TETRA

For other uses, see Tetra (disambiguation).

Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) (formerly known as Trans-European Trunked Radio) is a professional mobile radio and two-way transceiver (colloquially known as a walkie talkie) specification. TETRA was specifically designed for use by government agencies, emergency services, (police forces, fire departments, ambulance) for public safety networks, rail transportation staff for train radios, transport services and the military.

TETRA is an European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) standard, first version published 1995; it is mentioned by the European Radiocommunications Committee (ERC).

Description

Motorola MTH800 TETRA radio registered in the BOS-Austria-Network

TETRA uses Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) with four user channels on one radio carrier and 25 kHz spacing between carriers. Both point-to-point and point-to-multipoint transfer can be used. Digital data transmission is also included in the standard though at a low data rate.

TETRA Mobile Stations (MS) can communicate direct-mode operation (DMO) or using trunked-mode operation (TMO) using switching and management infrastructure (SwMI) made of TETRA base stations (TBS). As well as allowing direct communications in situations where network coverage is not available, DMO also includes the possibility of using a sequence of one or more TETRA terminals as relays. This functionality is called DMO gateway (from DMO to TMO) or DMO repeater (from DMO to DMO). In emergency situations this feature allows direct communications underground or in areas of bad coverage.

In addition to voice and dispatch services, the TETRA system supports several types of data communication. Status messages and short data services (SDS) are provided over the system's main control channel, while packet-switched data or circuit-switched data communication uses specifically assigned traffic channels.

TETRA provides for authentication of terminals towards infrastructure and vice versa. For protection against eavesdropping; air interface encryption and end-to-end encryption is available.

The common mode of operation is in a group calling mode in which a single button push will connect the user to the users in a selected call group and/or a dispatcher. It is also possible for the terminal to act as a one-to-one walkie talkie but without the normal range limitation since the call still uses the network. TETRA terminals can act as mobile phones (cell phones), with a full-duplex direct connection to other TETRA Users or the PSTN. Emergency buttons, provided on the terminals, enable the users to transmit emergency signals, to the dispatcher, overriding any other activity taking place at the same time.

Advantages of TETRA

The main advantages of TETRA over other technologies (such as GSM) are:

• The much lower frequency used gives longer range, which in turn permits very high levels of geographic coverage with a smaller number of transmitters, thus cutting infrastructure costs.
• During a voice call, the communications are not interrupted when moving to another network site. This is a unique feature which dPMR and DMR do not offer.
• High spectral efficiency - 4 channels in 25 kHz and no guard bands, compared to GSM with 8 channels in 200 kHz and guard bands.
• Very fast call set-up - a one to many group call is generally set-up within 0.5 seconds (typical less than 250 msec for a single node call) compared with the many seconds (typically 7 to 10s) that are required for a GSM network.
• Works at high relative speeds >400 km/h. TETRA was used during the French TGV train speed record on 3 April 2007 at 574.8 km/h.
• The system contains several mechanisms, designed into the protocols and radio parameters, to ensure communication success even during overload situations (e.g., during major public events or disaster situations), thus calls will always get through unlike in cellular systems. The system also supports a range of emergency calling modes.
• TETRA infrastructure is usually separate from (but connected to) that of the public (mobile) phone networks, resulting in (normally) no call charges for the system owners, substantially more diverse and resilient communications and it is easy to customise and integrate with data applications (vehicle location, GIS databases, dispatch systems, etc.).
• Unlike most cellular technologies, TETRA networks typically provide a number of fall-back modes such as the ability for a base station to process local calls. So called 'mission critical' networks can be built with TETRA where all aspects are fail-safe/multiple-redundant.
• In the absence of a network mobiles/portables can use 'direct mode' whereby they share channels directly (walkie-talkie mode).
• Gateway mode - where a single mobile with connection to the network can act as a relay for other nearby mobiles that are out of range of the infrastructure.
• TETRA also provides a point-to-point function that traditional analogue emergency services radio systems did not provide. This enables users to have a one-to-one trunked 'radio' link between sets without the need for the direct involvement of a control room operator/dispatcher.
• Unlike cellular technologies, which connect one subscriber to one other subscriber (one-to-one), TETRA is built to do one-to-one, one-to-many and many-to-many. These operational modes are directly relevant to the public safety and professional users.
• TETRA supports both air-interface encryption and end-to-end encryption
• Rapid deployment (transportable) network solutions are available for disaster relief and temporary capacity provision.
• Equipment is available from many suppliers around the world, thus providing the benefits of interoperable competition.
• Network solutions are available in both the older circuit-switched (telephone like) architectures and flat, IP architectures with soft (software) switches.

