Trunking 101

What is Trunking?

It is one of those techie terms for a very big business. The technical details can choke a horse, so we’ll try and keep things simple…

A trunking system is the communications technology behind the scenes for two-way radios to allow them to talk to each other. These are the radios that police, fire and ambulance, as well as enterprise companies such as manufacturing, utilities, transportation/logistics, construction, resorts, stadiums, and many other entities use to coordinate men and machines.

System Types

Public Safety

Many very large systems cover large counties and even entire states. In many cases these systems are made by Motorola and are called ASTRO® 25 networks. In one state, there are over 100 tower sites which are all linked together to a common "brain" that controls every call from every radio. Systems this large can cost millions of dollars, which is a big chunk of change for one entity to carry alone. So, what happens is the entity installing a two-way communications system (such as the county government) partners with surrounding cities in the area to use their shiny new two-way communications system. In turn, there is a monthly or annual fee for each city (or agency) that uses the system. Radios on a public safety system have demanding standards and cost thousands of dollars apiece.

Commercial / Enterprise

One form of trunking systems are operated by businesses and organizations. Entrepreneurs invest in putting up towers and the infrastructure of a two-way communications system. These are called SMRs (Specialized Mobile Radio).

Performance Management Solutions

Genesis develops industry-standard performance management solutions that help entrepreneurs and large system owners maximize their two-way communications investment. Genesis gathers all airtime information and displays it in real time, as well distributes it to SQL databases for archiving. From those archives, Genesis provides comprehensive reports that let system operators perform in-depth forensic analysis on usage and other performance metrics to take proactive as well as reactive measures.