LTE  |  2021-12-27

RugGear Launches MCPTT Capable Rugged Smartphone

Source: The Critical Communications Review | Gert Jan Wolf editor

The company just launched the Ultra Rugged RG530 PTT device that has been developed with extreme environments in mind.

RugGear, a world leading designer and manufacturer of rugged mobile devices for mission critical and industrial users, has launched its MCPTT (Mission Critical PTT) capable smart phone RG530 early this year to further strengthen its Push-to-talk over LTE or Cellular (PoC) offering for public safe users, such as police, firefighting, emergency medical services (EMS), etc. The new MCPTT series is designed to facilitate digitization of mission critical users’ workflows and increase their work efficiency and safety.

Mission Critical PTT, or MCPTT, is the standard that defines the requirements for push-to-talk over cellular to mirror the mission critical voice calls provided by professional mobile radio systems, usually known as two-way radio or walkie talkie systems. It was defined by the 3GPP, a collaborative group of telecommunication standards bodies also responsible for defining the LTE and 5G standards. The biggest difference between MCPTT and PoC is that most PoC solutions in the market are vendor proprietary technologies, while MCPTT is an open protocal, which specifies a full list of mission critical communications services and ensures interoperability among poducts of different vendors.

PoC technology is very versatile. It offers abundant data features, as well as two-way radio voice calls. The PoC ecosystem now is mature and you have many vendors for PoC terminals, software, servers, etc. It is a very cost effective solution for group communications, especially for enterprise users,” said Maverick Chen, founder and president of RugGear.“It is not an issue for most enterprise users whether it’s proprietary solution or not. However, it’s a completely different story of mission critical communications, which has much higher requirement of reliablity, service avaibablity, QoS and security. MCPTT, or MCS, to be more complete, set up a standard for vendors and users. Radios we have launched, such as RG530, are MCPTT compliant and offers standard-based features.

RugGear RG530 is desisgned for the mission critical challenges in terms of both hardware and software. To be fully up to the challenges which mission critical users face in their work, the phones must be ruggedized and built with dedicated PTT and ermergency alert buttons, though MCPTT APPs can run in regular consumer grade smart phones.

Running with Android™ OS 9.0, RG530 is able to guarantee stable and reliable connections with the use of its dedicated accessories. The 13-pin PTT headset is perfect for calls, while the 13-pin RSM, is ideal for PTT. The desktop chargers and belt clips are designed specifically for professional work environments.

RG530 is equipped with noise cancelling dual mic and HD broadband receiver. Together with a 105 db loudspeaker, it delivers loud and clear voice messages even in the noisiest environments. Developed with extreme environments in mind, such as no access to charging outlets, RG530 is equipped with a removable battery to allow you to keep going through work shifts with no disruption by popping in place a fully charged spare battery.