Part 1. TETRA – How did we get here?

Part 2. The first 2 TETRA pilots in North

America – BC Hydro & NJ Transit

Peter Clemons

Board Member, TETRA Association

Director of Communications, Teltronic S.A.U.

Part 1. TETRA –

How did we get here?

Goals set during TETRA

standard creation

Users: Features Choice Competition

Regulators:• Spectral efficiency• Harmonisation

Operators:• Desired features• Data services• Competition• Cost effectiveness

Manufacturers:• Open market volumes• IPR - to ensure open

standards, the ETSI IPR policy stipulates patented solutions to be made available on fair and

reasonable terms

International digital radio standard

Designed specifically for public safety professionals and for those who work and need to communicate in groups

Evolving, open, ETSI standard

Instant push to talk, group voice communications

Pre-emptive communications system

End to end, secure voice and data transmission

TETRA Release 2 provides 3G-like data rates

What is TETRA?

Core technology

•4 slot TDMA in 25kHz channels (6.25 kHz

equivalent)

•π/4 DQPSK Modulation

•Gross data rate 36kbit/s, Net 28kbit/s

•Circuit and packet mode data

•Low bit rate ACELP codec (4.6kbit/s)

•Fast call setup <350ms typical

•Air Interface and End to End Encryption

Core TETRA standards and standard interfaces

Air Interface (AI)

- Voice plus data (V+D)

Direct Mode Interface (DMI)

- Voice plus data (V+D)

DMI

• Inter-System Interface (ISI)

• Peripheral Equipment

Interface (PEI)

AIISI

PEI

Network ANetwork B

TETRA spectrum efficiency200kHz bandwidth

GSM

Half-rate GSM(future)

PMR 25 kHz

PMR 12.5 kHzP25 Tetrapol

TETRA

200 kHz carrier8 channels

200 kHz carrier16 channels

25 kHz channel8 channels / 200 kHz

12.5 kHz channels16 channels / 200 kHz

25 kHz carrier4 channels / carrier32 channels / 200 kHz

TETRA is “feature rich” including:

Very, very, very clear digital speech

Fast call set up times

Group calls, personal calls, telephony, direct mode

Seamless roaming

Equipment interoperability (Product Compliance)

Operational and administrative interoperability and flexibility

Total management

Privacy and security

Spectrum efficiency - TDMA Trunking

Voice and data – up to 600+ kbits with TETRA release

------ & more and more

As much as you want or as little as you want

The most secure PMR technology in the world

Digital transmissionModulation and frame structure

ACELP vocoder not “readable”

AuthenticationAuthenticates the user

Can authenticate the system

Air Interface EncryptionProtects the air link

Protects signalling and identities

End-to-End EncryptionProtects the transmission lines

Protects inside equipment rooms

TETRA Association

• Created in 1994 as the TETRA MoU to promote the TETRA standard in Europe and around the world

• Has organised the TETRA World Congress since 1998 (13 times; next one to take place in Dubai in May 2012)

• Today there are more than 160 members from 40 countries

• There are several national and regional forums

• An up-to-date web-site with lots of information about TETRA and its members: www.tetra-association.com

• Brings together a number of sub-groups:

Marketing Group

TE

TR

A

Asso

cia

tio

n

Operator and UsersAssociation - OUA

Technical Forum (TF)

Security and FraudPrevention Group - SFPG

Rail Forum

Regional/Geographic Forums

TETRA Association

Regional Forums

Germany

Australasia

UK Offshore Hungary

Norway

China

Southern

Africa

Ukraine

Gulf

India

North AmericaTurkey

Manufacturers

Interoperability guaranteed

Commercial Products

•Infrastructure•Terminals

TETRA Contracts by Region

Western Europe

40%

Eastern Europe

15%

Scandinavia

4%

Middle East

5%

Africa

5%

Asia Pacific

25%

Latin America

6%

2,500+ contracts in at least 121 countries

TETRA Contracts by Sector

Public Safety

32%

Transport

33%

Utilities

10%

Business and Industry

5%

Confidential 1%

Government

10%Military

2%

Extraction

5%

PAMR

3%

TETRA milestones – the standard continues to evolve• 1989: ETSI decides to develop a digital LMR solution to complement

