PMRExpo
Radio coverage on demand for events and incidents “This one is built for the German
market”, explained Steve Rolfe. “It uses many of the features of the UK ERVs – including an Axell Wireless digital repeater – and we’ve got all the usual things (mast, generator, inverters, battery packs) so that we can run the vehicle for round about ten days, unsupported.” During PMRExpo, the vehicle and its
Built on an all-terrain Mercedes chassis, Airwave’s emergency communications vehicle for the German market. The 10m pump-up mast is extended to capture the TETRA signal from a suitable donor site: it is operated by a wired remote control unit
O
utside the PMRExpo exhibition hall, Ray Mason of Airwave in the UK and
Steve Rolfe of Axell Wireless demonstrated the latest refinement of Airwave’s Emergency Response Vehicle (ERV) concept. A small fleet of these vehicles – three generations of them – is on standby around the UK to bring temporary TETRA radio coverage to locations such as underground stations if called upon, and to help in natural disasters such as floods.
crew provided demonstrations showing how coverage could rapidly be deployed in a nearby railway underpass. “We can just put the mast up, tune into the donor site and then go down with some co-ax and a little panel antenna”, said Ray Mason. A week earlier, he added, the vehicle had taken part in a trial on the Berlin Metro, with participation by police and fire officers. Though the ERV’s primary purpose
is to deliver flexible TETRA coverage through its repeaters, antennas, cable reels and other on-board equipment, a key part of Airwave’s design philosophy is to safeguard the vehicle itself. “You’re never sure what’s going to happen”, Mr Mason pointed out. “Secondary devices... walls could fall down.” So the vehicle carries a variety of AC and DC power options, including reconfigurable 12V and 24V batteries and various methods of recharging them – including, as a last resort,an independent petrol- powered portable generator. “If there’s an emergency and the crew go to a site and
by the vehicle’s diesel fuel tank, which can be refilled without shutting it down. “The take-off pipe to the generator doesn’t go all the way to the bottom of the fuel tank”, said Ray Mason. “So the generator will stop and I’ve still got 20 litres of fuel to get away.” Among the technical stores aboard the
vehicle are a spare repeater and a five- metre mast, which enable a secondary installation to be provided if required. Further communications options can include optical fibre connections and VSAT backhaul via a dish mounted on the roof.
something is wrong, some faults, there’s always a workaround, so they don’t have to go away”, said Steve Rolfe. The main electrical generator is supplied
From the well-stocked equipment store at the rear of the vehicle, Ray Mason takes out a compact TETRA panel antenna
Speaker-mic with a difference F
the barcode, so you can collect data with different methods. And also we have planned a fingerprint reader.” Other features of this versatile handset are a keypad for selecting
Data capture: the Stop Noise speaker-mic can capture a variety of 1D and 2D barcodes as well as photographs
Issue 2 February - April 2011 TE TRA TODAY
talkgroups, an emergency button, a man-down alert, a USB 2.0 port, an internal micro-SD memory slot so that captured images or other data can be saved for later downloading (alternatively, data can be stored remotely over the TETRA network), and a bright LED torch. The multi-handset is initially available for the new Cassidian THR9i handportable radio. Versions for Sepura and Motorola models will follow.
37
innish accessory developer Stop Noise demonstrated the latest version of its palm-sized all-in-one speaker-microphone handset for TETRA
radios. This provides additional data functions which can be closely integrated with the TETRA handset to which it is connected. Its integrated camera/barcode reader, for example, can send scans over the network, and a response can be returned to the radio’s screen. “If you scan an ID, you get feedback on the display about the person”, explained Mikko Salonen, of Stop Noise. “This one is wanted, or something! “We are planning also another model with an RFID scanner instead of
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