FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 08, 2008

Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) Publishes Public Safety Project 25 MOS Test Plan Vocoder Standard

Strengthens First Responder Communications, Voice Quality in Land Mobile Radio Systems

Arlington, Va. - The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), the leader in advocacy, standards development, business development and intelligence for the information and communications technology (ICT) industries, has published TIA TSB-102.BABF, Experiment 3 MOS Test Plan for Vocoder Technology for Project 25, Phase 2. This new standard, developed in collaboration with prominent public safety organizations under the Project 25, specifies testing standards for new and emerging vocoder technology enhancements.

The choice of vocoder technology impacts the voice quality of a communications system. In emergency situations, the public's safety can depend upon the ability of first responders to communicate successfully via digital two-way radio, regardless of the level of background noise or other situations, including translating analog signals to digital.

TIA TSB-102.BABF provides methodology to evaluate the voice quality of land mobile radio systems using various vocoders under a variety of noise levels and operating conditions, including fire truck and police cruiser noise levels with and without sirens, helicopters, and Coast Guard outboard boats.

The standard also specifies methodology to evaluate audio quality subjectively, including the use of a ½ rate vocoder. Listeners associate a quality adjective with speech samples, which are then transferred to a numerical scale that provides testing results by mean opinion scores (MOS), which are statistically analyzed. TIA TSB-102.BABF compares enhanced digital technology with the baseline speech codec in TIA-102.BABA, Project 25 Vocoder Description.

P25 is an interoperability suite of standards for digital two-way wireless communications products and systems. TIA, in collaboration with prominent public safety organizations, generates standards, interim standards, specifications and telecommunications systems bulletins that define the equipment and processes necessary for implementation of digital public safety radio communications under the APCO/NASTD/FED Project 25 standard. APCO/NASTD/FED is composed of the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO); the National Association of State Telecommunications Directors (NASTD); and Federal Government Agencies (FED).

The standard TIA-102.AABC-B-3 was formulated under the cognizance of the TIA TR-8: Mobile and Personal Private Radio Standards Engineering Committee's TR-8.4: Subcommittee on Trunking and Conventional Control. To obtain copies of the document, contact IHS International at 800.854.7179 or visit http://global.ihs.com.

For technical information regarding participating in the TR-8 committee, please contact Ronda Coulter at rcoulter@tiaonline.org. For media inquiries, please contact Taly Walsh at twalsh@tiaonline.org.

The companies participating in TR-8 are: Aeroflex, Agilent Technologies, Inc., Alcatel-Lucent, APCO Project 25, Aselsan Inc., Booz, Allen & Hamilton, Cisco Systems, Inc., City of Mesa, Communications Div., CML Microcircuits (USA) Inc., CommScope Network Division, CSI Telecommunications, Daniels Electronics Ltd., Datron World Comm. Division, Dietrich Lockard Group, Inc., Digital Voice Systems, Inc., E.F. Johnson, EADS Public Safety Inc., Ericsson, Inc., Etherstack, FBI, General Dynamics C4 Systems, Harris Corporation, Icom America Inc., Industry Canada, Institute for Telecommunication, IPC Positron, Kenwood USA Corp., Lockheed Martin Corporation, M/A-Com, Inc., Microtronix Systems Ltd., Midland Radio Corp., MITRE Corp., Motorola, National Technical Systems (NTS), NIST-OLES, Nortel Networks, Oregon State Police/SAFECOM, RELM Wireless Corp., RTKL Associates Inc., SAIC, Sigma Delta Communications, Inc., Sony Wireless Tech Division, Space Data Corporation, Tait Radio Communications, Technisonic Industries Ltd., Telchemy Incorporated, Texas Instruments, Inc., Thales Communications, Inc., TX RX Systems, Inc., Tyco Electronics, U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Vertex Standard, Zetron, Inc.

 

About TIA
Celebrating its 20^th Anniversary, the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) represents the global information and communications technology (ICT) industries through standards development, advocacy, business opportunities, market intelligence and world-wide environmental regulatory compliance. Thousands of companies and individuals work through TIA to enhance the business environment for telecommunications, broadband, mobile wireless, information technology, networks, cable, satellite, unified communications, emergency communications and the greening of technology. TIA is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).

TIA's Board of Directors includes senior-level executives from ACS, ADC, ADTRAN, Alcatel-Lucent, Anda Networks, ArrayComm, AttivaCorp, Avaya, Bechtel Communications, Inc., Cam Communications, Cisco Systems, Corning Incorporated, Ericsson, Inc., Graybar, Henkels & McCoy, Intel Corporation, LGE, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia Siemens Networks, Nortel, OneChip Photonics Inc., OnSite Systems, Panasonic Computer Solutions Co., Research In Motion, Sumitomo Electric Lightwave Corporation, Tellabs, Tyco Electronics, Ulticom, Inc., Verari Systems, Westell Technologies, Inc. and Zebra Technologies Corporation. Advisors to the Board include FAL Associates, ILS Technology, Orca Systems and Telcordia Technologies.

TIA membership enhances the ability of companies to prepare for the future of communications. TIA brings people and businesses together by helping the industry overcome technical and political barriers to communications. Visit www.tiaonline.org for details.

 

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