Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)

The GCR (Grup de Comunicacions Ràdio – Radiocommunication Group) research group belongs to the Department of Signal Theory and Communications of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC). The group focuses its main activity in the area of Mobile and Wireless Communications, where it has been developing research and consultancy activities for both private and public sectors for the last 20 years. The group consists of two Full Professors, five Associate Professors and three Assistant Professors, together with eight graduate students pursuing their PhD and about 10 students working for their Master diploma.

The group has recognised expertise in 2G/3G/4G wireless network architectures and protocols, interworking, radio network planning and deployment, radio interface design (layers 1, 2 and 3) and radio resource management strategies for QoS guarantee in heterogeneous radio access networks. Research expertise also expands over different forms of dynamic spectrum assignment and spectrum sharing strategies, cognitive radio and cognitive network functionalities as well as autonomic and self-organising wireless networks. More that 300 technical papers have been produced in these fields. Methodologically, the group has developed static and dynamic system level simulation platforms for heterogeneous technologies, real-time end-to-end QoS emulators for real IP-based applications, DSP and FPGA-based demonstration platforms, spectrum measurement occupancy platforms and campaigns, together with theoretical models and the use of commercial planning and drive-test tools when appropriate.

Since 1992, the group has been involved in fourteen European research projects: ATDMA and CODIT in the RACE II program; RAINBOW and MICC in the ACTS program; WINEGLASS, ARROWS and CAUTION++ in FP5-IST; EVEREST; E2R, NEWCOM, E2R2 and AROMA in FP6-.IST; E3 and NEWCOM++ in FP7-ICT. UPC has been Coordinator in ARROWS, EVEREST and AROMA projects. Besides, the group has participated in a number of national projects. Furthermore, the group has established activities with companies such as Telefónica Móviles, Fundación Vodafone España, Alcatel, Teltronic and Tradia, among others.

British Association of Public-Safety Communications Officers (BAPCO)

BAPCO is an independent, user led, professional members forum to promote and influence excellence in the development and use of communications and information management systems in public safety, civil resilience and civil contingencies. The Association is a multi level, multi agency organisation which, in partnership with the industry, maintains regular liaison with manufacturers and other commercial bodies, such as consultants, to monitor developments in technology and future planning.

As the leading independent user-representation group in the UK, BAPCO has a seat on the UK Government’s Cabinet Office Resilient Communications Group which is the body for co-ordinating future requirements for resilient (interoperable) communications systems and also has seats on the Association of Chief Police Officers Communications Committee and Intelligent Transport Systems group.

With liaison agreements with similar organisations in Australia, Canada and USA, BAPCO is an independent and autonomous founding partner of the APCO Alliance for International Cooperation and Development. This body is a global network of public safety communications and information management system users dedicated to the regular exchange of information, ideas, experiences and good practices to influence the setting of standards, developing and improving systems and global inter-operability of technology and operational procedures. The Executive Director of BAPCO is currently the Chair of that international organisation.

In addition, the Executive Director is also Chair of the ETSI EMTEL Group and the Association is responsible for the co-ordination of user inputs and project validation in Projects CHORIST and SECRICOM that are funded by the European Commission, a project on satellite communications funded by the European Space Agency and in Project MESA, a joint project through ETSI and TIA in the USA.

The Association is also active in the promotion of the Public Safety Communications Forum Europe (PSCE).

EADS Defence & Security (EADS DS)

EADS Defence and Communication Systems (DCS) is part of the Defence & Security Systems (DS) Division of EADS.

The DCS Business Unit goal is to create complete communication and information systems solutions including platforms and to provide the means of implementing these solutions. With its systems competencies, DCS fulfils all customer requirements in the areas of Air and Naval Defence, Information Superiority, advanced Command, Control and Communication (C3I) systems, Professional Mobile Radio (PMR) and Homeland Security.

