CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research located near Geneva, has confirmed its decision to install TETRA infrastructure. 

3T Communications, a Sepura company, has been appointed to deploy the infrastructure in two phases, the first of which saw 123 Sepura radios made available to firemen, guardians and rescue workers at the end of 2012, along with three base stations and numerous repeaters and gateways, to address the site’s immediate operational needs.

The second-phase deployment of STProtect Beacons will be carried out in 2013 and will equip third parties, such as scientists and experts working at the laboratory, with further radios. 

The laboratory has a unique layout, featuring more than 600 buildings on its surface, as well as many underground facilities, including the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), its flagship accelerator, which sits in a ring tunnel with a circumference of 26.7 kilometres, located between 50 and 175 metres below ground. 

CERN has selected a suite of radios including the SRG3900, the STP8000 and the Intrinsically-Safe STP8X handportable. 

Aurélie Pascal, CERN project manager, commented: “CERN chose Sepura and 3T after a competitive bidding process, followed by stringent tests and the solution selected fully met CERN’s challenging requirements. For us, the ability to communicate with, and to track workers in the area and underground was a crucial criterion.”

Gordon Watling, chief executive officer of Sepura, added: “We consider it a great honour to be associated with this world-renowned organization. 

“The combination of Sepura’s market-leading TETRA product portfolio with 3T’s comprehensive infrastructure offering enables us to deliver an entire critical communications solution to organizations such as CERN, where robust communications are integral to worker safety.”