Further information is available from the TETRA Association (formerly TETRA MoU) and the standards can be downloaded for free from ETSI.

Disadvantages of TETRA

Its main disadvantages are:

• Requires a linear amplifier to meet the stringent RF specifications that allow it to exist alongside other radio services.
• Data transfer is efficient and long range (many km), but slow by modern standards at 7.2 kbit/s per timeslot (3.5 kbit/slot net packet data throughput), although the Tetra standard states that up to 4 timeslots can be combined into a single data channel to achieve higher rates whilst still fitting into a single 25 kHz bandwidth channel. Albeit there are no deployed networks where this data rate has reportedly been achieved from mobile users (hand portables or vehicle mobiles). Latest version of standard supports 115.2 kbit/s in 25 kHz or up to 691.2 kbit/s in an expanded 150 kHz channel. But again, no deployed networks supporting such data rates are currently in operation. To overcome the limitations many software vendors have begun to consider hybrid solutions where TETRA is used for critical signaling while large data synchronization and transfer of images and video is done over 3G / LTE.

TETRA usage

At the end of 2009 there were 114 countries using TETRA systems in Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, Caribbean and Latin America.

The TETRA-system is in use by the public sector in the following countries. Only TETRA network infrastructure installations are listed. TETRA being an open standard, each of these networks can use any mix of TETRA mobile terminals from a wide range if suppliers.

