SELEX ECOS-D: The World's 1st DMR Infrastructure Equipment to Successfully Complete DMR IOP Tests

Successful completion of the first DMR Interoperability (IOP) test session which took place in Milan, Italy on April 27-28, 2010.
Testing of SELEX Communications’ ECOS-D DMR Simulcast Network Infrastructure and Motorola’s MOTOTRBO DMR Terminals was carried out following the DMR Association’s “Interoperability Process” which defines a list of interoperability tests, suitable test methodology, testing laboratory criteria and a test result verification process for both conventional and trunked modes of operation.
Tests performed include individual, group, broadcast and emergency calls, call alerts, radio check, remote monitoring, emergency alarm, radio enable and disable. The tests were conduced in SELEX Communications’ DMR Center of Excellence facilities in Milan which have been active in the design and manufacturing of PMR systems since 1956.

Mario Micheli, DMR Association Chair (of SELEX Communications, Italy) commented, “this is an important milestone for the DMR Association. Members of our technical working group have worked hard for this achievement and we are delivering on our mission of making DMR a truly open, multi-vendor technology.”

The DMR Association is a global organization focused on helping to make DMR the most widely supported 21st century digital radio standard for the business world. Through a combination of interoperability testing, certification, education, and awareness the Association is working to ensure that business buyers of today's digital radio technology gain ongoing value through the competition and choice derived from an open, multi-vendor value chain.

SELEX Communications is a founding member of the DMR Association where it plays an active role in the definition and development of the DMR Standard. Alessandro Guido represents the Company in the Associations’ Technical Working Group which is focused on interoperability and other technical matters such as developments to the standard, and Marco Morresi represents SELEX Communications in the Associations’ Marketing Working Group which deals with issues related to education and awareness about the standard.

About DMR

Digital Mobile Radio (DMR) does not identify any specific product but represents - like GSM - a European telecommunications standard for Professional Mobile Radio (PMR) voice and data communications. Developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ESTI).

DMR is a response to the communication demands of organizations looking for an open, multi-vendor, flexible, and spectrally efficient alternative to substitute analogue and legacy PMR systems and for those who need to safeguard - to the highest possible extent - capital investments that were made in the existing infrastructure (this includes items such as frequencies, sites, antennas, filters, combiners etc.).

Simulcast DMR

SELEX Communications’ ECOS-D DMR Simulcast equipment has been commercially available since 2008 and is currently the only infrastructure equipment manufacturer that can boast having received IOP Certification.

ECOS-D networks represent the ideal solution for organizations that require comprehensive radio coverage of wide geographical areas using the lowest possible number of frequencies and antenna sites. SELEX Communications’ DMR Simulcast solution was used by the Italian Civil Protection, involved in the organization and security of the 2009 G8 Summit 8 which took place in L’Aquila, Italy. During the three main days of the meeting and in the preparatory days ahead of the event, the new DMR networks cleared heavy communications traffic throughout the wide and complex territory.

The ability to migrate smoothly and gradually from existing legacy systems to digital technology translates in the possibility to dilute budget expenditures over several years whilst maintaining system performance during the migration period. It also means to be able to re-use radio sites from existing legacy systems and to have equal or better network coverage.

ECOS-D systems allow PMR users to take advantage of such features thanks to:

• Analogue/digital dual-mode RBS operating on the same radio channel;
• Re-use of PMR frequency bands (VHF 66-88 MHz, VHF146-174 MHz , UHF 400-470 MHz);
• Re-use of analogue systems site infrastructure and network architecture;
• Compliance with EC regulations (ETSI EN 300 113 and EN 300 086).

 Thanks to ECOS-D networks’ flexible macro-cell structure, users also benefit from significant frequency savings. Frequency savings is possible thanks to the ECOS-D’s ability to reuse the same channel pairs across the entire network. ECOS-D is engineered to employ different link between repeaters, to maximize overlapping areas in order to achieve redundant radio coverage and flexible network configuration.

Source: www.selex-comms.com