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TETRA settles in North America C
anadian electricity company BC Hydro has placed an order for what will be the first fully operational
TETRA network in North America. Te network will provide improved
communications and safety for BC Hydro staff in the Vancouver Lower Mainland region of British Columbia province. Serving the city of Vancouver and surrounding areas, it will consist of 25 TETRA base stations connected via the BC Hydro IP backhaul network, and up to 820 TETRA terminals – 450 mobiles, 350 handhelds, and 20 fixed units. Tey will operate in the 409–430 MHz range. Te introduction of TETRA technology was
made possible by a change of the rules made recently by the Canadian telecoms regulator.
System integration for the project will be
provided by S M Group International Inc. (SMi), a leading Canadian engineering and project management company, while the TETRA infrastructure and terminals will be supplied by PowerTrunk, an offshoot of the Spanish TETRA manufacturer Teltronic. PowerTrunk will also provide three CeCoCo
command and control centres, which will interface to BC Hydro’s existing VHF system. Tey will support 14 dispatchers. “Utilities, transport and public safety organizations around the world have chosen PowerTrunk/Teltronic TETRA LMR due to our advanced technology and our willingness to deliver customized systems that meet each client’s unique requirements”, said Jose
Martin, executive vice president and chief operating officer of PowerTrunk. “Together with our Canadian partner SMi, we will work closely with BC Hydro to deploy a network that is tailored to the company’s current and future needs while leveraging legacy systems.”
Safe working BC Hydro is Canada’s third largest electrical utility. Serving more than 1·8 million customers, it operates 30 hydroelectric stations and three power plants fuelled by natural gas. For efficient and safe working in both normal and emergency operating conditions, its crews require reliable and convenient mobile voice communications at dams, generating stations and substations, and along all distribution and transmission lines. While their main requirement is for
voice, BC Hydro will also use the mobile communications system for data applications such as short data and text messaging. “I congratulate BC Hydro, PowerTrunk
BC Hydro’s Peace Canyon Dam and powerhouse – one of 30 hydroelectric stations in its network
and SMi for being the first in North America to recognize the considerable benefits of choosing TETRA technology to deliver critical communications”, said Phil Kidner, chief executive of the TETRA Association. “We look forward to further TETRA contracts being awarded in the future in Canada as professional users come to appreciate the strengths and operational advantages of an open standard such as TETRA.”
Private operator’s expanding network A
15-site TETRA digital radio network in northern Germany, the area’s largest privately operated network, is now carrying some 100000 conversations and 50 000 data transfers from users daily. Operated by the systems company AMV Funktechnik, the Digitalfunk Bremen network is based on the IP-based TetraFlex radio infrastructure from Damm.
AMV made the decision to deploy the
TetraFlex infrastructure back in 2006, in partnership with ATS Elektronik. Among the deciding factors were ease of installation, extensive scalability for growing requirements, and easy integration into customers’ existing systems, such as telephone and building management
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systems. But especially important for AMV was that the system could guarantee clear separation of different users on the network. After its launch in 2006, the network was quickly expanded with additional radio sites and now it covers a large area of northern Germany, including the regions of Bremen, Bremerhaven, Wilhelmshaven and Hannover. Plans for additional radio sites are well advanced. Nearly 3500 users from different industries now use the network, through some 900 talkgroups. They include many commercial customers as well as users from the industrial power sector, port logistics, steel production, gas production and processing, and the chemical industry.
TetraFlex radiocommunications equipment by Damm at a site on AMV’s expanding Digitalfunk Bremen network
TE TRA TODAY Issue 5 2011
Picture: BC Hydro
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