News
Significant developments on the
road to ESN
The UK’s broadband-based Emergency
10
Erillisverkot moves
forward with device RFI
www.criticalcomms.com October 2020
Services Network has continued to
make progress in recent months,
with several advances being made in relation
to both the terrestrial system and Air-to-
Ground (A2G).
Regarding the latter, a series of “significant
trials” were recently completed in preparation
for the anticipated roll-out of the service.
These were carried out by QinetiQ
in partnership with Cobham Aerospace
Connectivity, the latter of which is the prime
contractor on the A2G portion of the project.
The trials were designed to “test, integrate and
assure” the technology, looking specifically
at the airborne component of the aircraft
communications system (ACS).
According to a statement, the trial
consisted of a bespoke aircraft antenna
array, deployed alongside a “customised LTE
radio communications and test system”. The
technology was integrated into a QinetiQ
Agusta A109 helicopter, operating on the
ground-test network.
Performance elements tested included
range and altitude, handover between the
terrestrial network and dedicated A2G Band
40, as well as integration of core Kodiak
MCPTT functionality.
Speaking of the trials, chief engineer for the
QinetiQ A2G programme, Geoff Clarkson,
said: “We’re delighted to have made such
significant progress. The system will truly
transform the efficiency and effectiveness of
the UK emergency services’ air-to-ground
communications.”
Cobham vice-president, aerospace systems,
Kevin Dunne, said: “The programme has so
far validated that the key concepts of
the ACS project are sound, including
Kodiak integration and air-to-ground
network performance.”
ACS testing and assurance will continue
over the course of the next year.
Regarding the terrestrial network,
APD has claimed to be the first UK
supplier to complete ESN proof-of-
concept feature testing from a UK-hosted
reference environment.
According to the company, this covers
secure sign-in/authentication, group calls
and emergency activation features. The
functionality took “a matter of weeks” to
develop, following APD’s initial involvement
The Virve 2.0 emergency services
broadband project in Finland has
published a request for information
relating to end-user devices.
According to a statement released by
Virve operator the Erillisverkot Group, the
request concerns “the types of devices
that users want or expect to use, and
the type of devices that manufacturers
intend to provide”.
The information request will also
collect data on the suitability of a
range of devices in relation to different
use-cases, as well as availability,
development stage and performance.”
Speaking of the document, a
spokesperson for Erillisverkot said:
“In the Virve 2.0 development project,
Finnish safety authorities and other
critical users will switch to 4G/5G
technology. The information request
will be used to compile responses to
the second phase of the project, which
defines, procures and deploys missioncritical
communication services.”
The news follows Erillisverkot’s
announcement earlier this year that
Virve 2.0’s radio access network will be
provided by Elisa, with core systems
from Ericsson.
Procurement on the project is
expected to begin in 2021.
in this phase of the project towards the
beginning of the year.
The group call use-case certification was
also previously achieved by Frequentis,
in June.
Speaking of the developments, a
spokesperson for the company said: “A
five-person APD team spent three days
at Motorola’s hi-tech communications
testing centre in Rugby, Warwickshire.
During that time, our software underwent a
comprehensive and rigorous programme of
testing while connected to the ESN network.
The testing success has since been assured by
the Home Office.”
APD managing director Mike Isherwood
said: “We’re delighted that our software
has passed such a demanding programme
of testing. We’re very pleased to be the first
supplier to successfully achieve this testing
milestone and we’re committed to being
the leading control room supplier in the
ESN transition.
“Our ESN development and delivery
teams are all motivated by a passion to ensure
UK public safety services have the best-inclass
technology.”
In 2018, APD was named as the first
supplier to be Network Approval Testing
Service (NATS)-accredited for ESN, on the
previous Wave 7k platform.
Other recent Emergency Services Network
milestones include the construction by EE in
Glencoe, Scotland of its 500th site, as well
as Capita signing the contract to provide
key elements of network infrastructure for
London Underground.
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