The Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) deployed IntelliLink, its IP-based Interoperability solution from Catalyst Communications Technologies, Inc., for the Republican National Convention. IntelliLink is part of FHP’s Mobile Command Center, a customized bus that incorporates the latest technology for critical communications. The Catalyst solution was used to increase the capacity of public safety wireless communications in the Convention area, thereby boosting efficiency and providing a margin of safety in the event of a crisis. IntelliLink performed flawlessly as it routed push-to-talk voice traffic for State of Florida personnel from a transportable repeater site brought in for the convention back to the statewide radio system. By using the transportable repeater site, local channels were available for other talk groups and additional capacity was available. The Catalyst solution routes voice using Internet Protocol (IP) and FHP has configured the Mobile Command Center to use any of four different transports for routing the IP traffic to ensure that the messages get through.
Dispatchers in Tampa were able to communicate directly with State officers in Tampa through the Catalyst system. These dispatchers were able to continue to use their Harris consoles for a variety of communications tasks and support the detail in Tampa as the Catalyst system brought the audio directly into the existing Harris consoles. IntelliLink provides an intelligent interface into the Harris 800 MHz trunked radio system and manages the flow of the audio so that every syllable is accurately transmitted between dispatchers and field personnel.
