Renewed TETRA network for the Ebro River Basin Authority

The Ebro River Basin Authority (CHE) — the organisation that manages, regulates and maintains the water and irrigation of the Ebro hydrographic basin in north-eastern Spain — has selected Teltronic to renew the TETRA digital radio network that provides voice and data services in almost all of the 85,534 km² of the basin, which represents 17% of the Spanish peninsular territory. The project has the financial backing of the NextGenerationEU, with an investment of €1.8 million.

The TETRA network is a fundamental tool for the CHE as it supports the Automatic Hydrological Information System (SAIH), responsible for capturing, transmitting in real time, processing and presenting the data that describe the hydrological and hydraulic status of the basin. This allows the Basin Processing Centre (CPC) located in Zaragoza to remotely manage the infrastructure, including dams, canals, irrigation systems, etc. The main objective of this telecommunications service, which has more than 600 measuring stations, is to facilitate and ensure the availability of essential information for proper management and decision-making, both in normal situations and in flood or emergency episodes, in order to reduce the damage caused by these, as well as to carry out efficient management of hydraulic resources to optimise their exploitation.

Teltronic has agreed to deploy its TETRA NEBULA system including 67 units of MCBS, the company’s base station with multi-carrier capabilities, which not only improves data traffic capacities but also allows a reduction in energy consumption. The solution also includes the Switching Control Node, with a second unit set to be installed in a different location with the same capabilities and functionalities. This geographical redundancy, inherent in the NEBULA architecture, responds to the need to guarantee data transmission at all times and ensure the full operation of the SAIH even in critical situations.

The new Teltronic system is compatible and interoperable with the more than 600 SAIH terminals which are installed in equipment such as flow meters, rain gauges, weather stations, etc, and whose information is sent to the CPC where the telecontrol of the different infrastructures is carried out. In addition to its measurement and remote control functions, the TETRA network allows voice communications between the personnel working in the different infrastructures and offices of the basin, which is an essential requirement for the implementation of the emergency plans in the dams. It also helps to guarantee the communication of warning sirens to the population when required.

In the future, the incorporation of additional broadband services will enable the exchange of massive data, such as video transmission, in real time.

Image courtesy Teltronic.