STM Announced the Report on Public Security and Emergency Communication Systems
STM announced the sector report it prepared on the public security and emergency communication systems in Turkey. According to the report, the systems, relating to a wide range of areas from security to health, developed by the domestic players, are becoming progressively widespread. The increase in the popularity of secure communication systems developed by domestic manufacturers in Turkey was underlined in the report as well.
“Communication Technologies are coming into the forefront as the prerequisite of rapid, effective, integrated and efficient execution of services conducted by law enforcement such as the police and gendarmerie, fire department, ambulance, search and rescue teams in order to maintain public security and emergency aid. In this report; the existing status of the communication systems which could also be named as mission critical in the world and in our country were examined” said General Manager of STM, Mr. Davut Yılmaz.
A New System is being established for Public Security
According to the report, the Ministry of Transportation, Maritime Affairs and Communication were assigned to fulfill the establishment of the Public Security and Emergency Communication System, and it was stated that new frequencies were allocated in the aftermath for both; sound and narrow band data communication and wide band communication systems by the Information and Communication Technologies Institution (BTK). The procurement of the new system’s infrastructure will be covered by the Ministry of National Defense and the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries.
As per the evaluations made in the report, the APCO-25 narrow band digital communication system, developed by Aselsan, is currently one of the most popular systems utilized in Turkey. The Gendarmerie General Command is utilizing this system in 50 cities in Turkey. This system is also available for the utilization of the Provincial Health Directorates and has reached 63 percent geographically while covering the 78 percent of the population. 18 additional cities will be included in the system within two years. The Coast Guard Command is also using the same technology covering all the coastal strips. The Digital Mobile Radio (DMR) system, enabling the crypto communication within law enforcement, is currently used in 15 cities. DMR will be established in seven more cities within the next two years.
The Public Systems will possibly Endure Problems in Emergency Cases
In STM’s report, the issues that may arise in public systems were examined under a separate title. According to the assessments made, by taking into account the criteria of the TETRA Critical Communications Association (TCCA), founded for the promotion of TETRA also known as the digital radio standards, one of the most important concerns is the collapse of the public system and subsequent failure to render services during emergency cases. During such cases, the prioritization for the utilization of communication needs cannot be conducted in a rapid and desired manner and the individuals and institutions in need of such services cannot not receive the required service. From the perspective of information security, the public services dependence on the operators that own them may not always be a solicited situation. On the other hand, the public services were not actually developed for critical mission implementations.
ULAK Project is important for public security
Evaluations made on wide band data services were mentioned in the report as well. According to these evaluations, certain difficulties may emerge during the passage to wide band data services. These difficulties may be summarized as the identification of additional spectrum requirement; clear determination of user demands and planned allocated mobile data networks. Considering the capabilities that may be acquired as part of the wide band data services, namely the audio, conference, short message service, status messaging the following suggestions were made in the report, “With the ULAK Project conducted by the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries (SSM), the acquisition of 4.5G LTE Advanced Technologies and utilization of this capability initially in the communication systems for public security and emergency aid tasks are foreseen. In addition to these, the wide band service options that will be required regarding public security and emergency aid tasks should be evaluated in a detailed manner by the institutions which will use the services and the investments should be planned in this regard”.
Turkey is more advantageous
The report underlined the fact that Turkey’s status in respect to the wide band communication services was different than the USA and other countries and it was stated that user demands in Turkey were different than the users of other countries. It was also mentioned by the report that the system being newly utilized in Turkey in mobile communications, known as 4.5G, was more advantageous than the system utilized in the US in respect to the alignment with land conditions. It was also stressed in the report that in case where the communication systems for public security and emergency aid tasks are supported by different standards, a need for enabling the interoperability of these standards would arise.
