Norwegian Public Safety Radio
Encyclopedia
The Norwegian Public Safety Radio is a public safety network
system based on Terrestrial Trunked Radio
(TETRA) which is being implemented by the Directorate for Emergency Communication throughout Norway
. The system will primarily be used for internal communication for the police
, fire department
s and paramedics, and will later be taken into use for search and rescue
, border control
, the civil defense
, the military
and other public agencies. Planning of the system started in 1995 and in 2006 the contract was awarded to Nokia Siemens Networks
.
The system is replacing nearly 300 local and regional systems which are independent for the fire, police and healthcare agencies. The Norwegian Public Safety Radio allows functionality such as authentication
, encryption
, higher reliability and additional functionality. The network is budgeted to cost 3.6 billion Norwegian krone
(NOK). Investments are being paid for by the government, but users have to pay for operating costs. In 2009 the first part of the system was taken into use, with all three agencies in Oslo
, Akershus
, Østfold
and Southern Buskerud
having taken it into use as of August 2010, two years after schedule.
has also instructed the agencies to encrypt their communications for reasons of privacy
. This would either have to be done through an expensive upgrade to the existing systems, or through the construction of a new, digital network.
Another issue is using standardized technology for communication with other country's agencies. Norway is a member of the Schengen Agreement
, which requires trans-border communication between law enforcement agencies. There were 27 different networks for the police, one for each police district. In Oslo
, Akershus
and Østfold
, the police had also been using Enhanced Digital Access Communication System since 1994. There were 230 municipal fire department radio systems, and a manual mobile phone system for the health sector. The health network was built by the county municipalities
between 1990 and 1995 and covers all parts of the heath service, including paramedics, ambulance services, midwifes and medical doctors. The various systems had different levels of coverage. In addition, Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) and Nordic Mobile Telephone
(NMT450) telephones were being used where encrypted communication was necessary.
Keeping the old systems and converting them to encrypted systems was also considered. This would cost NOK 500 million to install, but could not be guaranteed to work satisfactorily. In particular, encryption would delay communications, which would be a problem for paramedic communications. It was also uncertain if the level of encryption would be sufficient to allow the network to be considered closed and allow personal information to be transmitted.
The government considered using a similar procurement solution to that in Denmark, where the spectrum was licensed to private enterprise, and the agencies purchase services from private telecommunications companies, based on conventional GSM technology. However, in Denmark this had not given the desired results, with only Metropolitan Copenhagen
being covered. Instead, the Norwegian Government chose to establish a government agency to build and operate the network. Use of the GSM and NMT450 network was insufficient because of lack of capacity in the conventional network in case of larger amounts of communication, lack of ability of group conversations, lack of priority systems and long dial-up times.
Using conventional GSM systems was rejected also because GSM lacks many of the functionalities of TETRA, such as group conversations, dispatcher
centers, and direct communication. In addition, Global System for Mobile Communication – Railway (GSM-R) was considered, but rejected because of the lack of trans-border functionality and the need for more base station
s, and thus higher investment costs, and longer start-up time for calls. The technology was considered because the Norwegian National Rail Administration was at the time building a GSM-R network to cover the entire Norwegian railway network
. Another reason that TETRA was preferred was that at the time of decision there were five manufacturers of TETRA equipment and only two for GSM-R. TETRA also allows a fall-back system, where a base station can allow communication between users within the range of the base station, even if the central parts of the network should break down.
In 2000, the annual cost of agency communication was NOK 175 million, while this had increased to NOK 260 million in 2004. The increase was largely caused by the increase in use of mobile telephones. The costs of the fire department networks was paid for by the municipalities
, the health network paid for by the municipalities and the regional health authorities
, and the police networks by the respective police districts.
took initiative for a new mobile telecommunications platform. The issue was coordinated by the Ministry of Justice, and the issue was first discussed politically in 1997, and in 1998 a project group was created. In 2000, a pilot project was established in Greater Trondheim, which included all three agencies. The trial was successful and terminated in June 2003. Later that year, the Parliament of Norway made the principal decision to establish the network. Quality control of the project was concluded in June 2004, and construction was estimated at NOK 3.6 billion. The investment costs would be covered by the Ministry of Justice, while the user agencies would have to pay for the operating and maintenance costs of the network.
