accessories


Connecting with TETRA’s growing radio footprint


With TETRA systems now deployed in more than 114 countries, demand is growing for reliable and innovative accessories to extend the usefulness of radio terminals in a widening range of applications. Tim Guest takes a look at a few of the options available


W Top: with a speaker-


microphone to hand, this public safety officer has ready


access to essential communications. Such accessories provide essential support in


the toughest environments


(picture: Motorola) 32


hether a fire service, airport operator, industrial concern or public transport authority, TETRA users face demanding scenarios in which their


communications systems must operate, and operate without failure. Te TETRA Association’s document, ‘Wireless


Public Safety Communications Network – planning considerations’, warns: “Te terminals used in public safety networks also often have unique requirements. Tey need to be extremely robust and often must be able to operate in hostile environments, including high heat, extreme cold, dust, rain and water and not to forget under extreme ambient noise levels. “Tey need very high audio output and must be


extremely reliable, being able to withstand shock, vibration and other rugged treatment. Tey may need to be able to operate in explosive atmospheres.” It follows, therefore, that any associated accessories must


meet the same exacting standards as any of the terminals they are intended to support.


Alternative views Motorola, currently the largest manufacturer of TETRA radios in the world, and Sepura, the most prolific manufacturer of handsets for public safety, both offer extensive accessory portfolios to support their own handsets. With a growing circle of other manufacturers, such as Cassidian, they contribute to a pool of some 40 or more different handsets on the market suited to a wide range of applications – for which a choice of both OEM and non- OEM accessories is available in support. A key strength of the TETRA standard has been the


concerted effort to achieve interoperability between network infrastructure and user equipment that will provide end users with a freedom of choice. Any product entering service, be it a handset or accessory, should meet exacting industry standards. But this is where OEMs are likely to argue, as Sepura did when approached by TETRA Today, that it is better or safer to opt for an accessory direct from them or from a licensed reseller/distributor, rather than from an unknown source.


TE TRA TODAY Issue 3 May 2011


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