Message received in all areas at Westland
November 1st 2005

At Westland Helicopters in Yeovil, Capcom has installed and implemented an upgraded communications network that provides full coverage of the vast site and improved privacy for communications.

The original system was basic with two repeaters and a back-toback channel. It was fragmented and gave poor coverage. Three user groups - security, maintenance and air traffic all ended up working independently and with no ability to co-ordinate with each other.

The system needed to be active 24/7 and be suitable for facilities management, security and fire.

Capcom's brief was for a system that everybody could use, but that still enabled individual sections to work autonomously as required.

An MPT 1327 trunked radio solution using Zetron's Model 827 was considered the most appropriate choice. With its open architecture, MPT 1327 enables the network to be tailored by adding features as required.

Model 827 was chosen for its simple, building-block approach.

Channels can be added incrementally, so operators can build as they go, without having to buy more infrastructure than needed initially. With no central switch required, the design and cost of future system expansion is predictable and economic.

Zetron's powerful telephone interconnect option allows staff to communicate with colleagues, customers or suppliers from anywhere in the world on their MPT radio system via the PSTN, or potentially free of charge when used across their WAN as an extension of the switchboard, even at previously inaccessible parts of the site.

As controllers are linked via serial data buses, control data is passed between the trunking controllers through the data buses.

One Model 827 becomes the communication bus 'master' and manages the other trunking controllers which enables all controllers to share resources. Just one interconnect was required.