Trial demonstrates new level of integrated communications to nation’s largest statewide public transportation provider.

Alcatel-Lucent and PowerTrunk Inc. have successfully completed a trial of a TETRA/LMR (Terrestrial Trunked Radio/Land Mobile Radio) network with NJ TRANSIT in Newark, New Jersey. This is the first TETRA trial in the United States and demonstrates the multiple features and functionality of TETRA technology, as well as the strength of specialized TETRA-enabled applications.

TETRA is a digital trunked mobile radio standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) widely deployed by public-safety agencies, utilities and transportation companies outside North America with 2,000 contracts in place in more than 100 countries to date. 

The trial TETRA/LMR network enabled NJ TRANSIT buses to communicate, using voice and data, with operations personnel. The current network limits available data bandwidth and is not spectrally efficient.  The trial TETRA network provided higher data bandwidth and 6.25 KHz voice equivalency that will meet future FCC narrow-banding requirements.

Covering a service area of 5,325 square miles, NJ TRANSIT is the nation's largest statewide transportation system, providing bus, rail and light rail transit linking major points in New Jersey, New York and Philadelphia. The agency operates a fleet of 2,027 buses, 711 trains and 45 light rail vehicles. NJ TRANSIT’s 240 bus routes and 12 rail lines take passengers on more than 223 million trips each year.

“This is the first TETRA trial in the United States and the only one that entirely utilizes equipment certified by the FCC,” stated Jose Martin, Chief Operating Officer of PowerTrunk. “We are delighted to team with Alcatel-Lucent for this project and I hope that we will cooperate in many others in the future.”

“The existing NJ TRANSIT communications backbone enabled us to efficiently and smoothly reconfigure the network to support TETRA,” said Nicola Guidara, Director of Transportation Market Segment for Alcatel-Lucent’s Americas Region. “Thanks to our close collaboration with PowerTrunk, together were able to provide NJ TRANSIT with an advanced TETRA network.”

Alcatel-Lucent served as the primary network integrator for the trial.  PowerTrunk-T provided base stations, mobiles, hand portables, a line dispatcher and a switch to integrate a legacy VHF system. In addition, the network is integrated to an existing CAD system and a PowerTrunk PABX/PSTN gateway allows full duplex cellular-like communications betweencell phones and PowerTrunk radios.

PowerTrunk has received authorization from the FCC and Industry Canada for its TETRA base station repeater as well as for a subscriber unit and a mobile unit. These units are currently being piloted in the NJ TRANSIT demonstration. Certificates for the PowerTrunk TETRA BSR75 base station radio/repeater, the TETRA HTT-500 subscriber unit and the MDT-400 mobile unit are available at the FCC website.