Continent	Country	Supplier	Name	Agency	Status
Asia	China Mainland	EADS / Cassidian	Shenyang Metro	Transport	In use: Line 1 Rolling out: Line 2
		EADS / Cassidian	Shenzhen Metro	Transport	Ordered 5/2010
		EADS / Cassidian	Guangzhou	16th Asian Games in 2010	Ordered 2010
	Hong Kong	EADS / Cassidian	Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA)	2008 Beijing Olympics and Paralympic Games (Hong Kong Equestrian Event)	Used from July 2008 to October 2008
		EADS / Cassidian	Hong Kong Fire Services Department	Fire service and ambulance	In use.
		Motorola / Dimetra	Hong Kong Police Force	Police	In use.
		Artevea	Mass Transit Railway (MTR)	Transport	In use.
		Motorola / Dimetra	Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA)	Transport	In use since Feb 2009
	India	Artevea	Military College of Telecommunication Engineering (MCTE)	Indian Army	In use since 2004 at Mhow, Indore, Madhya Pradesh.
		Motorola / Dimetra	Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd	Transport	In use since 2002. The First TETRA in India.
		C-DAC	TETRA with Automatic Dial 100 (AD100).	Kerala Police.	In use by police, Trivandrum city. Since 2008.
	HCL & Motorola	Secure Communication Network	Delhi Government	Integrated Communication System used by various departments under Government of Delhi and Delhi Police since 2010.
	THALES Portugal S A & Motorola	With PSTN call integration designed by THALES GROUP for BMRCL	BMRCL Bangalore Metro Corporation Limited	Transport	In use since March 2011.
	Sepura & Rohde and Schwarz	TETRA with Automatic Dial 100 (AD100).	Gurgaon Police.	In use by police, Gurgaon city. Since 2009. In Salem from Aug 2011.
	Indonesia	Motorola / Dimetra, installed & maintained by PT. Mobilkom Telekomindo	SCADA PT. Chevron Pacific Indonesia	HOOU	In use since 2009 at Duri, Riau, Indonesia.
	Macao	Artevea	Melco-Crown Entertainment	Casino-Hotels: Altira (formerly Crown Macau), and City of Dreams	In use since 2007.
			Forças de Segurança de Macau	All emergency services.	In use.
	Malaysia	EADS	Segi Maju (SEGI)	Public operator	In use.
	Pakistan		Ministry of Interior	Police	In use, nationwide.
South Korea	EADS	Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO)	Electricity	In use.
Taiwan		[行車調度無線電話], Taiwan Railways Administration, Railway Police Bureau		In use.
Africa	Morocco	Rohill	ADM	Highway authority	Rolling out.
	Nigeria	Dizengoff/Motorola IL (Dimetra IP)	Nigeria LNG	Oil & Gas	Since 2006
	Nigeria	Dizengoff/Motorola(Dimetra)	Mobil Ng	Oil	Since 2003
	Nigeria	Dizengoff/Motorola IL (Compact-Tetra IP)	Shell Ng	Oil	Since 2010
	Namibia	Artevea	Namibian Police Force	Police	In use, Nationwide.
South Africa		Police, Traffic Police	SAPS Gauteng	Gauteng Province
		Municipality, fire, and ambulance.	City of Cape Town	Cape Peninsula
	Rohill	Mbombela Local Municipality	Nelspruit, Mpumalanga	Complete
		Rohill	City Power	Johannesburg, Gauteng	Complete
		Rohill	City of Tshwane Municipality	Pretoria, Gauteng	Complete
		Rohill	Rustenburg Platinum Mine	Potgietersrus, Limpopo	Complete
	Sudan	Artevea	Ministry of Interior	Police	In use, Nationwide.
Europe	Austria	Motorola / Dimetra	TETRON	Police, fire, ambulance, and local train company.	In use, in all states except Tyrol and Vorarlberg (still rolling out).
	Belgium	EADS/Since 1998	A.S.T.R.I.D.	Police, fire, ambulance, customs, coast guard, hospitals, Red Cross, department of Justice, utility companies, airports, ports, lifeguard service, military.	Nation-wide network.
		Rohde & Schwarz since 2011/ ACCESSNET-T	ENTROPIA DIGITAL	Commercial & Private Security users. (www.entropia.eu)	Flanders & Brussels/Roaming with Nationwide The Netherlands
	Motorola 2010/ DIMETRA	ENTROPIA DIGITAL	Commercial & Private Security users. (www.entropia.eu)	Antwerp, Belgium with Nationwide The Netherlands
	Denmark	Motorola / Dimetra	SINE	All emergency authorities, incl. police, fire, and ambulance.	Nationwide coverage (99,5%) in use.
	Estonia			Police, fire, ambulance, and customs	Rolling out.
	Finland	Nokia; now EADS	VIRVE	Police, fire, ambulance, customs, defence forces, and border guard.	Nation-wide network.
			HelenNet	Energy company Helsingin Energia, tram operator HKL-Raitioliikenne, and several bus operators on HRTA's lines. Also used by some security guard companies, mostly securing HRTA's transport. Available for lease for various short-term uses.	In use, covers greater Helsinki region.
	Germany	EADS	BOSNET	Police, fire, ambulance, customs, and coast guard.	Nationwide
	Greece		C4I	Police, fire, and coast guard.	Attica region
			OTE Tetra Services	Fully commercial network, emergency services, utility companies, and private users.	Nationwide (partial coverage).
	Hungary	Pro-M Ltd.	EDR (acronym for Unified Digital Radiosystem)	Ambulance, army, Central Office for Administrative and Electronic Public Services, Civil Defence, Hungarian Prison Service, Hungarian Customs and Finance Guard, Disaster Management, fire, Hungarian Secret Services, Ministry of Environment and Water, and police.	In-use.
