Critical Comms May/Jun 2014 by Westwick-Farrow Media

ON THE COVER

Formerly Radio Comms Asia-Pacific

Inside 4

Transmit

Calendar

The centre of attention

Network news

The sharing solution

May/June 2014

Comms Connect Sydney 2014

36 Case Study: Wireless in the warehouse

Interoperability is a key criterion for any critical radio communications system. The ability to quickly switch from one network to another can be crucial for public safety and emergency services officials and first responders. Yet interoperability remains a significant challenge for many organisations. Kenwood Australia is committed to delivering the types of radio equipment needed by communications professionals, and over the next 12 months will be introducing new hardware, system software and a new generation of radio products.

Industry talking

Leading the way is the NX-5000 series of dual-mode portable radios that, with

Antennas any shape you like

the simple flip of a switch, will enable the user to operate on either a P25 Phase I or

Backhaul

II network, or an NXDN network, such as Kenwoodâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s NEXEDGE.

Spectrum

Beginning with the NX-5300 portable and shortly followed by a mobile version, the radios will operate in the VHF/UHF, with the UHF starting at 380 MHz. But the units will not only have the ability to operate on separate P25 and NXDN networks - they will also be able to scan automatically between both modes, thus satisfying the stringent needs of both public safety and business and industry markets. Along with dual-mode operation, the NX5000 radios will incorporate a host of other essential features, including GPS, Bluetooth, built-in DSP active noise cancelling, plus built-in DES with the option for AES, and

NOW in DIGITAL! Your copy of Critical Comms is available as an online eMag.

www.CriticalComms.com.au/latest_issues

many more functions. The Kenwood dual-mode NX-5000 portable radios are scheduled for release later this year. JVC KENWOOD Australia Pty Ltd www.kenwood.com.au

www.CriticalComms.com.au

Transmit I had the good fortune to visit the P25

Calendar June

Solution Centre in Sydney a few months ago, for a demonstration of P25 vendor interoperability in action. And together with others, I saw a similar demonstration at last year’s Comms Connect conference in Melbourne. It’s one thing to read about

What: Comms Connect Sydney 2014 When: 18-19 June 2014 Where: Australian Technology Park, Redfern, Sydney Website: comms-connect.com.au

the theoretical compatibility of this open standards system, but it’s quite an eyeopener to see it in action. My thanks to all those involved with the centre for giving me the opportunity to learn more about it - and you can read about it in this issue. And still on the topic of open standards, DMR is making more

July What: Emergency Management Conference 2014 When: 1-2 July 2014 Where: Pullman Melbourne, Albert Park, Melbourne Website: hpe.com.au/emc/index.html

headway in the critical communications arena. Our case study of New Zealand business EA Networks highlights the flexibility of the system and its applicability to utilities and other such operations. Flexibility is also the name of the game for a bunch of 911 centres in Pennsylvania, which have decided to band together and implement common equipment installations so that any centre can

August What: APCO 2014 When: 3-6 August 2014 Where: New Orleans, Louisiana, USA Website: apco2014.org

take over from another in the case of a major failure. There seems to be a lot more of this kind of collaboration happening, and no wonder, as it makes a lot of sense. If you haven’t already registered for Comms Connect Sydney, you should do so now before it’s too late. This, the first satellite conference of the main Melbourne event, is aimed squarely at those

September What: IEEE Personal, Indoor & Mobile Radio Communications When: 2-5 September 2014 Where: Capital Hilton, Washington DC Website: ieee-pimrc.org

people who - for one reason or another - are unable to attend in Melbourne. It’s a great opportunity to catch up with some of the speakers and workshops that were such a hit last November. Check out the Comms-Connect.com.au website for full details. Jonathan Nally, Editor cc@westwick-farrow.com.au

What: Comms Connect Melbourne 2014 When: 30 September-2 October 2014 Where: Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre Website: comms-connect.com.au For a full list of dozens of industry events, see criticalcomms.com.au/calendar_events.

Editor: Jonathan Nally cc@westwick-farrow.com.au Chief Editor: Janette Woodhouse Publisher: Geoff Hird Art Director/Production Manager: Julie Wright Art/Production: Tanya Scarselletti, Odette Boulton, Colleen Sam Circulation Manager: Sue Lavery circulation@westwick-farrow.com.au Copy Control: Mitchie Mullins copy@westwick-farrow.com.au

A.B.N. 22 152 305 336 www.westwick-farrow.com.au

Head Office Cnr. Fox Valley Road & Kiogle Street, (Locked Bag 1289), Wahroonga NSW 2076 Australia Ph +61 2 9487 2700 Fax +61 2 9489 1265

Advertising Sales National Sales Manager Nicola Fender-Fox Ph 0414 703 780 nfender-fox@westwick-farrow.com.au

Asia - Lachlan Rainey Ph +61 (0) 402 157 167

VIC, SA, WA Lachlan Rainey Ph 0402 157 167 lrainey@westwick-farrow.com.au

If you have any queries regarding our privacy policy please email privacy@westwick-farrow.com.au Subscriptions: For unregistered readers, price on application

NSW, QLD Mark Ryu Ph 0404 803 356 mryu@westwick-farrow.com.au New Zealand Mark Ryu Ph 0800 442 529 mryu@westwick-farrow.com.au

4 Critical Comms - May/Jun 2014

September 2013 total CAB Audited Circulation (Aust + NZ) 4,331(73% personally requested)

Print Post Approved PP100007393 ISSN No. 2202-882X Printed and bound by Pegasus Print Group +61 2 8822 0716

All material published in this magazine is published in good faith and every care is taken to accurately relay information provided to us. Readers are advised by the publishers to ensure that all necessary safety devices and precautions are installed and safe working procedures adopted before the use of any equipment found or purchased through the information we provide. Further, all performance criteria was provided by the representative company concerned and any dispute should be referred to them. Information indicating that products are made in Australia or New Zealand is supplied by the source company. Westwick-Farrow Pty Ltd does not quantify the amount of local content or the accuracy of the statement made by the source.

www.CriticalComms.com.au

THE CENTRE OF ATTENTION Jonathan Nally

6 Critical Comms - May/Jun 2014

www.CriticalComms.com.au

Critical Comms visited the P25 Solution Centre in Sydney to get a first-hand look at the open standards ecosystem in action.