DCS is the EADS "Systems House", offering its customers comprehensive and tailored solutions that combine the know-how to design, develop and implement Large System Integration (LSI) solutions making it possible to link the widest possible range of individual platforms and subsystems into a single effective network. DCS can call on the full range of capabilities and experience in military systems and secure communications networks.

System integration is also increasingly important for non-military customers in areas such as Homeland Security. Information and secure communication system solutions in these fields, as well as systems enabling effective border control and coastal surveillance, are a further major focus of DCS.

Within DCS, Professional Mobile Radio Line of Business is present in France and Finland through the product business entity Security & Communication Solutions (SCS).

SCS is committed to ensuring that professional organisations, from police departments to utility companies, have the highest level of confidence in their secure communications by providing a comprehensive and unrivalled package of network, terminals, integration and services.

SCS activities are of strategic importance to EADS. All civil and military organisations, whether public or private, national or local, need completely reliable and fully secure radio communications systems to coordinate their actions and increase their operational efficiency. Including TETRAPOL, TETRA and P25 in its portfolio, EADS has the three most PMR important technologies available and can offer tailor-made solutions that meet customers’ requirements.

With digital Professional Mobile Radio customers in around 56 countries, EADS DS is the world’s leading provider of PMR networks, having successfully delivered 130 networks, more than 30 of which with nationwide coverage.

DATAX Sp. z.o.o. (DTX)

DATAX Sp. z o.o., an SME, is a vendor of specialised services and software solutions for mobile communications industry, located in Wrocław, Poland.

DATAX is focusing its activities on three main areas: 1) 2G/3G consulting services - DATAX offers an entire range of consulting services in area of radio access network. DATAX's RF expertise allows undertaking projects that cover entire life-cycle of the radio network elements and include Radio Access Network design, dimensioning, planning and configuration; Frequency allocation and other associated parameters’ planning; Advanced network optimisation based on live network measurements and statistical data analysis;, 2) Software solutions for radio and transmission networks - Current DATAX's product portfolio consists of two groups of products: a) automatic frequency planning, neighbour relations planning and planning of frequency-related parameters (QBooster), b) configuration and performance management platform (so-called CM and PM platform) of radio and transmission infrastructure (Ranook Platform), 3) R&D activities - R&D activities cover broad range of algorithmic aspects connected with optimisation of the radio and transmission networks, new network architectures, data acquisition, modeling and simulation as well as software development techniques. Specifically, techniques targeted at Self Organising Networks (SONs) and Cognitive Radio Networks (CRNs), encompassing exploitation of cognitive device management and autonomous self-x operations for the provision of intuitive applications and services as well as optimisation of network parameters are in focus.

Joint Research Center (JRC)

The Joint Research Centre (JRC Ispra) is a research based policy support organisation and an integral part of the European Commission. The mission of the JRC is to provide customer-driven scientific and technical support for the conception, development, implementation and monitoring of EU policies. The JRC has seven scientific institutes. The Security technology assessment (STA) Unit of the Institute for the Protection and the Security of the Citizen (IPSC) will be involved in this project.

IPSC provides scientific and technical support to EU external relations and security related policies, particularly in the areas of global security & stability, border management, fight against terrorism and crime, as well as in nuclear, transport and energy security.

The Security technology assessment (STA) mission is to contribute to EU policies related to the security of citizens by applying secure information and communication technologies, and analysing their dependable implementation, deployment and use. The areas of research deal with information, communication and sensing technologies applied to the detection and mitigation of man-made threats, systemic errors and failures, and natural hazards to critical infrastructures and border controls, and to the management of security situations.

The Unit applies especially know-how in the context of advanced telecommunication and radar technologies, integrated border management, ICT security and privacy, in secure pan-European e-Government, e-Commerce, e-Health applications and in advanced sensor technologies.

The ATS Unit has a long experience in the development, measurement and testing of RADAR and emerging Wireless communications technologies including SDR and UWB. One the main equipment facilities of the Unit is the European Microwave Signature Laboratory (EMSL), which, since April 1992, has been doing continuous experimental work focused on themes at the forefront of radar signature research and wireless communication.