PMRExpo review
device, the VM685, and given the
VM550’s lack of a large touchscreen,
it is logical to conclude that it is
targeted at more price-sensitive users.
Also on the Hytera stand was
Sinclair Technologies, a division
of Norsat International, which
was purchased by Hytera in 2017.
Sinclair’s Kelvin Law, director of
sales EMEA, walked me through the
product range, which is focused on
antennas and lters, including a fourchannel
UHF combiner, which allows
four 60W transmitters to use a single
antenna, and the transmitters can
have channel spacings of 12.5KHz or
closer. Law also showed me a receiver
multicoupler, which has 16 channels
(though two-, four- and eight-channel
versions are available). Law added that
customers have been commenting on
how solid and well-engineered they are,
and that the company’s antennas are
built to withstand Canadian winters,
and he showed me its new range of
colinear omnidirectional antennas.
ese use a new patent-pending
technology, which he said makes
them 15-30 per cent lighter than a
traditional design, while also being
typically 20 per cent shorter and 20
per cent stronger in terms of ability to
withstand high winds.
The power of QR codes
Also on the Hytera stand was a robotic
arm that cycled through picking up and
putting down one of the company’s
multi-mode radios (shown below,
centre left). A Mobile2b (a Cologne-
CommScope’s
public-safety
grade in-tunnel
coverage system
Left: Sinclair
Technologies’
four UHF channel
combiner (left)
and receiver
multicoupler
(right); Right: The
RescueWave
system is intended
to streamline triage
during masscasualty
incidents
based Hytera Mobilfunk application
partner) representative showed me that
it was linked to an app on a tablet that
was counting the number of times the
arm went through the cycle, and by
scanning a QR code on the arm he
could bring up the prole for it on a
form-based app, making it easy to keep
track of the asset’s condition.
Another application of QR codes,
this time in an emergency context, that
was on show (on another stand) was
RescueWave, an electronic triage tag
for use during mass-casualty incidents.
Vomatec Innovations’ Stephen Heuer,
head of product management and
research, told me that the tags are
placed around the necks of those
requiring medical attention and the
dial on the tags can be turned to
several colour-coded positions (with
red reserved for those requiring the
most urgent medical attention). As
each tag has a unique QR code, rstresponders
can scan the code via an
app to ll in or update a prole for
each casualty. In addition, because
the tags have GPS functionality, the
incident controller is able to see all the
locations of the casualties. e idea
is that every ambulance would carry
a bag containing a number of these
tags (shown below, far right), though I
can see a need for a larger central pool
for disasters with very high numbers
ofcasualties.
CommScope displayed its system for
public-safety grade in-tunnel coverage
(shown top) – according to Andreas
Biehler, manager, business development
EMEA, it supports frequencies of up
to 1GHz (making it suitable for both
TETRA and GSM-R) and is intended
for railway and metro use.
To summarise last year’s PMRExpo
felt at times like an impossible task.
However, I hope this has given you
a good feel for what it was like to be
there and that, like me, you are looking
forward to this year’s event.
January 2019 @CritCommsToday 27