LTE Relocation towards Broadband PPDR System in TETRA Network

Abstract

Transitioning a Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) network to a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) network in Public Protection and Disaster Relief (PPDR) schemes is a route to the provision of future facilities requiring elevated radio interface throughput and enabling broadband PPDR (BB-PPDR) radio. TETRA network users are presently considering how a BB-PPDR network will be deployed in the years ahead. This research provides several factors of radio planning for such networks in TETRA to LTE relocation. The conclusions are drawn from the performance in which both measurements and simulations of radio-electric coverage were conducted for the real scenario for both TETRA and LTE systems in the Murcia region, Spain. The considerations proposed can help PPDR agencies estimate the cost of converting a TETRA network to an LTE network efficiently. In this research alone, the complete area is split into geographic fields of concern identified as administrative divisions (regions, municipal regions, etc.). The analysis was conducted using a radio planning tool based on a geographic information system and measurements were used to adjust the propagation models. The number of sites needed in the LTE network — for a specific quality of service (90 percent for the entire region and 85 percent for municipal areas) — is higher than for the TETRA network, according to the real scenario considered.