The procurement process was initially led by the Ministry of Justice and the Police, in cooperation with the Ministry of Health and Care Services, the National Police Directorate, the Directorate for Health and Social Affairs and the Directorate for Civil Defence and Emergency Planning.
The public tender was launched in May 2005, and on 22 December 2006 the contract was signed with Nokia Siemens Networks
. The project is the largest single information technology
contract ever awarded in Norway. The Directorate for Emergency Communication was established on 1 April 2007.
Original plans called for the system to be built between 2007 and 2011. Implementation was planned in six phases, numbered zero through five. Between phases zero and one, an evaluation of the process was planned. The first phase covers the smallest geographic area, but the largest population.
By June 2007, the project was delayed by half a year. One of the major delays in the project has been the development of the software for the health sector's communication centers—which consist of emergency wards, casualty wards, emergency dispatch centers and aircraft coordination centers. The system is being developed by Frequentis
in Austria, who have stated that they did not receive sufficient specifications. In December 2009, the state granted NOK 110 million extra for development of the system. Health workers will therefore be taking the network into use in May 2010, after the police and fire departments in Follo
and Østfold
. Representatives for the Police Directorate have criticized the implementation model and stated that in most other countries, the system was implemented first just for the police and afterwards taken into use by the fire and paramedic agencies. For instance, Østfold Police District had installed a new center in February 2008, but had to wait 21 months to take it into use while waiting for Public Safety Radio.
The Police Directorate sees the use of the encrypted communication as the system's greatest benefit, and has stated that it sees no reason for the implementation to stop while it is being evaluated, and that there is no alternative to implementing it nationally. The system was first taken into use in Østfold and Follo in December 2009, and by Oslo in March 2010. In Oslo, the police chose to close the analog network down before the TETRA system had been installed in all vehicles, and instead give all officers hand-held devices, to speed up the closing of the old network, which is regarded as a security hazard. Traditionally, journalists have learned about events by listening to the police radios. The police have appointed press officers who will inform the press about newsworthy incidents. The alarm center for the fire departments in Østfold and Follo took the system into use in June 2010.
In August 2010, the emergency health communication centers in Østfold and the casualty ward at Fredrikstad Hospital took the Norwegian Public Safety Radio into use. This was followed by the emergency rooms in Halden
and Aremark
, in Rakkestad
and Sarpsborg
, and in Oslo
. For the health sector, phase zero involves 40 communication centers, of which 20 are emergency rooms, 16 are casualty wards at hospitals, one is an air ambulance coordination center and three are emergency health communication centers, in addition to radios in the 150 ambulances that serve in the region. The official opening of the network took place on 17 August 2010. In October 2010, Arne Johannesen, the leader of the Norwegian Police Federation, stated that he wanted to place the building of the radio network on hold and instead use the funding for a new information technology system for the police force, named D#2.
for transmission, Relacom
for operation and maintenance, and ibruk for training. The directorate is led by Tor Helge Lyngstøl and has its offices in Nydalen
in Oslo.
The cost of constructing the network will be covered by the ministry. The costs of operating and maintaining the network will be covered by the users, who will also have to purchase their own terminals. Payment to the directorate is by an annual subscription fee per terminal, based on the terminal's use. For a terminal only used for stand-by, the annual subscription cost will be NOK 1,500 per year, while that for a terminal in a control room will be NOK 40,000. As the cost of running the network is fixed independently of the amount of traffic, there is no cost for using the network. As additional users start implementing the system, the costs per subscriber will be reduced.
structure; the transmission net, which connects the core net, the radio net and other connection points with high-capacity lines; and the radio net, which consists of base station
s with antennas in masts, on buildings and in some tunnels. The network is controlled from a center in Oslo, which is operated by Nokia Siemens Network. In case a base station no longer can communicate with the core net, the base station can still relay communication within its range. Should the base station fall out or operations occur in areas without coverage, the terminals can communicate directly with each other.