The demonstration The demonstration is centred around a Zetron console and a host of portable and mobile radio units from a variety of manufacturers. Present are Peter Stellino, transmission engineer and P25 Solution Centre manager, and Malcolm Keys, CEO of Airwave Solutions Australia. Stellino conducts the demonstration, showing how the CSSI (Console Sub-System Interface) and ISSI (Inter-RF Subsystem

www.CriticalComms.com.au

Interface) concepts work with various combinations of base stations, core switches, subscriber units and a console, all from different vendors, communicating with one another in group calls and single calls. He begins with a description of the concept of P25 open standards. “P25 standards are all about how you connect outwards from your network - they don’t define how you do certain things internal to your network; that’s proprietary,” said Stellino. “P25 standards define how you would use your subscriber unit to talk to a PABX, for example, or what type of interface you’d need to talk to a third-party MMS system via an SNP protocol. Or what type of interface you’d need to talk to a different P25 network or third-party despatch console, or what type of interface you need from your base station to talk over the air to different manufacturers’ subscriber units. “The whole idea of the interface is that it doesn’t require vast amounts of cooperation between vendors - it’s the opposite,” he adds. “They barely have to talk to each other, and we’ve found it has been that simple.” First, he demonstrates one of the most basic functions of a P25 system - changing talk groups and showing how easy it is for one vendor’s handset to talk to another vendor’s handset, by just dialling up the talk group on the selector knob on both handsets. The resources needed to do it are looked after by the base station controller and the core switch. “I’ve just demonstrated some interoperability - we saw an Icom terminal working under a Tait system,” says Stellino. “Some users have seen this before, but it’s quite rare. It’s a nice demonstration to start off with, to show different vendors’ equipment on the one network. If I do something with one vendor’s handset - change talk groups for instance - I can also do it with another vendor’s handset. “Our demonstration system has three ‘transmission sites’ all placed in the one physical site - so we have a Tait base

May/Jun 2014 - Critical Comms

rive along the Pacific Highway northwards from the Sydney Harbour Bridge and you soon come to Gore Hill, where the main things that stick out are two huge broadcast antennas on the site of the old ABC television studios. Drive a little further north and you come to 799 Pacific Highway, Chatswood, where two large, glasscovered office towers dominate the skyline. Inside one of those towers is an industry communications facility believed to be unique in the world - the P25 Solution Centre. The centre is hosted within the offices of Airwave Solutions Australia. But although Airwave is the host, it has actually been put together by a whole consortium of leading communications companies: Airwave, Harris, Tait, Auria Wireless, Simoco, RFI, Icom, Zetron, Interactive Group and Codan. Established in 2011, the centre provides a place for potential users and operators to come and see P25 capabilities and functionality put to the test. In particular, it is used to demonstrate the interoperability of different vendors’ P25 equipment, which itself is a demonstration of the open standards solidity of the P25 ecosystem. The centre comprises: a demonstration room complete with handsets from a variety of manufacturers plus a Zetron console; an equipment room where the core switches are located; and three base stations (again, different manufacturers) located at the Gore Hill tower site.

THE CENTRE OF ATTENTION station site, an Icom base station and a Codan,” he continued. “These are located at the Gore Hill facility owned by BAI. So this is an over-the-air demonstration, with the core switches talking to the base station controllers at Gore Hill over a VPN.” The next demonstration introduces equipment from more vendors. “So this next call is on the Auria system,” says Stellino, adjusting the subscriber units. “I’ve got a Simoco subscriber unit, but I’m talking through an Icom base into an Auria base station controller, through the Auria switch, back to the Codan base station controller, to the Codan base, and back to another Simoco. So now I’ve got four vendors. Not only that, it’s an intersite call.” Stellino says this usually pricks up some interest from visitors to the centre, as they’ve just seen four different vendors for the first time ever, on an inter-site call, on a P25 trunk call, effectively in one network. “Next, a very important call demonstration,” says Stellino. “Most traffic volume today, still, in government and critical agency networks, is from console to subscriber unit,

AT THIS POINT, MOST P25 USERS ARE QUITE EXCITED BECAUSE THEY CAN'T SEE THAT SORT OF DEMONSTRATION ANYWHERE ELSE WORLDWIDE.

followed by subscriber unit back to console; third would be subscriber unit to other subscriber units. As you can imagine, the CSSI interface, that standard P25 interface which allows a vendor to interface with a third-party console, is very important.” With a few clicks of the mouse on the Zetron screen, Stellino connects networks together with a patch on the console and successfully makes a call. “At this point, most P25 users are quite excited because they can’t see that sort of demonstration anywhere else worldwide, with this number of vendors, with a patch on a third-party console, going through different base station vendors and switch vendors,” says Stellino. “We don’t believe that’s reproduced anywhere else in the world at this stage.”

Peter Stellino, P25 Solution Centre manager, with the centre's core switch units.

8 Critical Comms - May/Jun 2014

A unique feature Everyone in the industry is aware of instances of emergency services being unable to talk to each other when required, because each of those services are on their own networks. The next demonstration showed the solution to that. “Technically, we could do it by patching two systems or talk groups together via the console, but usually the agencies have their own console dispatch systems,” says Stellino. “So how do you patch together a patch group when you can’t see the other people’s talk groups on your console? The ISSI is the interface to overcome that, and it shows that I can front up to an incident and roam to the common incident talk group.” ISSI enables two completely different P25 trunked networks to interoperate in a seamless way. Stellino switched several handset units from different vendors to the common talk group and from one of them successfully made a call that was received on all the others. “That’s the call which we believe is not demonstrated anywhere else in the world; it’s unique to this centre - an actual ISSI call between two different trunked P25 network vendors,’ says Stellino. “You’ve just removed the dependency on the console to manually patch you - you’ve used open standards based ISSI to get to a common talk group over two totally separate radio networks. That’s something we’re very proud to demonstrate, because we don’t believe you can see it anywhere else.” “So two good examples of this might be NSW Police and NSW Ambulance,” adds Malcolm Keys. “Another example would be Victorian SES and NSW SES, who provide mutual aid to each other. They’ve got their own networks, but by simply preprograming and enabling this feature they can go straight over the border and operate, even though they’re on someone else’s network.” “One thing even more powerful than that, which brings more freedom, is that I can do an ISSI call and I don’t have to go to a common talk group - I can just make a point-to-point or unit-to-unit call,” says Stellino. “If I’m the incident on-ground commander wanting to talk to my counterpart in another agency, I can just call him or her individually using the

www.CriticalComms.com.au

THE CENTRE OF ATTENTION

The P25 Solution Centre brings together hardware from many different manufacturers to demonstrate how they can all work together under the P25 system.

unit’s unique P25 IDs - a unit-to-unit call through the ISSI system.” Stellino demonstrated the concept using one handset to call another, by dialling in the second handset’s identifier. “The ISSI unit-to-unit demonstration I just did not only punched through and made an ISSI tunnel from one unit to another, it didn’t interfere with the talk groups these radios are set on. It was just unit-to-unit. This kind of demonstration is a more complex call setup, and it’s the ultimate demonstration we can do here in the PSC.”

