TETRA  |  2016-11-30

LTE4PMR Project Progresses Rapidly Towards a Standard Broadband Radio Solution

Source: MCCResources

The team of the French LTE4PMR research and development project that develops a mission-critical LTE communications solution for public safety organisations has set operational priorities for its second phase.

To integrate crucial demands of end users, the project’s leader Airbus Defence and Space recently gathered forty representatives of the French public safety sector at its Elancourt site, near Paris in France. The results of this meeting allow for the finalisation of a coherent LTE scheme for Professional Mobile Radio (PMR).

LTE4PMR will be focusing on three aspects in the coming 15 months. First, the project will enable existing communications systems to interact with the project’s LTE developments, for instance the French Tetrapol national network INPT (Infrastructure Nationale Partagée des Transmissions) and Public Safety mobiles attached to the French carrier Mobile Network Operators. Second, the project’s engineers will adapt mobile LTE solutions to actual field use cases outlined by the end users during the first phase. Third, LTE4PMR will bring in line the overall LTE solution with Release 13 of the Third-Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), a global organisation that sets international telecommunications standards.

“LTE4PMR has rapidly progressed thanks to the strong involvement of all partners. We will soon be able to offer a full-fledged LTE solution for public safety”, said Olivier Koczan, Head of Secure Land Communications at Airbus Defence and Space.

Since January 2016, the LTE4PMR consortium comprises French telecommunication companies and universities to develop mission-critical broadband solutions for public safety organisations. The project is partly funded by the French authorities through the Banque Publique d’Investissement (BPI) and the “Investissements d’Avenir” programme.

The final results of LTE4PMR will be presented at the end of 2017. They will consist of a comprehensive and interoperable set of mission-critical solutions leveraging commercial mobile broadband services as well as dedicated networks in 400/450 MHz and 700 MHz radio frequencies.