All communication from mobile terminals to the base stations is encrypted with a key
known only to the base station and the terminal. For group conversations, two keys are used, one from the terminal to the base station, and one from the base station to all users. In addition, there are 32 fixed keys used for terminal-to-terminal communication should the base station fall out. In addition, the police can use a user-to-user encryption where the communication is encrypted all the way through the network from the one user to the other.
The system will ensure 100% coverage of populated and surrounding areas, which exceeds any of the existing GSM networks. This includes good coverage indoors, to aid fire fighters, as well as full coverage of the coastline and coverage up to 2,500 meters (8,000 ft) height for aircraft. It will give full coverage along all national
and county roads. The system also allows interoperability towards the maritime radio. The system also allows for transmission of digital information at a speed of 28.8 kb/s. As the system is rolled out, central parts will receive TETRA2, which includes the TETRA Enhanced Data Services, which allows for transmission speeds of 163 kb/s.
Control room terminals will have new functionality including identification of all users and radio terminal positioning, radio and telephone inquiries made on the same equipment, use of either loudspeakers or head sets, and allowing operators to listen to each others' conversations. Operators have access to telephone books and speed dials, touch screen operations of voice and data traffic, monitoring of other talk groups, simultaneous calls to several talk groups and access to voice logs.
Public safety network
A public safety network is a wireless communications network used by emergency services organizations, such as police, fire and emergency medical services, to prevent or respond to incidents that harm or endanger persons or property....
system based on Terrestrial Trunked Radio
Terrestrial Trunked Radio
Terrestrial Trunked Radio is a professional mobile radio and two-way transceiver specification...
(TETRA) which is being implemented by the Directorate for Emergency Communication throughout Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. The system will primarily be used for internal communication for the police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
, fire department
Fire department
A fire department or fire brigade is a public or private organization that provides fire protection for a certain jurisdiction, which typically is a municipality, county, or fire protection district...
s and paramedics, and will later be taken into use for search and rescue
Search and rescue
Search and rescue is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger.The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, mostly based upon terrain considerations...
, border control
Border control
Border controls are measures used by a country to monitor or regulate its borders.The control of the flow of many people, animals and goods across a border may be controlled by government Customs services. Security is enforced by various kinds of Border Guards and Coast Guards...
, the civil defense
Civil defense
Civil defense, civil defence or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state from military attack. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, mitigation, preparation, response, or emergency evacuation, and recovery...
, the military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
and other public agencies. Planning of the system started in 1995 and in 2006 the contract was awarded to Nokia Siemens Networks
Nokia Siemens Networks
Nokia Siemens Networks is a global data networking and telecommunications equipment company headquartered in Espoo, Finland. It is a joint venture between Nokia of Finland and Siemens of Germany...
.
The system is replacing nearly 300 local and regional systems which are independent for the fire, police and healthcare agencies. The Norwegian Public Safety Radio allows functionality such as authentication
Authentication
Authentication is the act of confirming the truth of an attribute of a datum or entity...
, encryption
Encryption
In cryptography, encryption is the process of transforming information using an algorithm to make it unreadable to anyone except those possessing special knowledge, usually referred to as a key. The result of the process is encrypted information...
, higher reliability and additional functionality. The network is budgeted to cost 3.6 billion Norwegian krone
Norwegian krone
The krone is the currency of Norway and its dependent territories. The plural form is kroner . It is subdivided into 100 øre. The ISO 4217 code is NOK, although the common local abbreviation is kr. The name translates into English as "crown"...
(NOK). Investments are being paid for by the government, but users have to pay for operating costs. In 2009 the first part of the system was taken into use, with all three agencies in Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
, Akershus
Akershus
- Geography :The county is conventionally divided into the traditional districts Follo and Romerike, which fill the vast part of the county, as well as the small exclave west of Oslo that consists of Asker and Bærum...
