The Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency is one step closer to improving its current land mobile radio (LMO) system.

Earlier this week the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency (RIEMA) announced that firm Mission Critical Partners (MCP) was selected to complete the assessment of the agency’s LMR system.

State funds were allocated to RIEMA to be used toward upgrading and enhancing the system which is used by emergency responders, the Rhode Island Statewide Communications Network (RISCON). An important goal is development of a comprehensive plan to determine the best use of funds for the current and future of the system.

RISCON, a four-zone, 29-site system, is used by all state and local public-safety agencies and supports about 15,000 subscriber devices. RIEMA provides access to all state and local public-safety agencies at no cost.

MCP subject-matter experts (SMEs) will conduct onsite assessments of all RISCON components, including all radio frequency hardware and equipment, backhaul components, radio sites, and dispatch locations. They also will assess ancillary subsystems such as paging and fire-station alerting. Assessment will also examine coverage, capacity and reliability.

The strategic plan also will explore the potential for interconnecting RISCON to other P25-compliant state or regional systems to enhance interoperability.