TETRA

TETRA is an abbreviation of TErrestrial Trunked RAdio and it is defined and approved by the European Telecommunications Standards Agency or ETSI and is recognised as a global standard for radio communications.

TETRA is able to support both voice and data communications concurrently because of the TDMA time slot structure it is possible to assign one time slot to support voice and the next time slot to support data in a two slot transmission from radio terminals.  This capability effectively allows a single radio terminal to concurrently transmit or receive voice and data at the same time

TETRA was designed by ETSI to carry data as well as voice communications. TETRA was designed for and is used solely by the emergency services as it provides service at all times even during those incidents where GSM/GPRS fails.

TETRA enables the Police service to remain out on the streets by allowing them to access databases and complete the necessary forms whilst on patrol.