, Østfold
Østfold
is a county in southeastern Norway, bordering Akershus and southwestern Sweden , while Buskerud and Vestfold is on the other side of the bay. The seat of the county administration is Sarpsborg, and Fredrikstad is the largest city.Many manufacturing facilities are situated here. Moss and...
and Southern Buskerud
Buskerud
is a county in Norway, bordering Akershus, Oslo, Oppland, Sogn og Fjordane, Hordaland, Telemark, and Vestfold. The county administration is located in Drammen.-Geography:...
having taken it into use as of August 2010, two years after schedule.
Background and choice of technology
Formerly, Norway had three separate systems for telecommunications within the police, fire departments and paramedics, all based on analog radio. The old system had two main downsides: it was not encrypted, and it prohibited communication between agencies. This was particularly problematic in larger disasters and accidents, and in instances where criminals listened to the police radio during police actions. The Norwegian Data InspectorateNorwegian Data Inspectorate
The Norwegian Data Inspectorate is Norwegian Government agency responsible for managing the Personal Data Act of 2000, concerning privacy concerns...
has also instructed the agencies to encrypt their communications for reasons of privacy
Privacy
Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively...
. This would either have to be done through an expensive upgrade to the existing systems, or through the construction of a new, digital network.
Another issue is using standardized technology for communication with other country's agencies. Norway is a member of the Schengen Agreement
Schengen Agreement
The Schengen Agreement is a treaty signed on 14 June 1985 near the town of Schengen in Luxembourg, between five of the ten member states of the European Economic Community. It was supplemented by the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement 5 years later...
, which requires trans-border communication between law enforcement agencies. There were 27 different networks for the police, one for each police district. In Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
, Akershus
Akershus
- Geography :The county is conventionally divided into the traditional districts Follo and Romerike, which fill the vast part of the county, as well as the small exclave west of Oslo that consists of Asker and Bærum...
and Østfold
Østfold
is a county in southeastern Norway, bordering Akershus and southwestern Sweden , while Buskerud and Vestfold is on the other side of the bay. The seat of the county administration is Sarpsborg, and Fredrikstad is the largest city.Many manufacturing facilities are situated here. Moss and...
, the police had also been using Enhanced Digital Access Communication System since 1994. There were 230 municipal fire department radio systems, and a manual mobile phone system for the health sector. The health network was built by the county municipalities
County municipality (Norway)
A county municipality is a Norwegian public elected body that is responsible for certain public administrative and service tasks within a county. Each county consists of county municipality, with the exception of Oslo, which is both a municipality and a county municipality...
between 1990 and 1995 and covers all parts of the heath service, including paramedics, ambulance services, midwifes and medical doctors. The various systems had different levels of coverage. In addition, Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) and Nordic Mobile Telephone
Nordic Mobile Telephone
NMT is the first fully automatic cellular phone system...
(NMT450) telephones were being used where encrypted communication was necessary.
Keeping the old systems and converting them to encrypted systems was also considered. This would cost NOK 500 million to install, but could not be guaranteed to work satisfactorily. In particular, encryption would delay communications, which would be a problem for paramedic communications. It was also uncertain if the level of encryption would be sufficient to allow the network to be considered closed and allow personal information to be transmitted.
The government considered using a similar procurement solution to that in Denmark, where the spectrum was licensed to private enterprise, and the agencies purchase services from private telecommunications companies, based on conventional GSM technology. However, in Denmark this had not given the desired results, with only Metropolitan Copenhagen
Metropolitan Copenhagen
The term Metropolitan Copenhagen consist of Copenhagen and Frederiksberg municipalities and the former Copenhagen County, except for the municipalities Høje-Taastrup, Ledøje-Smørum, in all, 18 municipalities, and except parts of Ballerup, Greve , Ishøj, former Søllerød and former Værløse, ...
being covered. Instead, the Norwegian Government chose to establish a government agency to build and operate the network. Use of the GSM and NMT450 network was insufficient because of lack of capacity in the conventional network in case of larger amounts of communication, lack of ability of group conversations, lack of priority systems and long dial-up times.
