CRITICAL COMMUNICATIONS CASE STUDY

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<strong>CASE</strong> <strong>STUDY</strong> VIRVE TETRA AS KEY ENABLER TO TRANSFORMATION FROM SEPARATE AGENCIES TO JOINT OPERATIONS Janne Koivukoski, deputy director general, Ministry of the Interior Rescue Services for Finland “ Our ambition was to achieve better radio communication systems using the same budget we already had. Without going back in the history to tell the whole story of our Finnish TETRA-project, we had big troubles trying to solve all our communication problems at the beginning of 90s. At the same time there was also a need to get better integration between different emergency call authorities. There were parallel projects to solve both problems. Now we have been running the TETRA radio network over 18 years and it has been countrywide since 2002. With that TETRA radio network and our emergency response centers we have saved a lot of money and lives. I cannot see any other project which has been so beneficial to our safety and security in Finland. A NEED FOR INTERGRATION To get better co-operation and faster response time between units which were working on the field there needed to be better integration between different emergency call centres too. The first problem was to find a solution to getting new radio communication systems to replace earlier analogue radio systems in Finland. Our ambition was to achieve better radio communication systems using the same budget we already had. The second problem was a need to build a totally integrated emergency response system to cater for all authorities. During the planning phase, we already had a pilot centre where we recognised that we could achieve the best quality and fastest operation by using the same operator for different authorities. We also developed a unique training programme for the emergency centre operators. OVERCOMING CHALLENGES The biggest challenge at the beginning was to get common understanding of the target. Every authority thought that they had their own needs and specifications which were impossible to fit together. It took several years to reach the consensus and some people needed to retire during the process to achieve it. Of course, limited financial resources were also a big challenge for us. But there we could convince political leaders at that time so well that we got the money. The third challenge for us was that there was no standard solution for us and we were the first in the world to do this. A SUITE OF BENEFITS The benefits for us were that we could, as forerunners, lead the path to success and organise the systems suit our needs. Additional benefits were those we had set for ourselves: a new digital shared radio network for all authorities which has enabled our integrated emergency response system and enhanced our communications ability. If we had built several radio networks the costs would have been much higher than our solution to use the same network for all. Also to get the same benefits which we can achieve via integrated network (common talking groups), we would have needed to have more investment. If we take the police as an example user group, the new system was cheaper to use as their earlier networks were there. For some local users the user fees were more expensive than the old ones, but they got new co-operation possibilities with other authorities.
Maybe the best examples of how the integrated network has helped to save lives are the complex multi hazard accidents. One example of that kind accident was a sudden, severe weather traffic accident near Helsinki where there were several hundred vehicles involved and only three deaths. Through one call, our system offers a complete evaluation of the accident, direct alerting to appropriate units and also information support to various authorities on the field, in addition to informing the caller. EUROPEAN CONSENSUS I can see that there is a need to find a standard solution to critical broadband data communication in the near future. The critical voice will stay for several years in TETRA systems because big financial investments have been made to support it in its mature phase and it will continue to serve users for many years to come. The biggest work is to see a common target for all European actors and find consensus in that. “ It took several years to reach the consensus and some people needed to retire during the process to achieve it.
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