Wireless Feb-March 2017

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WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS FOR PUBLIC SERVICES AND PRIVATE ENTERPRISES

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THE 5G PROMISE

Can the vision be delivered?

Indoor coverage

Small cells still searching for an efficient route to market

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Hybrid critical comms

Finland’s emergency services, transport and utilities harness TETRA and LTE 07/02/2017 13:36

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31/01/2017 19:06 11:04

ISSUE 45 | JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2017

8 22 18

Contents 4 News ight inner London boroughs attempt to E tackle poor mobile coverage with a new Wi-Fi network and 400 cellular small cells

8 5G begins to take shape

4

017 will see 5G R&D work continuing 2 with more trials of integrated solutions getting underway, while 3GPP begins writing the specifications in March

18 Spectrum for UK utilities

12 The 5G Myth

I f the power grid goes down, so does almost everything else, but energy firms are struggling to find enough spectrum to maintain their dedicated radio networks

I s 5G taking us in the right direction and might not investment be better directed at ensuring ubiquitous 4G coverage with consistent speeds?

14 5G challenges for operators obile operators will need to prepare M carefully for 5G by making sure their GTP solutions and transport layer can handle the expected increases in capacity

22 The Finnish way

24

16 Small cell dilemma

F inland is pioneering an alternative hybrid network approach to mission critical broadband, which also takes in other sectors besides emergency services

24 Converged solutions

uildings need better indoor cellular B coverage, but while the small cell technology is available to solve the issue, a mature go-to-market route is not

MR Products is expanding its traditional P LMR base to encompass the wider wireless ecosystem enabling customers to access multi-technology applications

26 PMR Expo 2016 he Cologne show had a lot to offer in T terms of vendors harnessing other technologies besides PMR to promote interoperable solutions across different radio standards

12

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INTRODUCTION

Welcome

Wireless Editorial Advisory Panel Norman Burrows CEO, Fylde Micro Phil Cole co-founder/sales and marketing director, Wireless Logic Adrian Grilli MD, Joint Radio Company

The dominant talking point in the mobile industry at the moment is, of course, 5G. At least it is among vendors eager to find something to boost declining 4G equipment sales and a few keen operators.

Many grumble that despite all the hype no one really knows what 5G is. And yet some others say it just seems to be every bit of new technology under development that will come to market after 2018.

The enthusiastic 5G cheer leaders say: not so – and point to the ITU documents setting out the requirements and to the fact that 3GPP will begin writing the actual specifications from March this year.

Much still needs to be decided, and R&D will continue throughout 2017 along with many laboratory and field trials with results and solution proposals feeding into 3GPP. A suite of potential use cases has been suggested, grouped according to the new technologies that will enable them.

These are: Enhanced Mobile Broadband; Massive Internet of Things; and Mission Critical Services. The 5G cynics argue that Who will pay for many of the use cases, particularly in the first two categories, these services and can be served by existing 4G networks upgraded with LTE-A Pro will the return be features – and this is without doubt true – although there may adequate? be capacity issues to solve, which 5G will help with.

It is not unreasonable to suppose that consumers might be willing to pay higher tariffs for enhanced broadband services, although how many will want to is open to question. The advent of Massive Internet of Things applications may well generate some real new revenue for operators if deployed in sufficient volumes.

That leaves the mission critical services and applications that rely on ultra-low latency and/or ultra-high speeds, and much higher levels of network availability and reliability – the really ‘new’ aspects of 5G technology.

But these will require the operators to make a huge investment in infrastructure. The question for them is: is the business case viable? Who will pay for these services and will the return be adequate to justify the necessary investment?

Industry verticals is apparently the answer. Well maybe – but they haven’t coughed up before and it may take considerable governmental and regulatory intervention to create an environment where that can happen – and it may also require operators to significantly change the way they do business.

James Atkinson, Editor

Phil Kidner CEO, TETRA + Critical Communications Association

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NEWS

Motorola updates Munich Airport TETRA radio system Motorola Solutions is updating and extending its existing TETRA digital two-way radio system at Munich Airport in Germany. The upgraded infrastructure ensures greater connectivity, interoperability and collaboration between various business and operational functions at Germany’s second largest airport.

Motorola is also equipping the airport with a new MCC 7500 IP Dispatch Console. The solution enhances the IP architecture to ensure optimum call set up and availability. It will also allow Munich Airport to expand its communications infrastructure in the future without interrupting existing services. Motorola will implement two TETRA base stations for improved TETRA radio coverage in the terminal buildings.

Alongside the improvements to the TETRA system, the airport has started a pilot project for the potential introduction of Motorola’s broadband push-to-talk (PTT) WAVE platform. The goal of the installation is to ensure that airport staff can communicate, no matter which device or infrastructure is being used, including broadband devices and networks.

Aberdeenshire deploys Aerohive Wi-Fi in schools Aberdeenshire Council in Scotland has selected Aerohive Networks to deliver a wireless system involving more than 4,000 access points across 170 schools and 50 additional sites.

Aerohive’s single-view console enables the council’s IT team to identify and fix issues remotely across an area of 2,437 sq miles.

Sepura provides radio system for RHS Sepura, with sales partner Chatterbox, has been chosen by the Royal Horticultural Society to provide a complete digital communications solution for its flagship garden at Wisley, Surrey, UK. The solution comprises MBS Lite base stations, more than 200 SC2024 hand-portable radios, and a dispatcher application with voice recording and GPS mapping.

Square Mile to get new Wi-Fi and cellular small cell network Free Gigabit Wi-Fi network to be rolled out from May with 400 cellular small cells to follow The City of London is to boost its wireless connectivity credentials by investing in a new free Gigabit Wi-Fi network and rolling out 400 cellular small cells to improve mobile coverage.

Unveiling the initiatives in January, Mark Boleat, chairman of the City of London Corporation’s Policy and Resources Committee, said: ‘At a time when other major financial centres are competing with us, the Square Mile is boosting its appeal through initiatives such as this. The new service will allow City workers to become better connected than ever before.’

Boleat pointed out that London suffers from poor broadband speeds and ranks 26th out of 33 European capitals in terms of broadband speed.

‘London is not great on digital connectivity and the mobile signal coverage is patchy. We are launching two things today that will not solve the problem, but will make things better.’

The new Gigabit Wi-Fi network will arrive first, providing a mesh network (as opposed to just individual hotspots) and will replace the current free Wi-Fi service provided by the Cloud. The Cloud legacy network has been in place for 10 years and is used

by approximately 300,000 users.

The new Wi-Fi equipment will provide gigabit speeds and see users able to enjoy high-bandwidth services such as video on demand over free City Wi-Fi for the first time. The service will surpass that found in the world’s other major international financial centre – New York – it is claimed.

The project is the single largest investment in wireless infrastructure ever seen in the City of London and will be rolled out from late spring 2017. The winning provider for the delivery of this work and Wi-Fi AP vendor will be announced in the next few weeks.

In an effort to boost mobile phone connectivity and eliminate ‘notspots’ the City is also going to install more than 400 cellular small cells, which will be built in the coming months. They will boost the strength and reliability of the current wireless coverage by using street objects such as lampposts, street signs, buildings and CCTV columns.

The combination of the Square Mile’s tall buildings and narrow, historic streets means that in some areas mobile service has been unreliable for some of the 400,000 City workers and 10 million yearly visitors.

The new technology will enhance coverage, making working on-the-go easier. By using these street objects, the City will be able to boost the reliability of the current wireless offer.

London currently ranks 27 out of 33 European capitals for broadband speeds

TfL flags up new two-way radio contract for London Buses The 9,000-strong fleet of London Buses will be getting new digital in-cab radios from 2017.

Transport for London (TfL) has flagged up the project to replace the existing analogue MPT 1327 radio system by issuing a Prior Information Notice (PIN) in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU).

The PIN indicates that the actual contract for a new radio system will be

advertised in the second quarter of 2017. A DMR Tier III trunked radio system will replace the MPT 1327 system, supplied by Tait Communications, which comprises 10 base stations deployed around the M25.

These provide 76 VHS radio channels, 10 of which are control channels.

Speaking to Wireless last year, Dr Dimitris Kaltakis, radio services manager at London Buses, explained

Hytera makes offer to acquire rival Sepura Hytera, the Chinese professional mobile radio solutions provider, has tabled an offer to buy Sepura Plc, the Cambridge, UK-based c o m mu n i c at i o n s t e c h n o l o g y company. The offer values Sepura at approximately £74m.

Hytera confirmed to the Sepura board in December that the offer is to be solely in cash, and the Sepura Board

of Directors has made a recommendation that the offer be accepted. The offer is now being considered by Sepura shareholders before a final decision is made. A shareholder general meeting will be held in February.

Commenting on the offer, Alan Lovell, chairman of Sepura, said: ‘This transaction with Hytera recognises the

that the radio system – designed for 32-25,000 calls per day – is now carrying in excess of 65,000 calls. The system has reached capacity and needs to be replaced.

By moving to a DMR system, London Buses will be able to use its existing frequencies, base station sites and antennas, and by migrating to digital it will double the number of available radio channels. underlying strengths of Sepura’s technology and customer base. It will provide certainty for our stakeholders, and secure the future of the business.

There will be additional opportunities and benefits for the business and its employees as part of a larger group.’

He added: ‘In the meantime, it is business as usual for Sepura, and we will continue to provide our customers and partners with consistent, highquality service and support.’

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06/10/2016 19:11 10:05 31/01/2017

NEWS

Ofcom invites consultation on use of UHF Bands 1 and 2 in UK Proposals are designed to make management of the heavily used 410 to 450 MHz (UHF 1) and 450 to 470 MHz (UHF 2) easier Ofcom has released a new consultation document reviewing the future use of UHF Bands 1 and 2 (410 to 470 MHz) in the UK, and is inviting interested parties to comment on its proposals.

The closing date for responses is 13 February 2017.

The document consults on proposals to use the spectrum in the 410 to 450 MHz (UHF Band 1) and 450 to 470 MHz (UHF Band 2) bands more intensively and efficiently to best address the requirements of current and future users.

Ofcom notes that the spectrum in this range is attractive to users as it has good in-building penetration as well as coverage. These bands already deliver important benefits to UK citizens and consumers and are used by a wide range of parties.

Users include the Ministry of Defence (MOD), Emergency Services

(ES) and civil users referred to as Business Radio (BR). BR provides services to many industry sectors, for e x ampl e t r ansp or t , s e c u r it y, manufacturing and utilities (water, gas and electricity industries). The bands also support Programme Making and Special Events (PMSE), maritime and aeronautical sectors, Amateur Radio and licence exempt (LE) use

(including short-range devices).

