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| News Jan 1, 1998 |
The Passport NTS trunking protocol, developed by Trident Micro Systems, Arden, NC, supports wide-area networking and seamless roaming between networked sites with automatic registration and de-registration for user radios. The protocol features selective calling, telephone interconnect and security from theft, and it is backward compatible with LTR. Passport supports a dual-protocol operating environment, which simplifies the migration path for radio users and operators who are upgrading existing systems. Passport radios use direct frequency assignment to determine their operating frequency. The assignments are made over-the-air by the system infrastructure. Changes in the system or network configurations do not require that all radios using a given system be reprogrammed, such as with the standard LTR operating environment. The protocol is an enhanced version, supporting 60,000 individual user ID codes per system and 7.5 million roamer ID codes per network. The amount of user ID codes is the yield from the mobile identity number (MIN) and group IDs (GRP-ID), 16-bit assignments. The protocol also features auto registration when roaming from system to system. Because each radio has a unique MIN, the radio is recognized by the new system and is registered automatically onto the network. Dispatch and interconnect calls intended for the radio will be forwarded to its new location. Trident Micro Systems will provide free licenses to qualified radio manufacturers. Rhett Grotzinger, vice president, said, "This protocol is going to allow today's SMR to stay competitive with other forms of wireless communications." Companies that have adopted the Passport trunking protocol: * Kenwood, Long Beach, CA. * Ritron, Carmel, IN. * Standard Communications, Torrance, CA. * SEA, Mountlake Terrace, WA. |
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