tetrasim online editor

TETRAsim Online Editor

Product description, May 2010

TETRAsim

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Introduction

TETRAsim Online is an e-learning platform for creating and managing interactive TETRA radio

courses on radios of all major manufacturers (EADS, Motorola, Sepura). With TETRAsim Online

Editor, the customer can create own courses in any language for training radio users on various

knowledge levels.

The unique feature of TETRAsim Online Editor is the possibility to create interactive radio ex-

ercises and radio demos which faithfully simulate the real-life radio usage. Both exercises and

demos use the customer’s network and radio parameters. TETRAsim provides the customer

with a radio simulator system for the configuration of the parameters and the creation of radio

demos and exercises. Apart from the radio exercises and demos, the courses may contain text,

graphics, animation, sound and video, which are shown at carefully timed intervals.

TETRAsim Online is the most effective tool for training a large number of radio users in a short

period of time. The platform can handle even a hundred thousand users easily. The trainees

can access the courses in local area network or in world-wide web. The trainers can create new

courses, control the access of trainees to the courses and monitor the trainees’ progress.

Access to TETRAsim Online

TETRAsim Online can be accessed via a LAN network or through World Wide Web, as chosen

by the customer. If the World Wide Web is chosen, the platform may either be installed on the

customer’s web server or be hosted by TETRAsim.

The platform can be accessed by a number of trainees as well as by trainers. The number of

licenses, i.e., the number of trainees allowed to access the platform, is defined in the contract

terms. The trainee licenses are personal and cannot be transferred to other trainees.

Trainees access the platform with their e-mail address. The trainers grant the trainees access

by creating them login codes for the first-time access or by adding the trainees and their e-mail

addresses manually (see depiction of trainees’ login screen in figure 2).

OEENE20100519 www.tetrasim.com TETRAsim Online Editor

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Figure 1: The structure of TETRAsim Online


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Figure 2: Login screen for trainees

Course Structure

On TETRAsim Online, the course content is organised into chapters and pages. Each course has

a number of chapters, and each chapter consists of a number of pages. The trainees may view

the chapters in any order, whereas the pages within one chapter are shown one after another

in a chronological order. The main page type is slide, which can include various media: text,

graphics, animation, radio demos, and interactive radio exercises. Other page types include

multiple-choice questions, cloze exercises and flash video.

Radio demos are two-dimensional radio depictions that show what happens on the radio screen

when a key is pressed; each key press is highlighted on the radio keypad. Radio demos are used

to demonstrate activities consisting of several key presses: making a call, sending a message,

reading a message and so on. In interactive radio exercises, trainees have to perform the same

things with the radio that were demonstrated earlier by clicking the radio keys with the mouse.

An example chapter with different kinds of pages as well as radio objects can be seen in figure 3

on the following page.


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Figure 3: Example of the structure of a chapter


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The durations of slides and the timing of media appearing on slides are defined by the trainer.

Trainees can control the flow of the presentation by pausing and going back and forward, if

needed. The trainer can, however, disable the forward button for the first view or altogether to

prevent too fast browsing of the content.

Example Course

The example course by TETRAsim delivered together with the Online Editor teaches the basic

use of one radio model. Other courses are available on request. For detailed course descrip-

tions, see the Appendix.

Each TETRAsim radio course chapter comprises four parts (see figure 3 on the previous page):

1. Introduction: What the trainee will learn in that chapter

2. The theory part: How radio is used and what are the essential concepts one should know

3. Summary: The key points of the chapter summarised

4. Exercises: Interactive radio exercises, multiple-choice questions, cloze exercises

The network parameters of the customer organisation may be reflected in the radio demos

and the radio exercises. This is possible if the customer sends TETRAsim a short description

of the main network parameters (network name, groups, folders, status messages) before the

delivery. The network parameters cannot be changed at a later time.

Editor View

The contents of a chapter are edited in the Editor View. One page is opened for editing at a

time. Pages can be opened from the page list, displayed on the left side of the screen, and

the page editing tools can be found in the top part of the screen (see figure 4 on the following

page).

