LMR upgrade comes to JB MDL Published June 8, 2012 By 2nd Lt. Jacob Payton 87th Communications Squadron JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- The 87th Communications Squadron has begun planning a base-wide upgrade to the existing land mobile radio system in order to seamlessly integrate McGuire, Dix and Lakehurst into one LMR system. The LMR upgrade will bring along some new features that will ensure users maintain secure radio communication. One of these features is an end-to-end advanced encryption standard encryption. End-to-end AES encryption ensures transmitted data between users is encrypted, keeping it private and secure. Another new LMR feature being used is the Project 25 standard trunking. The P25 Standard allows for federal, state, and other local agencies to communicate with each other during times of emergencies. The LMR upgrade will also bring along over the air rekeying as well as Over the Air Provisioning. OTAR is the common name for the method of changing or updating encryption keys in a two-way radio system over the radio channel. OTAP refers to the various methods of distributing new updates or configuration settings to devices. These capabilities allow for users to quickly reprogram radio handsets reducing the maintenance time. New consoles for managing the network as well as radio dispatch will be installed along with these features. The network management suite will provide a network management, OTAP and OTAR console. The network management console will be able to add and remove radios from the authorized radio list to help increase the security of the radio network. The OTAP and OTAR consoles will provide the means to reprogram the radios over the air. The dispatching console will connect directly to the to better prioritize calls. Overall the new system will provide a more reliable and secure radio network that integrates the various services on the Joint Base. The install is expected to be complete by October.