digital radio in action - Hytera Communications Corporation Limited

DIGITAL
RADIO IN
ACTION
DMR networks,
radios and applications
at work
a report from Wireless Magazine

a report from Wireless Magazine
Contents
About Hytera
Professional mobile radio designer
and manufacturer Hytera is focusing
its attention on helping customers
migrate from analogue to digital radio
systems. The company, founded in 1993
in Shenzhen, China is now a leading
provider of PMR equipment and solutions
for the DMR and TETRA standards.
Hytera continues to provide analogue
equipment and is the leading developer
of the Chinese PDT two-way radio
standard. It has built up a large customer
base in more than 80 countries with
subsidiaries in the US, UK and Germany
and a global sales network of more than
20 branches and 600 partners across
the world.
The company seeks to continue to
provide innovative and reliable products
at affordable prices designed to deliver
an easy-to-use experience and strong
customer satisfaction. This supplement
outlines how Hytera is moving forward,
profiles some recent customer case
studies, and highlights some key
applications and products.
P.4 EXPANDING THE GLOBAL DIGITAL PMR
VISION
Hytera Vice President of Research and Development GS Kok
outlines the innovation behind the products and explains why
migrating to digital will benefit customers
P.8 DIGITAL RADIO SUPPORTS EURO
2012 FOOTBALL
When Poland’s Municipal Stadium Poznan hosted three Euro
2012 football matches it upgraded its staff radio system to ensure
a successful event
P.9 SWEDEN’S IRONMAN EVENT GETS THE DMR TREATMENT
Hosting the punishing triathlon sporting competition meant that a temporary
DMR network had to be designed and deployed for use by both staff and
emergency services
P.10 CONNECTING UP
CONNECTICUT
Increased customer demand required
analogue trunked network operator Marcus
Communications to upgrade to Hytera’s
DMR Tier III trunking system
P.12 KEEPING TRACK OF THE RADIO FLEET
PMR Products’ SafetyNet Locator works with Hytera radios
to monitor the whereabouts of radio users both indoors
and outdoors
P.14 SOUND THE ALARM
Zonith’s Alarm Control System provides software that
enables customers to link alarm systems to Hytera radios,
along with a suite of management features
P.15 HYTERA’S DMR PORTFOLIO
The lowdown on Hytera’s range of DMR portable hand
terminals and its Tier III trunking base station
Published on behalf of Hytera by Wireless magazine • Noble House Media Ltd, 14-16 Great Pulteney St, London W1F 9ND
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EDITORIAL 0207 440 3868
wireless@nhmedia.co.uk
Editorial director David Nunn
Editor James Atkinson
Contributors George Malim,
Nick Booth, Kate O’Flaherty, Dave
Sloggett
PRODUCTION 0207 440 3821
Production manager Nigel O’Brien
Designer Laurence Hallam
SALES/MARKETING 0207 440 3866
Head of sales Natasha Bailey
Sales manager Ian MacFarlaine
Sales and marketing assistant
Katy Swanston 0207 440 3823
Events manager
Sheena Patel 0207 440 3882
PUBLISHING
Publisher/managing director
Debra Doran
Chairman James Buchanan
Printed by Buxton Press Ltd
All material in this publication is covered by copyright. No
part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form – electronic, mechanical, photocopying or
otherwise, in whole or in part without written permission
of the publisher. © 2012 Noble House Media Ltd. While
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for publication unless clearly stated otherwise.
3

INTERVIEW WITH: GS KOK
Choosing the right route
The PMR market has
expanded rapidly over
the past few years, driven
by customers looking to
migrate from analogue to
digital radio systems. They
now have a wealth of different options to
choose from with TETRA, TETRAPOL,
P25, DMR, dPMR and NXDN all vying for
a slice of the market.
Major public safety organisations
tend to choose TETRA, TETRAPOL or
P25, thanks to their well-developed
range of features, strong security and
encryption capabilities.
But for second tier security organisations,
enterprises and commercial users looking
for a more affordable, less feature-rich
option, the digital choice comes down to
DMR or dPMR and its NXDN variants. But
there is some confusion among customers
as to which one to choose.
GS Kok, vice president of research and
development at Hytera, says they should
not worry. ‘A year ago I wrote an article
about the transfer of analogue to digital
radio and I said, just embrace it and
don’t wait to see if DMR or dPMR
will be the main standard to be adopted.
Waiting for a new standard with a wider
channel requirement will take five years
to develop and a further five years to
come to market. Now we have DMR
and dPMR, so just use them – they
won’t disappear.’
Hytera still produces and supports a
wide portfolio of licence-free and analogue
radio equipment with its TC range of
portable terminals, TM portable radios,
TR repeaters, and its analogue MPT1327
trunking system, but Kok says the
company is concentrating its investment in
digital standards.
Hytera is a member of both the DMR
and the dPMR Associations, but while not
ignoring dPMR, most of Hytera’s research
and development efforts are centred on
The migration from analogue to digital radio is gathering speed
and there are now a range of standards to choose from. GS Kok,
vice president of research and development at Hytera, tells
Wireless editor James Atkinson what the company is doing to
take advantage of this trend.
developing DMR, TETRA and the homegrown
Chinese standard PDT (Professional
Digital Trunking) products.
