Downed power lines and trees, flooded roads, residential fires and citizens in distress – first responders and emergency teams need to expect the unexpected when supporting their communities during the prevalent winds and torrential rain that hurricanes and other natural disasters produce.
Reliable, critical-communication networks and proper planning support successful disaster-response efforts when communities rely on their police, firefighters and utility crews the most.
L3Harris Technologies, the provider of Project 25-compliant secure, interoperable radios and network solutions, understands the complexities and considerations of hurricane preparedness and delivers relentless support during and after unrelenting weather.
“We are the first responders to the first responders,” said Steve Williams, Field Engineering Director, L3Harris. “Upon identification of an incoming storm within our customers’ jurisdiction, we determine tower sites in the storm’s path and ensure the optimal operation of the equipment. The L3Harris employees at the Network Operations Center (NOC) manage tower outages and communication needs, and our field-service crews are in the thick of it during the storms to support continuous network coverage. We’re responding to affected locations before first responders enter impacted areas to restore connectivity so they can best support their communities.”
Without a functional radio system, added Williams, emergency crews’ ability to effectively communicate and serve the residents is hampered. Redundancy built into L3Harris devices, including technology that converges Land Mobile Radio and LTE networks into a seamless system, help mitigate otherwise lost connections during system restoral operations.
L3Harris supports municipal and regional P25 networks across the United States and the world, including Florida’s Statewide Law Enforcement Radio System (SLERS) since 2001.
The SLERS all-digital radio network covers 60,000 square miles, comprises 221 microwave and radio-frequency simulcast and multi-sites and serves more than 25,000 radios in patrol cars, motorcycles, boats and aircraft throughout Florida. L3Harris’ coordination with the state in advance of incoming storms begins one week prior to expected landfall, carries through the storm and extends after the storm passes – all to ensure all sites and equipment are as prepared as they can be before the storm, operate as effectively as they can during and are back online as quickly as they can following the disaster.
Each storm presents different issues related to service interruptions, according to Williams. Through continued support, L3Harris has sped network restoration times by fourfold since 2017.
For the last 23 years, L3Harris has also provided the SLERS Network Operations Center. The NOC is staffed every hour all year long with trained technicians to ensure the system’s critical communications performance is continually monitored with rapid response to any service issue that might arise.
“To the affected residents, the process is seamless,” said Williams. “Our resilient systems and dedicated technicians in SLERS’ NOC all work to support the tireless effort first responders and utility workers put into serving their communities.”