The regulator proposes to: increase sharing; change some of the licence products to better meet the needs of the users; and to make access to this spectrum more uniform. The aim of the policy proposals is to set a framework for managing this spectrum for the next 10 years.

Addressing the audience attending the FCS Business Radio Event on 17 November 2016, and ahead of the release of the consultation paper, Vaughan John, Principal Policy Manager at Ofcom, said: ‘The conclusions we have drawn are very close to those of the Spectrum Policy Advisory Group and Tech UK. Voice is still the predominant requirement – that was the very clear message that has come back.’

John said that Ofcom’s view is that it does not need to do anything too drastic. Instead, it proposes to evolve its current processes. He added that he thought the changes would be relatively minor in terms of how the business radio sector does its business.

SK Telecom and Nokia unveil critical PTT over VoLTE solution SK Telecom and Nokia have jointly developed a mission critical push-totalk (MCPTT) solution over VoLTE, which will enable emergency services to use the technology on 4G networks. The solution was recently demonstrated at Nokia’s Research and Development Centre in Kraków, Poland.

MCPT T enables efficient communication among hundreds of rescue workers by using a dedicated channel at times of massive disasters.

The technology has been largely confined to professional mobile radio (PMR) two-way radio networks, such as TETRA, Tetrapol and P25 used by

emergency services, up until now.

However, standards body 3GPP has been working to bring mission critical functionalities used by PMR radio standards into 4G cellular.

Unlike the existing IP-based pushto-talk, which is heavily affected by the number of users on the same network, Nokia argues MCPTT ensures highquality communications as it uses the VoLTE network and supports a stable group communications service – even when there is a surge in users.

This is done through the application of Group Communication System Enabler (GCSE – an eMBMS-based

The FCS Business Radio 2017 event will be held at Chateau Impney, Droitwich Spa, on 16 November. This year will see some changes, with the audience extended to include installers of in-vehicle radio frequency equipment, more seminar sessions and hands-on demonstrations

group communication technology adopted by 3GPP) based on evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (eMBMS – a technology that can transmit large-volume multimedia content to massive users at once over wireless LTE network).

SK Telecom said it plans to utilise the MCPTT solution for Public Safety-LTE (PS-LTE) and LTE-Railroad (LTE-R) in Korea and also expects to expand its reach to countries that are currently promoting the public safety network projects such as the USA’s FirstNet project, and the UK’s Emergency Services Network (ESN).

Vienna Airport installs Hytera TETRA network Vienna Airport in Austria has installed two DIB-R5 base stations from Hytera Mobilfunk, to provide network coverage. The package also includes Hytera terminals: 40 MT680 mobile radios, and 125 PT580H handheld radios, which have been issued to staff.

PowerTrunk to supply TETRA network for CTRAN New York PowerTrunk, part of the Sepura Group, has been chosen to provide a digital TETRA radio communications network for Chemung County Transit (C TRAN) in New York. The TETRA system is to be delivered through Integrated Systems of Victor, New York.

The PowerTrunk TETRA system will replace an existing legacy analogue radio system to provide voice and data communication for controlling and managing the C TRAN public bus transportation service. A second phase, for a control room upgrade and the addition of real-time GPS tracking of the buses, is also planned.

Airbus equips three Chinese metros with TETRA Airbus Defence and Space is to provide TETRA radio systems for the metro lines of three cities in China: the provincial capitals Lanzhou and Urumqi in central and north-western China, and for the existing line 2 in Qingdao.

With a total length of roughly 34 km and 20 stations, Lanzhou’s metro line will consist of one TETRA switch, 22 TB3 base stations and approximately 500 THR880i and TMR880i terminals. Operation will start at the end of 2017. The capital of Gansu province plans to have six metro lines in the future.

In Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Airbus will provide two DXTA TETRA switches, 23 TB3 base stations and around 500 TMR880i and TH1n terminals. This system for Urumqi’s Metro Line 1 is the latest version of a full-IP TETRA network with a disaster recovery mechanism.

The metro system is expected to start its service in 2019.

Finally, the transport authority of Qingdao, on China’s north-eastern coast, has ordered a TETRA system for its metro line 2. Qingdao has already been running an Airbus TETRA network to dispatch, operate and manage the trains on line 3.

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5G – OUTLOOK

Putting the 5G p requirements capture as to why 5G is being developed, what it is, and who the end beneficiaries are likely to be. 3GPP breaks down the work into study and normative phases, he explains. ‘The bulk of the work being done in 3GPP is to define the overall system and we are coming to the end of the study phase at the end of March this year.

‘That means we’ve looked at all of the possibilities and in March we agree what we will standardise and then the normative work begins – writing the specifications to define the requirements,’ says Scarse.

Standardisation timelines

What has shifted is the original timelines for standardisation. ‘A couple of years ago we set a target of 2020, but now there is a mobile operator push to say we want it earlier than that, which came as a bit of a surprise to us,’ says Scarse.

‘5G has become a competitive thing about who will be first to

Smart Meter Credit: Wellington Energy, Inc

here has been plenty of noise around 5G over the past year, but has anything substantial emerged from the hype? Views differ.

Panellists at a 5G debate in November 2016 held by Cambridge Wireless and the National Infrastructure Commission in the UK were hard put to identify much that could actually be deemed ‘new’ and therefore genuinely 5G, as opposed to concepts that are already being worked on.

But Adrian Scarse, CTO at ETSI and head of the Mobile Competence Centre (which has the primary role of supporting 3GPP) is having none of this. ‘Some people are still saying; we have no idea what 5G is. That is not true. We know exactly what we are doing from a standardisation point of view. We know what 5G is and what we have to deliver and by when – and we will do it.’

Scarse reports that 3GPP has pretty much completed the 5G

DIVERSE USE CASES: 5G faces the challenge of having to support very different use cases such as smart meters, which only need to send tiny amounts of data occasionally using low power, to transmitting large quantities

EDUCATION: Virtual Reality can be used to aid education and training such as preparing US astronauts for a spacewalk in the Integrated EVARMS Virtual Reality Simulator Facility at Johnson Space Center commercialise it and that has put a lot of pressure on standardisation bodies. So now we are looking at 2018 as the completion date for the specifications, but some MNOs are saying we should have it finished by the end of 2017!’

As a result of this pressure, 3GPP has divided the standardisation work into two phases. Phase 1 should have enough of the standard ready for those operators who want to launch in 2018, but Scarse says ‘it

will not be complete as there is just not enough time’.

The MNOs in particular that are pushing for this earlier date are Korea Telecom and SK Telecom in Korea, Verizon in the US, NTT DoCoMo in Japan and Telia in Europe, who are saying they are ready to go, but they just need the standard. Scarse adds: ‘Phase 2 will be done by 2020 and that will deliver a complete system description to meet the overall requirements of 5G.’ Li-Ke Huang, research & technology director at the test and measurement side of Cobham Wireless, says: ‘ETSI and 3GPP know what to do in terms of driving the direction of 5G. But in terms of the actual R&D and design and implementation there is still a lot of innovation to be done yet.’

Parallel development Nokia

T

US Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Dominique M. Lasco

The requirements for 5G have now been captured, and work on writing the actual specifications begins in March. This year will see plenty of trials and yet more research, but questions remain over the viability of the business case, as James Atkinson reports

Some of the confusion around what is and what is not 5G seems to stem from the fact that 4G is continuing to develop at the same time as the

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5G – OUTLOOK

G pieces together

The real 5G

So, what will be genuinely new and different about 5G? In theory it will

EARLY DAYS: Enhanced Mobile Broadband providing faster speeds and more capacity will be among the first aspects of 5G to be commercialised, able to support virtual and augmented reality for gaming among other things

Razer OSVR Open-Source VR for Gaming (Maurizio Pesce)

5G standard is being worked on, leading some to declare that ‘anything developed after 2018 is just being labelled as 5G’. An InterDigital paper, Putting Together the Pieces of the 5G Puzzle, tried to clarify the situation as follows: ‘While it is expected that LTE will only address a subset of the requirements of 5G, there are essentially two parallel development tracks. On the one track, LTE will continue to grow through the enhancements expected in Release 14 and 15 (such as lower latencies and shorter transmission time interval lengths), and early IoT deployments over 4G and various use cases such as vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) applications and certain wearable devices. On the other track, a parallel 5G development timeline will leverage 4G evolution and enhance the network capabilities considerably.’

In other words, mobile operators will be able to implement LTE-A Pro (4.5G, Pre5G, etc) technology, which will provide, InterDigital again, ‘access to much higher bandwidth (up to 640 MHz), tight integration with Wi-Fi, operation in unlicensed frequency bands, direct communications (device-to-device) and certain machine type communications (MTC) enhancements, and support for more advanced beamforming such as 3D MIMO to increase system capacity’.

InterDigital regards these enhancements as ‘dramatic improvements over existing LTE-A network capabilities’, but sees them all as ‘bridge technologies to the 5G/New Radio (NR) networks expected to take shape beginning in about 2020’.

Also in the mix are the current developing technologies of network functions virtualisation (NFV), software defined network (SDN), mobile edge computing (MEC), Cloud-RAN – and since the standardisation of narrowband LTE for IoT in March 2016 – support for low-power, wide area network IoT deployments on cellular networks.

be technologies that enable use cases that 4G cannot meet, such as those with very high data rates (20 Gbps and beyond), ultra-low latency (less than 1ms) and ultrahigh reliability, along with support for massive IoT deployments.

5G will be a new kind of ‘network of networks’ capable of supporting heterogeneous networks (HetNet) of 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, Wi-Fi and perhaps others. It is expected to harness millimetre wave spectrum, which will require a 5G New Radio (5G NR) interface, and a new underlying core network architecture.

Scarse points out: ‘If we look at

the broad use cases that we are trying to satisfy then no single radio can do all of those things. You cannot meet the requirements for enhanced mobile broadband, massive IoT and mission critical services out of one air interface. So, we will have the 5G NR air interface, as well as the LTE-A Pro one. 5G needs a combination of both, as neither technology in isolation will meet all the requirements.’

How that 5G NR air interface will be characterised has yet to be decided, although aspects such as the channel modelling have been looked at. There is, however, no

shortage of ideas as to how it might be characterised from the likes of Ericsson, Nokia, Huawei and ZTE in particular – all of whom have carried out extensive work on possible solutions.

Flexible architecture

Scarse adds that the decision has also been made to develop a new core network. ‘We will have the existing EPC (evolved packet core) network plus a new core network.

The existing core cannot handle the very low latency requirements, so Continued on p10

Where will the new spectrum come from?