‘We’ve been very busy,’ reports Kok. ‘We
had to open a new factory in Shenzhen this
year, as we couldn’t cope with the market
ramp up to digital.’
NEW MANUFACTURING
FACILITY
The new manufacturing facility in Baolong
Industrial City in the Longgang District of
Shenzhen has a ground area of 49,888m2
and building area of 113,434m2, or ten times
the manufacturing space the company
had previously. It is expected to create
a production value of around US$750m
(£480m) annually once it is running at
full capacity.
The Baolong facility houses more than
1,100 employees and is equipped with
advanced production equipment, including
automated production lines designed
to enhance production efficiency. It also
contains environmental test laboratories,
which will complement Hytera’s existing
R&D centres.
‘At this time, we see Hytera as being very
strong globally in DMR, as we have got one
of the biggest portfolios,’ says Kok.
DMR PORTFOLIO
Hytera now offers a complete DMR
portfolio for both conventional and trunking
modes, including portable and mobile
radios, covert radio, intrinsically safe
radio, repeaters, data application, multisite
IP connection, a simulcast system and
trunking infrastructure.
In 2011, Hytera became the first
manufacturer to release a DMR Tier III
solution, which offers much the same
functionality as TETRA, although without
the same breadth of features. ‘Guatemala
has been using it for the past two years and
we showcased it this year at IWCE in Las
Vegas,’ says Kok.
‘We’ve sold quite a few Tier III systems
already in Thailand, New York and other
places we can’t disclose as the contracts are
not signed yet.’
The company has recently completed
DMR Tier III mandatory and optional
IOP (interoperability process) tests using
Hytera terminals and Tait Communications
infrastructure, as specified by the DMR
‘By end of year we should
also have a second series
of DMR products and our
DMR ATEX radio’ GS Kok
4

a report from Wireless Magazine
for digital migration
Ramping up: Hytera recently opened a new factory in Shenzhen to meet the increasing global demand for digital PMR equipment
Association, and will soon get its official
IOP certification.
Kok reports that the DMR PD705 series
portfolio is largely complete. ‘We’ve got
nearly all the frequency bands required now,
so we will focus on developing slimmer,
more efficient and more feature-enhanced
products,’ he says. ‘By end of year we
should also have a second series of DMR
products, and our DMR ATEX radio – which
we’ve been demonstrating at shows this
year – should be commercially available,
with a TETRA ATEX version due in 2013.’
Earlier this year, Hytera released its
covert DMR radio in the shape of the X1e
(a TETRA version is due for release next
year) – the smallest and slimmest radio of its
type. Kok says that the DMR covert range is
being extended with the X1p, which comes
with keypad and display, and the X1s, a
simplified version with just six keys.
‘We are concentrating on DMR because it
is cost effective and affordable,’ says Kok.
‘We think the digital pick-up will be much
faster and more acceptable, especially in
South East Asia and India, where we believe
they will embrace DMR more.’
One of the reasons DMR is so attractive
for analogue users wanting to move to
digital is that it uses time division multiple
access (TDMA), retaining the single 12.5kHz
channel width and dividing it into two
alternating time slots. Each time slot acts as
a separate communication channel with an
equivalent bandwidth of 6.25kHz. However,
the channel as a whole keeps the same
profile as an analogue 12.5kHz signal.
This means it will fit into existing licensed
PMR bands.
‘This ease of migration and ease of use
is the key for the next two to three years of
digital migration,’ says Kok.
DPMR COMPARISONS
The dPMR standard, on the other hand,
uses frequency division multiple access
(FDMA) and separates the 12.5kHz band
into two true 6.25kHz channels. dPMR
has the advantage over DMR in that it was
largely developed to avoid IPR, licences
and royalties, so it can be cheaper. But as
Kok points out, it has the disadvantage
that in some countries the existing 12.5Khz
PMR licences would have to be refarmed
for 6.25kHz – a costly, difficult and timeconsuming
exercise.
‘Governments are cash strapped at the
moment and they can’t afford to give
regulators a lot of money to refarm the
frequencies,’ says Kok. ‘They don’t want to
go through another round of renegotiating
licences like 25kHz to 12.5kHz.
‘One thing about dPMR is that it is easier
to design,’ continues Kok, ‘because of the
differences between TDMA and FDMA.
With FDMA you just change the modulation
to fit the case, whereas with TDMA you
have to pulse the signal, so timing becomes
very critical and that makes the design
more complicated.’
Each standard has its advantages, but
as an indicator of which is proving more
5

INTERVIEW WITH: GS KOK
popular, Kok points out that the DMR
Association is far larger than the dPMR
Association. He adds that IMS Research
reports show that Motorola Solutions has
sold more than one million DMR terminals,
while the combined sales figures for the
main dPMR vendors are far below that total.
‘The future for DMR is very bright,’ says
Kok. ‘We won the battle for the professional
market, but we are still working hard to
get a solution for the commercial market.
