Narrowband  |  2024-02-15

Hurricane Force Winds to test Norwegian Public Safety Critical Communications Network to the Max

Source: The Critical Communications Review | Gert Jan Wolf editor

At a certain point in time, some 50 Nødnett TETRA base stations were down at the same time.

Norway is in the wake of its most intense tempest in over three decades, which caused power outages for a portion of the population. Hurricane-force winds of up to 180 kilometers per hour (kph) severely impacted the central regions of the country, causing extensive travel disruptions and inundation.

The storm, which Norwegian meteorologists dubbed Ingunn, originated from an exceedingly turbulent jet stream that raced across the Atlantic.

"When the wind rages, like during the extreme weather situations, we must be prepared for outages in Nødnett." 

said department director at DSB and responsible for Nødnett, Eline Palm Paxal who was interviewed by NRK.

On 30 January, the first red warning for extremely strong gusts of wind was issued. It was the Trøndelag and Nordland regiom that got the strongest weather. The weather also affected Nødnett, the critical communications and public safety communications network in Norway..

"Nødnett is built robustly, but we have to count on outages when there are long-term power outages, breakdowns in transmission and difficult weather conditions for the ground crew who have to rectify errors"

.. conitinued Eline Palm Paxa

The extreme weather led to scattered outages in Nødnett. At a certain point in time, some 50 Nødnett TETRA base stations were down at the same time.

"We understand that it is demanding when Nødnett does not function as normal. Users must be prepared to use local solutions and backup solutions. In addition, they can request access to a mobile base station",

explains Paxal.

It is good to have overlapping coverage in Nødnett. As a result, the consequences are mitigated during a failure in the Nødnett network. But unfortunately Norway's demography does not make it possible to offer back up everywhere. What DSB experienced during Ingunn was that areas without overlapping coverage, such as parts of Lofoten and Senja, had some communication issues.

"Parts of Lofoten were affected by the storm, with consequences in Nødnett for several days. The area was affected by several faults, including the breaking of a submarine cable. DSB rolled out two mobile base stations to create local coverage. In addition, base stations that cover the municipal centers are set to work locally",

said Paxal.

The fishing village of Husøy, a village in Senja Municipality in Troms county, located in the northern part of Norway also had a long-term outage. There is only one base station that provides coverage in the area. When this did not work, TETRA communications could not be provided.

"On Husøy it was a combination of factors that led to the outage. Power outages, problems with the leased transmission line that we have out to this base station, as well as equipment failures. The base station is on the mountain with difficult access for ground crews. There were difficult weather conditions for the helicopter, as well as an avalanche-prone area to venture into",

explains Paxal.

Nødnett is monitored 24/7 and has ground crews with a short call-out time. If the fault is due to leased lines, then DSB is in ongoing contact with the subcontractors.

Lessons Learned

So, how can users prepare for future outages in Nødnett? DSB released a few bulletpoints to mitigate the outages on the TETRA critical communications network:

  • Use DMO (direct mode) and DMO repeater to extend the range
  • Join the webinar that is planned to be live on April 30 and learn more about local coverage
  • Request temporary coverage when rolling out a mobile base station from DSB
  • Use backup solutions such as mobile, satellite phone etc.
  • Follow the situation on Nødnett online