Planning mobile radio networks

Half a second, no more. When a police officer pushes the talk button of his radio, the connection establishment must not take longer than the blink of an eye. No syllable may be lost. With the BOS digital radio in 2010 this shall even be possible, if the radio message is sent hundreds of kilometers away from the control center or radio group and even if there are mountains, cities or forests between sender and receiver. Half a second, then the connection has to be established.

The introduction of the “digital radio for authorities and organizations with security tasks (BOS)” resembles a gigantic puzzle in the eyes of P3 consultant Dr. Peter Sievering: “All over Germany this radio network is supposed to provide the police, customs, fire service, rescue service and technical aid organization with better communication. The countless isolated applications existing right now cannot achieve that.”

Different public agencies from all federal states sat at the planning table from day one. Bringing down their goals in terms of tactical operational requirements to a common denominator alone was one major effort. The digital radio is supposed to be tap-proof, it shall be able to transmit data (GPS, telegrams, telemetry data) besides voice and make access to databases (e.g. hazardous material databases) possible. At the same time a radio user shall be able to use the fixed-line network without additional effort. All of that is not yet possible today.

Peter Sievering has already accompanied a large-scale BOS pilot trial at the police headquarters of Aachen during his time at the chair of communication networks at Aachen’s technical university (RWTH). Today he is the person responsible for network planning and the estimation of quantity structures is on him. Sievering simulates radio coverage and assists the search for locations for the BOS base stations. In the end the roll-out is successful, if “dates, quality and costs” are right. “To stick with the image of the puzzle: Now we are at a point where we know the motive. We determine from how many parts the whole picture will be assembled and what shape and size a single part will have.”