The next step is to develop a very low-cost
radio for DMR, but every manufacturer will
be hard pressed to provide that. Can we
provide a one-use $20 radio from Walmart
I think Family Service Radio will remain,
as I don’t see the point in changing the
frequency. It would be very challenging to
provide that solution.
‘We are under tremendous pressure to
develop an entry-level DMR product, so we
can accelerate the change from analogue
to digital. But this forces us to be more
creative and come up with better products
at cheaper prices. Our objective is to release
something next year for the entry-level
DMR market.’
Kok continues: ‘Our research team is
very busy, especially in China, where it is
mandatory for the police services to migrate
to digital by 2016. That’s a very tall order, as
there are a lot of analogue radios to replace
and the replacement must be in a similar
cost range as those analogue radios.’
PDT DEVELOPMENT
As a result of this, Hytera is also heavily
involved in developing China’s alternative
to DMR and dMPR in the shape of the PDT
(Professional Digital Trunking) standard,
which is being driven by the Information
and Telecommunication Bureau of the
Chinese Ministry of Public Security.
PDT is broadly similar to the ETSI
standard for DMR Tier III, in that it uses
two-slot TDMA in 12.5kHz channel spacing,
although there are some differences.
Kok explains that PDT is very
China orientated. The stimulus for its
development was the Beijing Olympics,
where the government had to provide an
affordable two-way radio system.
‘They looked at TETRA, but the cost was
prohibitive,’ explains Kok. ‘Look at how
many cities need to be digitised. China has
had to bow out from TETRA – it’s only some
big cities such as Shanghai, which can pay
for it, that are adopting it.
‘But if you take somewhere like Chengdu,
which is remote, but still a very big city in
Inner Mongolia – it has a large population,
but not much economy, so the only choice
is for something that replaces its ageing
MPT system with an affordable product that
expands the feature set.’
China looked to embrace an open
standard, but found that adopting DMR
meant paying too much in licences and
royalties, so the government and others,
including Hytera, got to work on developing
the more cost-efficient, home-grown PDT
Retail win: Hytera recently upgraded
radio communications at River Island’s
distribution centre in the UK
‘The future for DMR
is very bright. We
won the battle for
the professional
market, but we are
still working hard to
get a solution for the
commercial market’
solution. The company is now the main
supplier of PDT equipment. ‘You can put IP
into it, but that IP is free for all to use, since
you had been consigned by the Government
to draft the Standards’ says Kok.
He adds: ‘In China, the migration to
digital is only just starting in public safety
and utilities, but once the police move
then the professionals will follow. PDT
is only just rolling out this year, but we
expect the speed to pick up next year. We
need to get a tier of products that will
persuade the commercial people to follow
after the professionals. So, there is a long
way to go in China – 80% of the market is
still analogue.’
Kok believes that with the Chinese
government pumping in RMB200m to
mitigate the police analogue radios to
digital, people are looking to partake in
R&D in China. ‘It’s a big market and they
want a piece,’ he says. He also thinks that
despite PDT’s China focus, its functionality
and affordability will make it attractive to
other countries, especially developing ones.
Tests are underway in Vietnam, Indonesia,
Thailand and Cambodia, and there have
been enquiries from Latin America, the
Middle East and even Europe.
The focus in Europe, however, has until
recently largely been confined to DMR.
But the acquisition of Rohde & Schwarz’s
PMR division (now known as Hytera Mobil
Funk), which was finalised earlier this year,
means Hytera can now also offer a full
range of end-to-end TETRA solutions.
Naturally, Hytera faces stiff competition
for both DMR and TETRA in a mature
market such as Europe. Kok says: ‘When
there is a lot of competition, manufacturers
have to be more creative to capture bigger
markets and gear it towards what the
customer wants. Look at Apple’s iPhone:
there is nothing really new about it, but
what it does is package it in a way that the
customer is comfortable with, and load it
with apps that are so much easier to use.
‘When Steve Jobs was a young man he
focused a lot on R&D, but it’s not about
having the most advanced technology; it
is about utilising it in a way that makes it
easier for customers and more profitable
for your company,’ says Kok.
6

a report from Wireless Magazine
Options for change: In China the police are choosing the PDT standard, but in other regions Hytera is mainly offering its DMR and TETRA products
TETRA, TEDS AND LTE
When it comes to TETRA, Hytera has an
ATEX radio and a covert radio in the works
for next year to add to its PT580H portable
terminal and MT680 mobile. The Rohde
& Schwarz developed ACCESSNET-T IP
base stations are also available. The next
key development in both TETRA and DMR
is how to integrate them with 4G LTE for
broadband services.
‘Some Public Safety and Security
customers are looking at expanding to
LTE or upgrading to it,’ says Kok, ‘so we
have had broadband planned in since
2009. A multi-core, multi-band product is
something we are developing right now.
In our future five-year road map we have
TETRA and DMR co-existing with LTE, so
we are working on another platform that
will integrate narrowband and broadband.
It is more of a long-term goal, as we need to
define broadband in China and participate
in global market standardisation.’