Using conventional GSM systems was rejected also because GSM lacks many of the functionalities of TETRA, such as group conversations, dispatcher
Dispatcher
Dispatchers are communications personnel responsible for receiving and transmitting pure and reliable messages, tracking vehicles and equipment, and recording other important information...
centers, and direct communication. In addition, Global System for Mobile Communication – Railway (GSM-R) was considered, but rejected because of the lack of trans-border functionality and the need for more base station
Base station
The term base station can be used in the context of land surveying and wireless communications.- Land surveying :In the context of external land surveying, a base station is a GPS receiver at an accurately-known fixed location which is used to derive correction information for nearby portable GPS...
s, and thus higher investment costs, and longer start-up time for calls. The technology was considered because the Norwegian National Rail Administration was at the time building a GSM-R network to cover the entire Norwegian railway network
Rail transport in Norway
The Norwegian railway system comprises 4,087 km of track of which 2,622 km is electrified and 242 km double track. There are 696 tunnels and 2760 bridges....
. Another reason that TETRA was preferred was that at the time of decision there were five manufacturers of TETRA equipment and only two for GSM-R. TETRA also allows a fall-back system, where a base station can allow communication between users within the range of the base station, even if the central parts of the network should break down.
In 2000, the annual cost of agency communication was NOK 175 million, while this had increased to NOK 260 million in 2004. The increase was largely caused by the increase in use of mobile telephones. The costs of the fire department networks was paid for by the municipalities
Municipalities of Norway
Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called counties , and 430 municipalities...
, the health network paid for by the municipalities and the regional health authorities
Regional Health Authority
A regional health authority is a state enterprise responsible for specialist healthcare in one of four regions of Norway. Responsibilities of the RHFs include patient treamtment, education of medical staff, research and training of patients and relatives...
, and the police networks by the respective police districts.
Implementation
Work with the system started in 1995, when the Norwegian Board of Health SupervisionNorwegian Board of Health Supervision
The Norwegian Board of Health Supervision is a national government institution under the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services. The name was altered from Norwegian Board of Health on 1 January 2007....
took initiative for a new mobile telecommunications platform. The issue was coordinated by the Ministry of Justice, and the issue was first discussed politically in 1997, and in 1998 a project group was created. In 2000, a pilot project was established in Greater Trondheim, which included all three agencies. The trial was successful and terminated in June 2003. Later that year, the Parliament of Norway made the principal decision to establish the network. Quality control of the project was concluded in June 2004, and construction was estimated at NOK 3.6 billion. The investment costs would be covered by the Ministry of Justice, while the user agencies would have to pay for the operating and maintenance costs of the network.
The procurement process was initially led by the Ministry of Justice and the Police, in cooperation with the Ministry of Health and Care Services, the National Police Directorate, the Directorate for Health and Social Affairs and the Directorate for Civil Defence and Emergency Planning.
The public tender was launched in May 2005, and on 22 December 2006 the contract was signed with Nokia Siemens Networks
Nokia Siemens Networks
Nokia Siemens Networks is a global data networking and telecommunications equipment company headquartered in Espoo, Finland. It is a joint venture between Nokia of Finland and Siemens of Germany...
. The project is the largest single information technology
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
contract ever awarded in Norway. The Directorate for Emergency Communication was established on 1 April 2007.
Original plans called for the system to be built between 2007 and 2011. Implementation was planned in six phases, numbered zero through five. Between phases zero and one, an evaluation of the process was planned. The first phase covers the smallest geographic area, but the largest population.
