How to Improve The Reliability of a Radio System

Many law enforcement agencies serve large communities with tens of thousands or even millions of people. So, it's imperative that your network stay online (even if you serve a small community).

Recently, we've sat down with a Canadian law enforcement agency that does just that. This client is a national leader in law enforcement and crime prevention programs that is run by the hard work and dedication of around 1,500 officers and 600 civilians.

A radio system is used by law enforcement agencies for communication.

This agency came into contact with us when they undertook a project to replace their 20-year-old radio system with a new one, which needed to be monitored. One of their team members was tasked with the project of setting up, programming, and administrating the new radio network and monitoring system.

If you find yourself in the same shoes, read on. In this article, I'll explain how DPS designed a monitoring system that allowed this agency to improve its radio system reliability.

Generator Monitoring was an Issue

After they reached out to us, we've scheduled a customization consultation. This is a meeting between your team and our engineers where we'll analyze your network and your pain points so we can design a monitoring system that can properly fit all your needs.

One of the major pain points for the Canadian agency that had to be addressed in their monitoring solution was keeping an eye on their generators. They invested in brand new generators that initially weren't commissioned properly, so they had multiple failures - some generators wouldn't even start.

This is a big concern, considering what was at stake. If you're in the public safety industry, your radio network is basically the lifeline for officers. This means that a two-way radio might look like a simple device, but it's essential for a public safety officer.

An Efficient Monitoring Solution is The Key

After looking around and evaluating other vendors, the agency decided on a monitoring solution designed by us to resolve their issues. So, after evaluating their remote sites and the equipment they need to monitor, we've come to the conclusion that the NetGuardian 420 paired with the T/Mon SLIM G2 is the best solution for the agency.

The NetGuardian 420 is a medium-sized monitoring device built on the time-tested and feature-rich design of our high-capacity RTUs. This means that the 420 will provide you with a lot of the same functionality, but with a smaller capacity.

It gives you 20 discrete alarm points, 4 control relay outputs, and up to 6 analog channels. This is a cost-effective choice if you have a network where a large capacity RTU would be overkill.

Since the client has multiple generators, several 420s were necessary. So, in order to provide better efficiency, they decided that they also needed a master station to integrate the information of all their RTUs in one single screen.

Instead of trying to work with multiple different interfaces, T/Mon SLIM allows to integrate all your monitoring system in one user-friendly display.

For that purpose, the T/Mon SLIM was brought into their monitoring system. The T/Mon SLIM G2 is an alarm master station scaled to the needs of small, local, or regional networks. If you need a "just-right" capacity, then this master station is the best option for you. You won't pay for excess alarm capacity that will go unused.

You can use the T/Mon SLIM to:

• Combine alarms from several sites into a single network view
• Monitor alarms in SNMP, ASCII, and many other communication protocols
• Send automatic alarm notifications to techs who are in the field
• Remotely access alarms through the web browser
• Maintain alarm history logs
• Analyze past alarms to identify trends and anticipate future problems

Use NetGuardian 420 RTUs to instantly send generator alarms to T/Mon SLIM G2 for monitoring.

In a nutshell, the NetGuardian 420s will collect data from the agency's generators and send it all to their T/Mon. The T/Mon will then display all the information in an easy-to-use interface that will make it possible for you to efficiently manage all your network from one single display wherever you are. The T/Mon will also send immediate notifications when an issue happens so you can stay on top of any problem that might arise.

Other Important Monitoring Benefits For This Client

After deploying our monitoring system, the agency quickly noticed the benefits it has over their old system. They let us know about the following ones:

• Less telecom truck rolls
  Before, to make sure that all their equipment was working as expected, they used to send techs in costly truck rolls to remote sites every couple of days. Now, since they can remotely check on the status of their network via the T/Mon's web interface, they are saving a lot of money with gas, overtime pay, car wear and tear, and any other costs associated with sending personnel to a remote site. Their technicians are now free to work on other important tasks because their monitoring system is up and running 24x7.

• The T/Mon SLIM also allows you remotely control your equipment, and can even be configured to automatically control devices when an alarm happens.

• Detecting issues before they become major problems
  The agency not only saved a sizable amount of money and time but also gained the power of early detection with their new monitoring equipment. Alarms are sent out as soon as problems occur, or when they are about to happen, so they're able to deal with the issue before it actually grows into something major that can lead to network downtime.

Training Unlocks your Monitoring Gear's Full Potential

Even with the monitoring system's success, the agency wanted its techs to be able to fully understand and use their new DPS equipment. So, they decided to send the techs responsible for the system to our headquarters for a factory training class.

Our training is a 4-day hands-on course that teaches you how to properly use your system to collect, process, and display the data you need to keep an eye on. You'll be working on our actual devices to learn how to configure and program your monitoring devices.

The classes are held in our company headquarters in Fresno, California. Each class is intentionally maintained small so that each student receives individual attention. And, if you have a T/Mon Gold Plan Maintenance Agreement, you and two people of your team can attend our training for free.

The instructors of the DPS Factory Training are actual engineers who know what they're talking about. They're not just presenting material that someone else created. They most likely worked directly with the design of your monitoring devices.

What Kind of Remote Monitoring Solution Do You Need?

Are you responsible for a radio system that needs to be monitored? Do you have generators that often present problems?

If so, investing in a custom-made monitoring solution is the answer for you. We specialize in designing and building each monitoring system to attend to our client's requirements, so they achieve the best reliability possible.

If you would like to know more about the NetGuardian 420 or the T/Mon SLIM, or how we can give you a tailor-made solution, reach out to us.

Morgana Siggins

Morgana Siggins is a marketing writer, content creator, and documentation specialist at DPS Telecom. She has created over 200 blog articles and videos sharing her years of experience in the remote monitoring industry.