Interoperability For those who’ve not experienced P25 before, a visit to the centre can be quite an eye-opener. “Sometimes we get people who have an FM analog, two-way radio background, and these older systems can be a little bit scratchy and noisy with inbuilt analog noise. Sometimes this is the first time they’ve heard a digital PTT,” says Stellino. “The good thing about P25 is that it really does reproduce the voice sound quite nicely.” “It’s actually a radical change from old analog modes,” adds Keys. “Even though we’ve only got three base stations lit up at that site [Gore Hill], there could be literally hundreds of talk groups with different users who will light up only when that talk group is requested, which enables

10 Critical Comms - May/Jun 2014

a vastly different operation model to be deployed. And I must say that it can take organisations a fair while to understand how to take advantage of that.” In the two and a half years in which it has been operating, the centre has had numerous visits from existing and prospective P25 customers, as well as vendors wishing to test the interoperability of their equipment with that of other vendors. “We had a vendor in here testing their unit-to-unit call to a different vendor’s units, through the ISSI connection, and the call didn’t work,” says Stellino. “We were able to get right into the logs and see what was going wrong - which in that case was due to some differing implementations of P25 protocols. That’s one example of vendors coming in and making use of the centre.” “If a government agency is thinking of purchasing 10,000 radios, they want to be very confident they’re not going to have interoperability issues. And that’s partially what this centre is for,” adds Keys. “The vendors also want to show that they’re willing and keen to play in the open standards space, otherwise their offerings suddenly become less attractive. Although they are competitive suppliers, they’re willing to band together to show that the ecosystem of P25 is a successful ecosystem and then compete with each other in a vibrant and competitive market.”

In addition to lots of attention from Australian firms and agencies, the centre has also had visitors from New Zealand and China, and interest is now being shown from the USA. “What we demonstrate is technical interoperability,” said Keys. “When people talk about interoperability, they often merge the concepts of technical and operational capabilities. And so we can see from the demonstrations here that technically there’s as much interoperability in the P25 ecosystem as you could possibly need. The real constraints are on the operational procedures and processes and training. Over time the more mutual-aid incidents agencies have to deal with, the more they learn to rely on the interoperability that’s built in to their network. “In Australia, we’re sort of halfway - we don’t quite have full technical interoperability between all government networks, so at any one given instant you might find that police and fire first responders, for instance, are unable to speak to each other,“ said Keys. “But the industry is on track to achieve the government’s (COAG) 2020 vision of having everyone on interoperable trunked P25 networks. By this time there should be no more impediments to technical interoperability.” P25 Solution Centre www.p25solutioncentre.com.au

www.CriticalComms.com.au

Power sensors The Agilent E9300A power sensors are designed for use with the EPM series power meters, giving users the option to use just one power sensor across multiple modulation formats and increasing convenience for those in the design, manufacturing and maintenance sectors of the RF and microwave communication industries. They are available to rent from TechRentals. Designed for accurate average power measurements, the E9300A uses very flat calibration factors across the entire frequency range, as well as a very low SWR. Applications include: R&D and manufacturing of RF and microwave components for satellite, wireless and terrestrial communica-

UHF CB radio GME has introduced the TX3120S, its smallest and most advanced UHF CB radio that is supplied with ScanSuite technology and a five-year warranty. The simple 5W radio features the claimed widest LCD in its class with a clear 170° viewing angle and dual rotary controls to improve ease of use and safety when in-vehicle. The CB radio maximises space on the front of the radio by directing the speaker microphone cable to the side of the unit to enable rear connection. The unit includes a dynamic speaker microphone, engi-

tion systems; maintenance and repair of radio links for terrestrial and satellite communications from VLF to microwave, cable TV head-ends and broadcast TV transmitters; and aerospace and defence R&D manufacturing and service. Features include: 80 dB dynamic range (-60 to +20 dBm); bandwidth of 10 MHz to 18 GHz; operational at both low and high power levels (1 nW to 100 mW); ability to measure multitone and CW signals. TechRentals www.techrentals.com.au

neered for comfort, ease of use and practicality. It features a high-quality sound resonance amplifier built into the microphone, with channel, private and scan buttons, in addition to the PTT. Audio can be routed through the microphone’s speaker by itself or in stereo with the base unit, controllable through the user menu. The radio also includes ScanSuite - a unique group of scanning technologies enabling uninterrupted conversations even on congested channels. The unit comes with a mounting bracket, speaker microphone, microphone clip, DC lead and screw pack and adaptor. The CB radio is Australian designed and manufactured by GME, Australia’s only maker of UHF CB radios. Standard Communications Pty Ltd www.gme.net.au

Industrial media converter The ProSoft Technology Ethernet to Belden 9463 Blue Hose Industrial Media Converter helps companies upgrade their Allen-Bradley Remote I/O systems with minimal downtime. Once the industrial media converters are installed, companies will be able to run Remote I/O and EtherNet/IP data Bayswater

simultaneously on existing blue hose cable. This allows upgrading of the individual nodes in phases. The media converter’s units are plug and play, with no configuration needed. The converters offer 57.6 and 115.2 K baud rates and a maximum distance of 396 m with simultaneous Ethernet and Remote I/O data (533 m for Ethernet data alone). Repeaters are available for networks with distances up to 3048 m. NHP Electrical Engineering Products Pty Ltd www.nhp.com.au

12 Critical Comms - May/Jun 2014

www.CriticalComms.com.au

NETWORK NEWS Jonathan Nally

New Zealand utility EA Networks has installed a Tait Communications DMR Tier 3 solution to connect and protect its widespread South Island electricity and fibre network.

A Networks began life as the Ashburton Electric Power Board in 1923, but changed its name to Electricity Ashburton in the 1980s when it became a co-operative company – that is, owned by the customers who are connected to its network. By the beginning of the present decade it was decided that the brand name, although having high value in the district, had become a bit limiting. So in 2012 the company changed its trading name to EA Networks. Its electricity grid coverage area is quite vast, spanning the Canterbury Plains in the South Island - from the Rangitata River in the mid-south to the Rakaia River in the north, and from the east coast to the middle of the Southern Alps. The main towns in the region are Ashburton (population about 16,000), and Methven, which is the support and accommodation centre for the Mount Hutt ski fields. About five years ago, EA Networks also began deploying a fibre optic public broadband network. Today, its electricity distribution and fibre networks reach approximately 17,450 consumers through almost 3,000 kilometres of distribution lines.

An evolution in radio With such a long history, it is no wonder the company has seen several different radio communications technologies come and go.

14 Critical Comms - May/Jun 2014

“We started with an old Tait A-band AM analogue system, which in turn was replaced with an FM analogue system about 18 years ago. The system only had one repeater on a hill and suffered from coverage issues, particularly on the north-east corner of the network,” says Brendon Quinn, the company's Network Manager. “Just prior to putting in the DMR network we deployed an analogue voting system using three repeaters, but it was never that successful.” Because of the issues they were having with coverage, the analogue voting system and ageing equipment, the company decided to replace the whole network. “DMR wasn’t available from Tait at that time, so we looked at both Motorola’s and Tait’s P25 systems,” says Quinn. "We had started installing the P25 system when Tait DMR became available, so we decided to change to DMR. We were actually a beta trial site for Tait, so it was a learning and testing process for both organisations.” The five-site DMR Tier 3 trunked solution commissioned by Tait comprises TB9300 base stations, TM9300 mobile radios and TP9300 portable radios. But the company wanted to go beyond simple voice comms and include other features that are considered de rigueur these days. “We wanted to be able to do our own GPS tracking - which had previously been done via a cell phone connection - and we

www.CriticalComms.com.au

NETWORK NEWS

EA Network's Brendan Quinn in front of the Ashburton repeater station.