Pages can be moved on the page list by dragging and dropping as well as added, copied and

deleted. Trainers can create their own page templates with own background images. Text,


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Figure 4: Editor view

graphic, radio, sound and hint objects can be added to slides with the buttons in the top part

of the screen, after which their position and size can be conveniently adjusted on the slide

by dragging with the mouse. Object placement is helped by positioning tools such as vertical

and horizontal centering, exact coordinates and a “snap to grid” function. Text size, style,

alignment, color and background can be edited.

Not only do the slides have durations, but each slide object also has the property, at what

moment it appears on and disappears from the slide. The timing of the objects is adjusted on a

vertical time scale, displayed in the top part of the screen. The timing is done by dragging and

dropping the start or end of an object with the mouse. The appearance and disappearance of

text and graphic objects can also be accentuated with various effects. The slide preview shows

how the trainee sees the slide with timing and effects.

Other page types are multiple-choice questions, cloze exercises and flash videos. In multiple-

choice questions the trainer enters a question and two or three answer alternatives and selects

the right answer. The trainees will see the answer alternatives each time in a random order.

A cloze exercise consists of a text with some words removed by the trainer. The trainees are


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then supposed to enter the missing words. Flash videos created with other programs can be

inserted into chapters as pages but not further edited.

Course View

Figure 5: Course View

The course view gives an overview of the course structure and shows the progress and results

of the trainees participating in the course. The course is displayed as a grid with chapters

as columns and trainees as rows. Each cell at the intersection of a row and a column shows,

whether the trainee in question has completed the chapter and with what results. If the chapter

has been completed by the trainee, the cell is green and the point total of the chapter exercises

is displayed on it (see figure 5).

The trainee list in the course view can be filtered and sorted with various criteria: name, trainee

categories and completed chapters. This is essential on any platform with thousands of trainees

or more. Any filtered trainee list can be exported to XLS format. The course view also includes

options for adding trainees to the course, adding new chapters and changing the chapter order

as well as links to the Editor View.


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Training Management

The management tasks of TETRAsim Online are performed in the Training Management view.

All trainers and their courses are listed on it, and new trainers and courses can be added.

Each course belongs to one trainer, who can edit its contents and see the trainees’ progress

in it. Courses can be easily moved from one trainer to another if the responsibilities change.

Moreover, courses can be exported into and imported from a single file in order to create copies

of courses for other trainers and for backup purposes. (See figure 6.)

Figure 6: Training Management

Trainee categories are an essential feature for keeping trainees organised on platforms with

thousands of users. Typical categories are location, such as city or region, and organisation or

part of organisation. In the Training Management view, trainers can create categories, define

the available options of each category, and then attach the categories to courses. Once trainee

categories have been attached to a course, category options can be selected when new trainees

are created. It is then possible to search for trainees on the course view based on their category


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options. For example, if city and organisation are defined as categories, trainers can search for

trainees coming from a certain city or belonging to a certain organisation.

There are two types of trainer accounts: administrators and trainers without administration

rights. Without administration rights, trainers can create and manage their own courses, but

have no control over the platform settings or other trainers and their courses.

Business Opportunities

The customer is free to give the obtained trainee licenses to people of its choice. This opens up

business opportunities. The customer of TETRAsim may sell rights to access some or all courses

on the Online platform to other organisations or individuals. Access rights may be sold to both

customer’s own courses and those made by TETRAsim.

It is easy to grant a number of people access to Online courses by providing them login codes

for first-time access. A login code has two features: the courses it allows to be accessed and the

number of times it can be used. The code itself is generated automatically but can be changed

to another sequence of letters and/or numbers. When trainees access the Online platform for

the first time, they enter the code and then proceed to entering their own details: name, e-mail

and appropriate choices from categories such as organisation or location. On subsequent logins

the trainees will only need to enter the e-mail address.


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Project Flow

Phase Method Details Duration

Placing the order Customer The customer orders Online Editor

with a number of trainee licenses,

defining the radio(s) and the

language(s) needed in the Online

Editor and in the radio simulator

system. Translations of the example

course as well as additional example

courses are available on request.

