TIA’s Private Radio Standards Committee Announces New Leadership and Initiatives

Advancing U.S. Public Safety Equipment Standardization is Key Area of Focus for TIA TR-8 Committee on Mobile and Personal Private Radio Standards

Arlington, VA (February 27, 2017) – The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), the leading association representing the manufacturers and suppliers of high-tech communications networks, today announced that its TR-8 Mobile and Personal Private Radio Standards Committee has elected new leaders and launched several new initiatives, including the development of new working groups. Among the most important areas of focus for the Committee is the continued advancement of public safety communications.

The Committee, which develops standards for private radio communications systems and equipment, is led by industry and government volunteers who share a commitment to the vital role that standardization plays in advancing modern connectivity. Participants include staff from Motorola, Harris Corporation, RELM Wireless, Airbus DS Communications, U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security, E.F. Johnson and more.

“TR-8 is led by an incredibly dedicated group of industry volunteers, and their work is having a very real and very positive impact,” said Stephanie Montgomery, TIA Vice President for Technology and Standards. “Public safety is one of the most important areas of focus for the committee, and we are excited about the new initiatives launched at our recent meeting. Because of the critical nature of this work, we hope to expand industry participation and invite anyone with technical expertise or interest in public safety equipment standards to contact us.”

At the recent TIA TR-8 meeting, three engineering committees initiated new technical work and launched new working groups.

TR-8 created a new working group addressing radio programming compatibility requirements. At the request of the National Public Safety Telecommunications Councils (NPSTC) the members of TR-8 agreed to begin work on the development of a draft schema that will allow the import of certain radio programming parameters from a manufacturer’s code plug programming software and allow the export of these parameters into another manufacturer’s code plug programming software.

Project 25 Location Services Overview Bulletin (TSB-102.BAJA-A) begins revision.  The TR-8.5.1 Working Group was launched to work on a revision to the Project 25 TSB-102.BAJA-A. The revision is based on comments that resulted from a review of the published document.

Adding new tests to Project 25 TSB-102.CBBK-A Recommended Compliance Assessment Tests – Trunking ISSI. The TR-8.25.1 Working Group is currently working on a revision to add tests that are recommended for the Console Sub System Interface (CSSI) application of the Inter Sub System Interface (ISSI). Once approved, these recommendations will be given to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office for Interoperability and Compatibility (OIC) Project 25 Compliance Assessment Program (CAP) Advisory Panel. The panel will consider incorporating them as they draft a Compliance Assessment Bulletin for CSSI testing.

TIA’s TR-8 Committee also elected four new chairs and vice-chairs:

Andy Davis, Senior Resource Manager P25 Standards at Motorola Solutions, was reelected as chair of the TR-8 Committee on Mobile and Personal Private Radio Standards. Mr. Davis will also serve as interim chair of the TR-8.11 Antenna Systems Committee.

Jim Eastwood, Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff at Motorola Solutions, was reelected as chair of the TR-8.5 Committee on Signaling and Data Transmission. Mr. Eastwood was also reelected as chair of the TR-8.15 Committee on Common Air Interface, which establishes standards defining the protocol necessary for digital based equipment for Land Mobile Services.

Robert Shapiro, Independent Land Mobile Radio Industry Consultant at Shapiro Consulting Services was elected as vice-chair of the TR-8.18 Wireless Systems Compatibility – Interference and Coverage Committee, which defines terms and methodology for the modeling, simulation, and empirical performance verification of LMR systems.

John Lambrou, Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff at Motorola Solutions, was reelected as chair of the TR-8.17 Radio Frequency Exposure Committee, which establishes common terms, definitions, methods of measurements to aid interested parties in evaluating adherence to FCC guidelines concerning Radio Frequency Exposure. Mr. Lambrou was also reelected as chair of the TR-8.21 LMR Intrinsic Safety Consideration Committee, which fosters collaboration and coordination among groups that address elements of intrinsic safety.

TIA welcomes technical experts, and those interested in the development of the U.S. public safety equipment standards, to attend and participate in committee meetings. TR-8 held its most recent meeting on January 31, 2017 in Orlando, FL, and will hold its next meeting in June, 2017 in Chicago, IL. All meeting documentation will be available online.

For more information about TR-8 and newly established working groups, contact Marianna Kramarikova at mkramarikova@tiaonline.org.