TETRA systems are used in both public safety and commercial sectors by organisations that need reliability, capacity and security for their communications. TETRA infrastructures, devices, services and applications are used by many industries, including Public Safety, Oil & Gas, Transport and Logistics, Utilities and more. [1]

Figure 1. Benefits and Features of Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA)

Figure 1 shows Tetra includes support for security features such as multilevel authentication and encryption, allows voice and data communication to be combined using the same equipment, and supports multiplexing of up to four channels to provide data rates of up to 144 Kbps. Tetra is complementary to the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) cellular communication standard: GSM can be considered an extension of the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) to the wireless domain, while Tetra is an extension of ISDN Private Branch Exchange (PBX) systems to the same domain. [4]

TETRA radio features

TETRA radio offers many new and valuable features and in this way it is a major step forwards over previous private mobile radio communications systems. These include a fast call set-up time, which is a particularly important requirement for the emergency services. It also has excellent group communication support, direct mode operation between individual radios, packet data and circuit data transfer services, better economy of frequency spectrum use than the previous PMR radio systems and in addition to this it provides advanced security features. The system also supports a number of other features including call hold, call barring, call diversion, and ambience listening. [2]

TETRA Systems benefits

TETRA (Terrestrial Trunked Radio) has been developed by industry experts alongside the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and has emerged as the unchallenged standard for the most demanding and professional users of radio communications worldwide.

TETRA technology brings new outstanding features to mobile communications by combining the features of mobile phones with fast data communications and the work group capabilities of PMR. Key services differentiating TETRA from other wireless technologies include:

• Individual simplex and duplex calls, group calls, pre-emptive emergency and priority calls, dynamic group number assignment, call authentication, late entry, voice encryption, packet data services.
• Full interoperability (IOP) with all TETRA terminals allows you to freely choose and combine any of your favourite terminal brands. [3]

References:

1. https://www.motorolasolutions.com/en_xu/solutions/what-is-tetra.html
2. https://www.electronics-notes.com/articles/connectivity/private-land-mobile-radio-pmr-lmr/what-is-tetra-radio-system.php
3. https://www.dammcellular.com/technologies/tetra-systems/
4. https://networkencyclopedia.com/terrestrial-trunked-radio-tetra/

Cite this article:

Thanusri swetha J (2021), Benefits and Features of Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA), AnaTechmaz, pp. 38