Motorola TETRA Takes off at Barcelona Airport

[Thunderbolt]

Motorola’s digital radio system equips Spain’s second-largest airport with innovative communication infrastructure

MADRID, Spain – 22 May 2007 – Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) announced today that it has won a contract through local integrator Amper Sistemas SA to supply Barcelona Airport with a new TETRA (TErrestrial Trunked RAdio) digital radio system to aid airport operations. The deployment of the new system using Motorola’s Dimetra IP Compact solution is scheduled for completion by early July 2007.

Motorola’s Dimetra IP Compact will support airport operations such as fleet, freight and logistics management. The system will provide Barcelona Airport with resilient seamless communication including advanced voice technology - which is crucial in noisy environments such as airports – as well as a comprehensive range of data communication capabilities.

“Motorola’s solution offers us everything we need and require from a critical communications network. Offering us the most efficient, cost effective and advanced technology on the market, combined with more than 10 years of experience in this market, we are convinced Motorola will help us to deliver the best possible service to our passengers,” said telecommunications director at Aeropuertos Españoles y Navegación Aérea (AENA).

Motorola will supply a complete communications solution to Barcelona Airport, including Motorola’s Dimetra IP Compact TETRA switch and MTS TETRA Base Stations to provide optimum coverage. To ensure a seamless deployment and operational readiness of the communications solution for Barcelona Airport, Amper and Motorola will provide installation and commissioning services together with field and remote technical support services.

“Ensuring passenger safety and security is critical for transport companies and Barcelona airport is leading the way in ensuring reliable communications with its deployment of Motorola’s advance digital radio system,” said Manuel Torres, vice president, Motorola Enterprise Mobility Solutions. “This is an important win for us in Western Europe and adds to a number of other similar critical communications wins this year across the region.”

The contract builds on Motorola’s leadership in supplying critical communications solution to markets including utilities and transport logistics. Today’s announcement adds to a growing number of airports around the world who have selected Motorola such as Gardermoen (Norway), Leipzig/Halle, Munich, Nairobi, Prague, Shanghai and for many years Spain’s largest airport, Madrid, where Motorola has helped Iberia Airways to reduce airplanes ‘downtime’, for example, between flights.

http://www.motorola.com/mediacenter/...d=8185_8114_23

[JohnnyGalaga]

Tetra sucks because you can't listen to it on a scanner.

[grem467]

and how exactly is that TETRAs fault?

[Napalm]

I dunno, Johnny has some strange ideas sometimes.

Yes, TETRA does suck, but there's nothing we can do about it.

We lost our analogue (no that's not a typo) Police comms to encrypted TETRA.

[grem467]

what i was getting at is i highly doubt when public safety specd out the system, high on the list was "what about scanners.. they cant listen so we cant go with this"

they spec them out based on their needs and budgets...

just because a 296 cant pick it up does not mean the system "sucks"

[JohnnyGalaga]

Anything that can't be monitored with a scanner sucks.

[grem467]

thank god you are not a system manager!

[bigbluemsp]

Originally Posted by grem467

thank god you are not a system manager!

Or someone thats life depends on people not knowing whats going on.

Johnny sometimes it's no ones business whats going on and sometimes it's a major officer safety issue.

There was a push in Washington to encrypt all EMS and EMS to Hospital channels because giving any info out on a person with people hearing it is a major HIPPA NO NO.

[Unitrunker]

Definition from the RR dictionary:

tetrafied adj.: (tEt-rah-fId) 1. the deployment of a Tetra radio system; 2. fear that a Tetra system will be deployed in your area; 3. the budgetary impact of such a system.

-rick

[grant]

I think TETRA might have met it's match here in Sydney.
It might be a technically superior system but it is designed for Europe .... high population density over a small area.
Or Asia eg China where there is a lot of people in a tiny area like Hong Kong
Australia is low population low density.
Even Sydney's 4 million is spread out over a large area
Singular users like an airport or a casino may have success but over a large geographical area with low rolling ridges and gullies like Sydney with not many sweeping high spots, it is not cutting the mustard
From the scuttle butt I hear , hardly anybody is using the commercial network setup except for some towies (and I think Cathay Pacific airlines)
Motorola has been forced to install more sites than planned to get coverage due to the lower power output ... 30w base transmitters / 3w mobiles
For the average user it suppose to cost twice as much for half the distance.
This is important
Cost and coverage is number one factor for the average user like a courier, service company
So if 800Mhz analogue trunking is phased out by Motorola to force users over, there are several companies waiting to take the users off their hands - mainly the large scale MPT1327 networks on VHF and UHF.