The GSMA argues that 5G needs spectrum in three key frequency ranges to deliver widespread coverage and support all use cases: ● Sub-1 GHz: 5G services will struggle to reach beyond urban centres and deep inside buildings without this spectrum. 700 MHz could be used in Europe; 600 MHz in US; also 470-694/8 MHz may be considered by ITU in 2023. ● 1-6 GHz: Provides a reasonable mixture of coverage and capacity for 5G. 3.3-3.8 GHz is likely to be used for initial 5G services (3.4-3.6 GHz is almost globally harmonised); 3.8-4.2 GHz is also being looked at as is 4-5

GHz. Other mobile bands in the range being used for 3G and 4G services could be refarmed. ● Above 6 GHz: Needed for 5G services such as ultra-high speed mobile broadband. Without them, 5G will not be able to deliver significantly faster speeds or support project extensive mobile traffic growth. The ITU World Radio Congress in 2019 will consider: 24.25-27.5 GHz; 31.8-33.4 GHz; 37-43.5 GHz; 45.5-50.2 GHz; 50.4-52.6 GHz; 66-76 GHz; 81-86 GHz. Some countries are also keen on using 28 GHz; others are considering bands in the 6-24 GHz range.

Source: GSMA – 5G Spectrum – Public Policy Position (Nov 2016)

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5G – OUTLOOK

Tafazolli agrees: ‘4G needs to be an integral part of 5G, as not everywhere will need high capacity, but coverage is still important. You need 4G for coverage and 5G for hotspots, so 4G and 5G need to work together.’

In terms of new 5G technology, as opposed to the further evolution of 4G, what needs to be done? ‘The number-one priority is to design the air interface, which will incorporate Massive MIMO, beamforming and higher frequency millimetre bands,’ says Li-Ke Huang. ‘How do we actually come from the kind of system performance 5G requires to reach commercial deployment? The industry is quite concerned about this.’

The NR interface needs to be able to handle millimetre wave frequencies (up to 100 GHz). The millimetre waves’ shorter range means the path loss is higher over longer distance, so antennas need to be nearer to each other to ensure wide and consistent coverage.

5G networks may deploy up to 1,024 antenna elements at the network end and up to 32 in the end user’s equipment.

Massive MIMO is the key tool here. Huawei defines Massive MIMO as a ‘technology that uses a large array of antennas to provide precise control of beam width and angle in both vertical and horizontal directions, enabling 3D user-level beamforming, which therefore improves network coverage and reduces overall network interference’.

Google

Air interface

AUTONOMOUS DRIVING: Ultra-low latency and ubiquitous and ultra-reliable coverage will be vital to support vehicle-tovehicle applications and self-driving cars Also in the mix is multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO), which Huawei says is based on accurate 3D user beamforming, accurate channel estimation and user algorithms. MU-MIMO allows multiple terminals to simultaneously reuse the same spectrum resources, therefore further enhancing network capacity.

Li-Ke Huang says it is tricky to test these new technologies. ‘We need to understand how we can test beamforming together with MU-MIMO. We can support a few devices just fine, but lots of them simultaneously is very demanding in terms of frequency and time resource.’

He also points to another challenge for mobile operators in terms of handling the much higher density of cells. ‘A typical deployment with, say, 500 small cells being dynamically

changed at the same time, will require a huge computing resource in Cloud RAN architecture.

‘You also need to be able to manage the interference issues. 5G is very challenging compared with 4G, which is mostly an end-to-end system with a finite number of base stations connecting to the core network.’

Low latency

That additional processing power will be a key factor in how 5G reduces the round trip time (latency) in order to speed up the transmission of a data packet and its acknowledgement by the receiver.

Mobile edge computing will also play a part here in moving computer power closer to the edge – either at the base station itself or at an aggregation hub controlling a number of base stations.

MASSIVE IOT: Large-scale deployments of Internet of Things devices are expected to be a good future source of revenue for mobile operators including smart agriculture and industrial monitoring and automation

Libelium

Libelium

we need two cores and an architecture that is flexible enough to support both and enable concepts such as network slicing.

‘The 5G NextGen network needs to be able to describe a slice through the network that provides the sort of performance you need to fulfil the requirements of a particular use case or industry vertical,’ says Scarse.

This can be done in two ways, he explains: statically, where you select pre-allocated, or policy defined network resources to satisfy the service you are trying to deliver; or through dynamic slicing where you allocate network resources on the hoof in real time.

‘An operator’s ability to do this depends on whether, or how much, the network is virtualised or not,’ says Scarse. ‘Virtualisation is an integral part of it, but it is not a prerequisite for 5G. However, if the MNO has virtualised its network it will make dynamic slicing much easier. It provides the MNO with much more flexibility.’

Professor Rahim Tafazolli, director of 5G Innovation Centre (5GIC) and Institute of Communication Systems at the University of Surrey, says: ‘The next step after virtualisation is selforganised networks (SON) and autonomous applications – and data analytics are a core part of that as you need knowledge of what the network is doing to provide a good quality of experience. The 5G architecture will enable convergence between fixed mobile and broadcast and IoT.’ Li-Ke Huang notes: ‘A flexible architecture is needed and an easily scalable one that enables dynamic slicing and virtualising Cloud RAN. It also needs to be backward compatible with legacy networks, and whatever we do now needs to be forward compatible too. We must not try to second guess what might be required in the future; we need to design 5G to ensure it can be adapted to new things.’

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5G – OUTLOOK

Tafazolli asserts: ‘MEC is critical to low latency applications – it is a must. Most of the computing needs to happen at the edge, so you have to bring functionalities and intelligence to the edge to overcome network congestion and blockage.

The traffic bottleneck will not just be in the RAN, but in the network side too.’

As mentioned, 3GPP will begin writing the actual 5G specifications from March this year. 5GIC’s Professor Rahim Tafazolli says: ‘A huge number of demonstrations and trials will take place in 2017. We need to see what the performance parameters are and what needs to be optimised and standardised. 3GPP then needs to funnel this information into the 5G specifications.

‘We have been doing extensive research and innovation on all aspects of 5G since 2012,’ he says.

‘So far, we have done some trials on 4K video, IoT massive connectivity and we have a number of technologies we have demonstrated for high capacity of enhanced mobile broadband.

‘Our plan for 2017 is that we are going into the second phase of our research and innovation programme.

This year will be more about the integration of different technologies and more end-to-end trials.

‘To start with we are going to do capacity testing and speed testing,’ he continues, ‘although we will also do coverage testing, as ubiquitous coverage is important too. Then we will demonstrate the quality of experience from the user point of view when, for example, they are watching 4K and 8K video, and looking at the low latency aspects of that.

‘So, this is the critical year for integrating the innovations we have come up with and studying the endto-end performance of what the end user experiences,’ says Tafazolli.

Business case

Not everyone agrees that 5G is necessary (see article on p.12) with some arguing that many of the so-called 5G use cases can be delivered using existing technology – even less clear is whether the business case stacks up. It will need something compelling for consumers to pay more for their price plans – which may happen, but it is not clear (beyond enthusiastic gamers perhaps) what that might be yet.

The hopeful view seems to be that industry verticals will pay for new services enabled by 5G. They have not done so before, so this may

STREAMING: Support for 4K and later 8K video streaming is something the mobile operators will be keen to offer if consumers are prepared to pay more for the privilege, or if CSPs are willing to buy it as a service

be an optimistic view. It may take governmental or regulatory intervention to enable it and perhaps a considerable change in the structure and attitude of MNOs – not known for their ability to innovate, partner or take risks.

However, a paper published by IHS Economics – The 5G Economy: How 5G technology will contribute to the global economy (Jan 2017), argues that 5G has the capacity to become a global general purpose technology established through pervasive adoption across multiple technologies, thereby becoming a

catalyst for transformative changes (see box below).

ETSI’s Adrian Scarse says: ‘It is true that when you look at the overall 5G requirements many of them can be done using LTE-A Pro. When you look at the priorities – and it depends who you ask as to what those are – what really matters is what the operators want to deploy – generally it will be what will save and/or make them more money.’

The 5G use cases are generally grouped into three categories, including those enabled by: Enhanced Mobile Broadband (VR,

When you look at the priorities, and it depends who you ask as to what those are, what really matters is what the operators want to deploy Adrian Scrase, CTO, ETSI

The 5G Economy ● 5G will enable $12.3 trillion of global economic output in 2035 ● The global 5G value chain will generate $3.5 trillion in output and support 22 million jobs in 2035 ● The 5G value chain will invest an average of $200 billion annually to continually expand and strengthen the 5G technology base within network and business application infrastructure ● 5G deployment will fuel sustainable long term growth to global real GDP. Source: IHS Economics & IHS Technology whitepaper – The 5G Economy: How 5G technology will contribute to the global economy (Jan 2017)

AR, fixed wireless broadband, etc); Massive Internet of Things (smart cities, homes, agriculture, etc); and Mission Critical Services (industrial automation, autonomous vehicles).

Nothing is certain at this stage, but in terms of MNO priorities it is clear that enhanced mobile broadband will happen first and it is this that the eager MNOs mentioned above want to deploy – presumably with the expectation that they can safely charge higher tariffs and generate more revenues.

‘They see that as the number-one priority, as they have an established customer-base that will pay for it,’ agrees Scarse.

But as Scarse says, if it is the MNOs that have to pay to put in the 5G infrastructure, they are only going to do so if they can see a clear return on investment. Unless of course, the fear of being left behind stampedes them into a ‘build it and they will come’ deployment with fingers crossed that remunerative use cases will eventually appear to save the day.

The conclusion for the moment is that most believe the requirements for 5G have coalesced and that work is continuing apace on solving the technology issues.

There is still much uncertainty over the business case and a number of challenges still need to be overcome, not least where the required globally harmonised new spectrum will come from.

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MOBILE INFRASTRUCTURE – 5G

How to ensure national l D

igital communication is rightly seen as a critical element of a country’s national infrastructure.

Without adequate communications a country would, literally, grind to a halt. So it is unsurprising that politicians get excited about being high up on international league tables for connectivity and having homegrown latest generation technology.

This has been very much the case with 5G, for example, with the EC calling for Europe to be a world leader in 5G and have a ‘5G city’ in each country by 2020. Around the world, other governments have also set out their aspirations.

But in doing so, none answer what would seem rather fundamental questions such as: ‘what is 5G?’; ‘why would being a leader in 5G help our country?’; and ‘how would we know whether we were the leader?’. This article seeks to address some of these questions.

The first question asks what 5G actually is. Definitions set out by leading industry bodies and players are far from helpful. For example, the Next Generation Mobile Networks group says that it is: ‘An

end-to-end ecosystem to enable a fully mobile and connected society which empowers value creation towards customers and partners, through existing and emerging use cases, delivered with consistent experience, and enabled by sustainable business models.’

Any the wiser? How about this from Ericsson, which says: ‘There is a general industry consensus regarding the increase in demands that 5G systems will need to meet in comparison with today’s networks.

