Belgium's ASTRID paging system updated

Belgium’s ASTRID emergency services paging system has been updated.

Belgium’s ASTRID has completed the changeover from its old paging system to a new one. Paging is used by the fire brigades and emergency services to send messages to volunteers, who are equipped with pagers through which they can receive alert notices.

The main users of the system are the (voluntary) fire brigade, the Civil Protection Service, several medical emergency services, doctors, hospitals and the Red Cross. Paging subscriptions are free of charge for emergency zones (fire brigade) and public emergency services.

More than 2.3 million pages pass through the network every year.

The changeover took place on 4 June, following several months of preparation. The technically complex migration was completed in just four hours (between 8 am and noon), during which time the paging service was interrupted.

After the switchover of the 226 antennas in various locations all over the country, the pagers of the volunteer firefighters and emergency responders — as well as the alarm terminals at the fire stations — automatically connected to the new system. The work also included on-site technical maintenance on 30 antennas.

Preparations for renovating the infrastructure and ensuring continuity of the service provision in the future began one year ago. ASTRID worked closely together with the user organisations throughout the entire process.

Radio communications were not interrupted during the switchover operation as it did not involve the ASTRID TETRA network.

Necessary works

Certain components of the old paging system had become outdated or had reached end-of-life status, and the supplier was no longer able to offer maintenance or a replacement.

After consultation with the users, it was decided to re-opt for POCSAG, a widely used technology standard that continues to meet the operational needs of the emergency services.

The renewal of the system encompassed the replacement of the network core and its auxiliary system (consolidated in three data centres) and the gradual replacement of the emitters on the antennas.

“This technological upgrade offers a direct operational benefit to the users in the field, ie, the 12,000 volunteer firefighters who are active throughout Belgium,” said Christophe Grégoire, chief operations officer at ASTRID. “In addition, it ensures continuity of the paging service for another 15 years.

“I would like to thank all of the users and everyone who has participated in the works for their contribution to this complex migration effort.”

Features of the new paging system include:

• messages are transmitted faster as a result of more rapid processing in the centralised system;
• better redundancy — the centralised systems are redundant and continually exchange their data;
• advanced system monitoring from the ASTRID Service Centre;
• no need to replace the 21,000 pagers already in use in the field;
• guaranteed technological support from the supplier of the infrastructure (Thales) for the next 15 years.

New key features in the longer term will include encryption, acknowledgment of receipt and automatic retransmission effort in the case of failed delivery.