| Phase | Area | Implementation | Population | Users | Area |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Oslo Oslo Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King... , Akershus Akershus - Geography :The county is conventionally divided into the traditional districts Follo and Romerike, which fill the vast part of the county, as well as the small exclave west of Oslo that consists of Asker and Bærum... , Østfold Østfold is a county in southeastern Norway, bordering Akershus and southwestern Sweden , while Buskerud and Vestfold is on the other side of the bay. The seat of the county administration is Sarpsborg, and Fredrikstad is the largest city.Many manufacturing facilities are situated here. Moss and... , southern Buskerud Buskerud is a county in Norway, bordering Akershus, Oslo, Oppland, Sogn og Fjordane, Hordaland, Telemark, and Vestfold. The county administration is located in Drammen.-Geography:... |
2009–2010 | 30% | 25% | 4% |
| 1 | Hedmark Hedmark is a county in Norway, bordering Sør-Trøndelag, Oppland and Akershus. The county administration is in Hamar.Hedmark makes up the northeastern part of Østlandet, the southeastern part of the country. It includes a long part of the borderline with Sweden, Dalarna County and Värmland County. The... , Oppland Oppland is a county in Norway, bordering Sør-Trøndelag, Møre og Romsdal, Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Akershus, Oslo and Hedmark. The county administration is in Lillehammer. Oppland is, together with Hedmark, one of the only two landlocked counties of Norway.... |
— | 6% | 9% | 15% |
| 2 | Northern Buskerud Buskerud is a county in Norway, bordering Akershus, Oslo, Oppland, Sogn og Fjordane, Hordaland, Telemark, and Vestfold. The county administration is located in Drammen.-Geography:... , Vestfold Vestfold is a county in Norway, bordering Buskerud and Telemark. The county administration is in Tønsberg.Vestfold is located west of the Oslofjord, as the name indicates. It includes many smaller, but well-known towns in Norway, such as Larvik, Sandefjord, Tønsberg and Horten. The river Numedalslågen runs... , Telemark Telemark is a county in Norway, bordering Vestfold, Buskerud, Hordaland, Rogaland and Aust-Agder. The county administration is in Skien. Until 1919 the county was known as Bratsberg amt.-Location:... , Agder Agder Agder is a historical district of Norway in the southernmost region of Norway, corresponding to the two counties Vest-Agder and Aust-Agder. Today, the term Sørlandet is more commonly used.-Name:... |
— | 19% | 15% | 13% |
| 3 | Rogaland Rogaland is a county in Western Norway, bordering Hordaland, Telemark, Aust-Agder and Vest-Agder. It is the center of the Norwegian petroleum industry, and as a result of this, Rogaland has the lowest unemployment rate of any county in Norway, 1.1%... , Hordaland Hordaland is a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark and Rogaland. Hordaland is the third largest county after Akershus and Oslo by population. The county administration is located in Bergen... , Sogn og Fjordane Sogn og Fjordane is a county in Norway, bordering Møre og Romsdal, Oppland, Buskerud, and Hordaland. The county administration is in the town of Hermansverk in Leikanger municipality while the largest town is Førde.... |
— | 21% | 20% | 13% |
| 4 | Møre og Romsdal Møre og Romsdal is a county in the northernmost part of Western Norway. It borders the counties of Sør-Trøndelag, Oppland and Sogn og Fjordane. The county administration is located in Molde, while Ålesund is the largest city.-The name:... , Trøndelag Trøndelag Trøndelag is the name of a geographical region in the central part of Norway, consisting of the two counties Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag. The region is, together with Møre og Romsdal, part of a larger... |
— | 14% | 16% | 17% |
| 5 | Nordland Nordland is a county in Norway in the North Norway region, bordering Troms in the north, Nord-Trøndelag in the south, Norrbottens län in Sweden to the east, Västerbottens län to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The county was formerly known as Nordlandene amt. The county administration is... , Troms Troms or Romsa is a county in North Norway, bordering Finnmark to the northeast and Nordland in the southwest. To the south is Norrbotten Län in Sweden and further southeast is a shorter border with Lapland Province in Finland. To the west is the Norwegian Sea... , Finnmark Finnmark or Finnmárku is a county in the extreme northeast of Norway. By land it borders Troms county to the west, Finland to the south and Russia to the east, and by water, the Norwegian Sea to the northwest, and the Barents Sea to the north and northeast.The county was formerly known as Finmarkens... |
— | 10% | 15% | 38% |
By June 2007, the project was delayed by half a year. One of the major delays in the project has been the development of the software for the health sector's communication centers—which consist of emergency wards, casualty wards, emergency dispatch centers and aircraft coordination centers. The system is being developed by Frequentis
Frequentis
Frequentis is an austrian high-tech company that develops communication and information solutions for safety-critical applications. It offers its control centre solutions, products and services world-wide to a broad range of customers acting in various mission-critical fields...
