Aug 17, 2009 11:25 AM, By Donny Jackson

LAS VEGAS — Harris RF Communications demonstrated an interoperability solution that lets users operate on different spectrum bands on the radio and network levels today at the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) conference.

The solution leverages two key strengths of the newly merged Harris RF Communications unit — the IP-based VIDA network platform from the former Tyco Electronics, and the Unity XG-100 multiband portable radios, said John Vaughan, senior vice president of marketing and business development for Harris RF Communications.

Multiband radios such as the Unity let users talk on a UHF, VHF or 700/800 MHz radio system. However, the radios must be reset if the user is traveling between system A and system B, for example, Vaughan said.

"This is the first complete interoperability solution, because VIDA ties the networks together and multiband radio ties the radios together, so you have interoperability at both levels," Vaughan said. "Now, when you have a multiband radio, you can roam from A to B, and you can talk from B to B or you can talk from A to B.

"The reason is that the radio talks to either [system], and the networks are connected together," he said. "And that’s never happened before … it completes the circle."

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