Airbus to display VESTA Radio P25 Phase II solution at APCO 2015

Airbus DS Communications is set to display its upgraded VESTA Radio solution with a demonstration at APCO 2015, which is scheduled to be held in Washington D.C., US.

A P25 Phase II system, the upgraded VESTA Radio solution uses a time division multiple access (TDMA) over-the-air interface to provide two voice traffic channels within a 12.5kHz channel.

Capable of working in both frequency division multiple access (FDMA) and TDMA modes, the radio simultaneously supports a mix of both Phase I and Phase II users on the system, providing interoperability and seamless migration of Phase I users to Phase II operation at the time and pace of the customer’s choosing.

Airbus DS Communications CEO Bob Freinberg said: "We are excited to unveil our latest upgrade to our VESTA Radio P25 solution that will offer our customers increased talking capacity while still providing fully open and compliant P25 interoperability.

"With our P25 Phase II system, agencies can expect enhanced and seamless call coordination between public safety officials — it’s a smarter way to strengthen public safety communications and keep our communities safe."

During the demonstration, the VESTA Radio P25 Phase II system will be used with Avtec’s Scout pure Radio over Internet Protocol (RoIP), which enables clients to use both legacy analogue FDMA and TDMA radio technologies concurrently.

Participants will initially see how a conventional FDMA-based system that can make one call, shows the second call as busy.

The TDMA-system will subsequently be switched into place making both calls possible, improving the capacity of the system and supporting more calls from first responders.

Avtec Partnerships and Alliances director Michael Ridge said: "The TDMA demonstration between Airbus and Avtec validates our joint commitment to lead the industry in providing comprehensive communication solutions that are standards based."

The completely open and standards-based Phase II system offers agencies the flexibility to choose the exact components they need, including radios, consoles, recorders from multiple vendors.

Airbus hopes the first customer deployment of the upgraded solution to take place in the near future.