Cyber Crime and Cyber Terrorism

PROGRESS BEYOND THE STATE-OF-THE-ART
CURRENT PPDR COMMUNICATION NETWORK ARCHITECTURE 
LANDSCAPE
PPDR organizations currently use a range of different communications networks to 
meet their operational needs. In Europe, the majority of their personnel now use 
dedicated networks to provide narrowband mobile communications using TETRA 
or TETRAPOL technologies operating in the 380-400 MHz band. This spectrum al-
location is based on the harmonization of spectrum for public safety that was put in 
place by the ECC in 1996 and provides recommendations on the harmonization of 
additional frequency bands for digital PPDR within the 380-470 MHz range. There 
are significant barriers to the implementation of this decision as the same spectrum 
is also identified for narrowband and wideband digital land mobile (PMR/PAMR). 

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CHAPTER 18
Evolution of TETRA
In nearly 20 countries, the presence of CDMA 450 networks will impact on the 
availability of this spectrum for PPDR organizations. Interest is also emerging in the 
commercial deployment of LTE technology in this band.
Recent years have seen increasingly rapid progress in the capability of technolo-
gies deployed in the commercial electronic communications sector, particularly with 
regard to over the air data rates and the spectrum efficiency that can be achieved. For 
example, when the first 3G technology standards were agreed in 1999 the maximum 
bit rate realizable over a 3G mobile network was 2 Mbps, though in practice most 
users experienced speeds in the range 64-384 kbps. By comparison the digital tech-
nology mainly deployed by the PPDR sector (TETRA) could deliver up to 28 kbps. 
Many of today’s 3G networks have been upgraded to the latest High Speed Packet 
Access (HSPA, HSPA
+
) technology and can theoretical peak bit rates of up to 21 
Mbps (one user per cell only, best case channel, no error protection), with actual 
user bit rates of 1 Mbps or more in case of several users relatively commonplace 
in some networks in high density traffic areas, using a 5 MHz bandwidth channel. 
Newer systems employing such standards as the TETRA Release 2 TEDS compo-
nent are capable of supporting more advanced data communications, with a theoreti-
cal maximum IP throughput of up to 500 kbps in a 150 kHz channel; however there 
is an increasing gulf between the capabilities of commercial networks and dedicated 
PPDR networks, as the increasing demands to support broadband data require more 
spectrally efficient technologies to be developed and implemented faster for the com-
mercial sector.
Despite improvements in spectral efficiency through the deployment of new tech-
nologies which will yield some relief to the spectrum shortage, demand growth for 
frequencies is likely to outstrip growth of supply into the foreseeable future. The 
spectrum available to existing PPDR operations will not satisfy future needs for these 
essential services. One example of this is the current situation with TETRA TEDS in 
that not all EU Members States are able to identify radio channels. Therefore, com-
munications policy must evolve to empower new systems by reallocating spectrum 
from the Digital Dividend to PPDR mission critical communications. This decision 
is not to be taken lightly since it sits on the critical path for numerous other deci-
sions necessary before deploying next-generation PPDR networks. Historically, it 
has been the usual practice to identify suitable spectrum well in advance because of 
the timescales for releasing the spectrum, development of standards and equipment. 
It may require as long as 10 years to plan and deploy such networks. Adding to the 
urgency of the matter is the growing need for new services to emerge due to the in-
crease in terrorist threats, frequency of natural environmental disasters, and normal 
population growth. The 450-470 MHz band is also widely used in Europe by analog 
private mobile radio services which in some cases (notably UK and Ireland) are not 
aligned with relevant CEPT recommendations and it seems unlikely that sufficient 
harmonized spectrum to support broadband mobile operation could be made avail-
able in a reasonable time frame.
In practice, many PPDR users already make use of commercial 3G networks 
alongside their own dedicated networks; however, the coverage of the commercial 

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