This common understanding indicates that traffic volumes will be multiplied 1,000 times; 100 times more devices will require connectivity; some applications will demand data rates 100 times the speeds that average networks currently deliver; some will require near-zero latency; and the entire system will work to enable battery lives of up to 10 years.’

That would be nice, but do you really believe it?

In fact, there is no clear, consistent and widely agreed view of what 5G is, which is rather startling considering that Korea

Samsung

While the UK is busily trying to ensure it is at the top of international league tables when it comes to 5G, Professor William Webb, director of Webb Search Consulting, believes that some fundamental questions about 5G and its implementation have been left unanswered

Telecom is going to deploy it during 2017 for the 2018 Winter Olympics and Verizon is rolling it out in the US as part of a broadband fixed wireless deployment.

I looked at 5G in detail as part of a recent book The 5G Myth. The conclusions I drew were, broadly, that: ● If the trends of previous generations were blindly followed, then 5G would become widely deployed in 2022, would deliver realistic end-user data rates of 200Mbits/s and an increase in capacity of around 2x compared with current networks.

Perhaps a country is better served by building on existing investments rather than seeking brand new networks Professor William Webb, director, Webb Consulting & CEO, Weightless SIG

● However, such increases in speed are not needed. Users do not value speeds above those already widely available on 4G. While data requirements are currently growing rapidly, the rate of growth is slowing and, if extrapolated, will result in a plateau in data rate requirements around 2027, with little growth in the 5G era as users consume all the video and web browsing they could possibly want. ● Even if such increases in speed and capacity were required, we do not have the technology available to provide such gains economically.

Further capacity improvements are very difficult and likely to be expensive to realise, raising the cost of provision for MNOs. Speed improvements are only available in very high frequency bands, which have coverage limited to dense urban areas and also have high costs. Hence, there are no easy gains

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MOBILE INFRASTRUCTURE – 5G

l leadership in 5G from technological improvements. ● High costs might be acceptable if the industry were in robust financial health, but MNOs are in a position of declining revenues relative to GDP, and profitability of only half the average across all industry sectors. Few expect this to change with 5G, with the result that investment is highly unattractive unless revenue growth can be stimulated through the delivery of new services. Further, regulation prevents moves such as mergers that might help to address these economic issues. ● The specific visions for 5G, such as ultra-low latency connected cars, are often unachievable. Proposed services can either be delivered via existing wireless solutions such as 4G, or are economically unviable.

What are the benefits of 5G?

If we do not know what 5G is, do we at least understand what would benefit a country? The perceived wisdom is that the faster the

© Copyright David Martin

REALITY CHECK: Would people prefer investment in a VR experience enabled by 5G, or in ubiquitous mobile coverage and consistent speeds across the nation including rural areas, indoors and on roads and railways?

connectivity the more able a country is to compete on the international stage.

But this is also flawed. For example, if it were true then South Korea would now be the world’s most competitive country and UK GDP growth would be rapidly falling below our competitors.

As always, the answer is complex and nuanced.

But broadly, large GDP gains arise from widespread deployment of reliable low data rate communications. This enables farmers to find out crop prices, plumbers to make appointments on the move, office workers to consult diaries or retrieve emails, and the public to book train tickets or check traffic conditions.

Higher data rates are nice, but not much more productive. Office workers can now watch videos embedded in emails and commuters can catch up with their favourite TV programme on the go, but neither move the productivity dial much.

Faster is good for entertainment, which we all enjoy, but makes limited difference from a governmental point of view. There is always a chance that this will change – that going even faster opens up the capability of some application that enables another step-change in productivity. The 5G proponents would claim that autonomous cars might fall into this category – but these are already working in California with existing wireless connectivity.

The other argument is that being a leader can benefit local industry, which can now export product or services around the world. There is clearly some truth in this, but the impact is minimal.

In the high-tech world, companies such as ARM only employ a few thousand individuals.

And overseas companies such as Google will often invest in the UK, bringing the leadership they gain in the US over here. Of course, it is a

good thing to be a leader and countries should strive to do so where possible and realistic. Having said that, by definition there is only one global leader.

Given that 5G is unknown, uncertain and risky; and given that basic connectivity brings the greatest benefits to a country, a sound strategy would be to build on areas where we do have certainty.

These include 4G, Wi-Fi and the emerging IoT (Internet of Things) technologies such as the NB-IoT solution Vodafone is trialling Extending the coverage of these across all geographical areas, from trains to rural roads, from deep within buildings to busy city centres, would enable consistent connectivity at speeds that enable video streaming and rapid web browsing everywhere.

Perhaps a country with the best connectivity is one that has more than adequate speeds available ubiquitously rather than super-fast speeds in city centres.

And perhaps a country is better served by building on existing investments rather than seeking brand new networks. This is the conclusion reached in my book The 5G Myth. And since nobody knows what 5G actually is then labelling such a network as 5G would be fine.

The EC could be happy that cities were equipped with 5G and some spurious measure of connectivity could convince politicians global leadership had been obtained.

Happily, the recent report from the National Infrastructure Commission recommended just such an approach – extend the coverage of 4G to all areas and then claim 5G-readiness. The UK may not have connectivity speeds as fast as South Korea but it will have a reliable, ubiquitous and fit-forpurpose network at relatively low cost to the consumer and tax payer. It may not be aspirational, nor a thing of beauty, but there is a good reason why we don’t all drive Ferraris….

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MOBILE INFRASTRUCTURE – 5G

Is 5G on a train to n Robin Kent, director of European operations at Adax asks whether operators should get their 4G house in order before looking ahead to 5G

R

ecently, I was on a train from Frankfurt to Nuremburg in Germany attempting in vain to get some work done. The issue I had is that, as there was no Wi-Fi available on board, I was having to rely on the mobile phone network to remain connected.

My frustration grew as my phone constantly flitted between 4G, 3G and 2G, causing emails not to sync correctly and an increasing amount of important messages to become stuck in my outbox, while I also had trouble browsing the web.

What this experience all too frustratingly illustrated is that the industry has yet to fully implement a working and stable 4G experience for users, which begs the question: shouldn’t operators ensure 4G works sufficiently before turning their attention to the much-mooted 5G? This was highlighted in a recent government report on 4G performance, which claimed that the UK is a somewhat embarrassing 54th in the global rankings for 4G coverage. In the report, our 4G record was savaged by advisers, branding it worse than connectivity in countries such as Romania, Albania, Panama and Peru.

The problem I experienced can be seen even within major city centres around the UK. In fact, the report found that some 20% of urban homes and 80% of rural premises are currently in not-spot areas, and only 8% of A and B roads have full connectivity. Even on the motorways, users fail to get either 3G or 4G almost 25% of the time, the report found.

Data-heavy applications

The truth is that the evolution through 2G to 4G has prompted the rapidly increasing use of services and applications that are data heavy, and the industry has struggled to keep pace. Many other data-

intensive applications – both consumer-oriented and businessto-business – are also on the verge of emerging. Examples include virtual and augmented reality, 3D and ultra-HD video.

The telecoms industry is at an early stage in the development of 5G, yet there is already a lot of talk about 5G being the next big thing in the telco world. Media commentators and industry experts alike are making bold predictions about how the move to 5G is necessary to facilitate the explosive increase in demand for wireless broadband services needing faster, higher-capacity networks that can deliver video and other contentrich services.

It is also true that 5G can support the vast number of Internet of Things (IoT) networks because it allows a greater volume of connections than current 4G networks. This is certainly a key driving factor; after all, Gartner estimates that the amount of connected IoT devices will reach 26 billion by 2020[i].

However, when it comes to IoT, network capacity will still be a major issue for operators regardless of the take-off and realisation of 5G. For IoT to be a true success, operators must be prepared to maintain enough capacity in the core network and, more importantly, manage the connections to it without creating bottlenecks.

Typically, GPRS Tunnelling Protocol (GTP) solutions have been able to handle up to 25-30,000 Packet Data Protocol (PDP) contexts per application, but operators now need to be looking towards coping with one million – approximately a 33-fold increase – in light of the expected rush to be connected. By foreseeing this huge surge, operators can prepare appropriately rather than waiting for it turn up unexpectedly at their door.

Operators need to consider a GTP solution that enables traffic capacity to be increased by accelerating data paths and removing bottlenecks, which in turn accelerates the GTP tunnels and packet filtering. This results in higher performance and vastly improves quality of experience for the end user.

Operators should also be prepared for the varying levels of service requirements across different applications. When device numbers are massive, both the signalling and data plane throughput is high and latency tolerance is low, so they will need a good GTP solution in the core.

Coupled with 5G, the IoT should benefit from stronger, more reliable connectivity, but operators need to ensure they get the basics right first.

will be connected with free wireless internet and will fully deploy 5G networks by 2025. The expectation is that 5G will increase bandwidth and download speeds, with trials currently being held to see what can be delivered to handsets.

However, these trials show what can be achieved in the perfect scenario and never truly reflect what can happen in reality.

It is important for the industry to be cautious. While 5G is theoretically 40 times faster than the hypothetical limit of 4G, it will take a great deal of upgrading of infrastructure, – not least to the masts themselves – for it to fulfil its claims. This is because 5G needs to run in a rough line of sight, so in built-up, heavily populated areas, experts are suggesting that masts will be required every 100 metres or so.

Looking to the future

A change in diameter

The European Union has promised[ii] that by 2020 every European city, town and village

As and when 5G makes its arrival, operators will need to ensure they have an effective Stream Control

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MOBILE INFRASTRUCTURE – 5G

o nowhere?

BE PREPARED: Even with the advent of 5G, capacity will remain a major issue. Operators will need to augment their GTP solutions to ensure the predicated millions of IoT devices can be coped with, as well as being able to handle the varying levels of service requirements.

They will also need to have a good transport layer in place to be able to carry the huge levels of traffic

Transmission Protocol (SCTP) solution in place for Diameter signalling. As implementations begin to roll out, the growth of Diameter will continue to accelerate, so the need for a good transport layer should be a priority for operators.

If operators aren’t prepared, they could be faced with a situation where they are not able to carry the huge levels of traffic required by the host application to any and all of its possible destinations.

The solution they adopt should be specifically designed to meet the demands of today’s LTE networks, IoT, M2M and tomorrow’s 5G

networks. Authentication chunks designated in RFC 4895 secure SCTP-based associations from packet injection, hijacking or accidental disconnection.

Operators will require this to secure millions of simultaneous associations in order to meet the challenges posed to the network by malicious intent.

Capacity must also be a major consideration, and operators should implement an SCTP solution that supports the tens of thousands of simultaneous associations that 5G will bring, for maximum connectivity, as well as secure authentication.

function virtualisation (NFV), endto-end orchestration, network applications, and analytics.

