Performance evaluation by field trials of a VHF single sideband radio system using TTIB technology

With the ever increasing use of private mobile radio (PMR) and cellular systems, spectrum congestion is becoming a more pressing problem, and the use of narrow band techniques to increase spectrum efficiency has become more desirable. The introduction of 5 kHz (single sideband) SSB systems would therefore seem a natural progression towards effective spectrum utilisation. The DTI (Radio Communications Agency) commissioned a series of independent field trials to assess the quality of SSB and its integrability into the existing PMR infrastructure. The trials used the diagnostic rhyme test and bit error rate measurement to assess the relative performance of the three modulation schemes under test: AM, FM and SSB. The authors briefly describe the test strategy and discuss the test results for vehicles travelling at slow, medium, and fast speeds