Effective Disaster management relies heavily upon the flexibility and guaranteed availability of secure radio communications.

Many recent examples of disasters and terrorist attacks have highlighted the need for a single, reliable, radio technology to co-ordinate the efforts of all agencies involved.

The chosen radio technology must also be capable of delivering secure communications, thereby guaranteeing immunity from eavesdropping, or interception, by unwanted spectators, criminal or terrorist groups.

TETRA is the standard that was developed mainly for public safety professionals, to address these very specific, radio communication needs at all times. Being an open standard, it allows multi-vendor suppliers of both radio networks and radio terminals, to support instant group communication via push to talk functionality, in addition to full duplex voice telephony, data and short messaging services.

All types of voice or data communications can be protected from eavesdroppers, using the technology’s built-in security capabilities that defend both the air interface and point to point voice and data transmissions – essentially two layers of encrypted protection.

Over 100 countries have adopted TETRA, largely in the sectors of public safety, namely the emergency services, military and civil defence. TETRA deployment can be rapid and flexible, allowing for temporary single or multisite solutions through to city, regional or nationwide coverage models.

Where disasters are severe enough to disrupt a network, mobile base stations can be rapidly deployed, to infill or extend areas where radio coverage and other communications services are not available.

In addition to the rapid deployment of compact base stations, the TETRA standard includes three further important features, to underpin secure communications in emergency or disaster situations.

The First of these is Direct Mode Operation ("DMO"), where vehicle mounted and handheld TETRA radios terminals can communicate directly with each other, totally independent from the main network. Thus teams of radio operatives are able to maintain push to talk, group communications when roaming out of range of the main network, or when the capacity of the network has been saturated by other users.

The Second feature is: Direct Mode Repeater, uniquely available on Sepura’s handheld radios, covert and gateway radios. In operation, it ‘repeats’ DMO voice and data traffic, to substantially extend the geographical communication range between participating terminals. Repeater supports both normal and encrypted communication, thereby extending range without compromising the security. 

The Third feature is Gateway Mode, allowing a mobile vehicle radio operating in Gateway Mode Operation (GMO), to act as a relay point (gateway) between users on the trunked network and those operating in Direct Mode Operation. This effectively extends the trunked network into areas where there is no coverage from base stations. DMO Repeater and Gateway mode terminals can be supplied in rucksack and transportable suitcase configurations, to facilitate rapid deployment. Likewise, TETRA radios, fitted as standard in an emergency vehicle, motorcycle or boat, can immediately become a localised command and/or gateway/ relay point. As a result, they can support the early response crews until main network connections are restored.