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Motorola has won a contract to provide a TETRA digital trunked radio communications network to Urumqi airport, China, together with Beijing Civil Aviation Tianyu Technology Development.

The two companies will help the airport upgrade its radio communications network from analog to digital trunked radio.

With a total area of 47,000 m², the airport is designed to handle an annual passenger throughput of 4.05 million. Currently, 21 airlines operate over 80 flight routes, with 700 scheduled flights a week. The airport is an important civil aviation hub in western China and one of the seven administration centres of China civil aviation.

The growth of scheduled flights and passenger throughput at the airport places increasing pressure on the current analog radio system to meet the needs for greater security and the use of data applications.

This led to the decision by the administration department of Urumqi airport to upgrade the current system to a digital trunked radio platform.

As part of the contract, Motorola will provide the airport with the latest-generation base station and advanced IP switch equipment. The system was due to be fully operational in August 2009, when the new network will facilitate communications in the airport management area and support cross-system dispatch communications with the existing analog system, paving the way for gradual migration to the digital system.

Before the Urumqi project, Motorola and Beijing Civil Aviation won the contract to provide a TETRA system for the Lhasa airport, the first TETRA deployment in the Xi'zang province, which is on the highest plateau in China.

Under this contract, Motorola provided its TETRA infrastructure and terminals to replace the conventional two-way radio system. Since its deployment earlier in the year, the system has been delivering enhanced performance in terms of signal coverage, voice quality and number of talk groups to better meet the communication needs of the airport.