The power of TETRA -

Direct Mode Operation

Francesco Pasquali
Selex Communications
Agenda

Introduction to Direct Mode Operation (DMO)

Applications & related benefits

Services & facilities

Conclusions

 Why Direct Mode in Trunking?
Legacy trunking offered many benefits over conventional
communications and was a great success in the market

Spectral
Efficiency
Automatic
Operation
BUT ...
It missed a key feature that conventional

Ease of
?
DMO communications offered:
direct communication outside network
Data Feature Rich coverage
Services Service

TETRA offers the best of two worlds

TRUNKING MODE DIRECT MODE

What PMR users ask?

Users require to communicate everywhere at anytime,

regardless of
lack of network coverage
lack of resources
any type of network failure

and always need

emergency communications
security
voice & data transmission, individual & group calls

 TETRA operation modes
TETRA terminals provide integrated digital trunked (TMO) and
direct (DMO) modes of operation

DMO adds
border or out of
coverage area DMO provides communications
communications within coverage at times of
capacity limitations or whenever
connection with the infrastructure
is not needed

What is TETRA Direct Mode ?
There are 4 basic operational modes of TETRA DMO:
Back-to-back
standard terminal to terminal communications
DM Repeater
extension of DMO terminal coverage
DM Gateway
relay between DMO and TMO
Dual Watch
periodic scanning of other mode

Back-to-back scenario (1/3)
For border or out of
TRUNKED coverage area
TETRA
communications...

TETRA
DMO

 Back-to-back scenario (2/3)
TRUNKED for communications
TETRA
within coverage at
times of capacity
limitations (e.g. major
incidents)

FAIL!!

TETRA
DMO
Back-to-back scenario (3/3)
for communications within
coverage if connection to the
infrastructure is not needed
or wanted (localised activities
or private communications)

co
m Dir
m ec
un t
ic
at
io
n

DMO Characteristics
Normal mode DMO enables 1 communication per carrier (i.e. 1
per 4 timeslots, 2 slots used + 2 free)
Frequency Efficient Mode DMO enables 2 communications per
carrier (i.e. all 4 slots used, 2 slots used per each call)
Transmitting radio acts as Master on a single DMO channel (i.e.
pair of alternated time slots)
Receiving radio is Slave on a single DMO channel
Timeslot 1 is used as traffic channel for voice and data
transmission by the Master radio
Timeslot 3 is used for signalling transmission by Master, slave
and idle radios (e.g. for pre-emption and PTT request)

 Back-to-back DMO channel usage
Master uses Timeslot 1 for voice/data TX Slave (& Idle) use Timeslot 3 for pre-emption

TETRA DMO 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
Air Interface
TDMA frame A B C P
RX
RX
RX TX

DMO TX TX DMO
TX
Master Slave
RX
Frequency
Efficient mode
can use timeslots
A B C 2 and 4 for Pre-emption P
another call
Speech Slots request

Benefits of Back-to-back DMO
Reliability
Local area communications always granted under any kind of fault
of the network (disruption, congestion, interference)
Cost
Relaxed requirements for coverage in low-traffic areas and
enclosed areas (e.g. buildings, tunnels, underground areas, etc.)
Relaxed requirements for base station channels provisioning

Special Applications
Local area operations (e.g. strip-line)
Covert operations

TETRA DMO: Repeater
TETRA
DMO
Repeater
TETR
A
DMO
FAIL!!

Special radio terminal equipment called DMO repeater,

allows enlarging the DMO coverage when needed

DM Repeater Type 1A & 1B
Based on usual 4 slot structure
2 slots for Master Repeater transmissions
2 slots for Slave / Idle Repeater transmissions
Master/slave operation (3 slot delay)

Single carrier (1A) DM repeater Preferred Frequency Usage

1 communications
Single frequency DM for Tx & Rx DM
Higher spectrum efficiency
Trunked Mode
Air Interface
BS RX BS TX

Dual carrier (1B) DM repeater Preferred Frequency Usage

1 communications DM1 DM2
Two frequencies: DM1 for Rx & DM2 Tx
Trunked Mode
Reduces potential RF interference to TMO
Air Interface
BS RX BS TX