	Iceland		TETRA Iceland	All emergency services, most utility companies, and private users.	In-use.
	Ireland	Motorola / Dimetra	TETRA Ireland	Garda Siochana, HSE National Ambulance Service	Nation-wide roll-out network in progress. Roll out has begun on the HSE National Ambulance Service. The fire services are planning to implement in the coming years. As of July 2011, TETRA Ireland now operates the national Paging System.
	Italy	SELEX ELSAG	Rete Interpolizie	Polizia di Stato (Italian state police), the Carabinieri (military police), the Guardia di Finanza (customs police), the Polizia Penitenziaria (prison police), and for the Corpo Forestale Italiano (Italian forest brigades)	Rolling out.
	Latvia	Artevea	Ventamonjaks Serviss Ltd, Ventspils	Oil and gas.	In use since 2007.
	Netherlands	Motorola / Dimetra	T2000	Police, fire, and ambulance.	Nation-wide network.
		Motorola since 2007/ Dimetra	ENTROPIA DIGITAL	Commercial users.(www.entropia.eu)	Nation-wide network /Roaming with Entropia Digital in Belgium
		Rohde & Schwarz since 2010/ ACCESSNET-T	ENTROPIA DIGITAL	Cityguards and commercial use. (www.entropia.eu)	Rotterdam area network /Roaming with Entropia Digital in Belgium
	Norway	Motorola / Dimetra	Norwegian Public Safety Radio	Police, fire, ambulance, and search and rescue.	Roll-out
	Portugal	Motorola	SIRESP	Police, fire, and ambulance.	Nation-wide roll-out; in use since 2007.
	Poland	Motorola	Ministry of Interior, Polish army, and Warsaw police.	Police, fire, public transport, airports, and army.	Local TETRA Networks in use since 2000; national roll-out expected to start in 2011.
	Romania	Motorola / Dimetra	Special Telecommunications Service (STS)	Police, fire, and search and rescue.	Nation-wide
		Motorola	Dimetra	Ministry of Administration and Interior (MAI) / Romanian Border Police (RBP)	In use since 2008 for police, emergency and search and rescue agencies from Romanian border counties-wide.
		Cassidian	TETRA EADS	Ministry of Administration and Interior (MAI) / Romanian Border Police (RBP)	In use since 2010 for police, emergency and search and rescue agencies from Romanian border counties-wide.
	Serbia		Ministry of Interior	Police special units
	Slovenia		Ministry of Interior	Police	In central Slovenia.
	Sweden	EADS / Sepura| RAKEL	Mainly police (including prison authorities), fire, ambulance, and customs authority. Also used by the military, coast guard, private security companies and several state and regional authorities.	Roll-out
		Motorola	Tetra	Stockholm Public Transport: Used by Transport Security Officers for dispatch internal communications, Transport Police ("Tunnelbanepolisen") and other police forces for liaison with transport officials. Roll-out stage for train operations on underground.	In operation / Roll-out
		Swedish Radio Supply	Got1	Got1 is a modern IP based Tetra network used in the west parts of Sweden.	In operation / Roll-out
	United Kingdom	Motorola / Dimetra / Sepura	Airwave	Police, fire, NHS ambulance services, some armed forces, Highways Agency Traffic Officers, Civil Contingency Services, HM Coastguard, Red Cross, Highland Council, and misc. emergency services.	Full emergency service roll out complete.
		Motorola / Dimetra	CONNECT	Transport for London (London Underground)	Used by all Tube staff and relaying Airwave for BTP when underground.
AirRadio AR-en		Use by some services at some major airports	(Heathrow, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Aberdeen)
Middle East	Israel	Motorola.	Mountain Rose.	Israel Defense Forces (IDF).	In use by IDF, country-wide.
	United Arab Emirates		Nedaa	Police, emergency services, and professional communications.	Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al-Qaiwain, Ras Al-Khaimah, and Fujairah operational.
			Polikom	Police, emergency services, and professional communications.	Abu Dhabi
Latin America	Mexico	Rohde & Schwarz / Sepura	Mazatlán, Sinaloa Police & Emergency Services	Police, Emergency Services operational.	Operational
Caribbean	Windward Islands and Leeward Islands	Rohill	Zenitel	Police, emergency services, oil and professional communications.	Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Saint Martin, Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Anguilla operational.
Oceania	Australia	Motorola	Zeon	Local government	Operational across Brisbane City Council, including the Brisbane State Emergency Service Unit
		Motorola	Zeon	Tertiary education	Used by Queensland University of Technology security staff.
	Australia	Sepura| Being used by several Mining Operations throughout Western Australia and Queensland.	New Zealand	Kordia	KorKor	Airports	Used by Wellington International Airport, Air New Zealand
	Kordia	KorKor		Councils	Used by Hutt City, Auckland Transport

