News VICTORIA’S NEW MARINE RADIO
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A new marine radio service has been switched on in Victoria to increase safety for watercraft users. The emergency radio monitoring service covers the whole of the Victorian coastline and will be turned on for the very first time, and supports marine search and rescue operations by enabling emergency personnel to be dispatched with the assistance of Victoria Police. Boaters in Victorian coastal waters will receive both local monitoring and recording of radio traffic on both VHF and HF emergency radio channels. Coast Radio Melbourne had previously only covered Port Phillip Bay and Western Port, leaving distress call monitoring to volunteers along the rest of Victorian coastal waters. More info: bit.ly/2xIDqRc
RADAR TECH BROUGHT TO MARKET
Gavin Terpstra
Radar technology designed to protect soldiers and manage commercial air traffic will be exported from South Australia. Start-up Silentium Defence has developed passive radar technology, which uses a silent sensor to locate active and silent objects. The technology will be brought to market with the help of $200,000 in state government funding. “There is a significant export potential for our technology,” said Silentium Defence Chief Executive Dr James Palmer. “We are aiming to have Silentium Defence products on the global market within the next two years, potentially through a global partner.” More info: bit.ly/2ylAKgU
TCCA BROADBAND WORKING GROUP A new critical communications Broadband Industry Group has been formed, with representatives from Nokia and Ericsson elected to lead the organisation. The TCCA working group has been formed to encourage broadband vendor cooperation during the development of common global critical communications solutions. Philippe Agard, Nokia’s global public safety and defence segment leader, will chair the group, supported by Jason Johur, Ericsson’s market development director, mission-critical communications, as vice-chair. “With the formation of the BIG, TCCA has provided industry a home to advance critical service based on broadband, including migration to 3GPP LTE and 5G standard technologies,” said Tony Gray, TCCA chief executive. More info: bit.ly/2kR5uRg
14 Critical Comms - Nov/Dec 2017
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The TCCA has just appointed two new board members. Ari Toivonen and Philippe Agard join board chair Mladen Vratonji and existing board members Ali Helenius, Airbus Defence and Space; Dr Barbara Held, BDBOS Germany; Francesco Pasquali, Leonardo; Jeppe Jepsen, Motorola Solutions; Malcolm Quelch, Sepura; and independent consultant Tero Pesonen. Toivonen will be the board member representing the Emergency Services Mobile Communications Program. He is the current chairman of the UK’s Public Safety Spectrum Policy Group, reporting to the UK Spectrum Strategy Committee. Agard will be the board member representing the TCCA Broadband Industry Group. He is Global Public Safety and Defence Segment Leader at Nokia. More info: bit.ly/2if6rSP
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NEW TCCA BOARD MEMBERS
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