Italy’s largest airport selects Sepura

In a major sales win in Italy, Sepura’s TETRA radio terminals have been supplied to the Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport in Rome.

Sepura radios are part of a digital communication solution deployed by GEG S.R.L., one of Sepura’s established partners in Italy. This new solution consists of a DAMM Tetraflex infrastructure plus a digital geo-localisation system and provides coverage to the whole international airport. Some legacy radio communication equipment and the VoIP telephony system will remain in use and the Sepura terminals will be perfectly integrated with them.

Airports are fast moving, potentially hazardous environments that provide one of the toughest tests for communications systems. TETRA has proven to be an excellent solution, delivering the reliability, security and functionality required in such environments.

Leonardo da Vinci is Italy’s largest airport and the first international air gateway of the country with over 35 million passengers served in 2008. Located in Fiumicino, 35 km from Rome’s historic city centre, it is also the principal hub for Alitalia, the Italian flagship airline.

Alitalia ground personnel will use Sepura hand-held radios – with integral GPS – and SRG mobile gateways. The radios will be used to manage passenger transport to and from planes, to communicate passenger lists to the flight crews and other general co-ordination activities. Airlines have very specific operational requirements for their radio systems, especially on large airfields. They need to locate their ground resources precisely, match them to aircraft and assign them dynamically. In this way, they reduce aircraft turnaround time and, most importantly, improve passenger service and safety.

Sepura’s in-built and highly sensitive GPS device pinpoints users’ locations, enabling the most appropriate resource to be deployed for each task.

Sepura’s powerful SRG Gateway radio enhances TETRA coverage with its 10 watts transmitter power. When operating in gateway mode, the SRG acts as a relay point for other hand-held and vehicle radios, stretching the trunked network into any black spots or to more distant users on the fringes of coverage.

Walter Gotti, Managing Director for GEG said: “Thanks to Sepura radios, GEG succeeded in securing such a prestigious order for Italy’s main airport”.

Emanuele Algieri, Regional Sales Director for Sepura said: “Sepura radios already provide clear, secure voice and data communications to many airports world-wide: this contract reflects our outstanding track record in supplying airports”.