Technical details

Radio aspects

For its modulation TETRA uses π/4 DQPSK, a form of phase shift keying. The symbol (baud) rate is 18,000 symbols per second, and each symbol maps to 2 bits, thus resulting in 36,000 bit/s gross.

As a form of phase shift keying is used to transmit data during each burst, it would seem reasonable to expect the transmit power to be constant. However it is not. This is because the sidebands, which are essentially a repetition of the data in the main carrier's modulation, are filtered off with a sharp filter so that unnecessary spectrum is not used up. This results in an amplitude modulation and is why TETRA requires linear amplifiers. The resulting ratio of peak to mean (RMS) power is 3.65 dB. If non-linear (or not-linear enough) amplifiers are used, the sidebands re-appear and cause interference on adjacent channels. Commonly used techniques for achieving the necessary linearity include Cartesian loops, and adaptive predistortion.

The base stations normally transmit continuously and (simultaneously) receive continuously from various mobiles on different carrier frequencies; hence the TETRA system is a Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) system. TETRA also uses FDMA/TDMA (see above) like GSM. The mobiles normally only transmit on 1 slot/4 and receive on 1 slot/4 (instead of 1 slot/8 for GSM).

Speech signals in TETRA are sampled at 8 kHz and then compressed with a vocoder using a technique called Adaptive Code Excited Linear Prediction (ACELP). This creates a data stream of 4.567 kbit/s. This data stream is error-protection encoded before transmission to allow correct decoding even in noisy (erroneous) channels. The data rate after coding is 7.2 kbit/s. The capacity of a single traffic slot when used 17/18 frames.

A single slot consists of 255 usable symbols, the remaining time is used up with synchronisation sequences and turning on/off, etc. A single frame consists of 4 slots, and a multiframe (whose duration is 1.02 seconds) consists of 18 frames. Hyperframes also exist, but are mostly used for providing synchronisation to encryption algorithms.

The downlink (i.e., the output of the base station) is normally a continuous transmission consisting of either specific communications with mobile(s), synchronisation or other general broadcasts. All slots are usually filled with a burst even if idle (continuous mode). Although the system uses 18 frames per second only 17 of these are used for traffic channels, with the 18th frame reserved for signalling, Short Data Service messages (like SMS in GSM) or synchronisation. The frame structure in TETRA (17.65 frames per second), consists of 18,000 symbols/s / 255 symbols/slot / 4 slots/frame, and is the cause of the perceived "amplitude modulation" at 17 Hz and is especially apparent in mobiles/portables which only transmit on one slot/4. They use the remaining three slots to switch frequency to receive a burst from the base station two slots later and then return to their transmit frequency (TDMA).

Radio frequencies

TETRA frequencies in South America

Emergency Systems Number Frequency pair (MHz) Band 1 Band 2 1 380–383 390–393 2 383–385 393–395

Civil systems Number Frequency pair (MHz) Band 1 Band 2 1 410–420 420–430 2 870–876 915–921 3 450–460 460–470 4 385–390 395–399.9

TETRA frequencies in other countries

Country	Allocation	Frequency pairs (MHz)
France	civilian/private	410-430
France	Emergency services	380–400
Germany	Emergency services	380–385, 390–395
Italy	Emergency services / armed forces	380-390
Italy	civilian/private	462
Norway	Emergency services	380–385, 390–395, 406.1–426, 870–876
South Africa	TBD	TBD
UK	Airwave	390.0125-394.9875, 380.0125-384.9875
	AirRadio	454, 464 or 460

Air interface encryption

To provide confidentiality the TETRA air interface is encrypted using one of the TETRA Encryption Algorithm (TEA) ciphers. The encryption provides confidentiality (protect against eavesdropping) as well as protection of signalling.

