An Overview of TETRA

By
Doug Gray
Chairman ETSI Project TETRA
and
Author of TETRA: The Advocate’s Handbook

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 Agenda
‰ History and Key Milestones
‰ The ETSI TETRA Standard
‰ The Services and Facilities of TETRA
‰ TETRA Release 2
‰ ETSI Project TETRA Organization
‰ Public Safety User Requirements Capture
‰ Possible Future User Requirements Capture Solutions

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 History and Key Milestones

‰ Started Life in in 1989 as Mobile Digital Trunked Radio System

(MDTRS)
‰ In the early 90s’ Project name changed to Trans European
Trunked RAdio (TETRA)
‰ In the mid 90s’ meaning of the TETRA acronym changed to
TErrestrial Trunked RAdio as global market potential become
apparent
‰ The TETRA Air Interface standard became a full ETS in
December 1995
‰ First TETRA contracts placed in 1996
‰ First TETRA system (base stations, mobiles, handportables,
control centre, switch, etc.) became operational in July 1997
‰ TETRA Release 2 Enhancement Programme approved by ETSI
September 2000.
‰ At the TETRA World Congress in November 2004, it was
reported by the TETRA MoU Association that 622 contracts had
been placed for TETRA spanning 70 countries world-wide (90%
increase over those recorded in 2003)
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 The ETSI TETRA Standard

Interfaces
1. Network Air Interface
2. DMO Air Interface
3. Peripheral Equipment Interface (PEI)
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4. Man Machine Interface (MMI)
5. Remote Console Interface
1 4 6. Network Manager Interface
MDT 3
7. Inter-System Interface (ISI)
8. External Networks Gateway

Base Base Base TETRA

Station Station Station
SwMI
Network
5 6 Manager

Remote
Console Inter-
Gateway Controller System
7 TETRA
Interface SwMI

TETRA Network Infrastructure

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PSTN/ISDN
PABX/PDN
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 The Services and Facilities of TETRA

Voice
‰ Excellent voice quality
‰ Fast call set-up
‰ Individual (one-to-one) calls
‰ Push to Talk (PTT) Group communication
¾ group calls
¾ scanning of groups
¾ dynamic regrouping
¾ group area selection
¾ broadcast groups
‰ Emergency calls
‰ Secure encrypted communications
‰ Direct Mode Operation (DMO)

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The Services and Facilities of TETRA (Cont.)

DMO
‰ DMO Terminal to DMO Terminal
‰ Dual Watch (DMO/TMO)
‰ Mobile DMO Gateway (Example Shown)
‰ Mobile DMO Repeater
‰ Mobile DMO Repeater/Gateway

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The Services and Facilities of TETRA (Cont.)

Telephony
‰ Full Duplex Voice
‰ PSTN/PABX Telephone Interconnect
‰ Facilities such as:
¾ Call Forward
¾ Call Divert
¾ Call Hold
¾ Call Barring (outgoing and Incoming)

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 The Services and Facilities of TETRA (Cont.)

TETRA Data Service

Short Data Service (SDS) Circuit Mode Packet Mode

Status Messaging Single Time Slot Supporting:

Free Format Text or Binary 2400 bits/s Connectionless
Up to 256 bytes 4800- bits/s
Point to Point 7200 bits/s IP over the air
Point to Multipoint
Location Information Protocol (LIP) Application

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The Services and Facilities of TETRA (Cont.)

Security
‰ Over the Air TETRA Encryption Algorithms (TEAs)
¾ TEA 1: European commercial Use
¾ TEA 2: EU public Safety organizations
¾ TEA 3: Public safety organizations outside EU
¾ TEA 4: Commercial organizations outside EU
‰ End to End Encryption
¾ The Advanced Encryption Standard (EAS) is the default
interoperability algorithm for end-to-end encryption
¾ The International Data Encryption Algorithm (IDEA) is also a
standard encryption solution
¾ The TETRA standard is also able to support encryption
modules that are required by specific organizations and
nations

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The Services and Facilities of TETRA (Cont.)

Security (cont.)
‰ Encryption keys
¾ Multiple keys are supported in the TEA standards to
allow different organizations use the same encryption
algorithm but have their own unique key to prevent
eavesdropping
¾ Keys can be ‘static’ and/or ‘dynamic’ dependent on
security needs.

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 TETRA Release 2

‰ This early planning work in 1999 by EP TETRA and the

TETRA MoU resulted in the following recommended
enhancement areas for TETRA Release 2:
¾ 10 fold increase in data throughput
¾ New voice codecs with enhanced voice quality for
interworking between GSM and UMTS/3G
¾ Air interface enhancements to optimise
- spectrum efficiency
- network capacity
- system performance
- size of terminals and battery life
¾ Range extension for ‘ground to air’, ‘rural telephony’ and
‘linear’ networks
¾ TETRA network interworking between GSM, GPRS,
UMTS/3G
¾ Evolution of TETRA SIM to U-SIM

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 TETRA Release 2 (Cont.)

