France
The network of tomorrow
However, the wider vision is to have
a nationwide LTE-based network –
the RRF (Réseau Radio du Futur/
Radio Network of the Future) – that
will include the tactical bubbles
pioneered by the PCSTORM project
(for additional resilience and capacity
where/when required and aided to
a limited extent by some dedicated
state-owned infrastructure, especially
for Paris and e Petite Couronne)
and will be able to take advantage
of new technology such as 5G, as
and when it becomes available. e
programme was launched in 2016 and
is pursuing a hybrid model, which
will make use of commercial radio
network infrastructures, with the MoI
operating the mission-critical services
that will run over the commercial
networks. “We think that self-owned
infrastructure is a past model,” adds
Bruno Chapuis, the MoI’s deputy head
of mission for the RRF. He also says
the rst level of resiliency will consist
of dynamic national roaming, together
with priority and pre-emption for
mission-critical users.
Aside from the desire for greater
interoperability and functionality, the
RRF programme has arisen because of
the country’s ageing Tetrapol networks
(RUBIS – the nationwide network for
the French Gendarmerie; and INPT,
which is used by police, re brigades,
emergency healthcare services, customs,
defence forces, mobile gendarmerie,
authorities and for prisoner transfers);
as well as this is the need to have
robust and modern public safety
communications in place ahead of the
Rugby World Cup in 2023, along with
the Olympic Games and Paralympic
Games, and the opening of a new line
on the Grand Paris Express in 2024.
“ e Tetrapol ecosystem is rather
small and from the last century; that
is why it does not t all the modern
requirements,” says Chapuis.
e MoI seeks to bring blue users
(police and gendarmerie) onto the
RRF network in 2020-2023, with the
migration of red users ( re ghters)
Emergency
service
Civil security
Interoperability with all
stakeholders
Director of rescue
operations
Police Gendarmes
Intervention Forces
Associations
firefighters
Military forces
Air-ground (aircraft)
backhaul we increase the availability
and the coverage, but you can do it
over the Wi-Fi, whatever you have.”
She highlights the work being
done in 3GPP to provide a 5G-based
integrated cellular component for
satellite services, and adds that part
of the rationale for investigating the
use of satellite is that “in France,
the rural carriers are nanced by the
government” and the operators do a
lot of radio access network/site sharing,
which reduces the availability/resiliency
bene ts associated with dynamic
national roaming.
Villebrun adds that as the cost of a
dedicated satellite service for France’s
public safety sector would be costprohibitive,
a service that works across
all verticals and operators would be
preferable. She expects to have a clearer
view of what the satellite industry
can provide (especially in terms of
availability) in 12-18 months’ time.
“We recently launched a request
for information (RFI) about licensed
shared access LSA – a spectrumsharing
method similar to CBRS in
the US,” says Villebrun. She adds that
the initial responses from the French
MNOs stated that if they were to allow
the MoI to hire/rent their spectrum
to allow the use of tactical bubbles,
they wouldn’t make su ciently high
margins for this to be of interest.
However, “they are looking at
providing us with tactical networks as
a service… this is under investigation
and we have consultants working on it
and we will publish the results”.
e RFI covering LSA, which
was issued in September 2018, also
requested information on air-toground
communications with LTE,
and the programme issued an RFI on
direct mode in October.
Villebrun adds that the MoI is
currently studying the idea of buying
A network made of four
complementary levels of resilience
National roaming and
priority, pre-emption
Vehicular or
individual tactical
bubbles
Operator 1
Infrastructure tactical
bubble
Dedicated infrastructure
(especially for Paris and
the « petite couronne »)
Operator 2
Operator 3
starting later in the same year and that
for white users and other users (such as
emergency medical services, forestry)
beginning in 2021. Chapuis adds that
the aim here is be ready one year before
the Olympic Games.
He explains that today, France has
around 150,000 terminals for PPDR
users in circulation, but as these are
used in a pooled manner, they meet
the needs of roughly 300,000 users.
However, “our objective is to be at the
level of Germany and we would like to
have all the military people, customs
o cials, metro users and so on on the
RRF network. So our aim is to have
around 700,000 users.”
The shape of things to come
Emmanuelle Villebrun, lead technical
architect of the RRF at the French
Ministry of the Interior, provides us
with a look at some of the long-term
thinking around the RRF, particularly
how it may be able to use to its
advantage some of the capabilities that
will come in 5G. It is worth noting
here that as she is responsible for phase
II of the RRF (Phase I is PCSTORM,
with Phase II consisting of purchasing
tactical networks as a service from a
commercial operator, which will use
their spectrum) and no nal decisions
have been made, her comments re ect
her current thinking and priorities and
are proposals, rather than MoI policy.
Villebrun says the main contingency
being considered in case of widespread
and long-lasting power cuts will be
the combination of tactical networks
and satellite backhaul, as the batteries
for the former will use batteries on
boardvehicles.
“ e idea is to have opportunistic
backhaul, if the MCPTT service can
use any IP pipe, it could be bre,
Wi-Fi, a part of the MNO network or
satellite – we hope that with satellite
1
2
3
4
The RRF is
intended to have
multiple layers of
resilience, while
also providing
PPDR stakeholders
with interoperable
mission-critical
communications
Our objective is to be
at the level of Germany
and we would like to have all
the military people, customs
of cials, metro users etc
on the RRF network
June 2019 @CritCommsToday 29