SDBR News: Could you tell us about your sphere of responsibility at Airbus SLC?

Selim Bouri: At Airbus SLC, I am responsible for the regions of Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific, including China. I am based in Dubai, and I have teams all over the regions I look after, especially in China, where Airbus has been active since 2003 with different generations of TETRA solutions. Since 2003, we have been providing Beijing with a government network covering a “shared network”, which is used by all of the public safety authorities (the police, the metro, firefighters, etc.) in the entire governorate. The JustTop network (taken from the name of the mobile operator that operates and maintains this network) is a new-generation hybrid TETRA network, which includes the Agnet secure messaging solutions. It is both the largest TETRA network in Asia and the largest network in the world to cover a single town or city.

SDBR News: What does this mean in terms of sites?

Selim Bouri: There are over 700 sites, with around 150,000 users every day. With the Olympic Games in Beijing, the JustTop network became the only TETRA network in the world to support two editions of the Olympic Games: the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics, and the 2022 Winter Olympics. Therefore, in 2022, we successfully supported the Beijing Olympics Games and Paralympic Games for over a month. During the opening ceremony on 4 February, there were more than 40,000 simultaneous users on the network. Some sites were built especially for the 2022 Olympics, and we had to set up their network, including the coverage of all the access roads (roads, motorways, etc.), and equip the emergency services, who were using helicopters provided by Airbus. It was a technical challenge: we had to be able to ensure the continuity of communications, even when far from the city centre, which is the usual coverage area. We had to create a new integrated bubble so that the emergency services, support services and organising committee could use the network and communications in a seamless way interconnected with the central services located in Beijing.

SDBR News: How did you do it?

Selim Bouri: We created a new bubble that was fully and digitally integrated into the existing one. The biggest challenge was helping all the organisation, assistance, civil protection, and emergency teams to coordinate, thus adapting the network to their tactical and operational constraints. We had hybrid groups with TETRA users only, 4G and 5G users, private 5G networks for certain security services, and so on, and we integrated them with our Agnet solution, so that they could work. The real challenge was not only building the network with the best-fit technology, but also configuring and operating it so that everyone could coordinate with one another. Even though there were 7 million intra-network calls, 14 million minutes of communication, peaks of 300,000 calls per hour, and the network being heavily used, no incidents have been reported. Airbus and JustTop are very proud to have contributed to the success of these Olympic Games. 

SDBR News: More widely, what are your current activities in China?

Selim Bouri: We are currently installing three other networks in China, equivalent to the one in Beijing: Guangzhou, which is the second-largest Tetra network in Asia, Nanjing, and Urumqi. We are also equipping more than 120 metro lines in China and about twenty airports with the Airbus solutions. The special feature of the Olympic Games is that they last for a relatively long period and require several months of preparation beforehand. Similarly, we supported the organisation of the 2021 World Expo in Dubai, which lasted for 6 months (October 2021 to March 2022) and received 30 million visitors. The challenge was to cover a site specially built for the Expo, to secure systems integration and provide secured communications for all the “blue lights”. In Dubai we also had a hybrid network using Agnet, integrated into the access control services (CCTV, etc.).

SDBR News: What will be the highlights in 2022 for your region?

Selim Bouri: We have just finished securing the communications for Dubai Expo, as previously mentioned. We supported the Formula 1 Grand Prix races in Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Jeddah. We have secured the Pilgrimage to Mecca for over five years and are doing so again this year. Our solution has been chosen to cover the football World Cup in Qatar which starts on 21 November 2022. We’ve been present in the Gulf region for a long time and, as you know, technology is an important part of the equation. But our operational experience of the services and our adaptability to tactical procedures and to the customer environment are essential. The new technologies must be able to adapt to, and integrate with, the operating mode of our customers.     

SDBR News: What exactly are Airbus SLC’s strengths in the critical communications market?

Selim Bouri: In addition to our leading position in TETRA, the major asset of Airbus SLC is the development in recent years of the Agnet collaboration platform which provides TETRA voice services, but also messaging, video and imaging as applications. Agnet also offers the possibility of complete integration with CCTV, and application modules for airports (Skywise system for coordination with airport operations and airlines). In a nutshell, Agnet is an application which gives access to the entire digital portfolio of Airbus: aviation, space (integration with satellite imaging), etc. We are already in a world of multiple needs. As such, the integrated solution offered by Airbus, allowing LTE, satellites, aircraft and helicopter tracking, or even access to imaging, simultaneously in your Tetra network, is unique on the market. Agnet thus acts as the main access point to this portfolio of adaptable applications depending on the customers’ needs and the tools they already have. The core of our solution still remains voice and response coordination (situational awareness) with the ability to integrate other solutions around it.

SDBR News: What is the future of Agnet?

Selim Bouri: The future of Agnet is to change from an MCx communications platform (Push-To-Talk, Push-To-Video) to the main platform at the centre of all requirements, TETRA therefore becoming one application among others to be integrated into it. We aim at making Agnet the core of any solution for organisations with critical communication, collaboration and information sharing needs.

https://www.securelandcommunications.com

Photos credits: Airbus