The Project 25 Technology Interest Group has published the latest list of P25 Conventional Systems.

The full list can be downloaded using the link below:

P25 Conventional Systems List October 2023

The P25 Conventional Systems List was last published in 2020 with 1,816 Systems. The new October 2023 list shows a significant 31% increase with 571 new systems identified for a total of 2,387 P25 Conventional Systems. When this total is added to PTIG’s separate list of 1,218 P25 Trunking Systems, the grand total for P25 Conventional and Trunked stands at 3,605 known P25 Systems.

The new Conventional list is organized by State and Territory and each system is Identified with a System Name. The frequency band is included and systems are divided into purely P25 digital or “Mixed mode” P25 digital and analog systems. In addition, the type of user or agency is noted.
VHF dominates the frequency bands in use with 69% of the systems. UHF follows with 21% 700/800 systems make up the remaining 10% of the total systems. Purely Digital systems are 62% of the total and Mixed Mode (Digital + Analog) are the other 38%. This is a significant change from the 2017 list where Pure P25 digital and Mixed mode were split 50/50.

The P25 User categories are led by Law Enforcement with 43% of the Systems. Then Federal at 22%, followed by Public Safety at 19% and Fire at 8% Finally, Military and Public Works make up the remaining user groups with 4% each.

The Project 25 Technology Interest Group (PTIG) has published their latest Whitepaper titled: 

How to Extend your P25 System for LTE Interworking 

The full Whitepaper can be downloaded using the link below:

How to Extend your P25 System for LTE Interworking October 2023

This whitepaper begins with a section offering an overview of current P25 LMR and LTE technologies including advantages and disadvantages of each taken from the SAFECOM NCSWIC whitepaper: Land Mobile Radio/Long Term Evolution (LMR/LTE) Integration: Best Practices  

The second section describes the ATIS/TIA Interworking Study. The information in this section is drawn from the ATIS/TIA JLMRLTE Working Group paper and Project 25 TIA TR-8 Standards documents including the latest updates supporting LMR-LTE Interworking.

The third section offers concept definitions on the best use of P25 Interfaces to interoperate with the diverse set of LTE networks and products. The focus is on a P25 System Administrator’s perspective answering the question “Here is what you could do to extend your P25 Trunked or Conventional System for LTE Interworking.”

The fourth Section describes system, network, and radio testing which are relevant to all mission critical communications systems. This is followed by a specific discussion of testing and performance characteristics in the context of LMR-LTE interconnected networks using the four different interface types: P25 Common Air Interface (CAI), P25 Digital Fixed Station Interface (DFSI), and P25 Inter SubSystem Interface/Console SubSystem Interface (ISSI/CSSI).

About the Authors:
Andy Davis is the Senior Resource Manager, Project 25, Motorola Solutions; & Chairman TIA TR-8
Jeremy Elder is Director of Product Management for Systems and Devices, L3Harris Technologies
Dominick Arcuri is a Subject matter Expert at Televate
James Downes is Senior Advisor–Encryption and Project 25 Standards and Security,
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) & P25 Steering Committee Chair
Doug Chapman is Executive Vice President, Etherstack
Ed Latimer is the Director for Radio Test at Viavi Solutions
Hermina Koshinski is the Chief of Radio Operations Engineering & Support for the Pennsylvania State Police PA-STARNet system
Scott Wright is the Senior Telecommunications Engineer 2 with the Connecticut Department of Emergency Service and Public Protection
Stephen Nichols is Executive Director, Project 25 Technology Interest Group (PTIG)

Join The Project 25 Technology Interest Group (PTIG) PTIG at APCO 2023 for the Latest P25 News and Technology Update.

• Join us at APCO for 2 Conference panels featuring P25 Leaders and Technology Experts.  
  • P25 for the Future: New Standards, Interoperability, & Security
  • How to Best Configure & Utilize your Call Center for P25 LMR

• Visit the Project 25 Technology Interest Group Booth (1111).
  • Bring your questions and meet with P25 User agency directors and engineers from our P25 Industry members and consultants. 
  • Special “Office Hours”  (Monday 2-3 PM, Tuesday 11-Noon) with Jim Downes the Chair of the P25 Steering Committee.

• See all the new P25 Products and services from 17 PTIG member Booths on the show floor.

How to Best Configure & Utilize your Call Center for P25 LMR
Session Date: Sunday August 6, 2023
Session Time: 1:00 PM-2:00 PM
Session Room Name: Music City Center, 103

P25 for the Future: New Standards, Interoperability, & Security
Session Date: Sunday August 6, 2023
Session Time: 2:30 PM-3:30 PM
Session Room Name: Music City Center, 207 C-D

APCO 2023 Conference: August 6-9 Exhibits: August 7-8
Music City Center, Nashville Tennessee
Use this Link for registration! 

