“We’ve given the new range a new look to match”, says product manager Mark Barnby, cataloguing a long list of new and improved features, “and we’ve made sure that the new range can use all their existing accessories from the STP series. Their chargers, their batteries, their audio accessories from the existing 8000 can be worked and used on the 9000 series.”

Furthermore, a new GPS chip gives the STP9000 better sensitivity, so that it can cling on to very weak signals and can be tracked more reliably – an important factor for the users’s safety. “We’ve created something which we call predictive ephemeris”, Mr Barnby continues. “You need ephemeris to start tracking – that’s usually the big delay when you switch on your satnav in your car. It’s trying to download the ephemeris and that takes time. With this product, if you can’t see enough of the sky to download the ephemeris, and it’s got an ephemeris within 48 hours old, it does a prediction from that. And what that means is it’s more likely to start up quickly and track quickly, even in some in-building environments.

“We’ve added new safety features, so if the user has a product which is switched off and an emergency happens, he no longer has to switch it on before he can initiate an emergency. He can simply press and hold the emergency button and it will power up and send the emergency call.”

Sepura also announced STProtect, an innovative indoor tracking and location solution primarily targeted at lone worker safety and protection across a wide range of sectors and interworking with its STP8000 and STP9000 series handportable radios.

Pocket performance

Extending the functionality and form range of TETRA equipment was a focus too for Cassidian at the show. It launched a new slimline radio, the TH1n – at just 19?mm thick, the first in a new class of pocket-sized TETRA radios. It is designed to open up the TETRA market to new sectors, such as social workers and healthcare personnel who have the option of joining shared public safety networks but so far have not found a radio model to suit their needs.

“There’s a lot of agencies within government that like to be connected to these networks but don’t want to use heavy, big terminals that are meant for first responder use”, explained Eric Davalo chief technical officer for secure communication solutions at Cassidian. “And this is why we are going to target a very large market of people that really embraces the new technology.”

The radio’s IP65 protection provides reliable performance in demanding environments and its 1·8 watt output power delivers extra reach when network coverage is at its limit or when Direct Mode Operation (DMO) is used. Equipped with appropriate accessories, TH1n is also suitable for covert use.

First customers to have confirmed orders for the TH1n are the Virve network in Finland, the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) and Atlas Telecom of the United Arab Emirates. Deliveries will begin at the end of this year.

On the infrastructure side, Cassidian unveiled its DXT3c TETRA switch, as small as the compact TB3 base station and one-third the size and less than half the weight of the company’s DXT3 switch. In addition to providing a full set of TETRA features, it includes all the functions of a packet data gateway, base station controller and dispatcher controller as well as multiple application connections. The DXT3c can support more than 900 active talk groups when the average offered group traffic is 0·2 erlang.

Its IP capability supports a ‘push-to-talk over LTE’ function, demonstrated by Cassidian at the show. This allows LTE subscribers to participate in a TETRA group call via push-to-talk, provided that they have the necessary call rights.

Continuing the LTE focus, Cassidian also launched its TB3s TETRA base station, which can be fitted with broadband LTE carriers. It combines all the usual TB3 features, from TEDS to air-interface encryption and from Type 1 Handover to base station fallback. Combining TETRA and LTE capabilities in one unit means that upgrading the network for TEDS and introducing broadband can be achieved with incremental investment.

The TB3s is aimed at helping network owners and operators save money, since the combined TETRA and LTE units can share antenna lines and antennas. In addition, they can use the same transmission lines to the core network and the same battery backup system. The TB3s can be operated and maintained over a remote connection.

Next year’s congress

With the next event now planned for Paris next year, May 20–23 – and renamed ‘Critical Communications World, incorporating TETRA World Congress’ – temperatures outside the exhibition hall may be much cooler than they were in Dubai, where even the locals were complaining about the 41°C heat. For the industry, however, given the general speeding up of its metabolism driven by broadband, increasing clarity on spectrum issues and cross-industry collaboration, mission-critical solutions are certain to remain a hot topic for the foreseeable future.
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