First Look:

Nokia plans high speed TETRA wireless data delivery

By Bernard Cole
iApplianceWeb
(11/23/04, 09:46:52 PM PT)

Vienna, Austria -- At the annual TETRA World Congress held here, Matti Peltola, Vice President, Professional Mobile Radio, Nokia, unveiled the company’s high speed data vision for its TETRA wireless network system. 

He said Nokia's choice is to integrate high-speed data capability seamlessly into the Nokia TETRA System. In the future, Nokia TETRA System is planned to offer high-speed data services in addition to currently available TETRA services. 

To do this, the company, he said, is focused on taking an integrated approach, which means that bringing high-speed capability into an existing Nokia TETRA network would not require an overlay network or additional network elements.

“The goal is to develop TETRA high-speed data as a software feature, upgradeable over a remote connection to the Nokia TB3 TETRA base station,” he said. “This means that planning the TETRA network for a subsequent high-speed data upgrade today can achieve enormous savings later. 

"These strategic goals are an answer to future needs. We predict not only that high-speed data will bring more value to customers, but that high-speed data will in fact become essential." 

As currently implemented,  Peltola describes the TETRA as a complete system which means that it provides a full range of voice and data services as well as first-class security to the users.  

He believes that Tetra offers the best route to high speed data delivery over wireless because it is already a world standard published by ETSI for digital mobile trunking networks and offers secure, digital mobile communication for professional organizations such as oil and gas companies, utilities, transportation and public safety and security sector (police, emergency, civil defense, security services, etc.).  

Also, said Peltola, most European countries have already chosen the open TETRA standard as the basis for their public authority radio networks, as have a number of countries elsewhere in the world. 

What should also be factored into the equation he said, is that TETRA technology minimizes the capital investments and the operational expenses of organizations because it allows simultaneous and independent use of a single existing network by many services, administrations and ministries.  

TETRA enhances the safety of classified information by using encryption of the connection. It also increases the effectiveness and the coordination of different services and ministries in crises and natural disaster situations through connecting independent Virtual Private Networks into one communication environment. 

“Already today, TETRA provides voice and data services efficiently because it has data capabilities integrated into its infrastructure and is supported by standard TETRA terminals,” said Peltola. “This is an economical alternative to providing dedicated radio resources for data.  

“TETRA provides IP packet data in a similar way to GPRS in GSM. Most transactional services work well using TETRA IP packet data with a one-slot gross bit rate of 7.2 kbit/s. This gives a net bit rate of 2.5-3.5 kbit/s for applications. That is sufficient for WAP and email, while images, fingerprints and slow-speed video can be supported using compression." 

Moreover, he said, TETRA’w multi-slot packet data capability can yield a bit rate of around 9 kbit/s for applications, providing an enhanced service for images, mobile email and low-speed video, although it can't match the GPRS service in GSM networks. 

So, what about using a commercial GPRS service? The obvious alternative to TETRA high-speed data would be to use the GPRS service from a GSM operator and GPRS-capable GSM terminals.  

“However, the key issue is availability,” said Paltola. “Only a dedicated data service can ensure the availability of critical data at all times. Commercial networks could be overloaded by the public, or damaged in times of crisis, which is just when the public safety services need all their resources.” 

ETSI is currently defining TETRA Enhanced Data Service (TEDS), a new air interface standard to increase TETRA data speeds up to 30-150 kbit/s. This promises, said Peltola, data services 10 times faster than today's single or multi-slot packet data. 

To learn more, go to www.nokia.com/tetra.