Airbus Demonstrates Future of Digital Radio at European Police Congress

Airbus contributes to this year’s user forum for the future of digital radio in Germany with a presentation covering the introduction of broadband technology in radio communication for German public safety authorities (BOS). In the coming years, authorities will increasingly share photos, videos and other multimedia files with each other, for which they require the appropriate technology.

“Airbus has developed a product portfolio that enables multimedia communication in a secure radio network,” says Markus Kolland, Head of Sales and Program Delivery for Europe and Africa of Secure Land Communications at Airbus. According to Markus Kolland, the most important thing is that the existing, reliable Tetra radio technology continues to exist and can be expanded with broadband technology. “Existing and future investments in the radio network will therefore continue to be of value,” he added.

This range of broadband products also integrates applications for smart end devices, such as the Tactilon Dabat from Airbus. This is a secure Android smartphone with an Tetra radio device that will feature the new app Stashcat. “Stashcat is an encrypted messenger and filesharing application that supports voice communication. It is a more secure choice than publicly available messenger applications,” says Andreas Noack, Head of heinekingmedia GmbH.

Airbus is cooperating with, among others, the app developer heinekingmedia GmbH thanks to the new app development programme SmarTWISP. With this app developer programme, Airbus intends to create a new application ecosystem that addresses the daily needs of Professional Mobile Radio (PMR) users. Heinekingmedia is presenting itself with a stand at the police congress, where it will demonstrate the Tactilon Dabat together with the stashcat app.

The focus of the BOS user forum is the development of a cross-German digital radio network for German public safety authorities and it brings together experts from industry and public services. It serves as a discussion platform for the modernisation of the BOS network. This year, as part of the 20th European Police Congress in Berlin from 21 to 22 February, the cooperation will take place under the title “Europe – boundless?”. The police congress is the largest international conference for internal security in Europe, where around 1,500 police officers from various countries and departments network with each other.

Picture: Courtesey heinekingmedia/Airbus