ARMER was first built in the Twin Cities in 2004, then moved to St. Cloud and Rochester and has since migrated throughout the rest of Minnesota. ARMER currently serves as the primary communications tool for the majority of state, county and local public safety entities in Minnesota. 

The Minnesota Department of Transportation owns the core infrastructure, providing the ARMER backbone and 95 percent mobile coverage. Many local units of government own local enhancements providing improved local and in-building coverage. 

Participation

Participation on the ARMER radio system is open to all public safety entities based in Minnesota as well as city, county, state, federal and tribal governments. 

Formal ARMER Participation may be in the form of:

• Full Participation Plan
• Limited Participation Plan
• Interoperability Participation Plan

Plan Types

Full Participation Plan 

The Full Participation Plan entities are fully integrated into the ARMER backbone and use the ARMER radio system for primary voice communications.

For example: An entity such as a county or city with its own Public Safety Answering Point that primary dispatches its law, fire and/or emergency medical services via ARMER through a fully integrated console or a control station.

Limited Participation Plan

Limited Participation Plans are generally a temporary solution as an entity migrates from its legacy radio system to a Full Participation Plan. The primary voice communications of Limited Participation Plan entities are integrated with the ARMER system via patches, audio gateways or other means.

For example: An entity such as a county or city with its own Public Safety Answering Point that primarily dispatches its law, fire and/or emergency medical services via a legacy (non-ARMER) radio system, but is integrated with ARMER by way of a patch or via a temporarily-installed control station.

Interoperability Participation

Interoperability Participation Plan entities obtain access to the ARMER system via subscriber equipment, for purposes of interoperability. However, they do not use the ARMER system as the entity's primary voice communication system. Interoperability participants may be authorized to maintain and operate subscriber equipment programmed to talkgroups in accordance with the standards adopted by the Statewide Emergency Communications Board.

Examples:

• A federal law enforcement agency working in Minnesota
• A fire department in a neighboring state that is a mutual aid responder to Minnesota
• The State Patrol of a neighboring state that may provide mutual aid to Minnesota

Participation Plan Amendments

Participation Plans need amending from time to time and such amendments must be approved by the Statewide Emergency Communications Board.  A common reason to amend a participation plan is when seeking additional radio or talkgroup IDs.  While there is no amendment prescribed form, minimum expectations have been established. Providing the requested information as part of the amendment initial request will help speed your amendment along.