TDD-LTE will be the option used in
China, as it was developed there, but what
spectrum band will be chosen is still up
for discussion. In the meantime, Chinese
manufacturers will need to meet other
global LTE standards currently being rolled
out, which range from 400MHz in Europe,
and 700MHz in the US, to 2.6MHz in China.
‘Actually, it’s really just about getting the
RF to support the modulation,’ says Kok.
‘The RF is independent of what the RF
modulation does, so the RF chip set will just
need to be developed for the particular LTE
band that is chosen. Hytera Mobil Funk can
support 3G/4G interoperability.’
In the interim, Rohde & Schwarz is
working on TETRA enhanced data service
(TEDS) requirements. ‘We should be TEDS
ready within less than 12 months,’ reports
Kok. ‘We can’t afford not to be ready, as
Motorola and Cassidian are already there,
and until LTE becomes fully mainstream
TEDS will be there as an option. But it will
mainly be used by the police, as I don’t see
TEDS picking up a big field of users.
‘It was a brilliant standard in early 2000,
but then nobody developed a product, so
it may be a little bit too late now that LTE
has come along. The advance of technology
is much faster than suppliers can keep up
with and I think TEDS will suffer as a result.
Manufacturers won’t make a lot of money
from it,’ says Kok.
‘I don’t know if LTE will become the
final broadband solution,’ he continues. ‘If
something new and better turns up people
will turn to it very quickly. People are
becoming more intelligent and the younger
generation is choosing the tech they want to
embrace, rather than taking the tech offered
by big companies.’
Kok sees digital radio of one sort or
another as the only conceivable option now.
‘Those who embraced digital in the early
days are being rewarded,’ he says. ‘The rest
need to migrate to digital or else they will
be left behind. No one will be able to talk
to you. Analogue is a good technology, it’s
served us well for 50 years, but customers
will be hard pressed to get manufacturers to
support them for ICs. They’ve got to make
money, so analogue radio users will be left
high and dry unless they move over
to digital.’
It is a fairly stark warning to customers,
but there is a range of digital options out
there now and DMR does offer customers
the opportunity to move at their own pace,
as DMR radios will work with analogue
ones. This means customers do not have
to find the cash to change over their entire
fleets in one go. And with a full range of
TETRA, DMR and PDT equipment in its
armoury, Hytera is clearly well positioned
to take advantage of that migration as it
continues and picks up speed over the next
few years.
7

CASE STUDY: EURO 2012 STADIUM
DMR for Euro stadium
Poland’s Municipal Statium
Poznan upgraded its staff
communication system in
preparation for the Euro 2012
football matches, selecting
Hytera’s DMR digital
communications solution to
facilitate its operation
Staging major sporting
events requires a high
degree of planning and
organisation. A vital part
in ensuring such events
are a success is providing
robust and reliable communications to
organisers and staff.
The 2012 UEFA European Football
Championship in Poland and Ukraine
was no exception to this rule. The
Municipal Stadium Poznan, in the city
of Poznan, was one of the four venues in
Poland chosen to host some of the games.
The Euro 2012 competition kicked off on
9 June 2012 and three Group C matches
were played in the stadium.
Originally built in 1968, the Municipal
Stadium Poznan is the home ground of
two Polish football clubs – Lech Poznan
and Warta Poznan. From 2003 to 2010,
the stadium underwent a thorough
reconstruction to prepare for Euro 2012
and reopened on 20 September 2010.
The stadium has the capacity to host
a crowd of 43,000 people, so efficient
communication and co-ordination among
Crowd-pleaser: Hytera’s DMR system helped Euro 2012 matches run smoothly in Poznan
staff is critical. To make sure the three
matches ran smoothly, the operator of
Municipal Stadium Poznan decided to
upgrade its communication system early
in 2012. It chose Hytera’s DMR solution
for its reliability and versatile functions.
Alfa Radio, a Hytera dealer in Poland,
was selected to deliver 132 PD705, 10
PD785 DMR handheld radios and two
RD985 DMR repeaters together with one
SmartDispatch to upgrade the system.
The equipment and RF solution had to
take into account the steel and concrete
architecture of the stadium and was
designed to ensure full radio coverage
was provided in and around the stadium.
‘Alfa Radio was selected
to deliver 132 PD705, 10
PD785 DMR handheld
radios and two RD985
DMR repeaters’
Voice dispatching was available for
operator directors in the control
centre to all the staff via the
SmartDispatch system. Moreover,
Hytera’s flexible grouping function meant
that staff in different working groups
could access group communication
without causing interference to other
talk groups.
Operators also had access to enhanced
emergency handling capabilities via
other powerful security functions, such
as the Man Down facility. The stadium
is completely covered by a roof, which
increases echoes, so to combat the
increased noise levels, Hytera offered
specified earpieces with microphones to
the staff.
Now that the Euro 2012 championship
is over, Municipal Stadium Poznan’s
DMR communications system will
continue to be used in the stadium for
daily operations and events held at the
venue, including all the home matches of
Lech Poznan and Warta Poznan.