Supplying network

parameters for the

example course

(optional)

Dialogue

between

customer and

TETRAsim

The network parameters will be

determined with a detailed

questionnaire sent by TETRAsim.

1-2 weeks

Preparation and

translation

TETRAsim The custom network parameters will

be applied to the example course

and the Online Editor and the

example course translated as

requested by the customer

0-6 weeks

Installation on the

server,

train-the-trainer

instruction

TETRAsim with

customer

The Online Editor is installed on the

customer’s server or on a server

provided by TETRAsim. The training

is offered as contact teaching and

covers both the Online Editor and

the radio simulator system used for

creating radio content with own

parameters.

3-4 days


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Free technical

support

TETRAsim TETRAsim Support can be contacted

via phone and e-mail. If the support

is extended beyond the free support

period of 1 year, the support

contract also includes periodical

updates to new software versions.

1 year


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A EADS Radios, Basic Course

• Course Introduction: Introduction to the course, instructions on how to navigate in the

online course

• Introduction to TETRA: An introduction to the most important features and advantages of

digital radio communication and the TETRA standard

• Basic Operations:

– Switching power on/off

– Navigating in the menus

– Adjusting the volume

– Switching loudspeaker on/off

– Activating/deactivating the keypad lock

– Watching the battery level and changing the battery

• Group Call:

– Making and ending a group call

– Receiving group calls and queueing

– Changing the group

– Changing the group folder

– Selecting the home group

• Direct Call

– Making a direct call

– Receiving direct calls

– Ending a direct call

• Individual Call

– The difference of direct calls and individual calls

– Making an individual call


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– Answering an individual call

– Ending an individual call

• Emergency Call

– Higher group priority for emergency calls

– Making an emergency call

– Ending an emergency call

• Status Messages

– Introduction to status messages

– Sending status messages

– REading Status messages

– Deleting received messages

• Situation Indicators

– Introduction to situation indicators

– Sending situation indicators

• Operating Mode

– Introduction to operating modes and the differences between TMO and DMO

– Describing situations where DMO is needed

– Switching from TMO to DMO or from DMO to TMO

– Changing the DMO group and the DMO channel

• Transmission Barring

– Description of the situations where Transmission barring is needed

– Restrictions when using Transmission barring

– Switching Transmission barring on/off

• Functional Number Keys and Duty Key

– Examples of functions that can be activated with functional number keys


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– The function of duty key

• Final Exam

– The trainees are tested on all themes covered by the course chapters

– Radio exercises, multiple-choice questions, cloze exercises

B EADS Radios, Advanced Course

• Course Introduction: Introduction to the course

• Scanning

– Introducing scanning

– Switching scanning on/off

– Changing group priorities

• Dispatcher Call

– Making a dispatcher call

• Call Log

– Viewing call log

– Initiating calls from the call log

– Clearing log lists

• Key Settings

– Changing the home group setting

– Changing the push-to-talk setting

– Changing the duty key setting

• Changes in Groups

– What happens when a new group membership is granted

– What happens when a membership in a group is removed


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– What DGNA groups are and how they are used

• Background Groups

– Introducing background groups and the situations where they are used

– Background group call (initiated by dispatcher)

– Viewing installed background groups

• Editing Contacts

– How to create a new contact

– How to edit a contact

– How to delete a contact

• Calls to numbers outside TETRA

– Making a call outside TETRA

• SDS Messages

– The differences between status and SDS messages

– How to write an SDS message

– How to send or save an SDS message

– Incoming SDS messages: reading and deleting

– Switching SDS delivery requests on/off

• Profiles

– Introducing profiles

– Changing the active profile

• Positioning

– Introducing the positioning feature

– Finding out one’s own position

– Viewing the direction of movement

– Sending own position in an SDS message


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• Fallback Situation

– Definition of the fallback situation

– How to know there is a fallback situation

– Using the radio in a fallback situation

• Final Exam


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