Currently 4 different ciphers are defined. These TEA ciphers should not be confused with the block cipher Tiny Encryption Algorithm. The TEA ciphers have different availability due to export and use restrictions. Few details are published concerning these proprietary ciphers. Riess mentions in early TETRA design documents that encryption should be done with a stream cipher, due to the property of not propagating transmission errors. Parkinson later confirms this and explains that TEA is a stream cipher with 80-bit keys.  TEA1 and TEA4 provides basic level of security. They are meant for commercial use. The TEA2 cipher is restricted to European Public Safety organisations. The TEA3 cipher is for situations where TEA2 is suitable but not available.

Additional information

• TETRA @ your service (PowerPoint Presentation), arireggioemilia.org/.
• Tetra network security discussion thread, broadbandreports.com.
• Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA); Voice plus Data (V+D); Part 7: Security, European Telecommunications Standards Institute.

Cell selection

Cell re-selection (or hand-over) in images

RSSI SRT FRT Cell Limit (Propagation Delay Exceed)

This first representation demonstrates where the slow reselect threshold (SRT) the fast reselect threshold (FRT) and propagation Delay exceed parameters are most likely to be. These are represented in association with the decaying radio carrier as the distance increases from the TETRA Base Station.

From this illustration, these SRT and FRT triggering points are associated to the decaying radio signal strength of the respective cell carriers. The thresholds are situated so that the cell reselection procedures occur on time and assure communication continuity for on-going communication calls.

Initial cell selection

Cell initial selection

The next diagram illustrates where a given TETRA radio cell initial selection. The initial cell selection is performed by procedures located in the MLE and in the MAC. When the cell selection is made, and possible registration is performed, the MS (mobile station) is said to be attached to the cell. The mobile is allowed to initially select any suitable cell that has a positive C1 value; i.e., the received signal level is greater than the minimum receive level for access parameter.

The initial cell selection procedure shall ensure that the MS selects a cell in which it can reliably decode downlink data (i.e., on a main control channel/MCCH), and which has a high probability of uplink communication. The minimum conditions that shall have to be met are that C1 > 0. Access to the network shall be conditional on the successful selection of a cell.

At mobile switch on, the mobile makes its initial cell selection of one of the base stations, which indicates the initial exchanges at activation.

• Refer to EN 300 392 2 16.3.1 Activation and control of underlying MLE Service
• Note 18.5.12 Minimum RX access level

The minimum receive access level information element shall indicate the minimum received signal level required at the SwMI in a cell, either the serving cell or a neighbour cell as defined in table 18.24.

Cell improvable

Cell improvable

The next diagram illustrates where a given TETRA radio cell becomes improvable. The serving cell becomes improvable when the following occurs: the C1 of the serving cell is below the value defined in the radio network parameter cell reselection parameters, slow reselect threshold for a period of 5 seconds, and the C1 or C2 of a neighbour cell exceeds the C1 of the serving cell by the value defined in the radio network parameter cell reselection parameters, slow reselect hysteresis for a period of 5 seconds.

Cell usable

Cell Usable

The next diagram illustrates where a given TETRA radio cell becomes Usable. A neighbour cell becomes radio usable when the cell has a downlink radio connection of sufficient quality.

The following conditions must be met in order to declare a neighbour cell radio usable: The neighbour cell has a path loss parameter C1 or C2 that is greater than the following: (FAST_RESELECT_THRESHOLD+FAST_RESELECT_HYSTERISIS) for a period of 5 seconds, and the service level provided by the neighbour cell is higher than that of the serving cell. No successful cell reselection shall have taken place within the previous 15 seconds unless MM requests a cell reselection. The MS-MLE shall check the criterion for serving cell relinquishment as often as one neighbour cell is scanned or monitored.

