Ambulance Radio Programme & Digital
Enablement:
Starting to Deliver
Ian Hough
Ambulance Radio Programme
ARP Products
National Mobilisation Application (Lite) New application on a smartphone
National Mobilisation Application (Full) New application on new in vehicle
communications equipment
Control Room Solution (Airwave 1) Connected via existing Trust Airwave
equipment
Control Room Solution (Airwave 2) Connected via new central Airwave
equipment
Control Room Solution (ESN) Connection to the Emergency Service
Network
Home Office – Emergency Services Network
External Dependencies
National Mobilisation App
(Lite)
National Mobilisation App
(Full)
Control Room Solution
(Airwave)
Control Room Solution
(ESN)
ESN Prime
(from Home Office)
National Mobilisation Application
National Mobilisation Application (Lite)
• Milestone 7a (end-April 2019) – National Mobilisation
Application Lite- Includes testing and subsequent availability of a resilient NMA datacentre
instance hosted by Terrafix
- This is intended to facilitate an early release of the NMA Lite application and
enable operational trials and pilots within ambulance trusts
• Milestone 7b (Q3 2019) – National Mobilisation
Application Lite- Includes testing and subsequent availability of NMA Lite hosted in the fully
resilient ARP datacentres
- This will allow early adopter trusts using the Terrafix-hosted NMA Lite solution
to migrate to the ARP datacentres and avoid the additional Terrafix hosting fee
National Mobilisation Application (Full)
• Milestone 7c (expected Q2 2020) – National Mobilisation Application
Full
– Includes testing and subsequent availability of an interim release of the full NMA
application for deployment to front-line emergency ambulance vehicles
– Availability of NM7c is dependent on the conclusion of the procurement of the ARP
vehicle hardware (vehicle router, rugged tablet, vehicle dock, systems integration
and testing) and availability of ESN Connect
– Crew notification delivered to Airwave hand held (as present)
• Milestone 7d (expected Q4 2020) - National Mobilisation Application
Full
– Includes testing and subsequent availability of the full release of the NMA
application
– Needed to deliver NMA on handheld ESN devices for crew notification when away
from vehicle
– Availability of NM7d is dependent on the availability of ESN Prime & ESN devices
– This milestone is intended to define conclusion of the contractual NMA development
NMA Lite Deployment Update
• NEAS have concluded an end-to-end desktop evaluation of National
Mobilisation Application Lite using its national baseline
configuration, including integration with their training CAD and
Android smart phone devices
• The evaluation involved community first responders and operational
managers at NEAS and was hosted in the Terrafix data centre
environment
• Structured and documented feedback from the NEAS evaluation
has been received and is positive
• The evaluation has confirmed previous ARP drive tests that suggest
the Navigator component of the National Mobilisation Application
mobile user application needs further fine tuning to cater for blue
light driving behaviour.
NMA Lite Deployment Next Steps
• Early deployment planning in progress
• Order received from Welsh Ambulance for 15 licenses
– Kick off meeting planned for 11th April
• Business case for National Mobilisation Application Lite
devices approved in South Western Ambulance
– Kick-off meeting held in Exeter on 14th March
• Planning operational trials and pilots in these 3 Trusts
using initial version of National Mobilisation Application
lite
• Interest shown from all but one English Trust as well as
Welsh and Scottish Trusts
NMA Lite Interim Responsibilities
Document detailing Trust responsibilities has been issued to all Trusts
NMA Lite Deployment Responsibilities
Vehicle Hardware Procurement
• The OJEU notice and Selection Questionnaire
documentation pack was published on 8th March 2019
• Evaluation of the bidders’ Selection Questionnaire
responses will take place 30 working days after
publication
• Workshops with ARP and legal advisors in progress to
prepare the required Invitation to Submit Outline Solution
(ISOS) schedules and supporting documentation
Vehicle Hardware Procurement
Timeline
Description of Task Indicative Timeline
Evaluation & Moderation of Outline
Solutions18th June - 8th July
Dialogue 22nd July - 13th September
Evaluation & Moderation of Final
Tenders16th October - 31st October
Solution Demonstration 21st October
Control Room Solutions (CRS)
Test System
Production Production ProductionReference
System
Corsham Data Centre Farnborough Data Centre
Airwave
Network
18 ‘CCI’ Ports
in NEAS
3 ‘CCI’ Ports
in York
6 Operators in
Bristol
6 Operators in
Rotherham
Trust Infrastructure
Trust Name Order PlacedSite Survey
CompleteCurrent Status
Scheduled
Completion
Date
Remaining
Activities
Ambulance Radio Programme Data
Centre - FarnboroughComplete Complete Complete Mar-18
Ambulance Radio Programme Data
Centre - CorshamComplete Complete Complete Sep-18
North West Ambulance Service Complete Complete 2/3 Sites Completed Jun-19 Estuary Point
Yorkshire Ambulance Service Complete Complete 2/3 Sites Completed Apr-19 Rotherham
East Midlands Ambulance Service Complete Complete 2/2 Sites Completed Oct-18
North East Ambulance Service Complete Complete 1/2 Sites Completed Apr-19 Hebburn
East of England Ambulance Service Complete Complete 2/3 Sites Completed Apr-19 Broomfield
IoW Ambulance Service Complete Complete 0/1 Sites Completed Apr-19 Re-Install
London Ambulance Service Complete Complete 2/2 Sites Completed Mar-19
South Central Ambulance Service Complete Complete 2/4 Sites Completed May-19 Otterbourne
South East Coast Ambulance Service Complete Complete 2/2 Sites Completed Apr-18
South West Ambulance Service Complete Complete 2/3 Sites Completed May-19 Devizes
West Midlands Ambulance Service Complete Complete 2/2 Sites Completed Aug-18
Wales Complete Complete 3/3 Sites Completed Oct-18
Draft Trust Rollout Plan
Start DateIntegration
Testing Go Live
North West 07/10/2019 04/11/2019 23/03/2020
North East 10/02/2020 09/03/2020 25/05/2020
South Western 13/04/2020 11/04/2020 27/07/2020
South East Coast 11/05/2020 08/06/2020 24/08/2020
East of England 08/06/2020 06/07/2020 21/09/2020
West Midlands 06/07/2020 03/08/2020 19/10/2020
East Midlands 03/08/2020 31/08/2020 16/11/2020
London 31/08/2020 28/09/2020 03/03/2021
Yorkshire 28/09/2020 26/10/2020 09/02/2021
South Central and Isle of Wight 26/10/2020 23/11/2020 08/03/2021
Wales 23/11/2020 19/02/2021 07/05/2021
Emergency Services Network
What is the new Emergency Services Network?Britain's emergency services work 24/7 to serve the public in some of the most
dangerous and challenging situations.
