South Tyrolean Tetra network for civil protection organisations to be expanded
The Office for Civil Protection in South Tyrol has awarded Airbus Defence and Space and its Austrian partner company Center Communications Systems an extension contract for the Tetra radio communication network in South Tyrol, Italy.
The conclusion of this second-phase contract with a total value of 3.5 million euros was achieved by the Airbus Defence and Space-led consortium only one year after signing the first contract. The Tetra network will replace over 40 analogue communications systems currently used by the civil protection organisations. Thanks to the extension the whole province will be covered by secure digital radio communications.
The contract includes an extension of the radio coverage by 47 sites up to a total of 102 sites using the advanced Tetra TB3 base station. The redundancy and capacity of the network will be increased by the delivery of a second digital Tetra DXT3 switch, which will also support easy extensions in the future to fill remaining coverage gaps. Furthermore, a Tactilon subscriber management system will be delivered to support the tactical user management of the network at all organisational levels. The delivery of a SDS (Short Data Service) Centre will make sure that text messages are delivered even if a recipient is not registered in the network at the time.
The implementation of a new training system will support the introduction of the Tetra technology and the new devices to the end users, who now use over 50 analogue systems. It will contain a classroom simulator and an e-learning tool that support the transition from the separated legacy systems to a shared network. This training system will also enable the easy introduction of future radio terminal and network features to end users.
The Tetra system in South Tyrol will provide a high level of support for the cooperation of various professional and voluntary organisations, such as firefighters, mountain rescuers, first responders, forestry services, civil protection and motorway maintenance personnel by enabling them to communicate directly with one another. In addition, using one Tetra network for all radio communication will greatly reduce operation and maintenance costs.