There’s a lot of talk about 5G networks being heterogeneous networks, in that they will involve multiple nodes and a unified air interface tailored to the needs of specific applications.

A major feature of 5G will be network slicing. Dynamic network slicing will enable the design, deployment, customisation, and optimisation of different network slices running on a common network infrastructure.

It will leverage innovations in cloud mobile access and the core, as well as capitalising on the capabilities of software-defined networking (SDN), network

Is the hype justified?

We have all experienced issues with the current 3G and 4G networks. The industry hasn’t fully utilised the technology yet, so the move to 5G isn’t necessarily going to be a smooth as some might think. It is, therefore, vital that service providers have the right tools in place for 5G to be successfully implemented.

If we’re to believe that every European town, city and village will deploy 5G networks by 2025, then operators will have their work cut out to provide the high level of service that end users to have come to expect in recent years.

When 5G makes its arrival, operators will need to ensure they have an effective Stream Control Transmission Protocol solution in place for Diameter signalling

References

Robin Kent, director of European operations, Adax

[i] http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/ id/2684616 [ii] http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP16-3008_en.htm

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MOBILE INFRASTRUCTURE – SMALL CELLS

Overcoming the small cell deployment b

S

mall cells are seen as a vital part of the toolkit for efficient and optimised 4G networks and will be integral to 5G, but actual deployment to date remains sluggish.

Outdoor small cells are a mobile network operator (MNO) play for network densification, coverage infill and wireless backhaul. But it is apparent that MNOs will only deploy outdoor small cells when they have to.

However, there is a desperate need for cellular small cells right now for in-building coverage, as most smartphone data transmissions and often voice calls happen indoors.

The lack of major deployments here essentially boils down to – who will pay? The MNOs, the enterprise or building owner, or some third party that then wholesales out the indoor network?

For the most part, MNOs will not do so, except perhaps for large customers that they want to keep

sweet. It would be prohibitively expensive and they have neither the time, manpower, nor the sales and delivery mechanisms to design and install tens of thousands of indoor small cell networks.

The problem is that the MNOs must be involved at some point in the process, as the indoor networks have to connect into their macro networks. But their view is that indoor cellular infrastructure should be paid for by the building owner/occupier.

But neither of these parties knows how to design, install and maintain an indoor cellular network – and they want a multi-operator solution.

Multi-operator solutions exist, but just how they get to market and how the business case works, is undecided as yet. The third party, or neutral host option seems a good way forward – but the operators have to be comfortable with it and

Phil Whitehouse

Small cells are a key ingredient for 4G and the 5G networks of the future, but they are also needed right now for in-building coverage – however, there are deployment issues to overcome. The Cambridge Wireless Small Cells SIG attempted to suggest some solutions at a recent event, as James Atkinson reports

feel they can trust these third parties and their supply and installation chain.

This is the gap that needs to be filled before a trusted, go-to-market indoor network solution with a viable business case that meets the needs and pockets of all parties can begin to work.

Possible solution

At the CW Small Cell SIG event hosted by law firm EIP in London on 7 December 2016, Nick Johnson, CTO at ip.access, attempted to map out a way forward to bridge this gap.

‘The obvious choice is to run small cells over an IP backbone,’ he said.

Our idea is to get to market through a neutral host with a multi-operator solution. The question is: how do we deliver the MNOs’ level of Quality of Service?

Nick Johnson, CTO, ip.access

‘Our idea is to get to market through a neutral host with a multioperator solution. The question is: how do we deliver the MNOs’ level of Quality of Service over what is essentially shared spectrum?’

In Johnson’s view the market is ready for this. He quoted Mobile Experts from April 2015, in support of this assertion: ‘Many enterprises are getting desperate for improved mobile coverage, and are ready to buy their own infrastructure’; and: ‘Landlords have difficulty renting space with poor mobile coverage.

Hotels lose customers if mobile services are weak.’

He added: ‘Wi-Fi just doesn’t cut it. It is the victim of its own success, as networks are congested with data demand.’ Wi-Fi vendors might not agree with this view, but his point was that there is pent-up demand for coverage, and money to be made by the industry as a result.

As an illustration of this demand, Johnson cited that fact that US enterprise market TAM (total addressable market) comprises

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MOBILE INFRASTRUCTURE – SMALL CELLS

The promise of MulteFire

t barrier UTILITY: Enterprises, large venue operators and public sector organisations are crying out for improved mobile phone coverage within buildings. But mobile operators argue that indoor coverage should be seen as a utility like electricity and water and it is therefore the responsibility of the building owner or occupier to pay for it. While owner/occupiers are increasingly persuaded of this view, there is, as yet, no established go-to-market supply chain to enable deployment

some 7 million building sites with SoHo and SME premises making up 6 million sites and large enterprises some 1.2 million sites.

According to research published

by Wireless 20-20 in November 2016, just 2% of these sites have a specific in-building solution of any technology.

‘Enterprises moan about operators not addressing the problem, but they are in a difficult bind. MNO revenue has been falling in Europe over the past five years.

‘On the other side of the coin MNOs are still struggling to meet data demand growing at 60% CAGR per annum since 2013,’ said Johnson.

Neutral host

In support of his assertion that ‘neutral host’ is the way forward, Johnson pointed out that a lot of cellular infrastructure is no longer in the hands of the operators. In the US over 60% of macro towers are owned by other companies and many are shared with other operators.

Even some of the active RAN

infrastructure is owned by others, and the advent of shared spectrum blurs the boundaries between MNOs and MVNOs. So, ‘neutral hosts’ running indoor cellular networks is hardly a revolutionary idea.

Examining how the ‘Neutral Host Revolution’ might work, Johnson said that while the tried-and-tested model of an operator selling a oneto-one service to an individual subscriber works well, the operator to individual enterprise model does not work well at scale.

‘But a neutral host can operate in between the two and carry calls on the MNOs’ behalf from many enterprises,’ he said. ‘The neutral host restores the one-to-one relationship between the MNO and the enterprise.

If the neutral host acts as an MVNO, it can also provide services to the enterprise as well as access.’

Johnson argued that the solution really has to be a multi-operator one. ‘A solution where you deploy multiple individual cells for each operator, that means four base

Cellular small cells are not the only option for providing indoor coverage. The new MulteFire standard offers an alternative in the shape of an LTE-based technology operating solely in unlicensed spectrum.

Dirk Lindemeier, Head of Small Cells at Nokia and spokesperson for MulteFire, explained that unlike LTE-U/LAA (licensed assisted access) or LWA (LTE Wi-Fi Aggregation), MulteFire does not require a licensed spectrum anchor channel to operate.

Lindemeier also emphasised that MulteFire has been designed to support Listen Before Talk (LBT) to ensure fair co-existence in unlicensed wireless spectrum. ‘MulteFire will bring LTE like performance combined with the simplicity of Wi-Fi. We are trying to bring a technology into an environment where neutrality is absolutely required,’ he explained.

For MNOs it offers an extension to their cellular network into areas where there is no cellular coverage, but it has the advantage of not binding the building owner to any one operator.

‘MulteFire is totally neutral and it does not need to be MNO deployed,’ said Lindemeier. ‘This means that third-party neutral hosts can buy MulteFire small cells and then latch them onto an MNO’s network, or it could do a multi-operator deployment.’

When it comes to enterprises, MulteFire is less about extending the cellular service and more about providing a local area network within the cellular network.

Because MulteFire operates in unlicensed spectrum it will allow other players to enter the wireless service provider market such as: enterprises, fixed and wireless ISPs, cable operators, venue operators; installation and IT service providers; public sector and public venues; and Internet of Things verticals.

‘Our vision is that once we have the MulteFire small cells it should be possible to buy them from retailers, distributors and others, who can hook them up to your building and to the MNOs. The end users or building owners can deploy it themselves,’ said Lindemeier.

The MulteFire standard is being defined by the MulteFire Alliance, so it is decoupled from the 3GPP train (although heavily based on 3GPP). Release 1 was published on 17 January with chipsets due out in H2 2017, enabling trials to take place this year. However, it will not be commercially available until 2018.

Work on a MulteFire certification programme is also under development.

stations in the UK, is an inelegant solution to be polite about it.’

The obvious solution is to collapse that model down and carry all the traffic on one device.

Johnson argued that we now have the model and technical base to supply a multi-operator solution.

Service levels

However, he noted that the host may not be so neutral. The model can be evolved to provide different levels of service with different pay rates using policy-based resource scheduling and per-operator traffic counting.

Shared spectrum arrangements could then be added into the mix, said Johnson. The spectrum donor earns money from its competitors; the neutral host and the spectrum donor trade spectrum for services; and the spectrum donor earns

money from the non-donor mobile operators and from the enterprise.

This, of course, requires a more liberal regulatory environment when it comes to how spectrum is allocated and licensed. In the US, the FCC is opening up 150MHz of TDD spectrum in three access tiers in the 3.5GHz band. In the UK, Ofcom is consulting on how to improve consumer access to mobile services at 3.6 to 3.8GHz. Johnson believes spectrum sharing is inevitable. He envisages an environment developing where enterprises will get service from a neutral host through an expanded set of service providers (MNOs, MVNOs, fixed-line providers, cable operators, etc); and that this will provide a thriving ecosystem for everyone – which will revive the industry, he argued.

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30/01/2017 13:46

CRITICAL COMMUNICATIONS – UTILITIES

Why UK utilities need m None of us would want to be without gas, electricity or water. But the utilities’ pleas for spectrum to support independent and resilient radio communications enabling a fast response in the event of a major power failure are falling on deaf ears in government, putting at risk essential national services, argues Adrian Grilli, managing director of the Joint Radio Company

I

n the BBC programme QI - The Naked Truth last December, panellists were asked: ‘What are the bare necessities of life today?’

Actress and comedienne Lolly Adefope thought they might be Wi-Fi and a good book, but presenter Sandi Toksvig listed the answers from a survey as: an internet connection; TV; a cuddle; a trustworthy best friend; a daily shower; and a cup of tea.

A mobile phone came out at number 19 – but revealingly, a mobile phone charger did not appear anywhere on the list.

Surprisingly, as panellist Alan Davies commented, ‘food, water and shelter’ were not thought of as necessities by most people.

So fresh water, clean air and a reliable supply of electricity are not considered necessities of life, yet what would Christmas have been like for you if the National Grid had taken down the transmission network for essential repairs between Christmas and New Year? What other arrangements might you have made to circumvent interruption to your electricity, gas or water over the holiday period?

The last time I counted the number of radio services in the ITU Radio Regulations there were some 40 services defined – although those definitions don’t include mobile broadband – that’s part of ‘mobile’ services, or perhaps MFCN ‘Mobile and Fixed Communications

Networks’ since we presume it’s hoped that most of the 53 million smart meters, many of which will be connected by the mobile phone network, are intended to be fixed rather than mobile.