EA Network's coverage extends across the Canterbury plains to the Southern Alps. Credit: Bernard Oh/Flickr CC.

THE DIGITAL MOBILE NETWORK WAS INVALUABLE DURING THE REGION’S SEVERE WINDSTORMS IN SEPTEMBER 2013.

A Clevest location services application is enabling Automatic Vehicle Location and geo-fencing of the company's mobile workforce. The ability to see where its fleet and workers are means EA Networks can respond more quickly to incidents and maintain service to its customers.

Putting it to the test wanted to introduce other digital features in the future such as short data messaging," says Quinn. "We also wanted the ability to have multiple channels in use concurrently, so we are trialling Tait GridLink, which is a SCADA system using the DMR infrastructure.” The first installations, including base stations and a limited numbers of radios for the trial, were in place about 12 months ago. Permanent base stations and a full complement of mobile radios were up and running by September and October 2013, with the full set-up functioning properly just before Christmas. Final acceptance testing came in March 2014.

The equipment At the five sites, existing base station equipment was replaced with Tait dual-channel TB9300 base station units, and other works included replacing or changing duplexers, reciters, antennas, Tpasses, and re-tuning some channels. “We already had fibre optics to each repeater site and the interrepeater links use their own Layer 3 private network,” says Quinn. “The switches at each site are Allied Telesis X600s, which connect back to our core Extreme Black Diamond switches and then to our control room, Tait nodes and so on. All inter-site comms are duplicated with a less-than 50 millisecond fail over time.” Sixty-six TM9300 mobile radios were supplied, being 31 vehiclemounted and 35 handheld. “From a voice perspective it is complete,” says Quinn. "GPS, call management and despatching via PC terminal is currently being deployed, and SCADA is going into a trial phase."

16 Critical Comms - May/Jun 2014

“The digital mobile network was invaluable during the region’s severe windstorms in September 2013,” says Quinn. “The clarity of voice message over the digital network made it easier for our field workers and dispatch centre, to communicate effectively without the need to repeat instructions.” The storms highlighted other potential vulnerabilities that the radio network has historically faced, namely congestion at critical times and visibility of the workforce. EA Networks worked with Tait to identify capabilities of the new DMR network that will help it solve these issues in the future. “The recent storm events really brought home how important it is keep ‘visibility’ of our on-ground workforce all the time,” says Quinn. “The DMR network gives us that, plus it helps us to improve our overall efficiency to that we can provide better service to our customers.” Ongoing network maintenance, monitoring and support services are being provided by Tait as part of the overall solution. And Tait is finding increasing interest in the system. “Following the successful DMR Tier 3 implementation, we've been successful in securing a major North American utilities contract that involves installing the Tier 3 solution across more than 20 sites,” says Brett Smythe, General Manager, Tait Communications Asia Pacific. “We expect to see more utilities around the world adopting the platform over the coming years as its full potential to transform utility workforce management is realised.” Tait Communications www.taitradio.com

www.CriticalComms.com.au

News

Portable oscilloscope Fluke has introduced the 190-504 Series II 500 MHz ScopeMeter Port-

TUNNEL RADIO Hytera’s UK distributor ANT Telecom has provided a Hytera DMR communication solution to Eurotunnel, the cross-channel agency that manages and operates the Channel Tunnel between Britain and France. The solution will be used at the Folkestone site (Britain) by traffic marshals within four different divisions, enabling communication between the teams and the control centre. The equipment meets some of the more technically challenging aspects of Eurotunnel’s requirements while offering additional functionality including dispatching, lone worker with location detection, messaging and automatic alarm messaging in order to provide a robust and future-proof communication solution. Full story: bit.ly/1sCCCGg

NZ SPECTRUM UPDATE Radio Spectrum Management (RSM) New Zealand has released its April 2014 update, with information on VHF usage and a comprehensive review of all spectrum allocations. Included is a proposal to create a General User Licence for short-range devices at 49 MHz, plus a review of New Zealand’s radio spectrum allocations. The update announces amendments to the Radio Regulations adopted by the Final Acts of 2012 World Radiocommunications Conference (WRC-12), and a revision of ‘Fixed Service Bands in New Zealand’ (PIB 22), which details the band and channel plans for fixed services in New Zealand. Full story: bit.ly/1nxSAl2

DMR JOINT TESTING Zetron and Hytera have successfully joint tested their systems using an interface based on the DMR Association’s Application Interface Specification (AIS). The testing involved Zetron’s Advanced Communications (AcomEVO) system using the interface with Hytera’s Tier II DMR system. The companies say it is the first multi-vendor implementation of DMR-AIS to a Tier II Network. The testing confirmed AcomEVO’s ability to integrate and operate seamlessly with radio networks using interfaces that adhere to the DMR protocol. Testing was performed on the following features: Group Call, Individual Call, Emergency Alarm, Call Alert, Radio Check, Text Messaging, and Radio Enable/Disable. Full story: bit.ly/1l9FdBm

18 Critical Comms - May/Jun 2014

able Oscilloscope, which it says is the first to achieve a 500 MHz at 5 GSa/s real-time sample rate in a 4-channel handheld, sealed, and rugged oscilloscope without compromising on safety rating, ruggedness or battery-operating time. The 190-504 is suitable for engineers working on communications, navigation, military and medical devices, who need the fast 5 GSa/s (200 picoseconds) sample rate and four channels for achieving greater accuracy and clarity of phenomena such as transients, ringing, reflections or induced noise. The 504 is part of the 190 Series II ScopeMeters that feature two or four independently insulated input channels and an IP51 dust and dripwater-proof rating with models available in 500, 200, 100 or 60 bandwidths. The series features can achieve up to 10,000 samples-per-channel, enabling detailed examination of very small parts of a waveform. The 190 Series II ScopeMeters include innovative functions including Connectand-View triggering for intelligent, automatic triggering on fast, slow or even complex signals, ScopeRecord, TrendPlot and automatic measurements functions. The 190 Series II safety rating, according to the IEC 61010 standard, is 1000 V CAT III/ 600 V CAT IV, making it possible to safely measure from 500 mV to 1000 V. Fluke Australia Pty Ltd www.fluke.com.au

LTE test software Aeroflex has announced the separate availability of the LTE Downlink Measurement Suite, a range of software tools that works with the Aeroflex PXI 3000 platform to characterise the transmitter and receiver parameters of LTE base stations (eNodeB) and small cells in production test. The LTE Downlink (FDD and TDD) Measurement Suite can be used either with the recently announced Aeroflex One-Box Base Station RF Tester, which is based on the Aeroflex PXI 3000 platform, or as an expanded application on the Aeroflex PXI 3000 Series VSA and VSG modules. The software enables RF parametric tests to be performed on macro base stations and small cells. The low-level API of the analysis library enables easy integration into the automated test system. The suite has a user-friendly graphic interface and supports RF parametric measurements during the base station R&D design stage. It is a suitable choice for performing 7x24 regression tests as well as advanced radio signal simulation and analysis. LTE-A features such as carrier aggregation and higher order MIMO signal generation are included. Aeroflex Incorporated www.aeroflex.com

www.CriticalComms.com.au

THE SHARING SOLUTION By installing the same dispatch system, three emergency communications centres are preparing to share, access and use each others' radio resources.

