In the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, a secure police radio network provided by Cassidian was inaugurated recently by the Chief Minister, Kiran Kumar Reddy.

With nine base stations covering an area of 3600 square kilometres, the TETRA network serves the Hyderabad metropolitan area – the economic and political capital of Andhra Pradesh in India. The area has become a major hub for the information technology industry in India, earning itself the nickname ‘Cyberabad’.

The formal launch took place December 22 at the Cyberabad Police Headquarters, attended by Home Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy, Director General of Police K. Aravinda Rao, and Cyberabad Police Commissioner S. Prabhakar Reddy.

Installation, commissioning and activation of the system were carried out by Cassidian India in co-operation with the Indian value-added reseller Sanchar Telesystems, supported by Andhra Pradesh’s police communication officers. Initially it can accommodate about 500 users.

“The Cyberabad Police are among the first police organizations in India to use a secure TETRA communication network of this size and functionality”, said S. Prabhakar Reddy. “This new communication system will enable the Cyberabad Police to better co-ordinate their resources in the event of any emergency or developing law and order situation within the Cyberabad Commissionerate region surrounding Hyderabad.”

In Tamil Nadu

Further south, a TETRA radio system been selected by police in the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu to meet their secure communications needs. With over 87?900 personnel, Tamil Nadu Police is the fifth largest state police force in India, with responsibility for an area spanning 130?058 square kilometres.

Infrastructure by Damm and radios from Sepura are to be supplied through Consort Digital, a major distributor in India. Main contractor for the project is Purple Infotech. Satya Kommanapalli, Sepura’s country manager, commented: “This order, the second with the police in India after Gurgaon City Police, also follows our recent successes within the Indian transport sector. This is another significant step forward for Sepura in a region where TETRA is progressively expanding.”

Tracking personnel

Damm’s feature-rich TetraFlex equipment is fully IP-based, with a distributed architecture which will provide fault tolerance and reliability. In addition, Damm will supply comprehensive control room applications, including dispatcher workstation and automatic location software.

Using the sensitive GPS functionality of the Sepura radios, Tamil Nadu Police will be able to track the location of officers and vehicles accurately even in difficult terrains such as dense urban environments with high rise buildings. GPS will also play a part in resource planning and management, enabling central control to match officers to immediate demand, particularly when specialist units are required.

In addition, Sepura’s gateway repeater will enable officers to communicate with the TETRA network even in locations normally devoid of handportable radio coverage. Sepura comments that the gateway’s 10-watt RF power output gives this radio the greatest operational range of any TETRA terminal available today, extending the trunked network into dead spots within buildings or in remote rural locations.