Frag Out! Magazine

Unfortunately, in Poland, it happens - and not so rarely as you may expect – that a basic mean of communications in such situations is a mobile phone. It is due a few factors, but a fundamental advantage is nearly not limited coverage exten- sion and a fact that a phone has on him nearly everybody, and a saturation by the communica- tions means not in all services is sufficient. Indeed, many times during Polish military trainings the GSM standard was used as an "backup commu- nications mean", and in some cases, in particular when it comes to the small units – as a basic one. Sometime ago a necessity of universal, integrated radio communication system dedicated to the cri- sis response services was finally noticed by some Polish decision makers. It was considered to use for this purpose a system developed on the basis of the TETRA standard – a digital radio communi- cations system designed for the police, fire firefi- ghters, EMT and other services, but such a network has not been built up to now. Almost each servi- ce developed its own communications system, based on the various solutions and technologies, therefore mostly incompatible with each other. It leads to a situation in which, if it is necessary to establish a cooperation between the services, e.g. while eliminating consequences of the cata- strophe or natural disaster, there is no common communication system, and a communication between relevant services is provided by mobile phones. Even if ad hoc communication system or internal comms systems was established, in most cases it has the same disadvantages as a radio communication through hand-held radios, that has relatively small range, especially in the build- -up area. The MindMade company, part of WB Group, de- veloped an own communication system based on GSM network, and therefore ensures a coverage on 99% of the Polish territory (at least according to the declarations of the mobile network provi- ders). However, the developer ensures that in the case of the PIK communications integration plat- form, in contrary to the mobile phones, we deal with using the "professional" GSM bandwidth. pik – what it is? The PIK communications integration platform was developed as a dedicated solution for emer- gency services which must have at their disposal an uninterrupted, reliable communication, both www.fragoutmag.com

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