hat do you do if you’re an emergency communications centre director and a storm of Hurricane Sandy proportions hits your region, wiping out your call-taking and dispatch operations just when your community needs them most? Until recently, you’d have had to move your operations to a backup location equipped with the extra radio and phone systems. This assumes you had already funded, purchased and set up the additional site this would require. But the advent of IP-based communication technologies means more flexible, less expensive alternatives are emerging. Several public safety agencies in the USA are equipping themselves to back each other up from their own locations with just the click of a mouse. The nine counties that make up Pennsylvania’s Northern Tier Regional Telecommunications Project are already able to answer 911 calls for each other if and when the need arises. And three of them - Elk, Clarion and Clearfield - have just taken this a step further by installing a system that will eventually enable them to include backup radio dispatch as well.

A solution for safety The Northern Tier Telecommunications project began when the nine counties decided to confront head-on a problem that is common to many public safety answering points (PSAPs) - the need to find ways to fund and maintain their communications equipment and ensure that it can support emerging standards and technologies, even as their budgets decline. Some other communities had responded by merging their numerous smaller communications centres into a single, consolidated agency. Although this can increase efficiencies and cut costs, it can also reduce local responsiveness and eliminate jobs.

20 Critical Comms - May/Jun 2014

Michael McGrady had what he thought was a better idea. The president of MCM Consulting Group, McGrady had been asked to help the member counties of the Northern Tier Telecommunications Project develop a comprehensive strategic plan that would enable them to fulfil their respective missions and cut costs. He proposed that instead of consolidating and reducing the number of PSAPs, the Northern Tier group develop a regional, next-generation 911 network over which they could share a variety of resources and provide backup for each other. Each member of the group would have the freedom to participate in the regionalisation of any or all of the services a PSAP typically provides, from 911 call-taking and radio dispatch to mapping, computer aided dispatch and call logging. This approach, McGrady reasoned, would keep the agencies current; improve the efficiency and redundancy of their operations; and reduce their equipment, maintenance and network costs. “This is about regionalising technology, not consolidation,” McGrady explains. “When you regionalise, you not only create more redundancy and efficiency in your system, but you maintain the independence of your agency, prolong the life of your PSAPs, and preserve jobs.” He adds that state and federal 911 funds are becoming increasingly available to “… incentivise regional technology projects”. The entire Northern Tier group agreed to participate in what would be the first phase of their regionalisation project, which involved setting up a fibre network and installing the updated equipment needed to support the sharing of 911 call-taking operations across all nine counties. This phase went live in mid-2013. Since that time, the participants in the project have indeed been able to answer each other’s 911 calls, and a 10th county (Erie) has joined the system.

www.CriticalComms.com.au

THE SHARING SOLUTION

MY DISPATCHERS LIKE IT TOO, AND IF OUR DISPATCHERS LIKE IT, I'M HAPPY. PLUS, IT'S EASY TO ADMINISTER.

This was a great first step. But it wasn’t the last. Clearfield County Emergency Services 911 Director Joe Bigar explains why: “With a multiagency phone system, if Elk County is busy, we can answer and process their phone calls,” he says “but we can’t dispatch for them.” The next logical step would be to extend the capability to the counties’ radio dispatch operations. The goal of this phase of the project would be to eventually access and use each other’s radio channels and other radio resources. If one of the agencies were to be evacuated, its dispatchers would be able to walk into one of the other agencies, sit down at a console and start dispatching as if they were at their own centre. Or the incapacitated centre’s operations could be assumed by one of the other counties’ dispatchers from their centre. Either way, the operations would be maintained. Elk, Clarion and Clearfield counties were the first to decide to install the new dispatch equipment necessary to regionalise their dispatch services. Regionalisation wasn’t their only consideration, however. All three PSAPs’ dispatch systems had reached their ‘end of life’. “The manufacturer of our existing system told us that we could continue to use it if we wanted to,” says Clarion County 911 Director Lance Theiss, “but if we had issues, we were on our own.” They all decided that not only would they install new dispatch equipment, but also they would each standardise on the same equipment - Zetron’s MAX Dispatch - so it would be interoperable. They also agreed that new equipment would be IP-based and would have to support technology that would allow them to regionalise their dispatching.

Going live Zetron’s IP-based MAX Dispatch system was not the only system considered for the project. But it was the one that would give them, as Bigar puts it, “the biggest bang for our buck”. It offered a host of highly desirable features and functionality, such as configurable screens that could be laid out to mimic the screens of the previous equipment at each centre - which would minimise the number of

22 Critical Comms - May/Jun 2014

new things dispatchers would have to learn. “It’s a top priority to make things easy for our dispatchers,” says Clearfield County Systems Administrator Jeremy Ruffner. “We liked the MAX system because it would be simple for them to learn and use.” Last but not least, the three agencies would be able to use MAX Dispatch Portal, a licensed software service that will eventually link the three counties’ systems and allow resource sharing and backup between them. Although the portal is not being implemented immediately, it is the vital piece that will put the three PSAPs on the path to regionalisation. The three PSAPs installed their new MAX Dispatch systems throughout late 2013 and early 2014. Elk County was first. “We installed the new system in parallel with their old one and kept them both running until we had all of the details smoothed out,” says Greg Muhich, owner of Chestnut Ridge Radio Communications, the Zetron reseller who handled the project. “Elk County’s installation includes six regular positions - which is what they had before - and two on tablets,” Muhich adds. “So in addition to their fixed positions, they have two that they can use to quickly set up remote and mobile operations if and when they need them.” Elk’s installation went live in December 2013, with Clarion’s going live in January 2014 and Clearfield’s in February. “I really like the MAX system,” says Theiss. “My dispatchers like it too, and if our dispatchers like it, I’m happy. Plus, it’s easy to administer. I can go in and change something easily and quickly if need be. It’s very user friendly.” “Next will be the portal and working with our neighbouring counties to discover what we’ll be able to do with it, what features we’ll want and how we’ll work together to implement it," says Elk County Emergency Management Director Mike McAllister. "It offers wonderful possibilities that we’re looking forward to.” Zetron Australasia www.zetron.com

www.CriticalComms.com.au

News TETRA RAIL NETWORK A TETRA system from Sepura has been selected for Fortescue Metals Group’s (FMG) long-haul railway in Western Australia’s Pilbara region. The contract was won in conjunction with Radlink, one of Sepura’s longstanding partners in Australia. The new TETRA system comprises 24 sites, covering 400 km of railroads and over 800 Sepura TETRA terminals. In 2010, FMG first adopted TETRA as a company-wide standard for all communications further to the successful pilot site rollout at its iron ore mine at Christmas Creek in the Pilbara. The system now covers all of the company’s operations. Full story: bit.ly/1l9CdF8

