software But professional apps targeted at the specifi c functionality
such user groups need to get the job done better, faster, more eff ectively and so on will defi nitely have a role to play.
Focus on apps With its mission of bringing together everyone who is doing data applications on TETRA, the recently-formed TETRA Association Applications Working Group (https://
apps.tetra-association.com) will be running an application development seminar at this year’s TETRA World Congress, taking place in Budapest in May. T e group’s chairman, Hannu Aronsson, says
they’re working on technical topics related to data and applications – everything from collecting user requirements to developing specifi cations and proposing solutions to identifi ed issues. T e ever-growing membership of the group, comprising users, operators and manufacturers as
well as application developers themselves, bears testament to the interest in the topic throughout the TETRA and critical communications communities as a whole.
A growth market, app-solutely… Mobile consumers have long since grown used to having apps as part of their daily work-and-play environment. T e catalogue of apps developed specifi cally to meet the needs of professional users will continue to expand over time, especially as enablers such as Java on devices, larger, higher-resolution colour screens and wider bandwidth data bearers, including TEDS, are rolled out. T us, in a classic market-led manner, user demand
and vendor innovation will drive the TETRA and wider critical communications sectors as a whole along a path already well-trodden by the PlayStation generation and ‘Twitterati’!
run over a TETRA bearer, says it will be user benefi t which will continue to drive the market into the future. By way of example, he cites an incident response scenario using an app designed for fi re brigades: “The control room receives a fi re alarm from a site
equipped with a remote surveillance video system”, he explains. “The operator accesses the surveillance video stream using our software in the control room and decides to assign two units to the incident. “The control room operator pushes task
assignment information and an image of the incident using task management and image push messaging apps to the selected units. “The information is immediately displayed on both in-vehicle computers and also on the unit handheld terminals, in fact on a wide range of potential devices, independent of their mobile operating system. “Both units
acknowledge the task assignment using
status update from the Java client’s easy-to- use status update button. The control room operator can follow the location of the units and their status while they converge on
the incident location. “While en route
to the incident site, the commanding unit calls up a
map display of the Issue 3 May 2011 TE TRA TODAY
Fighting fi re with an incident response app on your radio N
ick Koiza, of Portalify, one of the companies leading the way in developing applications to
incident site on a handheld TETRA terminal, using the app’s map functionality. They quickly assess which entrance they should use based on the pushed image, task information and map data of the location. “The fi re unit calls up site information
including construction plans, emergency evacuation maps and other information using their fi re truck MDT PC’s app. As the units arrive on the site – being able to arrive from an effective direction based on the photo and map information they have received – they update their status to ‘on site’ from the same software and begin their rescue operations. “Entering the site, the fi refi ghters fi nd a
chemical truck parked in the yard. Using a dedicated mobile query app, they enter the four-digit chemical code from the truck into the HazMat chemicals database on their handheld ATEX TETRA terminals. Instantly they receive an alert that the chemical is fl ammable and must immediately be moved away from fi re danger. “Task-related HazMat search results are
also shown in real time at the control room, which immediately decides to assign a special chemical fi re unit to the incident. “In summary, the dangerous chemical truck was
prioritized and moved away from danger whilst other units put out the fi re and secured the incident site. “Without access to a chemical database, the
presence of the chemical truck would not have been handled so effi ciently because it was not mentioned in the site information. The end-to-end integrated application solution allowed a quick and decisive response to, and resolution of, the incident.”
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