Considerable research was done using the Internet. Information from various Web sites was studied and analyzed; evaluation of publicly available marketing and technical publications was conducted. Telephone conversations and interviews were held with industry analysts, technical experts and executives. In addition to these interviews and primary research, secondary sources were used to develop a more complete mosaic of the market landscape, including industry and trade publications, conferences and seminars.
The overriding objective throughout the work has been to provide valid and relevant information. This has led to a continual review and update of the information content.
Target Audience
This report is important for organizations using LMR. They need to understand the market and major players’ portfolios to select the right equipment and to design networks.
For LMR vendors, this report provides valuable information on competition. It also supports these vendors with the market assessment.
This report is about digital trunked Land Mobile Radio (LMR) technologies and markets for public safety and commercial applications. Most of the report analysis relates only to the U.S. market. The report addresses digital LMR trends, and particular stresses that in the U.S. users (with a need for an advanced, forward-looking radio technology) have choices primarily limited by:
Project 25 (P25) Radio
NXDN Radio
MOTOTRBO Radio.
There are many analog radio vendors and other digital radio manufacturers (some of them, are still having problems with deployments), but three choices listed above allow utilization forward-looking technologies with specifications that satisfy FCC narrowband requirements; more then that, all three technologies can be utilized in commercial and Public Safety Communications (PSC) applications, though only P25 radios are currently approved for the PSC use. NXDN and MOTOTRBO technologies have been introduced to the digital LMR market only recently, while P25 is in the development at least for the last decade, with large volume of shipping.
The report addresses a phased approach to the development of P25 PSC radio; this approach allows to gradual migration from existing PSC networks, based mostly on FM analog technology, to the modern all-digital technology. Currently, only Phase I-compliant radios are being deployed; Phase II systems are planned for shipping only in a couple of years, with Phase III/Project MESA equipment, which is mostly in the development stage, follows up. The goal of such an approach is to make migration to digital narrowband PSC radio as painful as possible to homeland security agencies, and to create, eventually, country/global interoperability.
NXDN radio development is a result of joint efforts of two companies, Icom and Kenwood and it is based on the FDMA technology. The companies developed two lines of products, IDAS (Icom) and NEXEDGE (Kenwood); these radios were implemented with many advanced technological features, including 6.25 kHz channels. At the same time, Motorola introduced its MOTOTRBO line of digital LMR, which also utilized newer technologies and is based on TDMA access.
Note that all three companies are also very active in the P25 market, and are established vendors of P25 equipment, with Motorola in the leading position. At the present time, NXDN and MOTOTRBO products are aiming for the commercial segments of the LMR market, while P25 technology is mainly utilized in the PSC market.
Though the cost efficiency of newer digital trunked systems is not so great in comparison with older analog systems; it is expected that the cost will go down with proliferation of the systems. NXDN and MOTOTRBO systems, in general, are more cost-effective than P25 radios. The marketing analysis, provided in this report, supports this statement.
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