Technology

Radio System

The City of Midland is licensed to transmit and receive on an Ericsson 800MHZ EDACS 16Plus (trunking) system. A trunked radio is a communications path between two or more points. The trunk channels are time shared by several different users, but the radio users are not aware of this sharing of channels. The radio users are not aware of which radio channel they are communicating over. All that is apparent is that a communication path has been established between two radios.

The Ericsson 16Plus system is designed to provide efficient, fault-tolerant operation for the public service user. Trunked radio operation is a method of increasing the efficiency of a channelized radio system by dynamically managing the use of the radio channels.

The primary benefit of a digital trunking system is improved management and efficiency of the radio fleet. This is accomplished by the logical (computer) control of the system and the virtual elimination of the delay experienced by field units in obtaining a clear communication channel.

Additional benefits are improved safety for field personnel, availability of system management reports, and the ability to easily and cost effectively overlay voice encryption and data on the system.

Computer Aided Dispatch

The City of Midland Public Safety Communications Center utilizes a computer aided dispatch computer (C.A.D.) system to dispatch the Midland Fire and Police Departments. Information from this C.A.D. system transfers to the Midland Fire and Police Department Records Management System. The C.A.D. system recommends unit responses for both the fire and police department.

The system also enables the users to flag an address with critical information to aid in emergency responses.

Enhanced 911

The City of Midland Public Safety Communications Center utilizes the A.T&T. call stalker enhanced 911 system. This system enables the call taker to recognize the address, phone, and name of the subscriber that is calling in on the 911 lines.

Voice Recorder

The City of Midland Public Safety Communications Center utilizes a HigherGround Praetorian Voice Recorder. The system digitally records and stores every communication interaction to redundant hard drives. Communication personnel can instantly find, access, and replay any call recording directly from the desktop; route call recordings via email and archive recordings to durable, space saving, removable hard drives for desktop access to unlimited hours of call recording.

Encoder

The City of Midland Public Safety Communications Center utilizes a Zetron Model 25 programmable encoder to alert the Midland Fire Department stations of a Call For Service. The programmable encoder is a console mounted, selective signaling encoder.

Each Fire station is identified by a unique tone. One of the features of the Zetron Model 25 is the ability to send multiple stations’ responses by the press of a single instant call push button.