development of GSM cellular solution• 1991: TDMA access technology & other basic parameters are

defined• 1994: The TETRA MoU (Association) is formed to promote TETRA

technology & guarantee the open standard• 1995: NATO hands over frequencies in the 380-400 MHz band for

use by European public safety agencies• 1996: The UK Government specifies TETRA as the technology to be

used in the nationwide emergency network which becomes Airwave• 1997: The first TETRA networks appear• 2000: Future user requirements are defined as work begins on

TETRA Release 2• 2001-2: The first IP-based TETRA networks appear• 2005: The German government selects TETRA for its nationwide

network guaranteeing that TETRA will be the No. 1 global digital LMR technology

• 2008: First TETRA World Congress outside Europe – Hong Kong• 2009: First TEDS contracts awarded; first North American pilot• 2010: First TEDS trials announced; first US pilot• 2011: Work starts in earnest on defining future Broadband TETRA

TETRA Release 1

+

TETRA Release 2

+

(TETRA Release 3)

=

TETRA

Part 2. The first 2 TETRA pilots

in North America –

BC Hydro & NJ Transit

PowerTrunk – basic facts

Headquartered in New York

Full certification from FCC and Industry Canada for TETRA base

station repeater, subscriber unit and mobile unit

Pioneer in TETRA in North America

A subsidiary of Teltronic S.A.U. Spain:

35 years designing, manufacturing, implementing and supporting

LMR with 300 digital and analog LMR networks in 50 countries

Operations in Europe, USA/Canada, Pacific Rim, Asia, Middle East,

Latin America

Infrastructure, mobiles, hand portables, dispatching consoles

BC Hydro

BC Hydro – Basic facts

Canadian electric utility for province of British Columbia

generally known as BC Hydro

Founded in 1961

Headquartered in Vancouver

Canada’s third largest electric utility

Serves 1.8 million electricity customers

6,000+ employees

Revenue: C$ 3.8 billion (2010)

What did BC Hydro pilot test?

First TETRA pilot in North America (2009)

TETRA technology in real installation

Multi-site and automatic roaming mechanisms

Audio quality, delay and network coverage

TETRA added-value functionality (data)

Direct mode voice and data services (without infrastructure)

TETRA interconnection to external data applications such as

SCADA or AVL

All the above in a multi-vendor environment:

PowerTrunk supplies the network

Sepura and PowerTrunk supply the subscribers units

BC Hydro pilot: Interoperability Testing already proven interoperability between PowerTrunk

TETRA infrastructure and Sepura TETRA portable

Multiple joint references throughout the world

Some with over 5 years of continuous operation

IOP test sessions and granted certificates:

Mar 2008: DMO Gateway and TMO

Dec 2006: DMO Gateway

Nov 2006: TMO

Sep 2005: TMO

Jan 2004: TMO

SCN

SBS 1

SBS 2

SBS 3

FIREWALL

DISPATCHER

CONSOLE

NMSAVL /

SCADA

ETHERNET

(LAYER 2)

INT

ER

NA

L

EX

TE

RN

AL

BC Hydro pilot: Network diagram

BC Hydro pilot: Network components 1 central node (SCN) with VoIP gateway and telephone

interconnection

3 repeater sites (SBS), one with telephone interconnection

1 dispatch console

1 AVL server

Full data license (circuit data, packet data, status, SDS and

GPS)

Secondary control channel support

15 hand portable units

5 mobile units

– 2 hand portable with direct mode repeater capabilities

– 2 mobile units with direct mode gateway capabilities

Intra-site TMO operation

Inter-site TMO

operation

Roaming and handover

Data connections

DMO mode operation

DMO-to-TMO and TMO-to

DMO operation

(Gateway) PSTN/PABX

interconnection Network management

system /line dispatcher DMO repeater 1ª

functionality

BC Hydro pilot:

Comprehensive scope of functionality

Site Base

Station 1

Site Base

Station 2

System

Central

Node

TMO

Coverage

2

TMO

Coverage

1

DMO

Coverage

1

DMO

Gateway

NMS /

Line

Dispatch

er

Data PC

DMO

Repeater

1A

BC Hydro pilot:

Functionalities tested - scope 1 Registration

Talkgroup management

Group calls

Individual calls

Emergency calls

PSTN/PABX interconnection

Inter-site call and cell reselection during call

Status messages

Short data messages

Secondary control channels

GPS positioning (AVL)

Packet data (IP data)

BC Hydro pilot:

Functionalities tested – scope 2 Circuit mode data

Authentication of terminals

Encryption of data and voice services

Fallback (fail-soft) operation

Dispatcher console services

Dynamic group number addressing (dynamic regrouping)

Call forwarding

Direct mode operation

Direct mode gateway

Direct mode repeater

NJ Transit

NJ Transit – Basic facts

NJ Transit is US’s largest statewide transportation

system

Founded in 1979

Headquartered in Newark, NJ

Links major points in New Jersey, New York &

Philadelphia

Fleet of 2,027 buses, 711 trains & 45 light rail vehicles

240 bus routes & 12 rail lines provide service for 223

million annual trips

PowerTrunk – NJ TRANSIT Pilot

Pilot launched: November 2010

First TETRA network in United States history

It uses FCC-certified equipment only

Facilities open to TETRA Association and others

Pilot Objectives

TETRA LMR pilot in Newark, New Jersey in

collaboration with New Jersey TRANSIT.

Demonstrate the viability of PowerTrunk TETRA

technology in a transportation environment

Demonstrate the viability of TETRA technology in

the United States

Compare TETRA capabilities (scalable, maintainable

& functionalities) to existing aging analog system

Show integration with existing Dispatcher system

and existing analog radio system

Pilot Scope

Two base stations in the 800 MHz band were installed in

locations provided by NJT.

PowerTrunk Command and Control Center with one

operator position was integrated with the existing NJT

computer aided dispatch (CAD) system.

Test radio coverage, data capabilities and TETRA

functionalities.

Pilot Equipment: PowerTrunk Infrastructure

1 System Control Node (SCN)

– Telephone gateway

– Ethernet SNI

1 Network Management System -server/client

2 Site Base Station (SBS)

– 1 carrier of 65 Watt @ 800MHz band

– 1 Local Site Controller (LSC)

Pilot Equipment: CeCoCo

Command and Control Center

– Switching Matrix

– CeCoCo Operator/Supervisor position

– Party Line card

Pilot Equipment: PowerTrunk Terminals

3 MDT-400 mobile radios

– GPS

– Vehicular connection kit

4 HTT-500 portable radios

– GPS

– Desktop charger (1+1)

1 Programming tool for mobile and portable

radios

Pilot Equipment: NJ TRANSIT Infrastructure and Terminals

Equipment rooms for:

– 1 SCN + SBS at NJT Headquarters, Newark.

– 2 SBS at Eagle Rock Site, Newark - with antennas and LNAs for Rx.

– Control Center at Maplewood, Newark.

1 Telco T1 full - 1.544MB/s.

2 Cisco routers capable of L2TPv3.

Private IP network at NJT HQ and Maplewood.

Corporate IP network to connect to CAD server.

PABX/PSTN phone line at the SCN.

VPN for remote access from factory.

NJT analog radios: Harris, Vertex with Telex IP-223 connectivity.

Pilot Topology

SBS 2

Eagle Rock

Ethernet VPN

Network NMS CLIENT

NJT HQ

CECOCO

OPERATOR 1

MAPLEWOOD

SCN+SBS 1

NJT HQ

RSI CAD

OPERATOR 1

MAPLEWOOD

Corporate IP Network

PowerTrunk Remote

Maintenance System

RSI

CAD SYSTEM

SERVERS

Call Client

Call

Server

L2TPv3 Router

L2TPv3 Router

CECOCO

SYSTEM

NJT HQ

Internet

Pilot System Basic Layout

Pilot System Basic Layout: SCN + SBS1 at NJT HQ

Cabinet

Front view

Cabinet

Rear view

Equipment room 9th floor.