The following conditions will cause the MS to rate the neighbour cell to have higher service level than the current serving cell:

• The MS subscriber class is supported on the neighbour cell but not on the serving cell.
• The neighbour cell is a priority cell and the serving cell is not.
• The neighbour cell supports a service (that is, TETRA standard speech, packet data, or encryption) that is not supported by the serving cell and the MS requires that service to be available.
• The cell service level indicates that the neighbour cell is less loaded than the serving cell.

Cell relinquishable (abandonable)

Cell relinquishable

The next diagram illustrates where a given TETRA radio cell becomes relinquishable (abandonable). The serving cell becomes relinquishable when the following occurs: The C1 of the serving cell is below the value defined in the radio network parameter cell reselection parameters, fast reselect threshold, for a period of 5 seconds, and the C1 or C2 of a neighbour cell exceeds the C1 of the serving cell by the value defined in the radio network parameter cell reselection parameters, fast reselect hysteresis, for a period of 5 seconds.

No successful cell reselection shall have taken place within the previous 15 seconds unless MM (Mobility Management) requests a cell reselection. The MS-MLE shall check the criterion for serving cell relinquishment as often as one neighbour cell is scanned or monitored.

Radio down-link failure

Radio down-link failure

When the FRT threshold is breached, the MS is in a situation where it is essential to relinquish (or abandon) the serving cell and obtain another of at least Usable quality. That is to say, the mobile station is aware that the radio signal is decaying rapidly, and must cell reselect rapidly, before communications are terminated because of radio link failure. When the mobile station radio-signal breaches the minimum receive level, the radio is no longer in a position to maintain acceptable communications for the user, and the radio link is broken.

Radio link failure: (C1 < 0). Using the suggested values, this would be satisfied with the Serving Cell Level below −105 dBm. Cell reselection procedures are then activated in order to find a suitable radio base station.

Infrastructure TETRA Parameters to be Verified This table serves only as a guide.

Type of radio cover	Parameter	Distance (km)	Type of communication
City	< 4	< 8	Pedestrian/metro
Sub-urban	10–18	20–36	Bus/train
Countryside	18–31	36–62	Inter-regional train
In Air	> 32	> 64	In flight

The TETRA man-machine interface (MMI)

A virtual MMI for TETRA radio terminals

Any given TETRA radio terminal using Java (Java ME/CLDC) based technology, provides the end user with the communication rights necessary to fulfil his or her work role on any short duration assignment.

For dexterity, flexibility, and evolution ability, the public transportation radio engineering department, have chosen to use the open sources, Java language specification administered by Sun and the associated work groups in order to produce a transport application tool kit.

TETRA MMI

Service acquisition admits different authorised agents to establish communication channels between different services by calling the service identity, and without possessing the complete knowledge of the ISSI, GSSI, or any other TETRA related communication establishment numbering plan. Service acquisition is administered through a communication rights centralised service or roll allocation server, interfaced into the TETRA core network.

In summary, the TETRA MMI aims are to:

• Allow any given agent while in exercise, to exploit any given radio terminal without materiel constraint.
• Provide specific transportation application software to the end-user agents (service acquisition, fraud, and aggression control).

This transport application tool-kit has been produced successfully and with TETRA communication technology and assures for the public transport application requirements for the future mentioned hereafter.

The home (main) menu presents the end user with three possibilities:

1. Service acquisition,
2. Status SDS,
3. End-user parameters.

Service acquisition provides a means of virtually personalising the end user to any given radio terminal and onto TETRA network for the duration the end user conserves the terminal under his possession.

Status SDS provides the end user with a mechanism for generating a 440 Hz repeating tone that signals a fraud occurrence to members within the same (dynamic or static) Group Short Subscriber Identity (GSSI) or to a specific Individual Short Subscriber Identity (ISSI) for the duration of the assignment (an hour, a morning patrol or a given short period allocated to the assignment). The advantage being that each of the end users may attach themselves to any given terminal, and group for short durations without requiring any major reconfiguration by means of radio software programming tools. Similarly, the aggression feature functions, but with a higher tone frequency (880 Hz), and with a quicker repetitious nature, so to highlight the urgency of the alert.

