As with tall buildings, underground situations can pose difficulties for fire and rescue personnel due the depth of underground areas and the materials used for construction. These materials can block RF signals preventing communications and thus causing coverage blackspots. Similarly, long tunnels can also pose a problem particularly if they have bends along them.
E-Packs are an ideal solution here as they can be deployed along the length of the tunnel to create an ad hoc network with their ability to automatically form a wireless mesh. E-packs are small and portable and can be carried in a backpack by fire and rescue personnel.
Based on DMR Tier II technology, the E-pack 100 offers fast and flexible networking for situations that require a temporary communications system based on simplex voice calls. The E-pack functions as a radio to make and receive calls or to create a wireless mobile ad hoc network up to a maximum of 32 repeater nodes - all on one frequency, greatly increasing spectrum efficiency.
An unlimited number of DMR radios can be supported, but as they operate in ‘simplex’ direct mode, only one person can talk at a time. E-pack also supports emergency calls, GPS location services and DMR Tier 2 services such as radio checks and remote stun and revive. E-packs provide an excellent way to rapidly deploy a temporary network without the need for any permanent infrastructure.
