Police
forces are poised for UK-wide availability of the Airwave voice and
data network this month, and it could eventually be adopted by
other emergency services, ports and airports.
The Terrestrial Trunked Radio (Tetra)-based communications
network has cost the police £2.9bn in total.
The five-year project has had problems, but has proved more
resilient than other wireless technologies such as GPRS.
Airwave will allow police officers to communicate directly with
each other. It will also save officers time, because they will no
longer have to return to the office to file data.
Sean Price, chief constable of Cleveland Police and the Police
Service's lead for Airwave, said, 'Airwave provides us with much
better coverage and clarity through the use of secure and reliable
communication of voice and data. It is a great advantage to
officers in their day-to-day work and is highly significant in
making them and our communities safer.'
Police officers are using Airwave to access the Police National
Computer (PNC) through handheld devices. The PNC holds details on
suspects as well as a range of public information and was formerly
directly accessible only via police stations.
Officers also have the potential to save time by filing data
from the field and working with digital images. Airwave allows them
to access Automatic Vehicle Location Services and deploy officers
more quickly.
The Police Information Technology Organisation (Pito) managed
the contract between O2 Airwave (a division of O2) and police
forces on behalf of the Home Office. Partners include Motorola, BT,
Cable and Wireless and Northrup-Gruman, as well as Pito and the
Home Office.
Airwave uses Tetra technology, which is an open digital trunked
radio standard, defined by the European Telecommunications
Standardisation Institute (ETSI) to meet robust usage.
The system has ETSI level 3 encryption security (the highest
level) and provides digital sound quality, background noise
reduction, text messaging and telephony, and an emergency button,
which overrides all other communication and identifies the source
of the message. All Airwave communications are encrypted so they
cannot be scanned or monitored by outsiders.
Jason Chapman, managing vice-president at analyst firm Gartner,
said as Tetra is separate from mobile phone systems, the emergency
services will be able to maintain communications when members of
the public are making calls from an accident scene and blocking the
network.
Also, Tetra handsets can communicate between themselves without
going via a base station, so they are not affected directly if the
base station is down.
Chapman said, 'One of the driving forces behind adopting Tetra
was the interworking. One of the problems of [the World Trade
Center terrorist attacks] was that different services could not
talk to each other because they were using different communications
technologies.'
However, Chapman said the system had limitations. 'You cannot
use it to send highly detailed pictures, as the data rate is very
slow, around 7kbps.'
Pete Richardson, managing director at O2 Airwave, said, 'The
completion of the roll-out paves the way for future emergency
services interoperability, where all public safety organisations
will be able to communicate with each other should the need
arise.'
Airwave has had setbacks since its inception, including fears
that handsets were affecting users' health, plus problems over
voice clarity and coverage.
However, it is now poised to be adopted by other emergency
services. Airwave has been shortlisted for national contracts for
fire and ambulance services, which are due to be announced later
this year. These include Mersey Regional Ambulance Service and
Hereford & Worcester Ambulance Trust, Lancashire and Shropshire
Fire and Rescue Services, the British Transport Police and the
Highways Agency.
Airwave's history
February 2001 Lancashire Constabulary pilots Airwave.
May 2001 Lancashire three-month pilot extended to six months
after problems over voice clarity and coverage. Police Federation
studies show Airwave's handsets and radios could pose a health
risk.
September 2001 Airwave gets green light for operational
roll-out.
March 2002 Ministry of Defence plans to adopt Airwave for secure
UK military communications.
April 2002 National Audit Office says Airwave was not delivered
in full, and the equipment costs varied considerably around the
UK.
August 2002 More than 170 police officers testing the system
complain of nausea, headaches and poor sleep after using it.
May 2003 Government launches a £5m health-monitoring programme
for police officers using Airwave.
April 2004 Metropolitan Police orders 30,000 Motorola
handsets.
September 2004 Thames Valley Police officers test service using
O2 XDA2 Pocket PC-based smartphones. They report savings of one
hour a day per officer.
December 2004 Lancashire Police tests Airwave using O2 XDA2
handheld devices. Officers submit regular reports
electronically.
April 2005 Airwave to go live across all UK police forces.