Grant

[N_Jay]

Originally Posted by JohnnyGalaga

Anything that can't be monitored with a scanner sucks.

Wow everything must suck, because every form of transmission existed before a scanner to receive it.

Either that or Johnny-boy lives in a very small world!

[grem467]

Originally Posted by JohnnyGalaga

Tetra sucks because you can't listen to it on a scanner.

im thinking hes got it backwards. Instead of the system sucking because you cant listen to it on a scanner, maybe its the scanner that sucks because its not compatable with the newer systems.

yeah.

thats more plausable!

[studgeman]

Grant, those are exactly the reasons why Motorola says they don't sell Tetra in the US. Many people forget that we, (US and AU) have states and cities larger than some European nations.

Oh yeah and before someone compares the 3Watts of tetra to 3Watts at 800MHz, the Tetra waveform does not travel as far as a P25. Just like 3Watts of SSB goes alot farther than 3 watts of FM.

My favorite arguement people love to use in the US about alot of topics, usually beings with, "Well in Europe....."

[Raccon]

Originally Posted by studgeman

Grant, those are exactly the reasons why Motorola says they don't sell Tetra in the US. Many people forget that we, (US and AU) have states and cities larger than some European nations.

I think Motorola tries to protect the the proprietary systems they sell and keep competition out. Because if the above were the reason then they wouldn't sell their iDEN system in the US either.

Oh yeah and before someone compares the 3Watts of tetra to 3Watts at 800MHz, the Tetra waveform does not travel as far as a P25. Just like 3Watts of SSB goes alot farther than 3 watts of FM.

So how far does a P25 signal travel? (Please state if you refer to radio or base station, output power, frequency, terrain etc.)

[studgeman]

I am not going to get into a Motorola Bashing Session. If you think that is the case, take a look at Canada where EADS has had a foothold for a long time, You are not going to find much Tetra there either. The large systems are P25.

As far as clarifying my distance traveled claim, all things being equal, ERP, HAAT frequency, etc. P25 will travel farther, hence my SSB and FM comparison. There is a very specific relationship to occupied bandwidth, waveform dutycycle, and power out that i am referring to. But I am trying not to fill this post up with calculus.

[N_Jay]

Originally Posted by Raccon

I think Motorola tries to protect the the proprietary systems they sell and keep competition out. Because if the above were the reason then they wouldn't sell their iDEN system in the US either.

The issue is that TETRA would not exist if it were not for Motorola technology developed for iDEN (more correctly Prodigy or MIRS).
Motorola does sell iDEN in the US. (That is what the Harmony system is)

Originally Posted by Raccon

So how far does a P25 signal travel? (Please state if you refer to radio or base station, output power, frequency, terrain etc.)

A question with no reasonable answer.

Technically; "Forever"!
Practically; Until it is below the receiver threshold or background noise level.
In distance; "Different in every case"

[w4rez]

The argument "it sucks because you can't hear it on a scanner" is lame. However Motorola's overzealous protection of "proprietary technology" and information is just as lame.

Apparently though TETRA does suck for the typical US installation, else Motorola would be selling it here, no?

[N_Jay]

Originally Posted by w4rez

The argument "it sucks because you can't hear it on a scanner" is lame. However Motorola's overzealous protection of "proprietary technology" and information is just as lame.

Apparently though TETRA does suck for the typical US installation, else Motorola would be selling it here, no?

How do you define "overzealous"?

Many courts have invalidated patents due to insufficient protection.

Sounds like in the Intellectual Property world you are damned if you do and damned if you don't.

[Raccon]

Originally Posted by w4rez

Apparently though TETRA does suck for the typical US installation, else Motorola would be selling it here, no?

The argument was made that TETRA sucks because it's TDMA (I assume that's what studgeman meant when he said 'waveform'). However we also established that TDMA systems (iDEN for example) are actually used in the US. As well P25 Phase II will include TDMA.

Thus I don't see how this results in the conclusion that TETRA would not be suitable or that it 'sucks', in which case there must be another reason that Motorola is not selling TETRA in the US.

[Raccon]

Originally Posted by N_Jay

Practically; Until it is below the receiver threshold or background noise level.

So what's a real-world practical figure that allows the radio to still reach the base station and allow the user to communicate properly (@ what base station power output, frequency, HAAT etc.)?