Public Safety

Case Study: Amsterdam Ambulance Service chooses Sepura

Translation of an article published in the July 2003 issue of Verbinding Magazine (The Netherlands).

On 4 June 2003 the C2000 mobile radio network in the Netherlands officially came into service and the municipal ambulance services in Amsterdam became the first public safety organisation in the Netherlands to fully implement the new digital network for mobile communications.

The Central Post Ambulance Transport (CPA), ambulance services in Amsterdam and the surrounding regions is the first to switch to the new C2000 digital network.

C2000 replaces the regional analogue radio networks of the ambulance services, fire brigades, police forces and the Royal Military Police with one nationwide digital radio network based on the European TETRA standard.

The new system will enable the public safety and emergency services to communicate directly and simultaneously, something which was not possible with the old analogue system. Not only will the new network significantly improve multidisciplinary co-operation, but emergency services will also be able to use extra functionalities such as simultaneous access to their computer databases.

Critical Assessment

The ambulance personnel of GG&GD and VZA will be using Sepura SRP2000 handportables. The ambulance fleet will be equipped with Sepura SRM1000 mobiles.

“We left the choice of peripheral equipment to the ambulance personnel themselves,” said Richard Janssen, project co-ordinator C2000 CPA and Ambulance Care. “In the decision process, the ambulance personnel were impressed by the available functions and user friendliness of the Sepura products. For them the small size and the lightweight of the SRP2000 was one of the decisive factors. After all, they will be working with them on a daily basis,” he added Mr Janssen.

Furthermore, the assessment committee considered the user interface of Sepura equipment to be of paramount importance. The screen set-up of both the handportables and the mobiles is similar.

“That is relevant because we had to train 400 staff members in one month. Another key advantage of the Sepura terminals is the Transmit Inhibit function, allowing users to put their radios in a receive-only mode, when in RF sensitive areas so contact with the incident room is never interrupted.”

European Standard

TETRA (TErrestrial Trunked RAdio) is the European standard for radio communication of the public safety and emergency services, like GSM is the standard for mobile telephony of the general public.

The standard was developed by ETSI, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute. This organisation produces the European protocols for mobile telecommunication. TETRA was originally meant to improve border-crossing communication between the police and customs units of the Schengen countries, but countries outside Europe also opted for the standard.

In total the system is presently in use in more than fifty countries in Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin-America. Sepura Limited is a major manufacturer of TETRA radios for public safety and emergency services.

Sepura is a flexible, medium-sized company with a workforce of more than 100 people. Sepura TETRA terminals are used in 43 countries on TETRA systems of eleven different manufacturers. CPA Amsterdam co-ordinates 101, 000 ambulance call outs per year. That amounts to 400 journeys a day in a service area with 1.4 million inhabitants and 0.5 million commuters.

Therefore it is important that the Sepura SRM1000 mobiles were equipped with a Global Positioning System (GPS). “It is a complex area with many incidents. We have to deploy our people as efficiently as possible so that they can reach their destination even faster,” said Mr Janssen. “With this number of incidents, Amsterdam is the ideal testing ground for the rest of the Netherlands.”

Dick Schoof, Director General Public Safety and Emergencies of the Ministry of Interior and Kingdom Affairs commented “It is high time that we equipped our emergency personnel with truly professional and state of the art communication equipment. It was an important recommendation of the committee.”

Inadequate communication was proven to be the weak link during many incidents in Amsterdam. Many people attempted to phone the emergency services at the same time, causing the public GSM network to overload. Overcrowded lines will no longer be an issue for emergency services, because C2000 is a private radio network, accessible only to the public safety and emergency services.

The high-quality system makes use of secured military lines and switching points. Moreover, it is especially dimensioned to deal with disaster incidents. The infrastructure is provided by TetraNed, a co-operation between KPN Telecom and Getronics. The (technical) supervision of the core of the C2000 radio network is executed by ITO, an agency of the Ministry of Interior and Kingdom Affairs.

Intelligent Sepura software

The intelligence of the trunking network enables thousands of individual and call groups to coincide on the C2000 network. The maximum number of simultaneous calls on one single mast is dimensioned at nineteen.

Up to 800 talk groups can be programmed into the Sepura terminals and the incident room can allocate another twenty, which amounts to a maximum of 820 groups.

According to Mr Schoof the implementation of C2000 has many administrative and operational benefits. 25 Integrated incident rooms are planned in regions throughout the Netherlands. Therefore it is important that there is interoperability between the police, the Royal Military Police, fire brigade and ambulance services.

Each region will have a single multidisciplinary incident room and during accidents and disasters these incident rooms will become the pivot of all emergency services. Amsterdam is only the beginning. The construction of the network will reach its final phase next year at which point C2000 will be rolled out nationwide.

An international pilot is due to start late 2003 in the three-country region near Limburg in the south of the Netherlands, which will connect the Dutch network with the neighbouring TETRA networks of Belgium and Germany. Cross border communications will then become feasible. Sepura terminals have now been approved for use in the Belgian ASTRID network and are being used in the three-country pilot.

