Canadian Federal Police Digital Radio Network Commissioned
Sydney, Oct 28, 2020 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Etherstack plc (
ASX:ESK) is pleased to announce that its North American subsidiary, Etherstack Inc. has successfully delivered and commissioned a digital radio network for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the federal policing agency of Canada, within the Arctic Circle.
The contract award was previously announced in November 2019. The first stage comprises:
- delivery of two high redundancy core networks, manufactured by Etherstack in Australia
- the initial tranche of digital radio sites;
- advanced location services technologies; and
- integration with existing RCMP command and control consoles. The RCMP utilised portable and mobile radios from an existing vendor.
Etherstack CEO, David Deacon said. "The RCMP demanded the highest specifications for cryptographic and location services for these types of systems and we are happy that they selected our Australian designed and manufactured solution. The logistics involved in deploying and commissioning this type of network over the past 10 months within the Arctic Circle, in the current global supply and travel environment, should not be underestimated. It is testament to the skill, application and experience of our engineering team to notch up an achievement such as this one."
Etherstack engineers based in Canada, Australia, Japan, UK and the US were all involved in various parts of the solution delivery.
Additional tranches of sites under the existing contract are expected to be added to the network in 2021 and 2022. Management expects long term support revenues associated with this network to commence in 2021 and believe these revenues will likely continue for a further 15 years, as is typical with these types of systems.
The solution supplied utilises two types of digital radio network technology, providing what are known as "trunked" sites in more populated areas in combination with "conventional" sites in sparsely populated areas, within the same digital radio network. Additionally, transmission sites in remote areas are interconnected via satellite links as opposed to traditional terrestrial microwave or fibre backhaul delivering significant capital expenditure cost savings to the Canadian Government.
David Deacon continued, "Etherstack's techniques for using satellite backhaul in a reliable and bandwidth efficient manner will have a profound impact on the cost of public safety networks in regional areas within Australia and around the world. Increased bandwidth capacity driven by the explosion of LEO and MEO satellite projects continue to drive backhaul pricing downwards allowing satellite linked solutions that would not previously have been feasible economically. We are well place to capitalise on this emerging trend".
Etherstack supplies public safety radio networks and equipment to federal public safety agencies in Australia, Canada and the US. This latest network for the RCMP is the Company's second largest APCO P25 network in Canada after the 82-site network for ATCO Electric in Alberta province.
About Etherstack Plc
Etherstack (ASX:ESK) is the world's leading licensor of wireless technologies for the digital LMR industry and the Company develops wireless products for the main digital radio communications standards known as APCO P25, TETRA and DMR. Over the past 25 years, over twenty wireless equipment manufacturers have licensed LMR technologies from Etherstack for use in their products.
MCPTT over LTE is an emerging cellular standard that provides public safety grade PTT (Push-To-Talk) solutions within 4G and 5G cellular networks. Demand for MCPTT services and equipment by telecommunications carriers and end user agencies has been steadily growing in the past few years and is expected to rise rapidly over the next 36-48 months.
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