in Austria, who have stated that they did not receive sufficient specifications. In December 2009, the state granted NOK 110 million extra for development of the system. Health workers will therefore be taking the network into use in May 2010, after the police and fire departments in Follo
Follo
Follo is one of three districts in the county of Akershus, Norway. It is located between Oslo and Østfold and includes the southwestern part of the county's area east of Oslo, namely the municipalities Frogn, Oppegård, Ski, Vestby, Ås, Nesodden, and Enebakk...
and Østfold
Østfold
is a county in southeastern Norway, bordering Akershus and southwestern Sweden , while Buskerud and Vestfold is on the other side of the bay. The seat of the county administration is Sarpsborg, and Fredrikstad is the largest city.Many manufacturing facilities are situated here. Moss and...
. Representatives for the Police Directorate have criticized the implementation model and stated that in most other countries, the system was implemented first just for the police and afterwards taken into use by the fire and paramedic agencies. For instance, Østfold Police District had installed a new center in February 2008, but had to wait 21 months to take it into use while waiting for Public Safety Radio.
The Police Directorate sees the use of the encrypted communication as the system's greatest benefit, and has stated that it sees no reason for the implementation to stop while it is being evaluated, and that there is no alternative to implementing it nationally. The system was first taken into use in Østfold and Follo in December 2009, and by Oslo in March 2010. In Oslo, the police chose to close the analog network down before the TETRA system had been installed in all vehicles, and instead give all officers hand-held devices, to speed up the closing of the old network, which is regarded as a security hazard. Traditionally, journalists have learned about events by listening to the police radios. The police have appointed press officers who will inform the press about newsworthy incidents. The alarm center for the fire departments in Østfold and Follo took the system into use in June 2010.
In August 2010, the emergency health communication centers in Østfold and the casualty ward at Fredrikstad Hospital took the Norwegian Public Safety Radio into use. This was followed by the emergency rooms in Halden
Halden
is a both a town and a municipality in Østfold county, Norway. The seat of the municipality, Halden is a border town located at the Tista river delta on the Iddefjord, the southernmost border crossing between Norway and Sweden.-History:...
and Aremark
Aremark
Aremark is a municipality in Østfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Fosby.Aremark was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 . The new municipality of Øymark was separated from Aremark on 1 July 1903.- Name :The Norse form of the name was...
, in Rakkestad
Rakkestad
Rakkestad is a municipality in Østfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Rakkestad. It is divided into the parishes of Rakkestad, Degernes, and Os. The municipality is the county's second largest by area and one of Norway's largest agricultural...
and Sarpsborg
Sarpsborg
is a city and municipality in Østfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Sarpsborg.Sarpsborg is part of the fifth largest urban area in Norway when paired with neighbouring Fredrikstad...
, and in Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
. For the health sector, phase zero involves 40 communication centers, of which 20 are emergency rooms, 16 are casualty wards at hospitals, one is an air ambulance coordination center and three are emergency health communication centers, in addition to radios in the 150 ambulances that serve in the region. The official opening of the network took place on 17 August 2010. In October 2010, Arne Johannesen, the leader of the Norwegian Police Federation, stated that he wanted to place the building of the radio network on hold and instead use the funding for a new information technology system for the police force, named D#2.
Organization
The network is owned by the Directorate for Emergency Communication, which is subordinate to the Ministry of Justice. The ministry signed an agreement with Nokia Siemens Networks to install the system. Nokia Siemens Networks also have the responsibility for operating and maintaining the system for 20 years. Nokia Siemens Networks has subcontracted control room systems to Frequentis, BaneTeleBaneTele
BaneTele is a Norwegian part state owned telecommunications company previously part of the Norwegian State Railways. The company provides stem fiberoptic cable network in Norway along the railway and power grid. The company has its headquarters in Oslo....
for transmission, Relacom
Relacom
Relacom is a global supplier of network services. The company constructs, install and maintain fixed, mobile and enterprise networks. Relacom’s business concept is to provide field-managed network services at homes, in offices and on networks....
for operation and maintenance, and ibruk for training. The directorate is led by Tor Helge Lyngstøl and has its offices in Nydalen
Nydalen
Nydalen is a neighbourhood in the Nordre Aker borough in northern Oslo, Norway.- History :Since the late 19th century Nydalen has been a largely industrial area...
in Oslo.