Now, to those ITU service definitions, add the quasi-services that are closer to applications, such as ‘PPDR’ (public protection and disaster relief) and ‘PMSE’ (programme making and special events).

But in all the lists, there is no inclusion of what utilities would like to see in the long term – a new

service definition ‘utility operations’, which would include the radio services used to support the networks delivering essential services to the ‘consumer/citizen’ – gas, electricity and water – not forgetting those that take things away – waste water and sewage disposal.

If radio astronomy and amateur satellite are identified as distinct radio services, surely in the 21st century ‘utility operations’ are equally important – arguably more so? They might even be called ‘the bare necessities of life’.

But defining new radio services in the international arena is at least a 10-year process, and we haven’t got that much time. The EU 20-20-20 targets designed to save the planet will only be delivered with more intelligent networks managing generation embedded into the local electricity and gas distribution networks. And at the same time, customers and energy regulators are looking for more reliable and affordable energy supplies upon which our western society is increasingly dependent.

The EU 20-20-20 targets The 2020 package is a set of binding legislation to ensure the EU meets its climate and energy targets for the year 2020. The package sets three key targets: ■ 20% cut in greenhouse gas emissions (from 1990 levels) ■ 20% of EU energy from renewables ■ 20% improvement in energy efficiency.

The targets were set by EU leaders in 2007 and enacted in legislation in 2009. They are also headline targets of the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.

HEAVY LOAD: Plug-in electric cars represent a large potential electrical load, which can appear anywhere on the network at any time

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CRITICAL COMMUNICATIONS – UTILITIES

d more spectrum VITAL INFRASTRUCTURE: If the UK’s power network goes down, not much else is going to work and that includes mobile phone networks.

Utilities therefore need access to reliable independent communications, not just to help them carry out everyday tasks (often in remote areas with poor mobile coverage) but most especially when there is a power outage and they need to communicate with the engineers who are going to fix it.

Much of the necessary infrastructure is there – they just need a bit more spectrum, something that is proving difficult to find Below: Diesel generators provide independent power back-up for utility base stations to boost resilience

And although some would argue that these are EU targets (see box p.18), they were championed by a UK Prime Minister who claimed his government ‘would be the greenest ever’. We can therefore assume the current incumbent of 10 Downing Street is not for turning, and that these commitments will survive Brexit.

Thankfully, radio communications can help meet these climate targets requirements in terms of both cost and timescale, but only if utilities have access to sufficient and suitable spectrum.

Utilities don’t need much spectrum – certainly no more than 20 MHz in total – but appropriate spectrum is vital if their dedicated telecoms networks are to be made sufficiently resilient and have a fast-enough response to enable dynamic control.

50 Hertz mains electricity implies a single cycle lasts 20 milliseconds,

so if you want to monitor and exercise control within a single cycle – as some control strategies need – then end-to-end latency has to be less than 10 ms.

In terms of resilience, the Cabinet Office Risk Register predicts that a total loss of power to the British Energy Network, a condition known as a ‘black start’, could take at least 96 hours before power is restored to all customers.

During this period, electricity network distribution operators (DNOs) would need to have communications with major parts of their networks to restore supplies, but

most commercial telecoms networks can only survive a few hours at most without mains electricity.

Thus, utility networks – including water telecoms networks, which need to continue to operate in the presence of severe flooding – need independent power supplies to be able to operate throughout major incidents.

The most suitable spectrum within which to operate these critical networks is under 500 MHz, which gives adequate capacity with good reach and penetration for the construction of resilient telecommunications networks.

Conveniently, most utilities already have networks built around 400 MHz spectrum, so towers with adequate power resilience and backhaul capacity already exist. All that is needed is suitable spectrum.

We now have the latest Ofcom Strategic Review of spectrum in the band 410-470MHz (UHF1 & UHF2), and for the past eight years we have had a Government objective to release publicly held spectrum following the ‘Cave Review’ of MoD spectrum Continued on p20

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CRITICAL COMMUNICATIONS – UTILITIES

HEAVY LOAD: Plug-in electric cars represent a large potential electrical load which can appear anywhere on the network at any time.

STORM IMOGEN: Western Power Distribution response to Storm Imogen on 8 February 2016, which brought strong winds mainly affecting south Wales and southern England published on 30 May 2008 – ‘An Implementation Plan for Reform’.

Sadly, there has been little progress releasing or sharing publicly-held spectrum below 500 MHz. The utility sector got very excited in August 2016 (and it takes a lot to get the utility sector excited) when the Government’s Central Management Unit hosted a workshop entitled the ‘Art of the Possible’.

This programme is focused on sharing publicly-held spectrum

where there is a continuing national need for government users to retain access, but where it could potentially be shared with commercial users.

Disappointingly, when a followup event was facilitated by the TechUK Spectrum Policy Forum, the MoD presented the progress made since the summer, but the Central Management Unit, Ofcom and the Department for Culture, Media & Sport, which own

What would you miss most if the electricity went off?

Extract from Royal Academy of Engineering report: ‘Living without electricity’.

‘In December 2015, life for more than 100,000 people in Lancaster reverted to a pre-electronics era. A flood at an electricity substation resulted in a blackout over the entire city that lasted for more than 24 hours.

‘Suddenly people realised that, without electricity, there is no internet, no mobile phones, no contactless payment, no lifts and no petrol pumps. Although these dependencies were not difficult to see, few had thought through the implications of losing so many aspects of modern life at once.’

‘The biggest impact on most people was that few knew what

was happening. By looking out of the window, it was obvious that there was a widespread power cut but none of the usual sources of information – TV, internet, text messages or social media – was working.

‘Although there was FM radio coverage, many people did not have a suitable battery-powered radio, and reporters in the area had serious difficulties in communicating with their studios.

‘It is perhaps ironic that, in a society with huge commitment to digital infrastructure, the most reliable source of news was a commercial station using technology that would have been familiar to the engineers on the 1960s Radio Caroline pirate radio ship.’

government policy in this area, were conspicuous by their absence.

This left potential utility sharers, who had travelled from various parts of the UK with the expectation of significant progress, to question whether the Government is really serious about sharing spectrum where there is demonstrable benefit to the economy and society in general; or only about areas where large blocks of spectrum can be auctioned to top-up treasury coffers? One ‘smart’ attendee from the ‘smart grid’ contingent in the audience quipped that it should have been entitled ‘The Art of the Impossible’.

The 400 MHz band is very attractive to utilities that are technology agnostic. We would like to see evidence of true ‘technological neutrality’, as regulators call it, by enabling utilities to access spectrum in this band to deploy multiple technologies.

These technologies might include the regulator’s favourites – DMR and LTE – but might also include technologies that seem to irritate officialdom, such as CMDA, WiMax and point-to-multipoint UHF – variously known as ‘scanning telemetry’ or ‘polling radio’.

It’s noticeable that utilities in the Netherlands, Germany and Austria are building private CDMA networks in 400 MHz spectrum, a development not recognised in the

latest Ofcom 400 MHz consultation: Strategic Review of UHF Spectrum 420-470 MHz: UHF Bands 1 and 2.

Utilities might even like to use TETRA, which the UK seems to think is obsolete, but has large networks still being rolled out around the globe – or even TEDS (TETRA Enhanced Data Service)!

Utilities are also watching developments in a new IEEE802.16s standard on track to be completed next year, which supports radio frequencies from 40 MHz to 1 GHz and channel sizes from 50 kHz up to 5 MHz. This new standard also promises to be able to combine non-adjacent channels within a 10 MHz range to deliver larger radio channels.

Overall, an exciting space, but none of it will come to fruition unless utilities can gain access to suitable spectrum. I’ll keep spectrum on my Christmas list for 2017, but I think I’ll pay a visit to the local hardware store for some candles, just in case.

About the author Adrian Grilli is managing director of the Joint Radio Company, the industryowned spectrum management consultancy and spectrum management organisation with primary responsibility for the radio spectrum used by the UK energy industry.

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31/01/2017 20:34

CRITICAL COMMUNICATIONS – HYBRID NETWORKS

Finland’s hybrid approach to next gen critical comms Finland is evolving its critical communications by using the best of TETRA narrowband and 4G broadband technology, while also adopting a multi-sector strategy that involves emergency services, utilities and transportation, as Tero Pesonen explains operations, but VIRVE provides more than just a set of high grade features. VIRVE is the multi-agency communication platform which enables co-operation between a wide range of different players in Finland.

The approach taken by the Finnish authorities is one of a great drive to improve services combined with a strongly practical outlook. For example, while the current commercial mobile broadband networks provide very good data services, they were not intended to be used for mission critical communications – at least initially.

As yet, 4G broadband technology lacks many of the key mission critical features and functionalities,

although these are in the early stages of being worked on by the 3GPP standardisation process.

In addition, there are geographic areas without mobile broadband coverage, and the availability assurance – especially during power outages – is limited as mobile networks have little or no independent power backup. Work needs to be done to remove all these hurdles, but the current benefits of

TETRA-Broadband hybrid

This use of hybrid narrowband and broadband networks is designed to provide an opportunity for each agency to optimise their operations while still securing the critical part. Clearly this will mean there is a substantial period of parallel use of both TETRA and broadband networks.

From a purely cost point of view this is not an optimal solution, but at the same time the substantial differences in the country need to be taken into account. On the one hand, the very scarcely populated areas in the North and along the eastern border really only have VIRVE TETRA coverage available.

On the other hand, the densely populated cities have very good coverage of all wireless technologies,

Maria Kuula

obile broadband is a must – and TETRA is the lifeline,’ a Finnish police officer on the beat stated recently, neatly summing up the benefits of having access to both broadband and mission critical narrowband radio connectivity.

Service-wise, this multiple radio approach can be seen in the police patrol vehicle, which has become a fully equipped police station, albeit one with faster wireless connectivity.

It is far more convenient for police officers if they can take care of all their paperwork in the vehicle during their shift or even in front of the station, rather than having to go into the office. And with the amount of operational data, including video traffic, expected to increase tenfold as more and more processes are automated, it is no surprise that the authorities are looking to harvest the benefits of broadband technology.

At the same time, TETRA radio services, provided through the nationwide shared VIRVE communication network, is the lifeline for emergency services personnel. It is a service that must always work.

It has the necessary mission critical functionalities such as group communication and messaging designed for PPDR (Public Protection and Disaster Relief) field

Timo Hartikainen

‘M

broadband can and will be utilised every step of the way.

