Motorola Fireground Communications System

[tuckerm]

So, I have been thinking of utilizing MDC as an (added?) accountability measure within a fireground. A software approach tied in with a radio (or scanner) that reads the MDC info, etc. I stumbled across the Motorola Fireground Communications System but I can't find any additional info on it other than it "works".

Anyone have an idea of cost? They keep touting the XTS 5000 series, but wouldn't anything with MDC work as well? Is there a "demo" version (or alternative software) I can utilize to play around with?

If Motorola's deal would work for us and it's cheap, we would go with it. If not, I would want to find a cheap or free version that can do it as well, or (where I think I'm going) is design my own software that at a bare minimum can display the ID Assigned to the Apparatus or User, Man Down/Emergencies, etc.

[escomm]

Motorola, Fireground, and cheap?

Sorry bud I thinks not

[mikegilbert]

http://www.motorolasolutions.com/web/Bu ... ochure.pdf

Here's a video of it in action.
http://video.motorolasolutions.com/vide ... 001/page=0

[escomm]

Oops

Fireground Communication System

No new orders after December 31, 2012. Last order schedule to ship no later then March 30, 2013.

Ship Card

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Features

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Fireground integrates Motorola’s highest & mid tier portable radios with state-of-the-art incident command software to automatically and electronically monitor emergency responders’ working assignments, which provides a better means for personnel accountability. Fireground also provides additional enhancements to expand responders’ capabilities beyond the standard talk and listen features. Although initially developed for the fire service, the incident management software and integrated portable radio features are available and beneficial for all public safety agencies.
Additional Features Include:

ACCOUNTABILITY: Each responder's radio reports his/her radio ID, which can be configured to display name, riding position, or division assignment on the Incident Commander's mobile command terminal.

INCIDENT COMMAND SECTORING: Each responder's radio can automatically indicate what sector or division they are assigned to, which makes it easier for Incident Commanders to know where their personnel are working and enabling them to spend more time focusing on incident response strategies.

EVACUATION TONE: The Fireground Incident Management Software provides the Incident Commander with the ability to send an Evacuation message to all XTS 2500 or XTS 5000 radios on the Fireground scene. Upon receiving the Evacuation message, the XTS 2500/5000 units will emit a full volume tone. By pushing and releasing the push-to-talk button on the XTS 2500/5000, the Evacuation tone will cease and an evacuation acknowledgement will be sent back to the Incident Commander’s command terminal. This evacuation acknowledgement provides a positive indication to the Incident Commander that the individual XTS 2500/5000 radio users have received the evacuation command as initiated by the Incident Commander.
CHANNEL ANNOUNCEMENT: The XTS 2500/5000 portable radio has the capability to audibly indicate the channel position the radio user has selected for voice communications and/or their sector or division assignment. This feature allows customers to create unique, customized voice clips that are programmed into the XTS 2500/5000 using the Customer Programming Software (CPS).
BATTERY LEVEL INDICATION: This feature provides the Incident Commander with the ability to determine the capacity of the XTS 2500/5000 portable battery for all firefighters present on the Fireground channel. The capacity of the battery is obtained by the XTS 2500/5000 and is sent in the data packet captured by the command terminal. This information is displayed next to each radio user's name or alias on the Fireground screen. Standard Motorola batteries will indicate whether its capacity is high or low, while the Motorola Impress/Smart batteries will provide up to 11 levels of battery capacity ranging from 0% - 100%.
POLLING: The Fireground Incident Management Software provides the ability to send a poll message to any XTS 2500/5000 radio that is listed on the Motorola Fireground Accountability screen. The Incident Commander can manually poll the radio user, or the application can automatically poll all radio users upon the expiration of a pre-programmed timer. When the XTS 2500/5000 responds to the polling message, its radio ID, sector/division information and battery capacity value are displayed on the Command Terminal, along with the time-stamp indicating when the Poll Response was received by the application.
EMERGENCY INDICATION: The Fireground Incident Management Software provides the ability to distinguish among a received emergency alarm signal compared to any other type of radio traffic. When an emergency responder activates his/her emergency button, the signal causes a visual and audible alarm indication on the command terminal. The visual indication identifies the specific emergency responder that initiated the alarm and their sector/division assignment. The audio indication is a unique tone sequence that will be played at the set computer volume level and will continue to sound until the Incident Commander acknowledges the emergency condition.

[tuckerm]

Well shucks. I was hoping to play around with it. I could see some benefits of using it on our Fireground.

Back to the drawing boards I guess.

[NHfirefighter]

Here's a similar solution you could check out:

http://www.firegroundaccountability.com/apaa.html

[tuckerm]

Here's a similar solution you could check out:

http://www.firegroundaccountability.com/apaa.html

Yeah, I found that. Price is wayyyy out of any budget we would ever have. $4,000.

[NHfirefighter]

Yeah I hear you, unfortunately, I think that is less than what the Moto solution cost when they offered it.

[CircleBat]

I see alot of fire departments here in canada starting to use turbo radios ... sealed better than the xts series and cheaper

CircleBat

[escomm]

What does that have to do with the OP? How does one manage the fireground with TRBO radios?

[tuckerm]

Yeah I hear you, unfortunately, I think that is less than what the Moto solution cost when they offered it.

Looks like I'm making my own.

I see alot of fire departments here in canada starting to use turbo radios ... sealed better than the xts series and cheaper

CircleBat

As escomm said...TRBO has nothing to do with what I'm trying to do with Conventional Analog + MDC via a computer.

[tuckerm]

Just wanted to give everyone an update on this. Based off a suggestion I saw at communications.support, I went with RadioLog from http://responderapps.com/. I took audio from an XTL via the pins, ran it into my computer. Not only do I have generic accountability, but I now have audio recording too. Plus it's dirt cheap compared to the other options.