Philadelphia Purchases New Motorola 800 MHz ASTRO Digital System

PHILADELPHIA, July 19 /PRNewswire/ -- The city of Philadelphia has signed a contract with Motorola (NYSE: MOT) for a new $51 million 800 MHz ASTRO(R) digital trunked radio communications system.  The new system will be used by the city's police and fire departments as well as other city agencies and departments.

The system will include two 15-channel communications systems positioned side-by-side and connected through a Motorola SmartZone(TM) switch.  The switch will manage all communications traffic on the system, automatically passing communications from one system site to another as users travel throughout the city.  The system includes 10 sites and can operate either in digital or analog mode.

"This system was the choice of our police and fire chiefs and reflects our long-term strategy and blueprint for the future," said Mayor Ed Rendell.  "The system will enable police officers and firefighters, as well as other city departments, to communicate with each other at any time and virtually anywhere in the city.  It's a major enhancement to the city's communications capability."

The system features trunking technology that automatically assigns a channel when a user presses the radio's push-to-talk button, and makes the same channel available to other users once a conversation is completed.  Simulcast technology transmits communications from every site in the system at the same time.  This helps ensure 95 percent coverage from portable radios used outside or within buildings throughout the city.

While city departments will share a common communications system infrastructure, each department will be able to communicate independently and privately.  If necessary, such as during major emergencies requiring multi-agency response, users can be organized into more than 2,000 talk groups.

The system also is equipped for digital encrypted voice communications using the standard's encryption format, DES-OFB.  System dispatchers will manage communications through Motorola software-based CENTRACOM Elite(TM) consoles.  Once the infrastructure is installed, Motorola will supply the police and fire departments with about 4,885 Motorola ASTRO XTS 3000(TM) portable radios and 1,800 ASTRO Spectra(TM) mobile radios.

The city also joins a number of other major metropolitan areas that have chosen digital communications technology as a best strategy for meeting the challenges facing public-safety departments today.  Some of those metropolitan areas include Baltimore, Cleveland and San Diego County, Calif., as well as the states of Florida, Massachusetts and Michigan.

"The city of Philadelphia's new Motorola 800 MHz ASTRO digital radio system is one of the most sophisticated available today," said Ken Denslow, vice president and general manager of the Motorola's Northern Sales Division.  "It will provide the city's police and fire departments the communications interoperability they especially need.  However, the system's greatest feature may be its flexibility to grow and change as the city's communications needs change.  This system will serve the city well into the next century."

Philadelphia's ASTRO SmartZone voice system comply with the Project 25 Common Air Interface standard for digital radio communications system.  Common Air Interface is the industry's term for the digital signaling format and digital voice coding technology that ensures one Project 25-compliant radio will communicate with another.  Project 25 is the functional and technical standard for digital two-way radios created and adopted by a consortium of two-way radio user groups.

Motorola is a global leader in providing integrated communications solutions and embedded electronic solutions.  Sales in 1998 were $29.4 billion.

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