The parameters tab provides an essential means to the terminal end-user allowing them to pre-configure the target (preprogrammed ISSI or GSSI ) destination communication number. With this pre-programmed destination number, the end-user shall liaise with the destination radio terminal or roll allocation server, and may communicate, in the group, or into a dedicated server to which the service acquisition requests are received, preprocessed, and ultimately dispatched though the TETRA core network. This simplifies the reconfiguration or recycling configuration process allowing flexibility on short assignments.

The parameters tab also provides a means of choosing between preselected tones to match the work group requirements for the purposes of fraud and aggression alerts. A possibility of selecting any given key available from the keypad to serve as an aggression or fraud quick key is also made possible though the transport application software tool kit. It is recommend to use the Asterisk and the Hash keys for the fraud and aggression quick keys respectively. For the fraud and aggression tones, it is also recommend to use 440 Hz slow repeating tone (blank space 500 milli-seconds) and 880 Hz fast repeating tone (blank space 250 milliseconds) respectively. The tone options are as follows: 440 Hz 620 Hz, 880 Hz, and 1060 Hz.

The parameters page provides an aid or help menu and the last tab within parameters describes briefly the tool kit the version and the history of the transport application tool kit to date.

TEDS (TETRA EDS)

The TETRA Association, working with ETSI, developed the TEDS standard, a wideband data solution, which enhances TETRA with a much higher capacity and throughput for data. In addition to those provided by TETRA, TEDS uses a range of adaptive modulation schemes and a number of different carrier sizes from 25kHz to 150kHz. Initial implementations of TEDS will be in the existing TETRA radio spectrum, and will likely employ 50kHz channel bandwidths as this enables an equivalent coverage footprint for voice and TEDS services. TEDS performance is optimised for wideband data rates, wide area coverage and spectrum efficiency.

Advances in DSP technology have led to the introduction of multi-carrier transmission standards employing QAM modulation. WiMAX, Wi-Fi and TEDS standards are part of this family.

Refer also to:

• JSR-118;
• Mobile Information Device Profile, JSR-37;
• Wireless Messaging API, JSR120;
• Connected Limited Device Configuration, JSR-139; and
• Technology for the Wireless Industry, JTWI-185.

Products and services

• EADS Secure Networks, provider of TETRA Networks after it bought Nokia's PMR business at 2005. Also supplier of Tetrapol systems.
• SELECOM is a well-established French designer and manufacturer of TETRA / TETRAPOL repeaters
• Piciorgros Funk-Electronic manufacturer of TETRA modems and telemetry devices
• Motorola provider of TETRA Networks under Dimetra IP brand
• Artevea Provider of TETRA Communication Systems under T-MATRIX brand
• MSX Communications is a TETRA system integration and application developer with office located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
• PowerTrunk is a TETRA Networks, Terminals and applications provider in North America.
• Rohill Provider of TETRA Communication Systems under TetraNode brand
• Sepura, manufacturer and supplier of TETRA terminals, Gateways and Repeaters.
• Teltronic is a TETRA Networks, Terminals and applications manufacturer.
• UTOD GmbH is supplier of TETRA
• PT Mobilkom Telekomindo is supplier of TETRA Dimetra Indonesia Communication Systems, including infrastructure, terminals and applications
• Crystal Code delivers the worlds first TETRA connected Android and iOS systems in year 2012.

See also

• Digital mobile radio, an TDMA digital radio standard from ETSI
• Digital private mobile radio, an FDMA digital radio standard from ETSI
• NXDN, a two-way FDMA digital radio standard from Icom and JVC Kenwood
• P25, a TIA APCO standard
• TETRAPOL, an ETSI standard which competes with TETRA

External links

• Report on the health effects of TETRA by NRPB
• Pressrelease on Gurgaon Police