8

a report from Wireless Magazine
CASE STUDY: IRONMAN KALMAR 2012
The wireless triathlon
The historic Swedish town
of Kalmar hosted its first
Ironman competition in
August 2012. The event
comprised a gruelling
3.86km swim in the
Kalmar Strait, a 180.2km bicycle race and a
Marathon run of 42.195km.
Approximately 1,500 athletes took part
in the Kalmar event, while visitor numbers
were estimated at more than 40,000.
Naturally, the event organisers, Kalmar
Triathlon AB, needed to have reliable and
robust communications to ensure the
competition went smoothly. The original
plan was that the race would be
co-ordinated using GSM/3G phones.
However, the organisers realised this
would not provide the required quality of
service. For example, it was not possible to
establish communications between the race
controllers and the emergency services. Plus
the ESPN television team needed access to
fast communication services.
The issue was brought to the attention
of Stockholm-based wireless distributer
Zodiac through one of its local dealers,
Dialect Lemab Kalmar, which asked
whether Zodiac could offer a solution.
Kalmar Triathlon had a number of key
requirements that had to be met, including:
● A cost effective solution for shortterm
rental
When the organisers of the Kalmar Ironman competition in
Sweden needed a temporary communications network they
turned to Hytera’s DMR solution
● Wide area surface coverage for
handheld radios
● Fast and reliable connectivity between
operators
● Easy operation for users with only
minimal training
● Good sound quality
● Uptime of handheld devices during the
whole duration of the event
● Rugged devices that could withstand
impact and moisture
● The possibility of combining the
wireless system with GPS positioning
for use at other competitions in Sweden.
Zodiac worked with Dialect Lemab to
identify the right equipment and design
for a temporary wireless network, which
involved using the following Hytera DMR
equipment: three RD982 base stations; 36
PD785 hand-held radios; six slot chargers for
all the handheld radios; and accessories such
as ‘secret service’ style headsets.
The solution offered IP over internet
roaming between base stations, while the
deployment of one RD980M in repeater
mode in every base station provided wider
area coverage than conventional radios. The
design of the network architecture provided
some overlap in the competition area for
added resilience.
As well as supplying Hytera equipment,
Zodiac also helped with system installation
and programme files, telephone support
throughout the deployment, and backup
with spare radios and technical skills during
the competition phase.
Tobias Borg, one of the managers for the
Ironman event, said that the competition
would not have been possible without the
radio system supplied by Hytera. He added
that it was simple to use and the features
available exceeded requirements. Organisers
have pre-booked the same system for 2013.
Göran Engström at Rescue Kalmar said
that from the emergency services’ point of
view the communication between organisers
and the authorities was quick and clear
thanks to the efficient radio network.
Thomas Matsson of Lemab Kalmar
said the company was very pleased with
the outcome of the co-operation between
Hytera, Zodiac and Lemab and that the
deployment of the network was easy thanks
to the instruction and support from Zodiac,
despite the fact that Lemab was not entirely
familiar with the DMR technology involved.
9

CASE STUDY: MARCUS COMMUNICATIONS
Bringing two-way radio cl
Marcus
Communications
based in
Manchester,
Connecticut in
the US, is the
largest trunked radio network operator
in the State of Connecticut. Its trunked
radio communications network covers the
whole state and provides services for a
wide variety of end-users including police,
firefighters, healthcare, enterprises and
taxi companies.
Right from the start, Marcus has strived
to deliver technical excellence to its
customers in the field of two-way wireless
radio services. Over the past 33 years, it
has taken part in countless events where
its technical know-how and agility were of
vital importance in delivering successful
outcomes. The Marcus Communications
team remains dedicated to its customers
and community, while continuing to
make significant breakthroughs in
new technology.
However, the global rise in digital
Marcus Pilot System Coverage Map (Mobile)
As demand for improved communications increased,
Connecticut-based analogue trunked radio network operator
Marcus Communications realised it had to upgrade its existing
services to business and public safety users, and so it turned to
Hytera for an improved DMR Tier III digital system
communications technology prompted
the company to review its services.
At present, Marcus provides two-way
radio leasing and network maintenance
for business users, along with a full set
of communication services for public
safety users. But as the demand for more
and better communications increased,
Marcus gradually realised the inferiority
of its analogue LTR (logic trunked radio)
communication and data services.
BLIND SPOTS
End-users often complained that its LTR
network delivered unclear audio quality
and pointed to existing blind spots in its
coverage. In addition, taxi companies
maintained a wait-and-see attitude towards
further investment, as the network was
unable to provide adequate levels of GPS
service for tracking the whereabouts of
taxicabs. Finally, public safety users looking
for a digital option were put off leasing
Project 25 (P25) equipment supplied by
Marcus, because of the high rental charges.
The limitations of Marcus’ LTR analogue
radios for voice communications and data
services, along with the off-putting cost of
its P25 equipment, lost the company a lot of
business. It needed to find a cost-effective
alternative to its analogue product, which
could provide a more advanced technical
solution for its range of customers.
The company had to find a digital
solution capable of providing trunked
radio services, but one that was more
cost-effective than the P25 equipment
commonly used by first responders in the
US. Advances in the DMR (digital mobile
radio) standard over the past two years
mean that DMR Tier III now provides a
trunked version.