The new Emergency Services Network (ESN) is the next-generation critical
communications system that allows the police, fire and rescue and ambulance
services to operate safely, collaborate and innovate.
ESN will replace the reliable but limited and ageing Airwave voice system with
a modern voice, video and fast data 4G network.
ESN will transform emergency services' mobile working, especially in remote
areas and at times of network congestion. It will create a single platform for
sharing data and imagery and enable faster adoption of successful mobile
applications.
ESN will help our emergency services respond to incidents quickly and
communicate more easily with colleagues.
ESN also represents value for money for the taxpayer through delivering
steady state savings of over £200m pa.
We are building ESN quickly and safely to allow Airwave to be switched off as
soon as possible and give our emergency services the benefits of a modern
communications system.
What are the Emergency Services Networks products?
ESN has an incremental approach to product delivery. This allows activities on the path to full adoption (testing,
evaluation, training, etc) to start earlier and will ensure that users benefit from ESN and its products as soon as
possible
Coverage - National Primary Area Progress
in 2016 2018 2019 -
2020
Outdoor Handheld Coverage – at street level
EE Contracted coverage is close to completion and the remaining sites are forecast to be completed by Dec
2019
Coverage Update
Where will ESN operate?
406EE new sites activated
60 remaining
51Unique upgrade sites
remaining
1113999 Calls made on New
ESN sites
20,745ESN upgrades completed
Extended Area Service (EAS)
• Home Office held contract with Lendlease to deliver the site infrastructure
• 42 Geographic areas of EAS to supplement EE core coverage
• 292 sites to be Designed and Built (mixture of new sites and site shares
with existing infrastructure)
• HO owned sites with EE broadcast equipment supplying the coverage
• Seamless handover to the user in terms of service experience
When will ESN appear? – Draft - Dates subject to change
Additional Assure Devices – July 2019
Connect - August 2019
Connect + to be confirmed
Direct 1 - July 2019
Direct 2 - October 2019
Direct 3 - June 2020
Prime - Q4 2020
ESN progress so far this yearKodiak
The move to Motorola Solutions’ Kodiak critical voice product offers significant advantages to users
including equipment standardisation and a clear upgrade route.
ESN Assure
ESN Assure is a package of tools on a handheld ESN device including an app which monitors
coverage while on the move as well as offering a view of what areas are predicted to be covered.
The first pilot, Assure 1.0 was launched in November 2018.
Public Safety Communications Service Demonstrations
In the week commencing 18th Feb Motorola demonstrated Kodiak 9.0 software on the
Samsung Galaxy S7 including theuser interface (UI), Push to talk (PTT), and messaging
Devices
In Feb 2019 the ‘Samsung Note9’ received a validation certificate for use with the ESN Connect+
service. Devices which have previously passed testing are the Samsung Galaxy ESN rugged
smartphone (currently being used for the ESN Assure service and for demonstration and testing)
and two vehicle data hubs from Cradlepoint.
Two further devices are in test: a vehicle data hub from Sierra Wireless and a Panasonic
ruggedised laptop / tablet which is widely used by the Fire & Rescue Service. Both of these are
intended for use with the ESN Connect service. We plan to add further devices to the pipeline in
due course.
Airwave
A new three year contract has been signed with Airwave which extends to December 2022.
Airwave will only be shut down when the emergency services have adopted and are using all the
ESN products they wish to use, and no longer want or wish to pay for Airwave.
Airwave Sustainability
The Airwave contract has been extended until end of 2022. A
Project called the Airwave Sustainability Project is being managed
by Airwave to replace elements of the network infrastructure:
• Kilostream Replacement – Project to replace Airwave site BT circuits with NEC Microwave
Links. 87% of 1,807 sites have successfully been tested and cut-over. Scheduled completion:
March 2020.
• Project Magna – replacing 1,928 Vodafone Time Division Multiplex circuits. The First Office
Application trial is taking place on 5 circuits on the South East Cluster April 2019. Non-service
affecting changes are underway at all Trusts for preparatory works in the Airwave equipment
racks.
• Airwave Base Stations – Airwave are undertaking a consolidation programme to provide self-
sufficiency in EBTS spares. The programme will upgrade existing EBTS equipment in the SW
region and once upgraded, the legacy equipment will be recovered and added to the spares pool
for use in other base stations. This activity will cover approximately 250 sites.
• Centracom (CCI Port) Retirement – the CCI (Communications Control Interface) ports installed
at Trust PoPs will be retired at the end of 2022. A replacement system, DCS (Dispatcher
Communications Systems) is currently being readied. This project is in the planning stage.
Airwave Network Sustainability
Project