CCR  |   TETRA  |   LTE  |  2017-11-02

Airbus Embraces South Africa with Highly Reliable Radio Tech

Source: The Critical Communications Review | Gert Jan Wolf editor

Airbus recently participated for the first time in the AfricaCom/Mission Critical Africa 2017 fair in Cape Town and presents itself with highly flexible Tetra network solutions / Tetra-LTE radio and Tactilon Dabat on display.

In order to serve African governmental organisations and large companies on the continent with state-of-the-art radio communications, Airbus presents for the first time its tailored solutions at the trade fair AfricaCom/Mission Critical Africa. As the emerging markets on the continent ask increasingly for reliable but versatile communications technology, Airbus presents the full-fledged and mobile radio solution Claricor and the Tactilon Dabat, a Tetra radio combined with an Android smartphone. Airbus will showcase its products on the stand no. B 10 in the Ballroom East & West in the Cape Town International Convention Center on the 7th and 8th November 2017.

Claricor offers a complete secure Tetra network for up to 10,000 users for out- or indoor use. The set-up with a new virtualised Tetra core server Taira 310c combined with small base stations (TB3) can easily cover cities, large industrial sites, seaports or airports. Furthermore, Claricor works independently from a large Tetra network infrastructure and consumes only little electricity.

“Airbus can tailor this scalable solution to customer demands while offering all the functions you could expect from large Tetra radio network: secure group and individual calls, devices, data transmission and LTE-functions on top,” explains Olivier Fischer, Business Development Manager of Secure Land Communications for Airbus.

As LTE networks have sprouted up everywhere in Africa, it is indispensable to combine this technology securely with existing Tetra technology and enable multimedia communication with one device. “Our Tactilon Dabat allows most efficient mission-critical communication in the future,” explains Olivier Fischer. “We have already presented the Tactilon Dabat to some of our partners in various African regions and they are very interested in communicating securely in Tetra and LTE mode.”

The Tactilon Dabat prevents unauthorised access, keeps any communications encrypted, protects users’ data and features new applications certified by Airbus. This makes the Tactilon Dabat a unique device for secure group communications.

Airbus has equipped governmental institutions and corporations in Africa with secure radio communications, for instance the South African Police Service, the Botswana Police Service, Cape Town International Airport and Stellenbosch Municipality.