MOTOTRBO for Public SafetyThere’s been much misinformation, and outright ‘untruths’ spread all over the internet, claiming that MOTOTRBO is not ‘designed for’ or ‘intended for’ public safety use, that Motorola does not ‘endorse’ its use in mission critical applications, and even making false statements with regard to the functionality of MOTOTRBO. We would like to ‘set the record straight’ on this subject. First, let’s consider the idea that Motorola does not ‘endorse’ MOTOTRBO for use in mission critical applications. Is this true? Let’s let Motorola’s own marketing materials for MOTOTRBO, answer that question…. References to “public safety” are made in the marketing brochure “MOTOTRBO Accessories for Professional Digital Two-Way Radio Systems”. On page 4 of this brochure, it states: “Built-in Accessory Antenna Port—The portable connector design incorporates the antenna signal pass-through within the audio connector, eliminating the need for an external radio frequency (RF) adapter for public safety microphones.” On page 5, it further states: “These remote speaker microphones boast a revolutionary windporting feature that helps lessen background noise from high winds and other severe weather conditions. Audio can pass through the speaker grill even when the microphone port is blocked by water. Now public safety professionals can be more confi dent than ever of clear, understandable communication when Mother Nature is uncooperative.” On page 5, a list 6 different models of “Public Safety Microphones” is shown, along with a list of 4 different accessories for the public safety microphones. And on page 10, this brochure lists 4 different “Public Safety Microphone Antennas”. On the front cover of the Remote Mount Control Head Installation Guide (for the remote mount control head for the MOTOTRBO XPR-series mobiles), a photograph is used, showing a firefighter talking on a radio, while standing in front of a house on fire. Obviously, if Motorola was not ‘endorsing’ the use of MOTOTRBO for public safety mission critical use, then they would have used a different photograph for the front cover of this document. Motorola publishes a number of Use Case Studies, describing how MOTOTRBO has been used in different applications. For example, they have Use Case Studies on the use of MOTOTRBO for schools, electric utilities, resorts, and hospitals, just to name a few. Of great significance, Motorola just recently published a Use Case Study about a MOTOTRBO system in the state of Georgia, used by public safety agencies (law enforcement, fire, and EMS) for county-wide coverage. Click Here to download a copy of this Public Safety Use Case Study. And here's a brochure, printed by Motorola in the U.S., promoting MOTOTRBO for Public Safety: Click Here to download a copy of this MOTOTRBO Public Safety Brochure It’s obvious that Motorola is, in fact, ‘endorsing’ the use of MOTOTRBO for mission critical applications (public safety) or they would not be publishing marketing materials that ‘target’ the public safety community. Now let’s consider the functionality of MOTOTRBO. Some claim that MOTOTRBO lacks the functionality and features that are needed for it to be considered as a public safety radio product or system. So, first, let’s look at what MOTOTRBO offers. MOTOTRBO offers the following features/functions:
Clearly, MOTOTRBO offers much more functionality than any analog radio system. Even analog systems that incorporate MDC1200 or similar signaling, still do not have the functionality that MOTOTRBO includes. Yet no one will argue that all of the existing analog radio systems in use by many thousands of public safety personnel, were not designed for public safety use and should not be used for mission critical applications. The truth is, MOTOTRBO is a major step ‘up’ from analog public safety systems. Along these lines, some will claim that MOTOTRBO shouldn’t be used for public safety communications because it doesn’t meet the P25 standard. While it’s true that MOTOTRBO is not compatible with P25 systems, the fact is MOTOTRBO includes most, if not all, of the functions that are listed as ‘mandated’ or ‘service options’ for P25 equipment and systems. Here’s a list, comparing these functions, between MOTOTRBO and P25:
Another claim that is often made about MOTOTRBO is that it’s ‘proprietary’. The truth is, it’s no more proprietary than Motorola’s Astro 25 (their version of P25). MOTOTRBO is based on an open standard called Digital Mobile Radio (DMR). This standard is ‘governed’ by ETSI. Motorola owns certain intellectual property rights for some of the DMR technology, and as part of their agreement with ETSI, Motorola will license this technology to anyone who asks for it, on fair and reasonable terms. The exact same situation exists with P25. Motorola owns certain intellectual property rights to some of the P25 technology, and any manufacturer that wants to produce a P25-compatible product, must license this technology from Motorola. It’s true that MOTOTRBO does include some proprietary functionality, that is not part of the DMR standard. The same holds true for Astro 25. Motorola has included certain proprietary functions in Astro 25, that are not part of the P25 standard. Yet, no one claims that Astro 25 is ‘proprietary’. The same is true of MOTOTRBO – it is not proprietary. Up until recently, Motorola was the only manufacturer who was producing and marketing DMR products in the United States. This also has led to some claiming that MOTOTRBO is proprietary. Of course, this again is not true, since MOTOTRBO is based on an open standard. At one time, only one manufacturer produced and marketed P25 equipment in the United States. Yet no one ever claimed that this equipment was proprietary, since they new that it was based on an open standard. In fact, one other manufacturer has already released a MOTOTRBO-compatible product line into the United States marketplace, and at least two more manufacturers will be following later this year and next year. Finally, are the MOTOTRBO radios themselves ‘public safety grade’ units? They meet the same Mil-Spec standards that other Motorola radios meet that have been used for many years in mission critical applications. In fact, the XPR-series portables are submersible to 1 meter for up to 30 minutes. This exceeds the specs for an HT-1250 portable radio, yet the HT-1250 has been used extensively by law enforcement and fire service personnel with no question as to it being a ‘public safety grade radio’ or not. So, the claim that the MOTOTRBO radios themselves are not ‘public safety grade’ radios, is absolutely not true. We shouldn’t end this discussion without a few comments on interoperability. The MOTOTRBO radios (mobiles and portables) can all operate in analog mode, on a per-channel basis. So a MOTOTRBO radio can be programmed with both digital channels and analog channels. In some configurations, the radios can scan between the digital and analog channels. For further interoperability, there are many ways of ‘bridging’ between a MOTOTRBO system and an analog system or analog channels. The latest technology to do this is from Bridgecom Systems. Their technology connects to the MOTOTRBO system at the IP level. This results in a very ‘clean’ installation with excellent audio quality. Such bridging can be used to also connect a MOTOTRBO system into a P25 system. Interestingly, even P25 trunking systems must use some type of ‘bridging’ to connect into non-P25 systems, in many cases. So, is MOTOTRBO good and usable for public safety? Definitely. Is MOTOTRBO the ‘right’ system for everyone in public safety? Probably not. It can not (at this time) provide extreme wide-area coverage (such as state-wide). So other types of systems are better suited for those applications. However, for many small city and rural public safety agencies, MOTOTRBO can be a perfect fit. |
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