Test scanner The extremely compact Rohde & Schwarz TSME test scanner is suitable for mobile use, with its multi-technology measurements and multi-band support providing full flexibility and an optimal price/performance ratio for both drive tests and walk tests. The scanner measures up to eight technologies simultaneously and seamlessly in wireless communications bands from 350 MHz to 4.4 GHz. It is possible to cascade multiple scanners. For LTE applications, four TSME scanners can be combined for 4x4 MIMO measurements. With its light weight of only 650 g and low power consumption of maximum 15 W, the TSME meets all the requirements placed on a drive test scanner. The TSME not only boasts very fast signal processing, it also incorporates the RF core competency of Rohde & Schwarz in an ultra-compact RF receiver. As a result, the extremely compact scanner can perform measurements in a user-configurable frequency range between 350 MHz and 4.4 GHz, making it possible to measure all current and future bands of any supported technology in this range. The LTE standard, in particular, specifies a large number of bands. Rohde & Schwarz (Australia) Pty Ltd www.rohde-schwarz.com

AIRWAVE SMART MOBILE Airwave has launched Airwave Smart Mobile, a communications service designed to meet the current and future needs of public service organisations. Operating as a mobile virtual network operator, it provides access to one the UK’s largest mobile networks and enables the possibility of interaction with Airwave’s emergency services network (ESN). The company claims that, for the first time, there will be the ability to connect from a smartphone to a talkgroup on Airwave’s ESN, made possible by the PTT application Enhance through which users can give permission to extend their talkgroup beyond existing Airwave Service users. Full story: bit.ly/1jQwAPw

MOTOROLA'S SOLUTION Motorola Solutions has entered an agreement to sell its Enterprise business to Zebra Technologies Corporation for US$3.45 billion cash. The sale was approved by the boards of both companies, and pending approval by regulatory authorities, the sale will be completed by the end of this year. Around 4500 employees are expected to join Zebra on completion of the transaction. Motorola Solutions will retain its iDEN product portfolio and will continue its government business, including its professional commercial radio product portfolio. Motorola will continue to manufacture, design, integrate and deliver voice and data solutions. Full story: bit.ly/1l9tDGG

26 Critical Comms - May/Jun 2014

Wireless prototyping National Instruments has released an integrated software defined radio solution for rapidly prototyping multichannel wireless communication systems. Built on the NI LabVIEW RIO architecture, the NI USRP RIO platform combines a highperformance 2 x 2 multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) RF transceiver (50 MHz to 6 GHz) with an open LabVIEW programmable FPGA architecture. Engineers can use the technology to rapidly prototype systems and test them under real-world conditions. They can also prototype more capable algorithms and systems faster and reduce time to results by taking advantage of the graphical system design approach. The USRP RIO family delivers real-time processing capability with the Xilinx Kintex-7 Series FPGA, low latency with the PCI Express connection to a host computer and small size (1U half wide, 19″ rack mountable). USRP RIO is suitable for a range of applications including 5G wireless research, radar development, communications intelligence, connected smart devices and more. National Instruments Australia www.ni.com/oceania

www.CriticalComms.com.au

Want to hold all the Aces? Let us show you how: 25 years experience in two-way radio and accessory distribution Specialising in Motorola, Vertex, Kenwood, Icom, Entel, Tait and Simoco Exclusive service to Australian two-way dealers Discounted distributor prices Service two-way radio dealers from the biggest to the smallest Large and diverse inventory with same day dispatch for ex-stock items 100% Australian company for 10 years All products fully supported and guaranteed by us ARCIA member We NEVER compete with our dealers

Ace Communication Distributors Pty Ltd PO Box 3376, Victoria Point Qld 4165 Tel: 07 3821 4111, 07 3206 0888 Fax: 07 3206 0800

News DMR INTEROPERABILITY

DMR transceiver The Hytera DMR Trunking Lite transceiver supports smooth

Tait Communications has officially certified that Omnitronics' RediTALK has passed interoperability testing with Tait DMR for Tier III. RediTALK is a purely IP-based console that connects to digital radios over IP, without the use of a central server. It includes advanced DMR functionality such as individual calls, text messaging, status messaging and GPS. It can also interconnect to other analog and digital protocols supporting digital migration and interoperability. The certification for RediTALK is the culmination of months of collaboration and co-development. The interface is also available on Omnitronics’ DX-Altus Radio Management System. Full story: bit.ly/1qucWOm

migration from conventional to

TETRA FOR JORDAN

call, call priority and AVL (automatic vehicle location) are based on online/of-

Queen Alia International Airport (QAIA) in Jordan has selected Sepura TETRA radios for all its digital communications requirements. Located 35 km from the heart of the capital Amman, QAIA served 6.2 million passengers in 2012 in addition to providing air cargo and other aviation support services. QAIA’s communications team also selected Sepura’s STP8X intrinsically safe hand-portable radios, said to be the only TETRA terminals to be approved to the latest version 6 of the IECEx/ATEX standard. These radios will be particularly beneficial to airport teams operating in potentially hazardous conditions and areas. Full story: bit.ly/1mQ8q6R

trunking operation, with multimodes providing customers with different choices for long-term investment, and is suitable for industries such as transportation, public utilities and enterprise and business. The Integrated 2-carrier RF system significantly saves BS space and reduces the cost of divider, combiner and duplexer. The standard 19″ rack design facilitates simple installation and maintenance, and offers an opportunity to integrate easily with customers’ own systems. The Dispatch workstation offers system communication management including various voice call and message types. Enhanced functions such as emergency fline digital maps. The Network Management System has various management capabilities: user management, configuration management, alarm report, authority management and performance statistics. Hytera Communications Co. Ltd www.hytera.com.au

Sync probe device The FSP 150SP-100 is a small, efficient and cost-effective sync probe device that uses Syncjack technology for timing distribution and monitoring of any network. The device supports delivery and assurance of synchronisation using Synchronous Ethernet and IEEE 1588v2 Precision Time Protocol (PTP). It has a built-in GNSS receiver and Grandmaster clock capability that can be used

SMARTPHONE BRIDGE

as measurement reference for Syncjack tools as well as an alternative timing source for

Motorola Solutions has announced MOTOTRBO Anywhere, an enterprisegrade communication platform that enables seamless voice communication between digital two-way radios and smartphones. Motorola says it is engineered to be scalable and flexible, and is capable of working across carriers, locations and devices. MOTOTRBO Anywhere is integrated into the radio system infrastructure to deliver system scalability and a much more radio-like experience. The solution can accommodate hundreds of users, and every user can be configured with a unique profile, defining talk-groups and private call capabilities. Full story: bit.ly/1mNcsl1

tion, the device can be configured to operate in slave, boundary and master clock mode

