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Communication is the secret to success if you learn to understand and use it effectively. You don’t have to do much this time. Technology will do all for you, or at least most of what is necessary. One of the essential components of warning systems is the communications infrastructure. It maintains communications between sensors, control centres and sirens, and possibly other elements within the system, using diverse types of communication channels.

Parallel channels should serve as a backup in case one of the channels fails or stops working. It is recommended that at least one of the channels used for a warning system should be exclusively private to the organisation operating the warning system. Although more complicated to build, a private channel usually provides advantages if there is a public communications network failure or power outage. These factors are significant in emergencies when warning systems must work at all costs. The most commonly used private communication channel is the radio.

An increased interest has been recently shown in digital radios, which offer several advantages over their analogue counterparts. The most important include greater security, parallel multiple-channel communication, and faster data transmission. The disadvantages include a more complicated configuration and a higher purchase price.

After Telegrafia and Motorola collaborated on the Mototrbo digital radio, Telegrafia decided to venture into Tetra (“Terrestrial Trunked Radio”) networks. Defined by the European standards, these belong to the group of professional digital radios and are designed specifically for the needs of government authorities, rescue teams, industrial and transport facilities, and the military. Thanks to standardisation, Tetra networks contain different stations from various manufacturers. It is thus common for base stations to be supplied by one manufacturer and endpoints by another.

The market for warning systems works with Tetra radios from several manufacturers. Telegrafia decided to collaborate with two of the largest manufacturers – Sepura and Motorola. Collaborations with such companies involve an arduous and highly complicated approval process in which very few succeed. Telegrafia is proud to be one of them.

As Telegrafia makes the most advanced electronic sirens, no add-on modules are necessary to provide the Tetra radio communication. The Pavian and Gibon sirens can do the job without any additional hardware. The possibility of connection and control via Tetra radio is guaranteed by a licence, which is implemented in each siren and without which customers cannot use this communications option.

It is also excellent and convincing proof that Telegrafia’s sirens are software-defined. Their functions are thus limited by software rather than hardware, for the siren hardware was designed right at the heart of the company and can withstand nearly everything.

And it is thanks to the collaborations mentioned above that Telegrafia can penetrate other new markets with exclusively its own modules. Otherwise, it would have been necessary to rely on other integrator companies to create a connection method for Telegrafia’s sirens. This way, the company controls the whole chain and can enter quite a wide range of projects. For example, the German market is very specific in this respect. The latest local requirements define that sirens must be connected to the Tetra BOS network, a high-security network to which no radio will connect without a special SIM card. This network is used for warning systems, police, rescue, and other community services where the highest possible level of security is a prerequisite.

Most recently, the company has completed testing sirens controlled by the Vektra® software application in the Tetra BOS network.

In close collaboration with Piciorgros, Telegrafia would shortly like to develop a small Tetra radio and thus replace the currently used analogue radio with a modern solution suitable for other private projects requiring a digital radio but not necessarily the SIM card security. Compared to conventional radio, this radio is about a third in size.

A new day, a new technology, a new step forward for Telegrafia. Are you also thinking about a way forward, about a new modern warning system? Feel free to contact us. There are many solutions, but we are the solution.

The article was written by

Hardware Team

Continuously changing requirements of our present and potential customers are the main driving force of our Hardware Development Department. Our products are daily enhanced with numerous new functions and it is our company’s ability to respond to these requirements so quickly that has brought it to the world-leading position among the warning systems manufacturers.