DMR  |  2021-10-05

Hytera to Safeguard Communication Flow for Italian Train Personnel with DMR

Source: The Critical Communications Review | Gert Jan Wolf editor

Hytera’s MD785iG digital mobile radio puts communication in motion and enables a reliable communication flow for Italian train personnel, even in tunnels

Hytera recently delivered an integrated radio communication solution to extend coverage along the length of a 1km railway tunnel to enable Italian train staff and ground personnel to stay connected with each other at all times.

Tunnels can pose major challenges for radio communications. The length of tunnels makes it difficult to sustain reliable radio frequency coverage and curves can cause wireless connectivity blind spots. This is a big problem for rail services, as they often have to go through tunnels as part of their route.

In this instance, a large rail network infrastructure provider based in Italy needed to extend radio signals through a 1km long tunnel, so that train operators could communicate with each other from one end of the train to the other, as well as with ground crew personnel located outside the tunnel.

This was a tricky operational challenge to overcome, but our local dealer BPG Radiocomunicazioni (a partner of Advantec Distribution) recommended a solution based on Hytera products. A Hytera MD785iG full duplex mobile radio was integrated with a single frequency repeater to overcome the RF challenges caused by the tunnel.

Thanks to the flexible nature of the MD785iG, it was possible to install devices within the train, which helped boost the communication signal while in the tunnel. By combining the MD785iG mobile radio and the single frequency repeater, the train personnel were successfully able to communicate with each other along the whole length of the train despite having no direct coverage. They could also communicate with outside ground crews.

The system has been successfully tested and received full satisfaction from the customer.