Case Study: Unique communications requirements

Unique communications requirements for the UKAEA Constabulary.

Download Atomic Energy Authority Constabulary Case Study.

When the UK Atomic Energy Authority Constabulary was looking to implement the O2 Airwave network it had a unique set of problems to solve. “Because of the type of establishments we work in and the style of our policing, the UKAEA Constabulary has different needs from the majority of police forces, although we work closely with our neighbouring forces,” explained Tony Presland, Airwave Project Manager. “Because of the tough environment we work in — nuclear facilities are often highly shielded buildings with dense concrete structures — we had to be sure that the selected system would cope with the conditions.”

To select the TETRA radios the Constabulary conducted a two-part analysis of Sepura and those of two other suppliers. The first part involved a review of the handportables looking at ease of use, functionality and wearability together with an assessment of how the radio worked in different environments. This was carried out with a group of serving officers and senior staff, supported by a consultancy experienced in TETRA. That first day Sepura came out very significantly on top in terms of ease of use and general ergonomics of the handportable. “It was difficult to choose between the three handportables in terms of their ability to obtain and retain a signal in the test environment on that day,” commented Presland. “However, the ergonomic factors pushed us strongly towards Sepura as our TETRA terminal of choice at this stage.”

Further technical testing was then undertaken to see how well the three different handportables operated in a variety of difficult environments from a telecommunications perspective. This second round of testing was carried out at the UKAEA's establishment at Harwell in Oxfordshire, close to the Force HQ. At the end of the day Sepura was ahead by a measurable margin. “Sepura's handportable reception was considerably better than that of the radios of its competitors” continued Presland. “This just confirmed our view that Sepura equipment was the right one for us.” The officers were happy with the decision and the UKAEAC entered into negotiations with the Sepura account staff. “I have to say that we have been absolutely delighted with our account handlers and have written to Sepura to say how pleased we are with their level of support,” Presland added. “They are always quick to answer any technical or financial questions we raise and were very helpful in ensuring we got the best value for money.”

The UKAEA Constabulary reports through to the DTI, which means it has a slightly different relationship with Airwave partner O2. O2 guarantees the level of coverage for individual Home Office forces and the UKAEAC liaises closely with neighbouring forces to ensure that its operational units have coverage. A partnership approach to working between O2, the Constabulary and Home Office forces ensures that these operational units are well provided for, which is to everyone's benefit in the event of an incident at a UKAEAC policed unit. The Constabulary works closely with other forces and is part of PITO*, which ensures a good flow of information. The handportables are programmed with all force hailing talk groups channels and selected shared talk groups for interworking. The interoperability of Airwave is a major plus for the UKAEA Constabulary and Mr. Presland looks forward to having the same ease of access to other emergency services in the future.

The UKAEAC uses the SRP2000 sGPS handportables and the SRM2000 in-vehicle units. The Constabulary is now live at three operational units. The site at Capenhurst in Cheshire has excellent coverage and at the other two sites, Harwell and Springfields, coverage is very good and is significantly better than the previous analogue radio systems. “We like the idea of long-term relationships and Sepura are in it for the long term. We have bought equipment from them and are happy with that,” concluded Presland, “so this is just the start of the relationship.”

*Police Information Technology Organisation

Case Study: KMar - Dutch Royal Military Police demonstrate long-term commitment to arresting solutions from Sepura

Download Case Study

Challenge: To replace aging analogue radios with digital handsets, offering long-term compatibility with the new C2000 nationwide emergency services digital radio network, based on the European TETRA standard.

Solution: To equip the entire force with digital TETRA radio terminals from Sepura, supporting the organisation’s varied responsibilities, which include policing Schiphol Airport.

Results: Enhanced multi-disciplinary communications has enabled improved inter-operability between the Dutch Royal Military Police and other emergency services operating across the Netherlands.

The Dutch Royal Military Police (Koninklijke Marechaussee or KMar) is a police organisation with military status and wide-ranging responsibilities. These extend from protecting the country’s national borders, to guarding royal palaces and the Dutch Prime Minister’s residence. An elite force of specially trained and selected military personnel, the KMar acts as bodyguard for Dutch VIPs as well as a police SWAT team. Policing civilian airports is another of the force’s vital and highly visible responsibilities and includes Schiphol International Airport, located near Amsterdam, which is currently ranked 4th in Europe in terms of passenger traffic. Since 2002, KMar has been using Sepura TETRA handheld terminals, deploying them through a series of phased roll-out projects.

