EDUCATION: School District Solutions

THE DISTRICT IS COMPRISED OF OVER 200 SCHOOLS: Elementary Schools, K-8 Schools, Middle Schools, High Schools, Exceptional Student Education Centers.

Radio One was recently contracted by one of Florida’s largest school districts to help address some of their wireless technology challenges. The district had two major challenges to address by leveraging CARES Act grant funding during the recent COVID pandemic and while schools were temporarily closed.

In addition, another priority emerged for the district due to new mandates from the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA): enhance all facilities, both old and new construction, to comply with Orange County’s NFPA 72 and NFPA1221 mandates for Emergency Responder Radio Communications Systems (ERRCS). The revised codes mandated all in-building wireless systems be tested annually to ensure that public safety personnel entering their facilities, no matter the location, will have reliable radio frequency coverage to transmit and receive two-way radio and cellular signals.

Learn more about our In-Building Solutions

The school district launched the wireless technology improvements by soliciting individual RFPs aligned to their learning communities. Individual requests for proposals were initiated for the two-way radio upgrade, as well as separate requests for proposals for the ERRCS or commonly referred to as Public Safety – Distributed Antenna System (PS-DAS) to support the new NFPA Florida statutes. Headquartered in Orlando, Radio One is one of Motorola Solutions’ largest partners in the United States and has served Florida for over 30 years. As a recipient of Orange County Public Schools’ radio system upgrade RFP, Radio One proposed Motorola Solutions’ MOTOTRBO XPR 7550e high-performance digital two-way radios. This portable radio features integrated voice and data on either UHF/VHF or 800/900 MHz frequency, along with advanced features for efficient operation. The XPR 7550e operates effectively in a single site capacity, supported by one or two repeaters depending upon each facility’s single or multi-story characteristics; it offers ample channel capacity for OCPS’ required talk-groups.

Headquartered in Orlando, Radio One is one of Motorola Solutions’ largest partners in the United States and has served Florida for over 30 years. As a recipient of the school district’s radio system upgrade RFP, Radio One proposed Motorola Solutions’ MOTOTRBO XPR 7550e high-performance digital two-way radios.

This portable radio features integrated voice and data on either UHF/VHF or 800/900 MHz frequency, along with advanced features for efficient operation. The XPR 7550e operates effectively in a single-site capacity, supported by one or two repeaters based on each facility’s single- or multi-story characteristics; it offers ample channel capacity for all required talk-groups. From the school’s security to administration, teachers, facilities maintenance, transportation, and more, the XPR7550e system offered multiple channels to accommodate today’s needs and additional channels for future growth.

One of the other attributes of Radio One’s proposal that appealed to the district was that the portable radio solution offers a long-term migration path to ultimately connect all 210 schools on a scalable Capacity Max trunked radio communications solution. This solution can support up to 250 individual sites or schools, allowing growth and change as the district’s system requirements evolve. Radio One was awarded the two-way radio system proposal based on their product recommendations and their ability to work within the timeframe and the staggered deployment the individual schools required across the district’s learning communities. Despite the school’s limited attendance due to the pandemic, Radio One coordinated work crews to install and program each school’s repeaters and radios to comply with the individual school’s schedule, night or day.

The districts RFP for PS-DAS were issued primarily to general contractors, and Radio One was quickly named a sub-contractor based on its current connection and intimate knowledge of radio frequencies (RF) and technology.

As the sub-contractor, Radio One worked closely with both the school’s facility management team and construction managers to complete work promptly and assist with obtaining certifications of occupancy. Where construction improvements were not being implemented, the district awarded Radio One bids as one of the primary contractors for the in-building PS-DAS enhancements.

In both scenarios, Radio One’s thorough project management process was consistent. Conducting a detailed site walk and testing each school’s existing wireless signal strength was a priority. Test results and building floor plans were entered into a proprietary industry-leading wireless network design software. The CAD software model yielded plans that allowed the construction team’s professional engineers to complete and submit architectural-approved construction plans that were compliant with all local codes.

Once again, Radio One responded to the challenge of executing the PS-DAS deployments across all their contracted schools within the learning communities and in accordance with the individual school’s schedule and the district’s timeline.

Radio One continues to value the relationship with the school district today and frequently visits each school to optimize their systems and ensure everything is performing beyond expectations.

LEARN MORE: https://www.radio1inc.com/industry-solutions/education.htm

About Radio One: Radio One is Florida’s largest Motorola Solutions channel partner and is proud to announce we are now a CSE Crosscom global company, with 23 offices across 3 continents focused on being the leader in communications and security solutions. As a CSE Crosscom company, Radio One can leverage enhanced financial stability, resources, broader technical capabilities, and experience to meet and exceed all our customers’ end-to-end wireless solutions.

Radio One is focused on the design, deployment, and maintenance of wireless technologies to support productivity, safety, security, and critical operations across industries. With comprehensive voice, video, and data solutions, we leverage and integrate the industry’s best technologies to meet and exceed our customers’ needs. From two-way radio systems that instantly connect your workforce to video surveillance and access control that protect and secure employees and assets, from in-building DAS to Private LTE and more, our rich portfolio of wireless solutions allows us to be a strategic long-term partner for our customers’ complete wireless voice, video, and data analytic requirements.

A leader in wireless technology, we provide engineering, field deployment, annual service, maintenance, and equipment rental – not to mention the experience to manage projects across locations, industries, and conditions. Radio One is proud to have served Florida for more than three decades and counting, with locations throughout the state.

Our unwavering commitment to safety and security in schools has been instrumental to our success. We attribute our achievements to our continuous pursuit of the latest and most reliable technologies as well as our close partnership with customers to ensure their growth, success, and resilience in an ever-changing world.