Software PMR Mobile Radio

In 2001 Simoco Europe Ltd (formerly Philips PMR) urgently needed to complete the (late) development and factory introduction of a new mobile radio, the SRM9000. Alister Bailey was appointed initially as an auditor to investigate the project's problems and then as the Programme Manager to drive the project forward. His goal was to ensure continued revenue to fund the company's massive investments into TETRA technology and to satisfy the existing (worldwide) customer base and order book as supply of the previous product generation had already been stopped.

An unusual obstacle was the remoteness of the production facility and parent company in the UK from the development team in Australia. Alister's next job was to bridge this gap and ensure that all the departments in the company provided their support as and when it was required.

This project was technically ground-breaking in that the radio design used a single DSP (digital signal processor) to perform all signal encoding and decoding as well as controlling the user interface. This product was one of the first true “software radios” to be put into volume production. The impact of this architecture was to significantly reduce the manufacturing (product) complexity, provide consistent performance and great flexibility for the specialist PMR (Private Mobile Radio) market. As with all projects of this complexity and novelty, there were also many technical and logistical hurdles to overcome. This was achieved despite the surprisingly small size of the development team involved.

Furthermore, deliveries to early adopters of this new radio were all met within a few more months and the radio continued its development until 12 months later there were 8 frequency bands with both trunked and non-trunked versions, Arabic and European language variants and a range of ancillaries in production.

This product has since become a performance flagship in the PMR industry and is now manufactured by TMC Radio Pty Ltd. formerly Simoco (Australia)Pty Ltd.

Home