Extending coverage via airborne repeaters

What’s the solution to blocked signals? Get your repeaters high up into the air.

The Ironman 70.3 Busselton is a long-distance triathlon race held annually in Busselton, Western Australia. As one of the flattest courses in the global Ironman circuit, the site is renowned worldwide for its capacity for athletes to achieve personal bests.

Being such a high-profile event, it is imperative that organisers provide the best possible communications in order for the race to proceed safely and without any hitches.

Motorola Rental Solutions has been a longstanding partner of the Ironman 70.3, and has provided digital communications solutions for various events. The solution for the most recent race, however, turned out to be more than a simple matter of supplying equipment.

One of the event’s courses covers at least 50 km, including the swim, bike and run legs. The bike leg takes athletes 30 km out of Busselton, through Tuart Forest National Park. The tuart (eucalyptus) forest is so incredibly dense that radio signals cannot penetrate adequately through the area.

Nevertheless, coverage is “paramount” for the safety of all participants and staff, so a solution had to be found, said Paul Groeneveld, operations manager for the event.

“We needed to make sure coverage extended over the whole course, even where the densely forested tuart area affected coverage … so Motorola Rental Solutions came up with the solution — an elevated work platform (EWP),” he said.

The EWP is almost 40 m high and is designed to extend above the trees, providing a radio footprint larger than necessary and delivering a greater coverage span. The platform has two repeaters operating in Capacity Plus mode, supplying a scalable, single-site, digital trunking solution. Capacity Plus expands the capacity of a MOTOTRBO communication system — more than 1000 users can quickly and efficiently share critical voice and data communication on the same system without having to add new frequencies.

The elevated work platform (EWP) used during the Ironman 70.3 Busselton event.

Other equipment provided by Motorola Rental Solutions included MOTOTRBO digital mobile and portable radios, which were used by the events operation centre, traffic management teams, marshals and medical staff. All parties involved could easily and quickly contact each other, especially in case of an incident. Having such reliable coverage and effective communication has thus improved safety for athletes, staff and volunteers.

Airborne airwaves

Another challenge was solved by Motorola Rental Solutions when two events ran back-to-back two years ago. The Ironman 70.3 preceded the second event, Wings for Life; therefore, much of the existing infrastructure could be re-used. However, the Wings for Life course extended even further into the densely forested area, where coverage was still unreliable and unattainable even with an EWP.

“Our Rentals architect came up with the idea of utilising two planes, which worked perfectly,” said Groeneveld.

Motorola Rental Solutions partnered with Blacktree Technology to install and commission one Capacity Plus repeater in each aircraft. One aircraft could stay in the air for four hours before running low on fuel, so just prior to that point being reached, the second aircraft launched and flew nearby. The repeater in the first aircraft was switched off while simultaneously the repeater in the second aircraft was switched on. This innovative approach achieved a seamless changeover and ensured continual coverage.

For an event with such long duty times, solid battery life is essential. “At most events we can use a radio for the whole day with one battery — especially important for those on the road who don’t have the opportunity to switch over. I am very confident that the batteries will last for a day,” said Groeneveld.

Another useful feature is transmission interrupt, whereby an operator in the operations centre can remotely de-key a radio in order to take a priority call. This ensures the event operator can always communicate with those whose radios who are on the same talk group.

“We have worked with Motorola Rental Solutions for a long time, which is testament to the team and their work,” said Groeneveld. “Their customer service is second to none, and I am looking forward to continuing to work with them.”

Images courtesy Motorola Solutions

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