Raytheon Company’s JPS Communications and Sprint have jointly announced that Argonne National Laboratory, one of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DoE) largest research centers, has improved its radio communications and safety readiness. With the deployment of Raytheon JPS’ ACU-1000 system and the proven instant communications capability of the Sprint Nextel Walkie-Talkie, Argonne Labs trunking system, Argonne Labs personnel, Argonne Labs Area Emergency Supervisors (AES), and local fire departments can communicate with one another in times of need via the ACU-1000 from their disparate radio systems.

Argonne safety regulations require AES to be notified whenever there is any incident at a building on its 1500-acre campus in DuPage County, Illinois. With more than 100 buildings, several hundred AES employees are often with a secondary and tertiary contact for each building. The cost to outfit each AES with a trunking portable radio was costly, prompting the need for a cost-effective method of communications that provided ease of use for employees.

“The use of the ACU-1000 paired with the Nextel Walkie-Talkie technology enabled Argonne National Laboratory to implement an interoperability solution quickly and affordably that also complemented its existing land mobile radio network,” said Sandy Waters, vice president of sales and marketing for Raytheon JPS Communications.

With the new technology, different radio systems can be plugged into the ACU switch, and the Nextel Walkie-Talkie audio stream is translated between radio systems and enhanced with JPS’ digital signal processing technology. The AES simply dials the Nextel Walkie-Talkie number assigned to the ACU-1000 and is instantly connected to the emergency talk group on the Argonne Labs trunking system. In addition to the main fire dispatch center, any firefighter on the system can communicate with the appropriate AES on their Nextel phones from Sprint.

“Interoperability is a major concern at the Lab, and the combined technology gives us the ability to interact with various parties when and wherever we need to,” said Vic Omiecinski, wireless manager for Argonne.

“Sprint partners with Raytheon JPS Communications to enable interoperability between systems and to give our customers the advantage of instant communication at an affordable cost in those times of need,” said Susan Nelson, vice president of alliances and partnerships for Sprint. “We know the value integrated solutions can have in bridging the communications gap and helping organizations provide critical information on demand.”

On the grounds of Argonne Labs, interoperability among all necessary parties is key in aiding in multiple types of coordinated response efforts, whether it is among fellow employees or with other members of the first responder community.