Initiating secure and effective mobile communications

Airports are among the most complex communications environments in the world. Schiphol is one of Europe’s busiest international airports and the successful policing of it demands dependable, crystal clear voice communications in an environment where there is a high level of background noise. If there’s a fire, medical crisis, terrorist threat or other emergency, KMar’s response must be both fast and effective. In 2002, KMar was making preparations to replace its aging analogue radios and equip personnel based at Schiphol airport with new TETRA-based handheld radios. As well as containing extensive voice and data functionality, these handsets had to offer full integration and operability with C2000, the secure nationwide communications network for the emergency services that was being introduced at that time. “We needed a handset durable enough to operate in demanding airport environments, that was user friendly, and that could co-function with the national emergency network,” confirms Colonel A.A.M. Struijk MIM, Chief Information Officer for Koninklijke Marechaussee. The Sepura SRP2000 hand-helds met all these criteria”. The light-weight, compact Sepura radios proved ideal for the tough operating conditions of Schiphol Airport. Highly reliable and robust, they enable officers to communicate within pre-determined user groups, liaise with central control teams, receive data directly through their terminals—even when on the move—and inter-operate with emergency services located at the airport or in the vicinity. When the roll out was complete, KMar had implemented 800 Sepura terminals to support its activities at the airport.

A powerful solution with long-term durability

Long-term compatibility with the C2000 network, as it evolved, was a key requirement for KMar. As the functionality on the network expanded, Sepura implemented software upgrades and new features that have enabled KMar to take advantage of the expanding functionality on the network. “The purpose of the investment was to ensure that KMar would continue to realise the potential of the government’s C2000 network for post-disaster co-ordination and communication with other emergency services,” says Colonel A.A.M. Struijk MIM. “It would also enable us to take advantage of new TETRA-enabled functionality, which could be tailored to the specific requirements of our individual operating units.” Selecting the best possible equipment for its officers was a major consideration in the decision to commit to Sepura’s TETRA enabled solutions. KMar wanted to be able to take advantage of future terminal and network features. In 2004 KMar began its nationwide implementation of Sepura’s TETRA radios across all operational divisions. The flexibility of Sepura’s solutions enables full integration with new in-field applications for mobile communications, including data applications, which give officers access to operational applications. Today, over 4,000 Sepura terminals have been deployed across the KMar police force. “Sepura has demonstrated a deep understanding of the varied and specialist needs of a police force. Working together, we’ve been able to make sure officers can operate effectively, covering a wide variety of responsibilities,” says Colonel A.A.M. Struijk MIM. “We can take advantage of cutting-edge communications technology in our day-to-day undertakings and liaise effectively with other police forces and emergency services through the C2000 integrated digital network.”

Case Study: GPS feature essential for officer safety

GPS feature essential for officer safety West Midlands Police Case Study.

UK's West Midland Police force (WMP) has chosen Sepura's handportables to replace its analogue personal radios.

WMP is the second largest police force in the UK, with an area of 890 square Kilometres and a population of around 2.6 million. It employs almost 8,500 officers and 3000 support staff. In a typical day WMP deals with more than 3,200 incidents including 2,000 emergency calls.

Situated in the very heart of the country, its patch includes three major cities, Birmingham, Coventry and Wolverhampton and some of Europe's busiest roads, like the famous “Spaghetti Junction”. In addition, WMP has 21 Operational Command Units responsible for local demand and a Force Communications Centre responsible for despatching force wide resources.

Hence, the decision on which handportable would be best suited to the new UK Airwave emergency services radio system was vital.

Superintendent Rick Abbott, Head of Operational Communications for WMP, narrowed the choice of terminal down to offerings from the three leading mobile handportable manufacturers, and then he conducted a full technical evaluation.

Abbott commented, «We looked at everything from receiver sensitivity to battery power, consumption and audio volume”. Following this, he conducted a full user trial which involved simulated exercises and factors such as how many talk groups could be used and how many accessories could be accommodated.

»Overall, the Sepura SRP2000 handportable came out best across the board!” he commented. «And it also scored best from a five year life cost point of view».

Another dimension to the decision by WMP to standardise on Sepura terminals was based on the fact that WMP would be using the new terminals for at least 5 years and were keen to explore every possible option offered by O2 Airwave over that period; including its Global Positioning System (GPS) capabilities.

GPS determines the location of the officer using the radio to a very high level of accuracy and the Sepura SRP2000 sGPS unit features this as a fully integrated option.

Max Corney, Communications Manager for WMP, sees GPS as a very important feature, particularly from an officer safety point of view, «GPS is available on the Sepura handportable, and as it doesn't incur any additional weight, it makes enormous sense to take advantage of this technology now.»

One of the features that sets Sepura's GPS function aside from the others is that the receiver does not need to be in direct line of sight with the satellites, which is particularly important in city centres, especially amongst tall buildings.

WMP are implementing applications that use the GPS facility, and they are adamant that the main benefit is officer safety.

«When an officer presses the emergency button, their exact location is routed through to our OASIS Command and Control system,» Corney explained. «The officer is identified on the mapping screens and we are able to respond to their request very quickly and efficiently.»

The GPS facility also plays a part in resource planning by allowing central control to match resources to immediate demand; particularly important when scarcer specialist units are required.

In addition, knowledge of exact location is a critical factor in the resolution of incidents and can even be the deciding factor in preventing injury or loss of life. WMP has placed sufficient orders with Sepura to equip the entire force and roll-out is expected to be complete by the end of 2005.