28 Critical Comms - May/Jun 2014

frequency, phase and time-of-day delivery. With its thorough IEEE 1588v2 PTP implementato enable highly accurate clock recovery. An internal Stratum-3E clock is capable of holdover to support remote site, head-end and feeder applications. The device uses four Syncjack tools: Clock Probe, PTP Clock Probe, PTP Network Probe and Slave Probe. The Clock Probe is used to measure frequency and phase accuracy of a physical clock source based on TE, TIE and MTIE. The PTP Clock Probe is used for PTP clock analysis calculating TE, TIE and MTIE by using timestamps embedded in PTP messages. PTP Network Probe is used for network analysis of the PTP message transport. The Slave Probe is a default tool used for slave clock performance monitoring. Features include: built-in GPS receiver and Grandmaster Clock functionality; precise clock accuracy measurements and enhanced statistics gathering with external, internal or even no reference; operates in passive probe, active probe and testing mode; new revenue from delivery of SLA-based synchronisation services. TelecomTest Solutions www.telecomtest.com.au

www.CriticalComms.com.au

Come and see us at Stand 45 CommsConnect Sydney

COMMS CONNECT SYDNEY 2014 Jonathan Nally

n 2014, a satellite Comms Connect conference and exhibition is being held in Sydney for the first time. While the main event will be held in Melbourne later in the year, the organisers have been well aware that not everyone who would like to attend is able to travel to the southern capital. “We’ve listened to feedback from prospective delegates, especially from some in Sydney, who’ve told us that they’d like to be able to make it to Melbourne but have been unable to do so due to budgetary and other constraints,” says Paul Davis, lead organiser for Comms Connect. “For instance, we’ve had people in government departments and volunteer agencies who’ve told us they’d like to bring eight or 10 people along. Having a satellite event in Sydney will enable them to attend and catch up on the main program highlights from Melbourne, as well as taking advantage of the essential networking opportunities.” While the core of the event is still radio communications, the convergence of technologies being seen - from IP to mobile broadband and more - means that the event is no longer just about two-way radio, but a whole range of technologies and solutions, all of which will be found on the exhibition floor and discussed during the conference and workshops. The organisers have been fortunate to secure Rod Gilmour, chairman of the NSW Telco Authority, to give the opening keynote address. He’ll be followed by another high-powered public safety agency speaker, Shane Fitzsimmons AFSM, commissioner of the NSW Rural Fire Service.

day will see two parallel streams of presentations, with the first covering critical communications and public safety. First up will be David Hill (area north manager, government & public safety, Motorola Solutions), who will describe how LTE can give public safety agencies new standards of intelligence to enhance community safety. He’ll be followed by Bruce Mazza (vice president of solutions marketing, Tait Communications) speaking on unified critical communications, and then Steve Darrell (practice manager, Securus Global) on cyber security threats to radio. The other stream will cover technology, led off by Ashwin Dinkar (senior bid engineer, Simoco Australasia), who will discuss the synergy between M2M communications and IP. He’ll be followed by Shane Murphy (vice president and general manager, KORE Wireless), who will outline GSM and satellite comms for M2M, and Bogdan Kloblassa (director, protection technologies, Times Microwave Systems), speaking on the topic of lightning protection and ground solutions for wireless networks. Following the lunch break - and split by the afternoon break there will be three workshop sessions: Advanced radio over IP; Mobile broadband & LTE for critical communications; and Ensure network migration success with Change Management. The workshops were very popular in Melbourne last year, so it’s recommended that you book your place well in advance to avoid missing out. Day one will be rounded off with networking drinks, followed by the ARCIA industry networking dinner at the Dockside Restaurant at Cockle Bay Wharf.

A packed program

Day two

A solid and varied number of speakers and topics have been packed into the program. The mid-morning sessions on the first

The second day will commence with two keynote addresses. First up will be Lance Valcour, chairman of the Law Enforcement

30 Critical Comms - May/Jun 2014

www.CriticalComms.com.au

What: Comms Connect Sydney 2014 When: 18-19 June 2014 Where: Australian Technology Park, Redfern, Sydney Web: comms-connect.com.au

COMMS CONNECT SYDNEY 2014

a presentation with the intriguing title ‘RF in the IT domain - it’s not just wireless’. After the lunch break, the technology stream will continue, with presentations by Geof Heydon (director, Information Sciences Group, CSIRO), who will discuss alternatives to LTE for first responders, followed by Peter Choquenot (technical director, ATI Australia) on the topic of the future of private microwave radio networks in the era of national broadband networks. Finally, John Yaldwyn (chief technology officer, 4RF Australia) will give a presentation on highperformance, narrowband UHF SCADA radio. Following the afternoon break, the conference will conclude with a presentation by Anthony Goonan (director, network commercial engineer, Telstra Corporation) on a roadmap to deliver next-generation critical communications, before closing remarks from Ian Miller of ARCIA.

Exhibitors and sponsors A great range of exhibitors will be present at Comms Connect Sydney - see the full list on these pages. Sponsors are an invaluable part of every conference, and Comms Connect Sydney is fortunate to have many of the region’s leading communications companies as part of the team. The Digital Partner is Telstra, Silver Sponsors are ICS Industries, Rojone and Critical Comms magazine. Comms Connect is presented in association with the Australian Radio Communications Industry Association.

Information Management Section of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. Inspector Valcour gave a very impressive and thought-provoking keynote address at Comms Connect in Melbourne last year, challenging those in the audience to think laterally about issues facing the critical communications industry. In Sydney, he’ll give attendees the benefits of his knowledge of public safety interoperability on the international stage. The second keynote will be given by Peter Clemons, managing director of Quixoticity, a UK-based communications consultancy and head of TETRA Business, Americas, for Hytera Mobilfunk GmbH. Clemons, too, is a very thought-provoking speaker, and at Sydney will talk about the true value of critical communications in the information age. Following the morning break, there will be two parallel speaker streams again. In the transport and utilities stream, Brett Savill (strategy and corporate development director, Broadcast Australia Infrastructure Group) will discuss how to build a wireless network underground in the New York subway. He’ll be followed by Bela Felsner (rail infrastructure superintendent, Fortescue Metals Group), who’ll describe the company’s TETRA ‘pit to port’ system. Then, Steve Harvey (engineering manager, distributed coverage and capacity solutions, CommScope) will present a case study on providing P25 coverage in Ausgrid’s underground high-voltage cable tunnels. The second stream is technology again, led off by a case study presented by Dale Stacey (technical director, SAT Pty) on LTE for communications, SCADA and automation. He’ll be followed by Paul Daigneault (CEO/MD, MiMOMax Wireless), who will ask the question is there still room for linking narrowband PMR sites in the modern world? Finally, Martin McLeod (vice president, ARCIA) will give

www.CriticalComms.com.au

Comms Connect Sydney 2014 exhibitor list • Agilent Technologies • Amtex Electronics • Anritsu • ARCIA • ATI Australia • Audioxtra International • Australasian Tetra Forum • Critical Comms • Delta Gamma Consultant • Emona Instruments • Gencom • GME • GMG Solutions • Hytera • Icom Australia • ICS Industries • IP Mobilenet

