TETRA  |  2014-04-03

Selex ES supports Italy's historic-artistic heritage with TETRA

Source: MCCResources

The Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism (MiBACT) and Finmeccanica have sealed an agreement whereby the Group will donate innovative technologies and services for monitoring and protecting the archaeological site of Pompeii.

Through its companies, Selex ES and Telespazio, Finmeccanica is contributing its technological know-how free of charge, to those responsible for the protection and enhancement of one of the world’s most famous and fragile archaeological sites. Finmeccanica’s commitment provides evidence of the Group’s desire to give prominence and importance to the restoration of cultural treasures of particular interest, while being totally in line with Finmeccanica’s ongoing mission in the field of high technology.

The decision to focus on Pompeii derives, on the one hand, from the urgent nature of the challenges facing the site, and on other hand from the desire to restore to the Campania region - where the Finmeccanica Group employs over 6,000 people in the various controlled companies operating in this area - some of the technological research in which the Group heavily invests.

This agreement has seen the active involvement, not only of Selex ES and Telespazio, but also of all the institutional bodies concerned (MiBACT, the Great Pompeii Project, the Special Superintendence for the Archaeological Heritage of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae, Directorate-General for Antiquities) in an open exchange of ideas within a process of productive collaboration.

Smart supports for better site operation

This aspect covers the activation of a secure system for the interoperability of mobile radio communications for the archaeological site and implementation of collaborative apps available on the smartphones of predefined users (security officers, technical bodies, etc.).

The system allows the security officers, provided with radio equipment (both analogue and TETRA) to communicate in an integrated manner, ensuring maximum coordination in the execution of control and prevention activities within the site. The reference technology is TETRA supplied by Selex ES, specifically defined for security and territorial control applications. Professional radio equipment specifically designed for the purpose will be supplied.

The Smart Apps consist of a collaborative service for friend users (site operators, security officers) which, via a smartphone app, makes it possible to send alarms or messages for promptly reporting any anomalous situations or requesting immediate assistance (e.g. acts of vandalism/damage to structures, medical assistance or security service intervention).

Thanks to this application the user is pin-pointed in the archaeological site of Pompeii and his/her position, as well as the type of intervention requested, is immediately communicated to the operators in the control room who then activate the necessary measures involving the relevant competent organizations