● Level 5: Crystal clear without noise
at the background
● Level 4: Good voice quality
● Level 3: Acceptable and
comprehensible voice quality with
some background noise
● Level 2: Barely comprehensible with
high noise background
● Level 1: Not comprehensible
B: For Bolton Site
H: For Haddam Site
A: For Avon Site
TIER III TRUNKING
Marcus assessed the various DMR (digital
mobile radio) products on the market and
was particularly impressed with the high
quality of Hytera’s equipment. As a result,
Marcus decided to replace its existing
network in stages with Hytera’s DMR Tier
III trunking system.
Hytera ensured its DMR Tier III trunking
equipment met the particular demands of
its customer. In the first phase, three DMR
trunked base stations were deployed in the
LTR network in Box Mountain, Avon and
Haddam. This provided coverage in the
10

a report from Wireless Magazine
arity to Connecticut
voice and channel coding
technology, achieving a better
audio quality when compared
with the old analogue radio
system, which provides a better
user experience for Marcus’
customer base.
New services: Bruce Marcus, owner and CTO of Marcus Communications opted for Hytera
trunked DMR Tier III system to upgrade his existing analogue network
towns of Manchester, Hartford, Avon and
Haddam. The final network rollout saw
a total of 20 DMR trunked base stations
located across the state to provide coverage
across the whole of Connecticut.
Compared with the previous LTR
analogue network, the newly-built
Hytera DMR network is bringing Marcus
operational cost savings and higher
network efficiency. As a result, the
company plans to extend its successful
partnership with Hytera and make more
use of its products.
Hytera’s DMR Tier III network has
doubled the user and traffic capacity from
900 to 1,800 using the same amount of
equipment or less (three base stations with
each base station having four RF units),
which has reduced costs considerably.
Hytera terminals adopt advanced digital
BETTER BATTERY LIFE
DMR technology uses TDMA
two time-slot technology, which
divides the 12.5kHz bandwidth into two
6.5 kHz time slots to support two
simultaneous communication channels. This
greatly enhances the spectrum efficiency and
system capacity, while also improving the
battery life of the radios.
The Hytera DMR Tier III system meets
the 95% coverage demand of Marcus’
network perfectly (public safety users:
95dBm downlink, business users:
105dBm downlink).
Bruce Marcus, owner and CTO of
Marcus Communications, said: ‘We
are impressed with the quality of the
equipment and are looking forward to a
successful partnership. We talked to one
of our employees on a handheld radio
35 miles from us, while we were in an
indoor mall, with excellent results.’ The
successful rollout of Hytera’s equipment
in Connecticut should prove a compelling
springboard for further contracts in the US.
MARCUS COMMUNICATIONS
ABOUT THE COMPANY
Marcus Communication was founded by Bruce Marcus, owner and chief
technical officer, in April 1969 in Manchester, Connecticut, US, where it
currently occupies a 50,000 sq ft facility. Marcus Communications is a leader in
engineering and deployment of radio networks and has the largest trunked
radio network operator in Connecticut State. Its trunking radio communications
network covers the whole state and the company supplies products and
services including public safety, business and industrial professionals.
The company supplies a wide range of two-radio products
including handheld and in-vehicle terminals, base stations, repeaters,
trunked systems, call boxes, localised paging, closed-circuit TV, web
interconnection, remote alarm monitoring and short- or long-haul
microwave, along with fixed links. Marcus also offers design, engineering
and installation services, along with training and a 24/7 service and
repairs solution.
11

APPS: THE SAFETYNET LOCATOR
App that tracks indoor an
The SafetyNet Locator
application developed by
PMR Products provides
administrators with a simple
and easy means of tracking the
deployment of their Hytera
radio subscriber fleet in both
indoor and outdoor locations
The SafetyNet Locator
developed by UK
firm PMR Products is
one application in the
company’s SafetyNet
Digital suite of software
programs designed to access audio and
data information from radio equipment.
SafetyNet connects to a range of
communications devices through gateways
or decoders and can include DMR and
TETRA private radio networks, pagers,
DECT and short-range radio alarms
SafetyNet Digital software is PC based
and provides control room facilities for
managing and monitoring all audio across
the radio network being managed. Tools
are also provided for recording all audio,
dispatch facilities, lone worker protection
schemes, text messaging and handling
personal alarms and general status
updates. It also handles all location
update information, which is passed to
SafetyNet Locator.
The Locator product range combines
location beacons, Locator receiver
modules, gateways, decoders and
SafetyNet PC-based software in a fully
integrated package that can be expanded
easily through additional modules.
Locator software takes the position
information received to provide a user
friendly display of all radio users’
locations on a set of maps or schematic
diagrams. The SafetyNet Locator display
also provides a summary of the status of
each radio deployed, for example, whether
an alarms has been activated.
Additional tools are provided to
automatically convert a location to a text
or audio message which can be relayed out
to other radio users for emergencies
or announcements.
