About TIG

The TETRA Industry Group (TIG) is an informal grouping of organisations who are suppliers or users of TETRA-based technology. Members include Airwave Safety Communications Limited, EADS, London Underground Limited, Motorola, Sepura and The TETRA Association. These organisations have a common interest in the health and environmental aspects of TETRA.

The aim of the group is to provide, share and communicate information about the health and environmental aspects of TETRA, and to build relationships with and provide support for stakeholder groups on health issues. TIG runs occasional seminars which enable users of TETRA based systems to benefit from a direct dialogue with scientists working in the field of RF safety. It also publishes fact sheets, and provides other resources that can be found on this website.

What is TETRA and how does it work

TETRA is an international open standard for digital mobile radio communications, developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute. The technology is known as Terrestrial Trunked Radio and it is used to provide the resilient, robust, private mobile communications services needed by demanding professional users like the emergency services and commercial organisations with mobile workforces or large vehicle fleets, like the security, construction and transport industries.

TETRA has characteristics in common with the mobile communications networks most of use daily to make and received calls when we are on the move. It offers additional features to provide secure, reliable and versatile communications, including digital call quality; transmission of voice, data and pictures; encryption, direct mode operation to allow local communications groups to be set up;  and managed fallback.

Like all wireless systems, TETRA uses radio signals or radio waves in the non-ionising frequency band. Radio waves are part of our everyday lives and bring us the benefits of television, radio and communications on the move. A number of questions have been raised about whether radio frequency emissions might have an effect on the health and safety of users or the general public. TIG aims to provide an overview of the extensive scientific information available on this subject, together with its own views on the issues.

Appendix C of a report published by the Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research programme (page 47 – 48) contains a simple summary of how the TETRA network for the emergency services operates. For more information about the MTHR programme see our Science pages. To visit the MTHR site click here, and to go straight to their 2007 report, click here.