The cost of constructing the network will be covered by the ministry. The costs of operating and maintaining the network will be covered by the users, who will also have to purchase their own terminals. Payment to the directorate is by an annual subscription fee per terminal, based on the terminal's use. For a terminal only used for stand-by, the annual subscription cost will be NOK 1,500 per year, while that for a terminal in a control room will be NOK 40,000. As the cost of running the network is fixed independently of the amount of traffic, there is no cost for using the network. As additional users start implementing the system, the costs per subscriber will be reduced.
Network
The Terrestrial Trunked Radio network has three components: the core net, which is a centralized computer center based on an Internet ProtocolInternet Protocol
The Internet Protocol is the principal communications protocol used for relaying datagrams across an internetwork using the Internet Protocol Suite...
structure; the transmission net, which connects the core net, the radio net and other connection points with high-capacity lines; and the radio net, which consists of base station
Base station
The term base station can be used in the context of land surveying and wireless communications.- Land surveying :In the context of external land surveying, a base station is a GPS receiver at an accurately-known fixed location which is used to derive correction information for nearby portable GPS...
s with antennas in masts, on buildings and in some tunnels. The network is controlled from a center in Oslo, which is operated by Nokia Siemens Network. In case a base station no longer can communicate with the core net, the base station can still relay communication within its range. Should the base station fall out or operations occur in areas without coverage, the terminals can communicate directly with each other.
All communication from mobile terminals to the base stations is encrypted with a key
Key (cryptography)
In cryptography, a key is a piece of information that determines the functional output of a cryptographic algorithm or cipher. Without a key, the algorithm would produce no useful result. In encryption, a key specifies the particular transformation of plaintext into ciphertext, or vice versa...
known only to the base station and the terminal. For group conversations, two keys are used, one from the terminal to the base station, and one from the base station to all users. In addition, there are 32 fixed keys used for terminal-to-terminal communication should the base station fall out. In addition, the police can use a user-to-user encryption where the communication is encrypted all the way through the network from the one user to the other.
The system will ensure 100% coverage of populated and surrounding areas, which exceeds any of the existing GSM networks. This includes good coverage indoors, to aid fire fighters, as well as full coverage of the coastline and coverage up to 2,500 meters (8,000 ft) height for aircraft. It will give full coverage along all national
Norwegian national road
Norwegian national road , are roads thus categorized by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration which also maintains them...
and county roads. The system also allows interoperability towards the maritime radio. The system also allows for transmission of digital information at a speed of 28.8 kb/s. As the system is rolled out, central parts will receive TETRA2, which includes the TETRA Enhanced Data Services, which allows for transmission speeds of 163 kb/s.
Terminals
The system has two types of receivers: radio terminals, which can either be hand-held or mounted in vehicles, and desktop equipment for control centers. The system will include 40,000 radios throughout the country. Compared to the analog network, the digital radio equipment will be smaller and have options for additional equipment such as hands free, and allow special radios for motorcycles, snowmobiles, boats, undercover activities and smoke diving. Communication can either be performed as one-to-one conversations, group calls for predefined or ad-hoc groups, with radios able to be part of several groups, or as walkie talkies in areas without network coverage. The digital transmission reduced background noise and allows monitoring terminal identity to prohibit unauthorized use. All radios are equipped with an emergency button that will give priority in the network.Control room terminals will have new functionality including identification of all users and radio terminal positioning, radio and telephone inquiries made on the same equipment, use of either loudspeakers or head sets, and allowing operators to listen to each others' conversations. Operators have access to telephone books and speed dials, touch screen operations of voice and data traffic, monitoring of other talk groups, simultaneous calls to several talk groups and access to voice logs.