Roof antennas

Pilot System Basic Layout: SBS2 at Eagle Rock

Existing tower and antennas

Front view

Rear view

Pilot System Basic Layout: NMS Client at NJT HQ

Network Management Client Real time monitoring

Phases of the Pilot

I . Tetra system start-up

III. Integrate TETRA radio network with

existing analog VHF radio network

II. CeCoCo system start-up

IV. Integrate existing CAD console with

PowerTrunk CeCoCo system

V. Coverage analysis – drive test

I. Tetra System Start-up

Tested the following functionalities:

Developed with transportation industry voice

calls (simplex, group, duplex,…).

Telephone gateway calls (PABX, PSTN).

Data calls (SDS, status, packet data, circuit

data, GPS).

Network management (real time monitoring of

calls/incidents, network statistics, data

exporting, network configuration, etc.)

II. CeCoCo System Start-upCeCoCo

Existing Analog Equipment

CeCoCo Operator Existing CAD Dispatcher System

II. CeCoCo system start-up

Functionalities tested:

Voice calls (simplex, group, duplex,…).

Telephone gateway calls (PABX, PSTN).

Data calls (SDS, status).

MAP GIS / GPS positioning of terminals in the field.

Interconnect calls– Used the CeCoCo Matrix capabilities to connect

some TETRA calls with PABX/PSTN calls.

III. Integrate TETRA Radio Network with Existing

VHF Analog Radio Network

Integration with existing analog system was

achieved using three different methods:

– CeCoCo Matrix connected to analog radio using “Function

Tone” protocol. M/A-COM radio was used.

– CeCoCo Matrix connected to Telex IP-223 and to Vertex

radio.

– MDT-400 connected “back-to-back” with Vertex radio.

Placed calls to and from CeCoCo to analog system.

Interconnect calls: used the CeCoCo Matrix to

connect some TETRA calls with analog calls

III. Integrate TETRA Radio Network with Existing

VHF Analog Radio Network

New components where added to the PowerTrunk interface equipment in order

to communicate with existing NJT analog radios.

Equipment was modified in the field to integrate with VHF analog radios (simplex, group, duplex…).

IV. Integrate Existing CAD Console with

PowerTrunk CeCoCo System Integration with existing NJ TRANSIT CAD system achieved by

developing a SW interface between the CAD and CeCoCo.

The radio system features for CAD tested during the pilot:

– Request-to-talk (RTT) - Priority request-to-talk (PRTT)

– Emergency alert (EA). - Run/Line log on

– Operator ID log on - Test messaging

– Two-way voice - Voice announcements

– Mobile group addressing

Existing NJ TRANSIT CAD system tested all these functionalities on

the TETRA terminals directly from the CAD console.

Tests performed were successful and 100% integration between both

systems was achieved.

V. Coverage Analysis – Drive Test

PowerTrunk-developed test drive equipment gathered

information throughout the Newark area such as signal

strentth, BER% and additional information from both

sites.

Drive test data is being analyzed at this moment

– Test data will be correlated with theoretical coverage based on

the calculations performed by PowerTrunk

Based on initial results, the coverage is better than

expected from NJ Transit’s point of view

Note:

Additional information on the final drive test and coverage results will be

available soon. Nevertheless the next slide anticipates some of that data.

Tetra Mobile MDT-400 Drive Test

In-vehicle radio set-upUsed PowerTrunk’s own PC

application for drive tests

NOTE: Data collection is also available with portable terminals.

PowerTrunk Equipment was used to collect field data.

Sample of Drive Test Data Collected

We anticipate that

within the vehicle

mobile unit, the

coverage radius of

each SBS is beyond 9

miles and in some

areas up to 15 miles

Tetra Mobile MDT-400 Drive Test

Data collected with

PowerTrunk software can

be saved in Google format

for easy and

comprehensive analysis.

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