The SALUS project has been running since September 2013 and will be culminating at the end of August this year. To celebrate the successes of the project and showcase the technologies developed within SALUS, the SALUS Final Validation Event was held on 14th and 15th June 2016 in Kuopio, Finland.
Throughout its three year lifespan, the SALUS project has aimed to design, implement and evaluate a next generation communication network concept for Public Protection and Disaster Relief (PPDR) agencies. The network aims to enhance security, privacy, seamless mobility, as well as reliability support for mission-critical PMR voice and broadband data services. As such SALUS has developed key technologies to enhance communications. These were introduced and presented during the SALUS Final Validation Event.
On the first day of the SALUS Event, 14th June 2016, participants gathered in the Second SALUS Conference, which consisted of a series of training sessions and presentations. The First SALUS Conference was held in 2014 and coincided with the PSCE Conference in Paris on 25th and 26th November. The training sessions during the Second SALUS Conference focused on topics related to broadband services, WiFi mesh networks for public safety, interoperability of TETRA, TETRAPOL and LTE technologies, CCC applications, as well as LTE for public safety from both a theoretical and a case study perspective.
In the afternoon session of the Second SALUS Conference, several interesting presentations were given on topics close to the focus of SALUS – broadband for PPDR, interoperability between legacy systems and future broadband networks, cross-border cooperation in PPDR, needs for PPDR service production, PPDR evolution towards broadband, innovative technology and solution-driven PPDR communication platforms, cost-efficient mission critical LTE, and resilient networks. The new EU-funded BroadMap project was also introduced and some experience cases on PPDR communications in Finland were presented.
A series of demos presenting the SALUS technology were carried out on the second day of the SALUS Validation Event. Along with showcasing the technologies developed throughout the project lifetime, the objective of the demonstrations was also to prove the need and the advantages of using LTE mobile broadband technology in public safety scenarios whilst ensuring the interoperability of WiFi, TETRA and TETRAPOL technologies. Participants of the Event had the chance to witness live demonstrations of many key functionalities, including push-to-talk, group communications, messaging, video streaming, video call, video-group call, high-speed access to data, seamless roaming, and support for emergency calls by the public in affected areas. The demonstrations focused on scenarios where it is necessary to locate emergency service teams, to give guidance and instructions to first responders remotely via a command and control centre application, to locate indoors using WiFi radio signals, to monitor the safety of first responders in real-time, and to communicate using different technologies – WiFi, TETRA, TETRAPOL – simultaneously.
More information about the SALUS project can be found here.