Locator Zones: The position of radios can be displayed on a variety of mapping options
HOW IT WORKS
For indoor location, a Locator receiver
device is fitted to each radio and this
detects users’ movement via strategically
placed beacons around a site. The beacons
can be fixed in discreet positions to cover
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a report from Wireless Magazine
d out
all key areas and can run from internal
batteries for a period of between two and
five years reducing installation overhead.
Mains operating beacons are also available.
The beacon positions are determined
and installed to meet the security or safety
requirements of the site. Furthermore, a
greater number of beacons lends a greater
accuracy of positional information. A full
survey kit and remote programmer permits
individual beacons to be configured easily
without needing to remove the beacons
from their original location.
An important feature of the Indoor
Locator is its use of the existing radio
infrastructure. Spare capacity on the
radio channel is used for sending
updates in short data messages, thereby
minimising the extra expense of additional
data backhaul capacity. In busy networks,
the system is scalable, allowing additional
infrastructure to be added to provide
dedicated data backhaul.
Outdoor position over wide areas is
provided by radio units equipped with
GPS receivers. Radio user positions
are updated to SafetyNet and can be
plotted onto maps via the SafetyNet
Locator application or simply logged for
archive purposes.
MAPPING OPTIONS
Locator can show the position of
subscribers on a number of different
map formats, which are preloaded
at configuration time as tiles. As
images are held on the computer
permanently, an internet connection is
not necessarily required.
The users can be presented with
location information on a map or image
types including:
● Ordnance Survey Street maps
(United Kingdom)
● GPS maps exported from
OpenStreetMaps or similar
● Overhead photographs
● Schematics or CAD generated
3D images
● Annotated drawings
For outdoor GPS locations, a precise
position is shown on the maps within the
ranges specified; for indoor locations users
will be shown within a boundary or zone
defined on the appropriate map.
Steve Clarke, Director, PMR Products,
says: ‘The SafetyNet Locator offers
resellers of Hytera radio equipment an
opportunity to upsell the application to
make their proposition more attractive to
the end user.
‘It gives them a way to provide the end
user with added value and it is a way of
differentiating themselves and Hytera in
the market.’
ACCESSORIES
LOCATOR RECEIVER MODULE
PMR Products in conjunction
with Hytera have developed
an accessory unit called the
Locator Receiver module that
utilises the radio to transmit
location information to the
SafetyNet software through base
station and fixed mobile based
decoder interfaces.
The Locator receiver module fits
onto the accessory side connector.
The module also provides an audio
accessory audio jack socket providing connections for
microphone, PTT and earpiece.
Indoor and outdoor positioning is available on
TETRA and DMR radios supplied with the (MD) GPS
option. The module is interchangeable between DMR
and TETRA products when suitably programmed.
The Locator receiver is manufactured under licence
by Hytera and is fully approved and tested for use on
the radio equipment specified.
Key features
● Fits into the standard accessory connector
● 3.5mm jack socket for audio accessories
● Sealed to IP54
● Seamless data transmission of location
information
● Tracking and polled modes of operation to suit
bandwidth limitations
● Programmable for future upgrades
● Worldwide dealer and support network.
SPECIFICATIONS
Modes of operation:
● Tracking - module updates on receipt of a new
beacon signal
● Polled - module updates only when requested
by SafetyNet
● Programming: PMR Programming Pod and
Test unit
● Weight: 15g
● Dimensions: 50(l) x 20(w) x 22(h) ‐ height to top
of locking mechanism
● Construction: ABS plastic moulding sealed to
IP66 with positioning tab
● Gold-plated spring connections
● Screw locking mechanism
● Receiver type: IEEE802.15.4
● Protocol: ZigBee PRO compatible
● Receiver freq: 2.4‐2.5GHz Current consumption:
23mA receive, standby 2.6uA
● Receive duty cycle: 15mS TX, 1‐20 seconds
standby (one beacon in range)
● Compliance: ETSI‐300‐328 v1.7.1 / CFR37 FCC
part 15 rules
HYTERA MODELS SUPPORTED:
● DMR: PD785; PD785G (MD); PD705; PD705G (MD)
● TETRA: PT580H; PT580
● Radio infrastructure: TETRA; DMR Tier 2; DMR Tier
3 (available 2013)
13

APPS: ZONITH ALARM CONTROL SYSTEM
Sound the alarm
Danish company Zonith
specialises in developing
software for professionals
who have to deal with
alarms that range from
simple notification
solutions to large alarm
handling systems
Zonith’s Alarm Control
System (ACS) is a
software application
that enables customers
to link alarm systems
to Hytera radios and
provides customers with the ability to
combine alarm messaging and voice into
one single device.
The software translates the alarm
system protocols into Hytera’s DMR
and TETRA messaging formats and
automatically selects the person best
suited for the task using action filters
and a scheduler. Customers can remotely
accept, decline, escalate and close alarms
or tasks using a Hytera radio keypad.
The ACS is available in Lite and Plus
versions depending on the requirement.
The ACS Lite is an entry-level scalable
package that enables organisations to link
a single alarm source to digital radios.