APCO Registration Link

How to Best Configure & Utilize your Call Center for P25 LMR 

Sunday August 6th   1:00 PM  Music City Center, 103

Project 25 radio technology offers an extensive set of mission critical capabilities for Public Safety dispatch centers. Across the nation, P25 is widely used, and additional centers are upgrading and converting to use P25 every day. This session will highlight features of the P25 environment in the dispatch center shedding light on some of the capabilities. It will provide insight for dispatchers, management, and technical staff regarding the specific P25 radio equipment that benefits the dispatch center.

The P25 standards define a diverse set of operational configurations that can be tailored to meet user requirements for different scenarios and provide interoperability solutions. This session will offer a concise summary of what a dispatch center environment looks like to a dispatcher with a radio console, radio consolette/desktop, backup radios and P25 Inter System (ISSI). Some dispatch centers will have all this equipment while others might only have one or two. Each dispatch center is unique and has different requirements. Therefore, the session will highlight and describe the features that are available to each one of those environments (i.e. Patching, Emergencies, Simulselect, Connecting Systems, AES encryption). After describing the most used features and functionality, the session will wrap-up with real world scenarios using the equipment.Learning Objectives

What capabilities and features does a telecommunicator have access to at a call center with P25?

What considerations and capabilities are important when defining P25 dispatch configurations for your Call Center?

What options exist for connecting your Call Center to adjacent regional or state-wide P25 Systems? 

P25 for the Future: New Standards Interoperability & Security 

Sunday August 6th   2:30 PM  Music City Center, 207 C-D

Learn what's new for Project 25 in 2023 and beyond including: New P25 Link Layer Security Standards (Cyber Security for P25 Control Channels and Unit IDs), A new "GPS location on every PTT" Standard for P25 subscriber units and a new Multi-vendor "User ID alias" capability to share the user-name for each unit across multiple systems and talk groups.

See how P25 technology is adapting and interworking to meet the changing technology eco-system. Look at the top priorities for the future of P25 from the Steering Committee Chair and User Needs Working Group. Get the latest Standards update including: P25 Standards recently completed and new Standards in development including LMR interworking with LTE and Mission-Critical PTT.

Strong interest in Communications Security and Encryption is growing. Review the new P25 Link Layer Standards, P25 User Authentication Standards, and improved, interoperable, AES Key Management. Explore P25 testing resources including the DHS CAP program and Independent Labs.

Visit the Project 25 Technology Interest Group Booth (1111). 

Bring your questions and meet with P25 User agency directors and engineers from our P25 Industry members and consultants.

Special “Office Hours”  (Monday 2-3 PM, Tuesday 11-Noon) with Jim Downes the Chair of the P25 Steering Committee

See all the new P25 Products and Services from 17 PTIG member Companies on the Show Floor

A New Comprehensive Overview Document  is Now available from DHS CISA and the Federal Partnership for Interoperable Communications (FPIC)

 The Who, What, When, Where, How, and Why of Encryption in P25 Public Safety Land Mobile Radio Systems
was published in May 2023

The Full document can be downloaded using the link below:

The Who, What, When, Where, How, and Why of Encryption in P25 Public Safety Land Mobile Radio Systems 

This guide provides readers new to the topic of encryption with a discussion of basic issues
related to establishing and maintaining effective encryption for Project 25 (P25) interoperable
LMR communications systems.  It is highly recommended for agencies planning, implementing, and managing an LMR encryption strategy

It combines and updates the content of three previously published
documents issued by the Federal Partnership for Interoperable Communications (FPIC), SAFECOM,
and the National Council of Statewide Interoperability Coordinators (NCSWIC) in 2016:

• Considerations for Encryption in Public Safety Radio Systems: This document examines why
encryption is necessary during critical operations. The document provides examples of how
encryption decreases the threat of compromise and reduces the risk to personnel safety
while providing protection of sensitive information.
• Guidelines for Encryption in Land Mobile Radio Systems: This document provides information
that should be considered when evaluating encryption solutions to protect sensitive
operational or life safety radio transmissions.
• Best Practices for Encryption in P25 Public Safety Land Mobile Radio Systems: This
document discusses encryption best practices for P25 LMR systems. The document also
provides an understanding of how basic key management parameters are related in P25 LMR
systems.

The document adds to the previous publications an extensive new section on encryption key
management, based on current proven encryption practices.

The overall objective is to further define and explain encryption and provide reliable guidance for
planning, implementing, and managing an LMR encryption strategy. Special emphasis is on two core
issues: 1) establishing common procedures—including governance, policies, and training—to preserve
user-defined interoperability and 2) managing encryption keys, the random strings of bits used to encode and decode data.