‰ Besides these planned enhancements, TETRA Release 2

should:
¾ Allow provision for new ETSI deliverables to support
further user/market driven requirements
¾ Ensure full backwards compatibility and integration of new
services with existing TETRA
¾ Allow operation in frequency bands already assigned for
TETRA
‰ On 6th September 2000, the ETSI Board approved the
new Terms of Reference of EP TETRA for TETRA
Release 2
‰ To show industry commitment, selected EP TETRA
members volunteered to fund 50% of the Specialist Task
Force (STF) costs
¾ NOTE: This joint STF funding initiative by TETRA failed to
set a trend for all new standard activities in ETSI

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 TETRA Release 2 (Cont.)

‰ TETRA Enhanced Data Service (TEDS)

¾ Multi-carrier platform with TDMA carriers
¾ Adaptive selection of modulation and coding according to propagation
conditions
¾ Turbo coding together with the chosen parameters provides highly efficient
channels

Channel Type
25 kHz 50 kHz 100 kHz 150 kHz
Modulation

Л/4 DQPSK 36

Л/8 D8PSK 54

4-QAM 38 77 154 230

16-QAM 77 154 307 461

64-QAM 115 230 461 691

Gross Bit Rate (kbits/s) Using 4 Time Slots

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 TETRA Release 2 (Cont.)
‰ After significant Market Changes and Prioritisation the Main
Deliverables are:
¾ High Speed Data (TAPS & TEDS)
¾ AMR Codec and NATO low bit rate codec (STANAG 4591)
¾ Long range ‘Air-to-Ground’ (Air Interface Enhancement)
¾ Location Information Protocol (LIP) Application

2003 2004 2005

Release 2 Deliverables Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
TETRA Advanced Packet Service (TAPS)
TETRA Enhanced Data Service (TEDS)
Codecs
USIM for GSM/GPRS/UMTS/3G
Interworking/Roaming GSM/GPRS/UMTS
Air Interface Enhancements
Harmonised Standard

TETRA Release 2 is expected to be completed by the end of 2005

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 ETSI Project TETRA Organisation

KEY
EP TETRA = ETSI Project TETRA
WG = Working Group
SG = Sub Group
MCO = Management Committee Officer
VC = Vice Chairman
EPO = ETSI Project Officer
HSD = High Speed Data
TMO = Trunked Mode Operation
DMO = Direct Mode Operation Chairman

VC MCO Regulatory Affairs

EPO MCO TETRA MoU Liaison
(Open Invitation)

WG1 WG3 WG4 WG5 WG6 WG8

[SERVICES] [TMO] (HSD] [CODEC] [SECURITY] [DMO]
SG2 SG7
[RADIO] [SIM Card]

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 Public Safety User Requirements Capture

‰ User requirements mainly captured through

participation of User Organizations in WG1
‰ Questionnaires used to capture requirements for
TETRA Release 2 with assistance from TETRA MoU
Association
‰ Workshops hosted by TETRA MoU Association to
refine user requirements
¾ DMO Gateways and Repeaters
¾ TEDS Data Rate, Coverage and Frequency Spectrum
¾ Inter-System Interface (ISI)
¾ Peripheral Equipment Interface (PEI)
¾ Authentication Key Distribution (AKD)

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 Possible Future User Requirements Capture Solutions

‰ Participation of User Organizations in ETSI Technical Bodies

(TB) of Interest (TETRA, MESA, 3GPP, TIPHON, etc., etc.)
‰ Participation of User Organizations in special TB’s (eg.
Wireless/Fixed, Data/Voice, Public/Private ……etc.) formed
to capture all User Requirements
‰ Participation of User Organizations in one ETSI TB to
capture all User Requirements (eg. EMTEL)
‰ ETSI Liaison with User Bodies/Associations etc., to formally
communicate user requirements (eg. Person designated as
ETSI Liaison Officer in User Bodies/Associations)
‰ ETSI List of User Representatives (not necessarily ETSI
members) that can be contacted via e-mail for Ad Hoc User
Questionnaires and Surveys (as required by specific ETSI
TB’s)
‰ A Combination of the above

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 Mobile Radio
(Group, Individual,
Priority, Emergency,
DMO)

Mobile Mobile Data

(Status Massaging,SDS,
Telephony Packet Mode,
(Full Duplex Voice) Circuit Mode)

An Overview of TETRA

Thank You
Doug Gray

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