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Cassidian technology ‘performed well’ during Spanish earthquake
The SIRDEE (Sistema de Radiocomunicaciones Digitales de Emergencia del Estado) network, based on Cassidian’s TETRAPOL technology, played a significant role in organising and coordinating emergency services during the recent earthquake in Spain.
Public mobile networks suffered severely from heavy traffic making communication extremely difficult, but SIRDEE communications remained unaffected.
On May 11, 2011, the Spanish town of Lorca suffered a double earthquake. Due to the number of public security professionals working in the area the system had to deal with 264% more users. The number of group communications in the network tripled. Instead of the usual 20 individual calls per hour, the system had to handle 128, a 640% increase. The occupation rate of the traffic channels rose from 20% to 72%, an increase of 360%.
Despite a considerable increase in the number of terminals usually logged in the area, SIRDEE was able to maintain normal service, according to network operator Telefonica.
The SIRDEE network uses an infrastructure of TETRAPOL digital security radio communications technology supplied by Cassidian. Apart from the Guardia Civil and National Police several other organisations have joined SIRDEE: the Traffic Police, the Royal House, the Prime Minister’s Cabinet, the Emergency Military Unit (UME), the Spanish Navy, the Galicia Region Autonomous Police, the Torrelavega Local Police & Fire Brigade, the Cantabria Region Civil Protection Service, and also the Balearic Islands & Logroño.
