Case Study: Florida Statewide Microwave System Upgrade

Upgrading the Microwave System to Support the Florida Department of Transportation's Intelligent Transportation Systems

 

The Client

Florida Department of Transportation.

 

The Project

The Florida Department of Transportation selected RCC Consultants to conduct the needs assessment, system design, RFP development and implementation management of the upgrade of the segmented 300-channel analog and DS-3 digital system into a continuous DS-3 digital microwave system to support the Department’s Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) applications. 

 

Other elements of the project include a statewide network management system, timing and synchronization, and rechannelization. It also involved design modifications to accommodate the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) dispatch consolidations, including coordination with Florida’s Statewide 800 MHz Law Enforcement Communications System to provide transport of FHP traffic and Motorist Aid Call Box traffic from the Department’s microwave system to FHP dispatch facilities.

 

In the course of this project, the 2 GHz analog segments were converted to 6 GHz digital by Personal Communications Service (PCS) providers.

 

RCC's Role

RCC provided many important services for the Florida Department of Transportation during this project, including:

• Assessing the Department's statewide needs for voice, video and data traffic.

• Conducting a technology assessment.

• Researching available technologies to support the Department’s requirements.

• Selecting new microwave antenna tower sites.
• Microwave path analysis, system design, FAA and FCC licensing, and preparation of procurement specifications for the complete microwave system upgrade.
• Implementation management of the microwave system, communications towers and equipment building.