The world's first TETRA operational ISI standard-based cross-border communication between two national authority networks will be trialled during 2010. The network operators, Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) and the Federal Agency for Digital Radio of Security Authorities and Organisations (BDBOS), have signed an agreement to launch a cooperative project with EADS Defence & Security to implement and trial cross-border communications. The trial will involve frontline authorities from Sweden and Germany, and is planned to take place during November and December 2010.
The operational trial will center around an exercise in international incident management, and will use TETRA for cross-border communications. The aim is to study how TETRA functionalities can improve radio communication and cooperation between two countries' authorities. It will also demonstrate the usability of TETRA communications in managing an international incident.
"This trial goes to show that authorities involved in a cross-border incident in another country can communicate with each other and with their international counterparts as securely and seamlessly as in their everyday operations in their home country," says Dr. Gabriele Knoll, Head of Directorate-General, BDBOS.
"The Rakel network brings significant security benefits to Sweden," says Stefan Kvarnerås, Head of the Rakel organization, MSB. "The trial expands these benefits. We have developed the trial and operational concepts to be able to meet the call for cross-border communications that the Council of the European Union have very high on their agenda."
"EADS Defence & Security was the first to prove in independent tests that its TETRA networks can be interconnected according to the ETSI TCTETRA ISI standard, and this project is a direct continuation of our strategy to ensure interoperability between networks," says Dirk Borchardt, Head of Security and Communication Solutions at EADS Defence & Security. "This trial shows that modern technology can make a difference in real, demanding operations".
The trial between Sweden and Germany will study mobility management of radios, group calls, inter-network individual calls and inter-network short messages (SDS), as well as control room interoperability.