren given correct signal when needed (but not worked spontaneously)?

• How can we be sure that the siren is working properly?• How can we secure the communication?• Do we get information about spontaneous signals?• Do we get information if someone is doing maintenance?




The Solution




Sirens and Fire Stations12 Full-Time Fire Stations

43 Voluntary Fire Brigades

67 Public Warning Sirens

App. 100 km

App

. 100

km




Mobilising personnel at station or unit in move

VIRVE(TETRA)

Emergency Response Centre(Länsi-Uusimaa)

STA

TUS

and Audio

Fire Station (12)

Alarming device at Fire Station gets STATUS and opens speech channel for alarm messages, gives sound, put on lights etc.Gives acknowledgements by STATUS

Data network (IP)

Control Room

Control room gets acknowledgements and reports about the state of systemThere is also possibility to control Base Stations

As a backupCan be used to launch alarm direct from Control RoomIs used for monitoring the system

Sends STATUS and SDSto individual address (to Fire Station, Rescue Units and Control Room)Sends audio message to alarm group

STA

TUS

and

SD

S

(Con

trol R

oom

)

Rescue Unit

STATUS, SDSand Audio

Gets alarm STATUSGets SDS for handheld terminals and PC or navigatorListens audio TRAFFI

C ACCI DENT




VIRVE(TETRA)


STATUS and SDS(POCSAG Base Station)

POCSAG Base Station

(30)

Base Station gets STATUS and wait for SDS messagesSend text messages to analogue radio networkGives acknowledgements by STATUS

Data network (IP)

Control Room

Control room gets acknowledgements and reports about the state of systemThere is also possibility to control Base Stations


Mobilising personnel

Pagersapp. 800 Gives audio

signal and shows text message

VH

F

simplex

Sends STATUS and SDS-messageto individual address (POCSAG Base Station and Control Room)

STATUS and SDS(Control Room)

TRAFFIC ACCIDENT




VIRVE(TETRA)


STATUS to group LU HALY

Public WarningSiren(67)

Siren gets STATUS and starts Sends acknowledgements by STATUSSends information about it’s state by SDS

Data network (IP)

Control Room

Control room gets acknowledgements and reports about the state of systemThere is also possibility to control the sirens and givea speech message


Public WarningSends STATUS to group address

STATUS(Control Room)




Control System for Public Warning Sirens

• Uses purely VIRVE, which was most cost-effective with adequate certainty.

• Possibility to use also IP (wired or wireless), but not yet done.

• Uses GWLOG/T-U -interface and Nokia TMR 420 terminals for Teho-Ulvo sirens (www.elektro-arola.fi) and VSS-PIC –interface and Sepura SRM 3500 terminals for Sarco (www.sarco.fi) and Instoma sirens.

• The system is controlled by TETRA STATUS-messages and feedback is given by STATUS-messages and by short messages (SDS).




Control System for Public Warning Sirens

• Nine geographically divided groups• In same group every siren listens common talk group named

LU VS HALY 1 … LU VS HALY 9• Every siren scans also common talk group VS HALY• So it is possible to give warning message to certain area by

one command TETRA STATUS-message to that talk group

• Every siren uses same control STATUS-messages• It is also possible to control individual siren by using its

individual TETRA id (ITSI).




Mobilising Voluntary Personnel• For cost reason we decided to buy POCSAG-pagers

• Five-tone pagers would be four times more expensive • POCSAG gives the possibility to give extra text information

direct from Emergency Response Centre.• Receivers were programmed so that in same Fire Brigade all

receivers has same RIC-address (Receiver Identity Code). Every RIC-address has corresponding TETRA STATUS

• For dispatching data system the alarm system is transparent, in other words there is no need to make any changes to dispatching data system at Emergency Response Centre. ERC uses TETRA STATUS-messages and SDS-messages like they have done before.

• For backup a wired IP also exists– Emulates TETRA by UDP-packet (User Datagram Protocol, no

acknowledgemets at network level)– Can be used from Rescue Services own Control Room and

Command Centres (3)




Mobilising Voluntary Personnel• Every receiver uses the same frequency (VHF, about 160

MHz)– There was also an alternative to use geographically multiple

frequencies.– Though the transmitters (Base Stations) are at the same

frequency, we need to minimize the system self-interference especially at those areas where cell boundaries overlaps timing.

• The system has 30 POCSAG Base Station– The output power is 25 W (EIRP)– The frequency and maximum output power were selected from old

frequency licenses so that the frequency were not used at neighbouring areas.

• Opposite to A.S.T.R.I.D solution, neighbouring base stations don’t send at the same time.– Base Stations needs time synchronising.– Every base station has it’s own time slots, where it can transmit.




Paging Components




Public Warning Sirens




Conclusions

• Now we have achieved the state that we have realistic data about condition of alarming devices.

• One question still remains: if we really need to use general warning, does all work properly, though we cannot test alarming signal at full-scale without large media information before and after the test session. But we can now control and monitor the condition of alarming devices even without going to the site.

• If there happens spontaneous alarm, we have possibility to interrupt the signal. Or we can evaluate which signal it was and give media information as early as possible.




- Though we decided to do one-way solution, it is still possible later expand the system to interactive, if we start to use feedback given by cellular phone or TETRA-terminal.- Newest POCSAG-pagers offers feedback channel using GPRS and they could also have GPS for positioning(http://www.elektro-arola.fi/tuote_liitteet_eng/YLLI_pager_long_eng.pdf).




Future Work

• Network that monitor services of VIRVE • We have now about 80 fixed terminals in our system, about half

of them are connected to wired IP-network.• It is possible to monitor technical data of TETRA-terminals over

network– serving base station– neighbouring cells.

• With that information available, it is possible to evaluate the state of the network

• We just need software to analyse the information and changes.• Changing TETRA-terminals to terminals with GATEWAY-

function, we could offer local DMO-channel connected to network if there are local network problems.

• That needs still planning, i.e. which TMO channel it is connected to.

• If we put together network monitoring and DMO-gateway function, it is even possible to automate the GATEWAY-functionality.




Firefighters at their work…




Thank you for your attention !Thank you for your attention !

Serving the communityServing the community::Länsi-Uusimaa Länsi-Uusimaa Department for Rescue ServicesDepartment for Rescue [email protected] [email protected]

kimmo markkanen presentation twc 2009: developing a control system for public warning and...

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