SDBR News: You will be present at CCW this year. What does participating in this event mean to you?

Olivier Koczan: This edition of CCW is especially important for us in more than one respect. First of all, it is taking place in Helsinki, Finland. We have two centres of product expertise in this country, one in Helsinki and the other in Jyväskylä. It is important for us to highlight our foothold in this country, whose security forces are equipped with our solutions and with whom we work closely to develop them. This edition is taking place at a key moment in the development of our market, with a strong acceleration in evolutions towards broadband capabilities. For Airbus, this acceleration has translated into gaining several high-profile calls for tender, in Europe and around the world.

SDBR News: What are you showcasing at your booth during this Finnish edition?

Olivier Koczan: In keeping with the acceleration that I mentioned, we are demonstrating several very concrete aspects of the development towards next-generation solutions and their operational contributions. So, to name a few, we are presenting the latest evolutions for our Agnet offer, as much for the mobile applications used in the field as for those used for dispatch in command centres. We are focusing on certain framework projects such as the RRF project for the French Ministry of the Interior and the BroadWay and Broadnet projects for the European Commission. Finally, we are demonstrating specific applications using communication capabilities made possible by broadband.

SDBR News: Your pioneering product, Agnet, won the ICCA award (“Best Use of Critical Communications in Public Safety”) for its use by security services during the Expo 2020 in Dubai. Are you a candidate for the ICCA awards this year?

Olivier Koczan: We also won the award for the best MCX Solution (Mission Critical Services) with Agnet. We are very proud of this success because it awards our expertise in a very direct way, not only in the development of modern and innovative solutions, but also in the deep knowledge of the needs and constraints of our users.

In the same spirit, we are presenting our Agnet Tacteam application in the “Emerging technology, product or solutions” category this year. This application, made for Special Forces, uses the communication and collaboration capabilities of Agnet to plan and coordinate the deployment of forces during an operation. We have been shortlisted and are waiting on the final verdict from the Jury.

SDBR News: What developments are there for your Agnet solution?

Olivier Koczan: Our roadmap anticipates multiple evolutions. Giving an exhaustive list would be tiresome and take a lot of time. I would insist on the fact that, in keeping with our principle, our roadmap feeds directly on the feedback and needs that our customers share with us about their experiences using our solutions. Our established base for Agnet is growing rapidly and covers several market sectors beyond government security services. Therefore, we receive a lot of feedback, which makes up a fantastic reservoir of services and features to be developed.

In addition, Agnet is a secure collaboration platform also allowing the integration of multiple business applications. It is also with this approach that we are orientating our developments in order to respond to the needs of specific market sectors or groups of users.

SDBR News: Do you have budding technological partnerships that you will highlight during the event?

Olivier Koczan: We want to highlight our external partnerships just as much as our internal ones, using the portfolio of solutions of the Airbus Group in its entirety. For example, we will have an “Agnet over satcom” booth, which demonstrates how a constellation of satellites in low earth orbit like OneWeb allows Agnet to be used even in the most isolated areas with no 4G/5G coverage. In addition, we will be presenting Zephyr, the HAPS (High-Altitude Platform System) drone developed within the group and dedicated specially to providing extended network coverage in isolated areas by flying at a very high altitude for several weeks. Finally, we will be showcasing the unprecedented capabilities of the Pléiades Neo observation satellites, designed and operated entirely by the group. In terms of external partnerships, we will be presenting an indoor geolocation solution based on Agnet, which uses sensors provided by Epic Blue. The system allows security forces or isolated workers inside a building to be located on several floors, with a precision of around 50 cm. Finally, our partners from Common Objects will once again be present with the robot dog “Spot”, whose integration of Agnet into their embedded artificial intelligence solution allows the control of the robot and the transfer of video flows in real-time.

Find Airbus SLC at the CCW show from May 23 to 25 in Helsinki (Finland) https://www.critical-communications-world.com

https://www.securelandcommunications.com

Photos credits: Airbus