Solutions · Recording and traceability
We record every radio and telephone communication of the control room on a single IP system, with search, replay, and traceability of every access.
We supply control rooms with the recording system built into the Respondr platform, an IP recorder that captures every channel at once: radio, telephony, and PoC. Recordings are searched by radio ID, time, channel, group, and message content; retention is configurable, and every action stays traced to the individual operator.
When an incident closes, the questions come afterwards: who gave the authorization, what time the call went out, which channel the emergency was handled on. A mission-critical control room has to be able to answer with recordings, not with the operators’ memory.
That is why we propose the recording system built into the Respondr platform: an IP recorder that captures every channel at once, from the TETRA, DMR, P25, and analog VHF/UHF radio networks connected through the gateways, to the control room telephony, through to PTT calls over the cellular network. Recordings are searched by radio ID, time, channel, group, and message content, and stay in the archive for the configured period, with an automatic backup copy.
Traceability completes the picture: access to the recordings is governed by role (RBAC), authentication uses corporate accounts through SSO, and every action is logged to the individual operator. The platform complies with the ISA/IEC 62443-3-3 SL2 standard and with the NIS2 directive (EU 2022/2555); our technicians install it in the cloud, at the customer’s premises, or in a mixed configuration, test it, and maintain it over time.
What makes it hard to document a control room’s communications.
The three points where a recording system stops being useful, and how we solve them with the platform and with the access rules.
Finding the right call months later
The request to listen back arrives weeks or months after the event, for an internal review or a dispute. Among thousands of hours of recordings, the call is found only if the archive supports search by radio ID, time, channel, group, and message content; without those filters, replay turns into a sequential hunt, hour by hour.
Protecting the recordings and the people who consult them
Recordings contain operational communications and personal data, so they cannot be within reach of anyone who walks into the control room. Access to the archive has to be restricted to authorized roles and every consultation has to be logged: it must always be possible to know who listened back to a communication, and when.
Recording in the worst moments too
The recorder matters above all during an emergency, when every channel is transmitting at once and no call can be lost. That is why the IP recorder captures every channel simultaneously, and the service carries on even if a node fails, thanks to redundancy and automatic switchover to the standby system.
How the recording and traceability system is built.
The IP recorder captures the radio channels, the telephony, and the PoC of the control room at the same time. The recordings stay in the archive for the configured period; from the search position the operator finds them by radio ID, time, channel, and group, and every consultation is logged.
- Recorded channels
- The radio networks, the telephone lines, and the PTT calls over the cellular network of the control room: the audio of every channel reaches the recorder in IP form.
- Recorder and search
- The IP recorder captures every channel at the same time; from the search position the operator finds and replays every call with its date, time, and channel.
- Archive
- The recordings are kept for the configured period, agreed with the customer, with an automatic backup copy.
- Traced consultation
- The dashed line represents access to the archive: it is governed by the operator’s role and every consultation is written to the audit log.
What the recording and traceability solution includes.
The subsystems we install and configure, from the IP recorder to the system event log, with the retention and access rules agreed with the customer.
Communications recorder
- An IP recorder built into the Respondr platform: it captures every channel at the same time
- TETRA, DMR, P25, and analog VHF/UHF radio channels, connected to the platform through the radio gateways
- Recording of the control room telephony and of PTT calls over the cellular network (PoC)
- Installation in the cloud on AWS, on servers at the customer’s premises, or in a mixed configuration
- Equipment redundancy and automatic switchover to the standby system in the event of a failure
Search and replay
- Search of the recordings by radio ID, time, channel, group, and message content
- Replay from the console, with the date, time, and channel of every call
- Filtering by time range and by group, to extract every call from a single response
- A browsable history to reconstruct how an event was handled, call by call
Retention and backup copies
- A configurable retention period for the recordings, agreed with the customer
- An automatic backup copy of the archive
- Data residency in the customer’s country for cloud installations on AWS
- Protection of the recordings and of the data stored on the platform
Access and traceability of the operators
- Role-based access control (RBAC): every operator reaches only the functions their role allows
- Authentication with corporate accounts through SSO, with SAML 2.0 and OpenID Connect
- Traceability of actions down to the individual operator
- An audit log with synchronous replication between the nodes, to guarantee its integrity
Location of the units in the field
- Real-time GPS position of the units in the field, on the console map
- Positions collected from the Android and iOS apps, from LTE radios, and from the GPS trackers on board the vehicles
- Unit positions associated with the recorded events
- Radio ID associated with the organization and the team using it
System event log
- Centralized log collection over Syslog and SNMP, instead of local logging on the device alone
- Events logged by the radio equipment, the network equipment, and the supervision platforms
- Time synchronization across every device: without a common clock, logged events cannot be compared
- Log retention for the period agreed with the customer
- Forwarding of the relevant events to the control room and to the contacts the customer designates
Security and compliance
- Every communication encrypted with TLS 1.3 and AES-256
- ECDHE key exchange, with ephemeral keys for every session
- Compliance with the ISA/IEC 62443-3-3 Security Level 2 standard and with the NIS2 directive (EU 2022/2555)
- On request, an assessment of the installation against the requirements of both standards, with a gap report and a remediation plan ordered by priority
Frequently asked questions.
The questions we are asked most often about this type of system.
How long are the recordings kept?
The retention period is configurable and we agree it with the customer, based on their internal procedures and on the tender or sector requirements they have to meet. Throughout the configured period the recordings stay in the archive, protected by the automatic backup copy. System logs are also kept for the period agreed with the customer.
Who can search and listen back to the recordings?
Only operators with an authorized role. Role-based access control (RBAC) establishes who can search and replay the recordings; authentication uses corporate accounts, through SSO with SAML 2.0 and OpenID Connect. Every action is logged to the individual operator, so it is always possible to know who consulted a recording and when; the audit log is replicated synchronously between the platform nodes, which guarantees its integrity.
Do the recordings serve as documentation for reviews and disputes?
The system documents every communication with its date, time, and channel, and logs every action to the individual operator; the audit log is replicated synchronously between the nodes and the clocks of the equipment are synchronized, so events logged by different platforms can be compared with each other. Whether and how that information can be used in a review or in proceedings depends on the specific case, and that assessment rests with the customer and their advisers; our job is the technical part: the data is there, it is intact, and it can be found.
Is the system installed in the cloud or at the customer’s premises?
Either way, and in a mixed configuration too. Respondr installs in the cloud on AWS, on servers at the customer’s premises, or in hybrid form; for cloud installations the data resides in the customer’s country. The choice depends on security policies and on the connectivity available: we discuss it together during design and size the recorder and the archive on the number of channels to record and the retention period required.
Do you record analog radios as well?
Yes. The audio of the analog VHF/UHF channels reaches the platform through the radio gateways and is recorded just like that of the digital TETRA, DMR, and P25 channels: same search, same archive, same retention rules. The same goes for the control room telephony and for PTT calls over the cellular network (PoC).
What about aeronautical band communications?
In airport control rooms Respondr also records aeronautical band radio communications, handled to the ED-137 standard. It is a field with requirements of its own, which we describe on the page dedicated to aeronautical band systems.
Request a proposal for recording and traceability.
For every project we provide a tailored technical and commercial proposal based on your requirements — feasibility analysis, RF coverage study, and intervention planning.