EVOLUTIONARY APPROACH: Finland has opted to retain its TETRA network for mission critical voice and messaging, but will gradually incorporate broadband services for data from commercial mobile network operators

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CRITICAL COMMUNICATIONS – HYBRID NETWORKS

TETRA enables critical IoT

The hybrid network approach also provides a platform for mission critical IoT (Internet of Things) today. As the VIRVE network has been designed to be a secure, highavailability dedicated network with nationwide coverage, it is perfectly suited for structured machine-tomachine communications that needs to take place in a controlled environment over a wide area.

One example is the national radiation measurement network, which uses VIRVE for transmission.

It has been rated as one of the critical networks in the country. In a similar fashion, the capabilities are there for the utility and transport sectors to use in addition to the traditional public safety alarm and situational awareness systems.

The benefits of mission critical IoT are already available today.

Once the mobile broadband networks meet the criticality requirements, shifting applications and services over to them will be determined by economic and logistical considerations.

Ensuring continuity is essential

Ensuring continuity of services is at the core of national critical communication thinking.

It is very important to enable the ability to adapt to changing environments. After all, Finland as a country can play a significant role in opening up the discussion and in providing valueadded innovations, but it is not in a position to dictate to anyone else.

Once the technical capability and life cycle of the TETRA network is assured, it enables a controlled and optimised transition to broadband technology. At the same time this assurance has already enabled the Finnish railways to find a costefficient solution. Its railway communication technology came to a technical end-of-life point, while the requirements of the new replacement railway broadband solution are only just beginning to be discussed in 3GPP. After careful evaluation, VIRVE was found to be capable of meeting the communication needs of the railways even though the network is being used by all the public safety organisations, utilities and many others.

Now, the railways have a shared narrowband service that will support their needs up to the point when the time is right for them, together with the PPDR community, to move to the nextgeneration, mission critical VIRVE broadband service.

SECTOR INCLUSIVE: Finland has implemented a strategy that brings a range of national critical infrastructure including public safety, utilities and transport together onto a shared communications system.

This enables greater interoperability and a better co-ordinated response to incidents between agencies and industries

State Security Networks Group

Many decisions have been taken in anticipation of the future changes in critical communication needs. The State Security Networks Group – the home organisation of the VIRVE network – now also has a national secure backbone and facilities management company, which is dedicated to looking after all security relevant telecom facilities – such as switching locations.

Even the national cabling information has been placed under its orbit in order to form a cluster that is dedicated to looking after the various interrelated aspects of critical communications on a national basis.

This approach has borne further fruit in the formation of a national situational awareness service

Harri Virtanen

Maria Kuula

but face more challenges with ensuring capacity – in particular if something goes wrong.

Also, there are substantial differences in the operational models and capabilities of different agencies when relying exclusively on broadband. Some will need legislative changes and some value security and safety higher than the new opportunities broadband provides.

Some would be happy to be early adopters of new technology and are ready to meet the challenges of any ‘teething’ issues, as their need for an information centric way of working outweighs the difficulties and risks.

A key requirement for exclusive parallel use of both technologies is the capability for users in different networks to communicate with each other. Until this is reliably (and securely) available, TETRA will need to remain as the sole mission critical network for voice and messaging for all users, whereas broadband is naturally the sole network for high-speed data.

Non-mission critical group voice communications as a data service, enabling the inclusion of those who do not carry a TETRA radio, should nevertheless be set up to enhance co-operation with other sections of society that may need to be involved when responding to an incident.

connecting utilities and public safety. Common understanding of the situation, tasks and resources between agencies has long been a key factor in the successful response to incidents.

At first the situational awareness service was restricted to the public safety agencies with the introduction of a common field command solution and the joint Emergency Response Centres (ERCs) that serve all the authorities.

As the trust and recognition of the benefits of co-operation between the public safety organisations grew, it was a natural step to include utilities, transport and other players relevant to national security under the same umbrella.

Iterative requirements

However, this success in operational development would have been impossible without continuously evolving the framework of co-operation between authorities and the critical communications ecosystem in Finland, which provides the solutions and services.

The radio network and end-user devices form a big part of this, but the decision to share sites, last-mile transmission and first-line maintenance with commercial operators was also quite significant at a time when commonly public safety agencies relied solely on their own resources.

Faith in the benefits of data from an early stage has boosted application development, delivering much of the broadband promise despite the narrow channels in

terms of enabling operational efficiency and resource sharing.

By looking at the past an iterative pattern can be observed.

Simulator solutions, enabling communication model verification and education, have enabled revisions whenever a new understanding has been gained.

This has led to a definition of new requirements – such as indoor GPS coverage – which again has increased the value of data by pushing the desire to go beyond the TETRA channel capacity boundaries and paving the way for multi-access routers.

The role of multi-access routers has been to overcome the present coverage and availability limitations of commercial broadband networks by opening the door for the ‘police station’ in a vehicle concept. This includes information-centric, nextgeneration field command and control, and further consolidation of the ERC system into a single one serving the entire country.

New solutions to meet the needs identified so far of the hybrid communications network era are providing a greater understanding of future ways of working – and this is pushing the Finns to reach for the sky, while keeping their feet on the ground.

About the author Tero Pesonen is chairman of the TCCA’s Critical Communications Broadband Group sponsored by Finland’s State Security Networks Group.

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31/01/2017 13:29

PMR – APPLICATIONS

Harnessing the full wireless ecosystem PMR Products has continued to develop its core SafetyNet platform to deliver an increasing range of applications and enable customers to integrate their systems with other technologies, as Ola Gwozdz, Head of Innovation and Business Development, explains to James Atkinson

T

he hype over the past few years around 4G LTE broadband technology has led some to argue that it will replace traditional twoway professional mobile radio (PMR) systems.

As is usually the case, the reality is rather more nuanced and, with the air clearing somewhat over the strengths and weaknesses of 4G broadband, a more mature view is emerging.

‘In the radio community some people get scared or feel threatened by the advent of broadband technology, but I think the communications industry has evolved a new way of thinking,’ says Ola Gwozdz, Head of Innovation and Business Development at Chepstow-based PMR Products.

‘It used to be either PMR or cellular,’ she continues, ‘but we are now seeing the emergence of a more integrated communications future. The reality is that as a customer you do not have to choose one technology or the other. You can have it all, and in a very robust

way, linking up radios, smartphones, tablets, PBX telephony systems, Wi-Fi and short–range technologies such as Bluetooth and Zigbee.’

Gwozdz argues that we are now living in a more complex communications world juggling multiple devices and platforms. The point is, she says, we need to be able to talk to all of them and beyond that we increasingly need to find ways to tie into the fast-emerging world of the Internet of Things (IoT).

What PMR Products and other more forward-thinking PMR vendors, system integrators, distributors and resellers are trying to do is move away from being associated with just one type of technology.

‘We should not fixate on the device,’ admonishes Gwozdz.

‘Instead, we need to step back and realise it is about the solution. We also need to realise there is room for everything and we need to embrace that in a logical way that

INTEGRATION: SafetyNet offers a range of general digital radio and location-based applications, along with more specialist ones for the industrial and custodial sectors, among others

benefits everyone.’

While this might sound like a pretty radical change in direction for ‘traditional’ PMR providers, it is really only the latest evolutionary step for PMR Products and its key solution – SafetyNet, a single software platform designed to interact with multiple radio standards and devices.

SafetyNet platform

Steve Clarke, managing director, says: ‘Our SafetyNet platform is our core product and this has been developed over 20 years, adapting to new technology as it becomes available. The core ideas remain the same: flexible, modular and an integrated package, which provides a range of tools that can be adapted to meet very specific applications.’

The earliest form of Safety Net began 20 years ago in the custodial realm when the UK Prison Service asked the company to develop a software solution to help protect personnel.

‘From the very beginning it was a tall order because it had to be a very robust, mission critical solution. So, whatever we built on the hardware electronic side for the alarm units through to the software and control room scenario solution, we had to ensure it was robust on all levels,’ says Gwozdz.

Rather ironically, the solution was so robust PMR Products almost did itself out of business. ‘It just wouldn’t break!’ laughs Gwozdz. ‘Some units have been out there for 15 years and Continued on p26

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31/01/2017 19:15

PMR – APPLICATIONS

we are only now servicing and refreshing them. But it reinforces the point that everything we do is underpinned by its robustness and mission critical nature.’

It is worth stressing that this is precisely why two-way radio solutions and applications are still so relevant, despite the emergence of newer communications technologies. Radio solutions can be tailored to provide coverage exactly where it is needed with the necessary capacity – and they are secure and above all resilient.

4G LTE broadband can do many things, but coverage and capacity are only available where the mobile network operators choose to provide it – and they are certainly not anywhere near providing mission critical levels of resilience. But, returning to the earlier point, this isn’t to say a customer cannot have both.

Location, location

PMR Products initially provided voice and basic text messaging services, but the next step was to add location services. ‘The customers wanted to know where the person with the radio was if he or she hit the panic button,’ says Gwozdz. ‘This is where our Zigbee location chips came into play, which we inserted into the radios to provide one of the first indoor location systems.’

The location solutions were developed for outdoors using GPS, while indoor solutions used the microchips inside the radios to talk to beacons strategically placed inside the building. The beacons talk to the chips and the location data is sent via the radio frequencies to the control room.

‘We provided a hybrid of everything depending on what the user wanted,’ says Gwozdz. The latest development is a standalone system that works regardless of whether radios are being used or not – personnel may have wearable tags instead, for example.

The beacons in PMR’s latest designs can be deployed as a mesh network and this is used to send data to a control room or central server. So, no radios are needed, but the customer has a self-healing network with Zigbee the

EVOLUTION: The company has striven to make its platform as flexible as possible, so that each customer can add bespoke solutions and integrate with existing systems and other technologies

predominant carrier technology.

‘This is the new exciting area we are quite naturally moving into – embracing the whole radio ecosystem,’ explains Gwozdz. ‘The solution can talk to all kinds of radio technologies and make use of the particular strengths each has, be it Zigbee, TETRA, DMR, Wi-Fi, cellular or IoT. SafetyNet creates an integrated solution and that benefits our clients, as they can mix and match any communication technology they want.’

Take location services as an example. Over the years, this has moved from simply sending an alarm to the control room to sending the user’s location at the same time. The latest development is that clients do not just want to know if their personnel are in trouble, and where they are in trouble, but how they are as well.

This can apply to both the wellbeing of a person and an asset. Both interact with sensing technology that captures data on a person’s heart rate perhaps, or whether a machine is malfunctioning and sends the data output, mainly using BLE (although there are other ways) via radio or asset tags over the network to whoever needs to know about it.

Adding mobility

The other additional change here is that of mobility. This information does not have to go only to a fixed

control room any more. It can instead be sent to a manager on the move, who might pick up the alert on a smartphone, tablet or laptop.

The point being, managers are not confined to one type of technology or device. It can be delivered to the device of their choice.

