You are in:
Not just for talking
Two-way radios are mainly used for communications but not many people are aware of the full potential of digital radios. Applications are transforming the role of the radio and the market is slowly waking up to that fact. We speak with Danish application company Zonith.
“With digital radio the sound quality is better, the DMO-range is longer, but the real evolution from analogue to digital is in the possibility to add applications”, says Kristian Theilade, Product Specialist at Zonith A/S, a leading TETRA application development company based in Denmark.
According to Theilade, only the imagination restricts what can be achieved through digital radio terminals, and emergency services aren’t yet even close to seeing the full potential of this upcoming technology.
Volunteer fire brigade communication expanded
Some of the applications accessible today allow a variety of medias to work together, and this is the case with volunteer fire brigades.Volunteer fire brigades often use pagers to alert firefighters to a call out, and up to now both pagers and emergency radio systems have mostly been analogue or at least parallel systems with no automatic coordination. Because the systems are now turning digital new opportunities are available. Different communication platforms like TETRA, GSM and POCSAG can now work together through automatic dispatchers.
An example of this is when a 999 alarm is raised and the emergency dispatcher’s information is sent via a local automatic dispatcher. Some information may be required to be dispatched three or more different ways. An automatic dispatcher has the capability to cross-reference with a watch’s schedule and then send a pager only to the firefighters on duty. Using TETRA SDS text messages the dispatcher can also relay emergency information to the radios of the commanders, as well as paging the same information to the volunteer firefighters. For volunteer firefighters that live in areas with bad reception – or work in another town or city – SMS messages can also be sent as backup to ensure the call reaches everyone.
As a result, when firefighters arrive at the fire station they are better informed than before, as from the pager the scale and type of emergency will be evident. It was these exact benefits that impressed Finn Laukamp, vice-commander of the fire brigade in Aabenraa, in a trial exercise in Denmark. “Getting all the information in text from the first moment makes it much easier to prepare mentally and practically for the task ahead”.
Remote control and monitoring device
Most people associate radios with voice communication, but there is nothing to prevent radios from being used as remote controls. TETRA applications can be – and are already being – combined with telemetry. It is now possible to control and monitor surroundings through a TETRA radio terminal. It is possible that the use of digital radio applications can and will change the life of firefighters – all the way down to how they open the fire station gate.
With a well-designed application, and a little help from a remote telemetry and control unit, a firefighter can open a gate at the press of a soft-key on the radio. In this way any selected technical installations can be controlled through a TETRA radio, saving precious seconds. This solution is already used in many different businesses, and is found to be very practical in remote technical installations.
PMR applications are lifesavers
Indeed, much more is possible and applications and the demand for even more sophisticated functionalities will continue to grow and push the development forward.
Radio manufacturers are already aware of the potential and are initiating application partner programs. Sepura is one example of a radio manufacturer that is integrating applications, such as easy access menus and lone worker protection in its radios. Combined with an indoor positioning system, lone workers and people operating in dangerous environments can be found and quickly helped. Kristian Theilade from Zonith explains, “TETRA can be coupled with almost any other media through software, and it is possible to control and monitor all kinds of technical installations and alarms. You can do it from where you are standing, through the interface of a TETRA hand-held radio.”
Theilade stresses that TETRA radio could be even more versatile. He adds that tragic events could be avoided with the knowledge and technology we have today, and has no doubts that there is a future in software applications for TETRA.