DM Repeater Type 2
Two simultaneous calls per repeater

Based on usual 4 slot structure

Two alternated slots per call on each link
Master/slave operation (4 slot delay)

Dual carrier
Preferred Frequency Usage
2 communications
DM2 DM1
2 frequencies:DM1 for Rx & DM2 Tx
Trunked Mode
Need for RF full duplex Hw platform Air Interface
BS RX BS TX
More complex and expensive than Type 1

Benefits of DM Repeater
Same benefits as back-to-back DMO in terms of

Reliability

Cost

Special Applications

BUT on a wider area and with increased

communication reliability

TETRA DMO: Gateway
Special radio terminal
equipment can operate
as a gateway between
the two worlds

TRUNKED
TETRA TETRA
DMO

TETRA
DMO Gateway

DM Gateway Preferred Frequency Usage
TM1 TM2
Enables DMO terminals to communicate DM1
with the trunking system & vice versa Trunked Mode
Air Interface
BS RX BS TX

Uplink (TM1)
Uses normal DMO air interface
(single call)
Gateway Downlink (TM2)
o de
ct M ne l
re n
Di Cha M1
D
One DMO
carrier per call

DMO User Trunked Mode

Cell
Benefits of DM Gateway
Reliability:
Trunked communications through adjacent cells partially supported
under fault of one radio base station

Cost:
More relaxed requirements for coverage in low-traffic areas and
enclosed areas (incl. buildings, tunnels, underground areas, etc.)
Better coverage possibilities during early stages of network roll-out

Special Applications:
Enable occasional and immediate coverage at cost-effective rates

TETRA DMO: Dual watch
Special radio terminal
equipment can get in touch
with both TMO and DMO
worlds simultaneously

TRUNKED
TETRA TETRA
DMO

TETRA
Dual Watch
Terminal

Dual Watch
The Radio is operational in one mode (Direct or Trunked) and
simultaneously monitors the other for incoming communications.

In particular the Radio Unit whilst idle (Idle Dual Watch) or engaged
in a call (Full Dual Watch) in Direct mode
receives TMO call, status and short messages from TMO users

Benefits of Dual Watch
Cost:
Enlarge communication support in fringe areas: it allows
further relaxing of coverage requirements

Special Applications:
Improve local area communications: terminals avoiding to
waste resources can be contacted whenever needed

Managed Direct Mode - MDMO

MDMO terminal is restricted

from transmitting unless it O.K.
receives an authorising signal DMO

Authorisation can be received

directly from the SwMI (for Dual Mode or Dual Watch terminals)
from a DMO gateway and/or repeater device
from an authorising device permanently in contact with the system

Authorisation can be limited both in time and geographically

Benefits of MDMO

Network Operators maintain better control of their network resource/

revenues

Removes potential for interference

Manages roaming

DMO Services and Facilities
Simplex speech - Individual & Group Call

Late Entry

Transmitting Party Identification (TPI), incl. suppression

Emergency & pre-emptive calls

Status and Short Data Service (SDS)

Circuit mode data up to 7.2 kbps (P2P and P2MP)

DMO Security (Encryption)

Air-interface encryption
Static Key Encryption
TEA1, TEA2, TEA3 and TEA4 incl. time stamping

Implicit authentication
Provided by Air Interface Encryption

End-to-end encryption

DMO Benefits & Applications

Operation outside the coverage of Trunking Infrastructure

Gives extra capacity when trunked network is highly loaded

Operations in poor signal strength areas (allows more relaxed

coverage requirements and lower the related expenditure)

Fall-back operation when the Trunking Infrastructure system is

inoperative

Covert Operations - cannot be monitored by Control

Stripline applications (power, oil, water distribution lines) not

requiring trunked network capacity
Conclusions

TETRA is a multi-mode standard offering trunking and direct

communication in-one

DMO - a powerful feature thanks to exhaustive set of sub-modes

of operation

Significant commonality with trunked V+D TETRA enables for

dual-mode terminals actually available on the market

DMO is a key differentiator between TETRA and

other, public and private, cellular technologies


The power of TETRA -
Direct Mode Operation

Thank you

Francesco Pasquali
OTE