ACS Plus is a more intelligent system
that supports multiple alarm sources
and dispatch media, and provides action
filtering, alarm acknowledgements and
alarm escalation.
One of the key advantages of the ACS
is that it is both a flexible and a scalable
application that can be expanded into
a fully integrated lone worker and
indoor positioning system using Zonith
Bluetooth positioning beacons.
The ACS connects to the Hytera radio
system via USB and supports group and
individual messaging. It also supports
multiple alarm inputs including ASCII,
RS232/ 486, SMTP, SNMP, I/O, XML,
MODBUS, MOXA, OPC and PLC.
The system comes with a personal
alarm scheduler, which enables
administrators to define alarm escalation
paths for intelligent dispatch of alarms
and tasks.
The ACS picks up alarms from any
alarm source. It pairs the alarm with
the correct on-duty employee through
the intelligent scheduler, ensuring
that problems get handled at the right time
by the right person. The alarms are sent as
text messages directly to this person on his
or her digital radio, pager, mobile phone
or email account, depending on how
critical the alarm is.
The integrated watch schedule feature
allows the manager to organise the work
schedule in the alarm-handling software
itself, ensuring that alarms are always
dispatched to employees who are at work
at the time of the dispatch.
The system enables alarm prioritisation,
which saves resources by handling alarms
at the best possible time. The priority
can influence which dispatch media the
administrator uses for the alarm, and it can
influence when the alarm is dispatched to
the receiver. Typically, a low-priority alarm
raised at the weekend is dispatched the
following Monday morning by mail, while
a high-priority alarm will be dispatched
immediately by DMR or TETRA.
ACS also has the ability to filter test
and fault alarms, which helps to reduce
the number of unnecessary false alarms.
The alarm quarantine filter stops multiple
incoming alarms being triggered in the
event of a large system failure.
Features include a free-hand text
messaging interface, and the ACS can be
configured to provide a centralised lone
worker service, which regularly sends
‘Heart Beat’ text messages to Hytera
radio users. The ACS will immediately
raise an alarm if a Hytera radio user fails
to respond to a ‘Heart Beat’ message.
The ACS can also be accessed through
an internet browser. The web interface is
mainly for managerial purposes, and the
radio will always be the main interface in
the daily use of the system.
Other notable features are a
customisable alarm summary display
screen and the ability to support
DMR Panic button messaging. ACS
can also simultaneously send alarms to
TETRA, DMR, SMS, email, DECT and
Paging devices.
The system also guarantees delivery
receipts and has a messaging retry
feature to ensure that people receive
alarms. ACS comes with a full audit
trail capability, logging and reporting
all alarm activities, including delivery
receipt, acknowledgment, escalation and
alarm closures.
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a report from Wireless Magazine
DMR: PRODUCT SUITE
DMR products
Hytera’s range of DMR products provides high-quality conventional
and trunking solutions for anyone looking to migrate from analogue
to digital, including standard, ATEX and covert hand portable radios
DS-6210 DMR TIER III TRUNKING
BASE STATION
The Hytera DS-6210 DMR Trunking
Base Station is fully compliant with
the DMR Tier III trunking standard.
The DS-6210 is an IP-based digital
trunking system especially designed
to provide voice and data services
for professional users across various
geographic areas.
It is suitable for smooth migration
from analogue to digital, especially
considering the transition in
spectrum, and reuse of the analogue
system equipment.
Hytera’s DMR trunking system
DS-6210 protects your investment in
analogue with our answer to digital
communications.
X1e
The Hytera X1e digital portable
radio is the world’s smallest
full power DMR radio (only
18mm thin with battery). With
superb voice performance and
coverage, the X1e is designed
for high-end mission-critical
users, providing highly secure voice encryption,
GPS locating and IP67 protection features. The X1e
can be trusted in many working environments. In
extreme situations users can communicate with
others using fully covert accessories or send out an
emergency signal without being noticed.
PD795 EX
The Hytera PD795 Ex
Intrinsically Safe Digital
Portable Radio is fully
compliant to ETSI DMR
and is open standard – the
world’s first intrinsically
safe DMR portable radio.
The PD795 Ex adopts plastic-encapsulated
technology, error-protection design and IP67
protection, ensuring intrinsically safe and
reliable communication to protect your staff and
assets in hazardous scenes with explosive gas
and combustible dusts.
PD705
The Hytera PD705 is a rugged
and robust DMR portable
radio featuring superior
audio quality, durable battery
life, vibration alert, and
IP67 protection. It features
a centrally positioned, short
length, omni-directional antenna for better
coverage performance, which integrates a
GPS antenna. The radio also offers rich data
services and selectable functions such as
scan, emergency, man down, high-speed data
transmission and lone worker.
PD785
The Hytera PD785 DMR
portable radio delivers
efficient voice communication
and rich data applications
to professional users with
advanced digital technology
and a user-friendly design.
With crisp digital voice, large-size colour display
and IP67 protection, the Hytera PD785 is rugged
and easy to use. It supports text messages with up
to 256 characters and GPS data transmission, and
allows smooth analogue to digital migration with
operation in both analogue and digital.
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