This is where SafetyNet comes into play, as it gathers information logically, sorts it out, and sends it to the right person or database in real time. One of the solution’s main virtues is its flexibility, which means it can be easily adapted to suit an individual client’s needs.

Gwozdz says: ‘We configure the system to be bespoke to the business; it is not an off-the-shelf, take-itor-leave-it solution. SafetyNet has space for clients to create their own rules for things like dynamic groups and calling, or the ability to assign and reassign dynamic buttons on the fly to deal with something that is critical at a particular time to meet changing conditions.

‘Our SafetyNet Smart App (due out in Q1 2017) links seamlessly into the mobile telephone space and provides one big integrated solution that hopefully answers all the demands of the modern world,’ says Gwozdz, who points out that as a company everything is developed in-house, including all the software coding.

PMR Products is also focusing on retail, healthcare and industrial among other sectors. The latter

We configure the system to be bespoke to the business; it is not an off-the-shelf, take-it-or-leave-it solution Ola Gwozdz, head of innovation and business development, PMR Products

looks particularly appealing given the immense capacity for automation and monitoring of machinery and assets. In fact, the company has a new product for automation up its sleeve It is a works order product, which loads up all the tasks assigned to a person for a week. This is then combined with locator services, so when the person walks into the area where work needs doing, or a machine needs servicing, they automatically get a list of the jobs that have to be undertaken. The solution lists all the tasks and logs fulfillment of the actions carried out into the works system.

Another area PMR Products is looking at is personal protection for both students and faculty staff in universities using wearable tags with ‘where are you’ and ‘how are you’ functions. ‘They don’t want to carry a radio, so the tags are a far more economical solution,’ says Gwozdz.

‘The tag talks to SafetyNet, but also to the radios being carried by security guards. If someone hits the alarm, it will therefore also send a message automatically to the nearest security guard. You don’t have to choose between radio or tags and both can be linked up and integrated. This is the kind of converged communications application we are working on,’ says Gwozdz.

It is also a good illustration of how the particular qualities and characteristics of digital PMR technology can be harnessed and integrated with other types of technology to provide enhanced solutions, proving the continued relevance of professional mobile radio-based systems and applications.

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PMR – PMREXPO 2016

PMR networks look to extend their reach PMRExpo 2016 in Cologne was short of major new products, but there were plenty of solutions aimed at extending or getting more out of existing networks and enabling them to interoperate with other radio standards, as James Atkinson reports

Airbus Defence & Space

Airbus chose to showcase a new application it has developed in tandem with German company ESG, which allows police officers and rescue services to monitor operations in real time.

Called TARANIS Smart, the app is designed to be used with the Tactilon Dabat, Airbus’ handheld TETRA radio and Android-based smartphone in one device. End users can securely transfer data via LTE, while still being able to use all the mission-critical features of a TETRA terminal.

The TARANIS Smart application will help police and other users to co-ordinate resources during operations. It shows the user their current location on a digital map, along with an overview of all the units on the map, using georeferenced symbols. Users can also chat and receive notifications.

Personnel will be able to send and receive videos, photos and data in the field. The app has been designed to be easy to use in

stressful situations. TARANIS Smart also helps to train police for special operations or in analysing previous exercises.

Vertex Standard

Tim Clark, director of sales, Europe and North Africa at Vertex Standard, the Japanese vendor owned by Motorola Solutions, said: ‘Vertex has been maintained as a separate brand primarily in Europe to address the entry-level two-way radio tier. Motorola addresses the lower mid-tier and upwards. This gives customers the choice, but we

believe it is important to keep that separation of the brands.

‘The message is that the radios are affordable and easy to use, but they are also high-quality products that meet the MIL and IP standards.

We have focused primarily on voice so far, but there are some simple apps coming in 2017,’ said Clark.

Vertex was offering its EVX-Link product, which provides a costeffective way to link DMR radios to multiple coverage areas (up to 32 sites) via an IP network to expand coverage or provide more enhanced coverage in areas to where it is hard

to provide. All that is needed is power and an Ethernet connection – no repeater is required.

PMR446 license-free and analogue products should not be forgotten either. Vertex launched a new analogue radio into Russia in 2016 and there will be more analogue products in 2017, too.

One product Clark said he was excited about is the EVX-S24 DMR Tier II – a small, discreet, waterproof (IP67) radio in black or yellow, which is aimed at areas such as event management.

‘It is focused at that entry tier again, but we think it is ideal for female staff, as it will easily fit into a pocket or onto a belt, or you can wear it almost like a lapel microphone. We think it will be a great success. It is easy to use and has a very loud audio.’

Motorola Solutions

As ever, Motorola Solutions had some new products up its sleeve, most notably a virtual command centre future concept aimed at investigating whether virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) can help to improve the safety of first responders and the quality of an agency’s response.

The proof of concept uses eyeinteraction technology from Eyefluence to enable a controller to navigate through video and data feeds from multiple sources to quickly co-ordinate resources and share information with officers at the scene of an incident.

Eye tracking was chosen as it is one of the most intuitive ways that human beings work. When the eye focuses on a particular thing on the screen it is the equivalent of clicking on it. Motorola said it is still early days for the concept and it is looking for customer feedback to help evolve it.

The company also showcased CommandCentral Aware. Described as more of a data analysis tool, it enables applications that normally Continued on p28

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PMR – PMREXPO 2016

Damm

operate as discrete systems to be integrated in real time.

It enables the command centre to aggregate multiple data sources such as live video feeds, CCTV, beacons, social media activity or nationwide databases in order to deliver a single, real-time operational view to command centre personnel.

Motorola also unveiled its new ADVISOR TPG2200 TETRA twoway pager. The pager is designed for the likes of volunteer firemen, healthcare workers or anyone that needs to respond to emergency calls, but does not carry a radio – at least not when off duty.

Finally, the MPT 6650 TETRA hand portable is a high tier radio, which sits between the MPT 6550 and the MPT 6750 camera radio.

It features a higher transmission power, better audio, and Bluetooth 4.0 for pairing with companion devices such as Bluetooth PTT microphones.

Hytera

A major attraction at Hytera’s stand was its recently launched top tier PD985 DMR hand portable radio.

For the first time, it features a full duplex voice service in a DMR radio and a 3W speaker to cope with noisy environments.

It provides an improved recording capability via Micro SD card, Bluetooth 4.0 for audio or data, and single frequency repeater to increase coverage. It also features an intelligent battery, which is able to read life cycles and it is IP68 certified. The PD985 is available in

UHF (350-527Mhz) first with a VHF version coming in 2017.

Hytera said it has had a big success with its DMR ATEX radio in Germany, and it now has the TETRA equivalent in the shape of the PT790Ex hand portable, which it said is the first to be 1a explosion proof certified, as well as the more usual 1b certified.

Also on show was the DIB-R5 outdoor TETRA base station, first shown at CCW 2016, and which will be shipping in 2017. It delivers very low power consumption with no movable parts and a passive cooling system. It features the controller, combiner and antenna cable with the service box and base station box in one housing.

The external connections are designed to be easy to remove, so the base station can be quickly replaced in the event of failure. It is also designed to operate in very harsh environments (-30 to +55 degrees C). It is small and compact and can be wall-, radio mast- or tunnel-mounted.

Hytera also displayed its DS-6310 Simulcast system, which allows a conventional DMR Tier II system to operate as a simulcast mobile radio system.

Markus Oltmanns, head of Sales Support and Director Marketing, said: ‘There’s a lot of analogue simulcast users out there looking to move to a digital system, so this is a good story for us as all our radios work on simulcast. That means we can offer both conventional DMR T2 and simulcast, so we can deliver tailor-made solutions to customers.’

Damm displayed its Tetraflex portfolio of indoor and outdoor TETRA base stations, including its BS422 outdoor base station which supports TETRA, DMR Tier III, TEDS and analogue systems on one platform. It can also switch between simulcast and multicast.

The great advantage of the product is that it can be used for any one of these radio standards or work as a hybrid platform supporting two or more at the same time using its multi-carrier feature.

‘We think we have changed the game with the BS422,’ said key account manager Torben Østerby.

‘We can support four carriers with the same effort as others have to make for just one carrier, and the size of the unit is not challenged by anyone.’

The product is being field tested in the first quarter of 2017 and following that the product release date will be decided.

Kenwood

Kenwood unveiled a new series of two-way radios just ahead of PMRExpo, which are capable of supporting three different digital radio protocols - NXDN, DMR and P25 (Phase 1 & 2) – and FM analogue. The company already has terminals with NXDN and P25, but now DMR (Digital Mobile Radio) has been added too.

The company believes the new NX-5000 Series of portable and mobile radios are suitable for use in all public sector, commercial and public safety roles. A single NX-5000 radio can simultaneously support two digital protocols plus FM analogue, offering the following combinations: FM/DMR/NXDN; FM/NXDN/P25; and FM/DMR/P25.

Kenwood also displayed its WD-K10 Series of DECT full duplex intercom systems enabling hands free, simultaneous two-way

communications for which no license is required. The WD-K10TR transceiver is the size of a business card (118g) and can operate on a single battery charge for up to 20 hours.

The WD-K10PBS (135g) can be used as a portable base station or transceiver. In portable base mode, it operates for up to eight hours while communicating with up to four transceivers. In transceiver mode, it operates for up to 25 hours.

It can also be connected to compatible Kenwood two-way radios and act as a bridge between two separate intercom systems.

Kenwood is also offering the WD-K10BS (Base Station) which enables up to 10 transceivers to join in simultaneous two-way conversations. The range can be extended by daisy-chaining four WD-K10PBS units, although numbers are still restricted to 10 transceivers.

Sepura

Sepura had some intriguing ‘extras’ at the show, several of which could be paired with its top tier SC20 TETRA radio. For example, it had a proximity sensor, which will set off an alarm on the radio if the user has gone a certain distance.

It also had a body-worn sensor on show, which can be used to measure a heart rate or the amount of oxygen in the blood. The data is sent to the radio, which then sends the information to the control room.

Next up was a body-worn camera controlled via the radio, providing tamper-proof, time-stamped recordings, which can be submitted as evidence in court. If the user presses the radio’s emergency button, the camera automatically starts recording.

The camera can also be remotely activated by control room staff.

When the camera is dropped into its charger, it automatically downloads the video to back office systems.

The SC20 TETRA radio can also stream live video using an LTE chip and commercial SIM card, which connects to a dedicated IP address in the radio. The solution creates a secure VPN tunnel between two points despite being transmitted over a commercial 4G LTE network.

Mark Barnby, head of Product Management, said: ‘What we are doing with all these things is trying to promote what can be done with the SC20 radio. We want to excite the user base to take up some of these ideas and see what they would most like us to bring to market.’

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