• JVC Kenwood • Lightning Protection International • Logic Wireless • McKay Associates • Mastercom • Orionet • RF Technology • Rojone • Sepura • Simoco Australasia • Survey Technologies Inc • Tait Communications • Trio Test and Measurement • Vicom Australia • Wave 1 • ZCG Scalar

Comms Connect Melbourne Don’t forget that Comms Connect Melbourne will be on again this year, at the slightly earlier time of 30 September-2 October, instead of the usual November. Full details will be available on the Comms Connect website in the coming months. Comms Connect www.comms-connect.com.au

May/Jun 2014 - Critical Comms

Headsets 3M has extended its active hearing communications product line with the introduction of 3M

Redefining RF with the World’s First Vector Signal Transceiver

Peltor Lite-Com Plus Two-Way radio headsets. Lite-Com Plus is a high-performance hearing protector with a built-in communication radio for cable-free, short-range communication with other Peltor Lite-Com headsets and portable two-way radios programmed on the same frequency. An external audio input allows for connecting to an external phone or portable two-way radio, regardless of frequency. The noise-cancelling speech microphone with VOX functionality enables hands-free communication in noisy environments. 3M Peltor has improved its previous Lite-Com III headset with new electronics, a more rugged design, an advanced voice-guided menu, a new lithium-ion rechargeable battery, extended multilevel menu with ‘submenu’, dynamic boom microphone, limiter function on external input and CTCSS (Continuous Tone Coded Squelch System) of 38 channels, and DCS (Digital Coded Squelch) signalling of 83 channels. The 3M Peltor Lite-Com Plus offers SLC80 of 31 dB for the head-band and helmet attached version and 30 dB for the neck-band version. 3M Personal Safety www.3M.com/au/PPESafety

HF radio Codan has announced a capabilities upgrade to its Envoy HF smart radio, enabling the transceiver and control point to be located separately and linked over IP, without the need for external RoIP

The NI vector signal transceiver combines a vector signal analyzer

hardware. The upgrade means the Envoy transceiver can be situated where there is optimal RF performance, and the handset

user-programmable FPGA for inline

or console located with the user in their

processing and control. The VST offers

area of deployment, linking over IP with

both out-of-the-box functionality and

the simple attachment of an ethernet

ultimate user customizability.

cable to the handset or console. The IP linking technology also enables remote control of an Envoy, enabling configura-

Accelerate your productivity at ni.com/vst

Australia: 1800 300 800 New Zealand: 0800 553 322

tion and profiling of the radio from any location, even a different country, eliminating the need for HF radios to be returned to a customer service centre for an update. Codan has also announced extra antenna options for Envoy. A dual antenna option allows for two antennas to be simultaneously connected, resulting in optimal coverage as the radio will use the antenna which provides the best voice quality. Also available is a compact antenna solution, the 3048 Tuned Dipole Antenna, dubbed ‘cat’s whisker’ for its unique shape and flexible capability. The 3048 can be erected in confined areas where space is limited, allowing for HF base-station antennas to be located anywhere,

©2013 National Instruments. All rights reserved. National Instruments, NI, and ni.com are trademarks of National Instruments. Other product and company names listed are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies. 09420

from a rooftop to an oil rig. Codan Limited www.codan.com.au

32 Critical Comms - May/Jun 2014

www.CriticalComms.com.au

Real-time spectrum analyser The Signal Hound BB60A is a real-time spectrum analyser and RF recorder designed to capture and display RF events as short as 1 µs. The small, lightweight, USB-based RF spectrum analyser operates from 9 kHz to 6 GHz and can go anywhere. The analyser’s RF recorder uses the USB 3.0 data pipe. It streams 80 million samples/s of RF data to a PC via USB 3.0, enabling real-time analysis of any 20 MHz segment of

Long-range radio

spectrum. Users are able to visualise spectral events as

The MiMoMax Tornado NDL is a spectrally efficient,

short as 1 µs with 100% POI (probability of intercept) within

long-range remote radio for point-to-point applications.

a 20 MHz instantaneous bandwidth.

Offering a full-duplex aggregate raw data rate of 640

The device comes with a compiled API (application program-

Kbps - 320 Kbps up and 320 Kbps down - in its highest

ming interface) for writing custom software. The open-source

modulation mode (QAM256), the compact, software-

spectrum analyser software provides examples of techniques

flexible solution provides high-performance linking.

for interfacing the API when writing customised applications.

The MIMO space time diversity system uses

The product is used for real-time spectrum monitoring,

integrated dual-polarised antennas, receivers and

manufacturing process control, interference hunting, spread

transmitters to increase radio channel throughput

spectrum signal analysis, capturing intermittent events and

and received-signal quality. Other features include

general-purpose spectrum analysis. It can be customised

isolated power supply with low power consumption,

to perform complex, remote and/or automated functions.

built-in duplexers, and Ethernet and RS232 interfaces.

Test Equipment Pty Ltd

MiMOMax Wireless Ltd

www.test-equipment.com.au

www.mimomax.com

www.CriticalComms.com.au

May/Jun 2014 - Critical Comms

Circuit tester XJTAG has released the XJLink2 3070. Approved by Agilent Technologies, the JTAG controller provides convenient, integrated access to XJTAG’s test and programming tools from Agilent i3070 in-circuit test (ICT) machines. The combination of XJTAG’s advanced connection test and nonJTAG device testing/programming with the i3070’s measurement capabilities makes capturing defects easier than ever. The product serves primarily to streamline the production line. With combined testing and programming, the number of stages and handling operations can be significantly reduced. It is also possible

Vector network analyser The Rohde & Schwarz ZNBT vector network analyser covers the frequency

to program devices while performing

range from 9 kHz to 8.5 GHz, with the base model equipped with four test

ICT to increase throughput.

ports. Depending on application requirements, it can be enhanced to include

The device is completely con-

24 ports. The ZNBT is primarily for use in the development and production

figurable and programming speeds

of active and passive multiport components such as front-end modules for

close to the theoretical maximum

multiband mobile phones.

of a device can be achieved using

When fitted with its maximum number of test ports, the ZNBT is capable

its advanced features. The unit is

of determining all 576 S-parameters of a 24-port DUT. It needs no switching

compatible with the standard USB

and therefore carries out multiport measurements faster than switch matrix-

XJLink2 so boards can be debugged

based multiport systems. Alternatively, the ZNBT can also measure multiple

at a repair station without having to

DUTs in parallel.

develop a separate test set-up.

The unit also does away with the loss introduced by matrix switches, making

The device fits into one slot on

it possible to deliver measurements with the instrument’s full dynamic range

the Agilent i3070 utility card, however

of 130 dB, a high output power level of 13 dBm and low trace noise. And

multiple systems can be added to

it does not have a display - a space-saving feature - but can be controlled

the same card or additional Utility

via an external monitor, mouse and keyboard or via an external touch screen.

cards for supplementary test and program capabilities, for instance

Rohde & Schwarz (Australia) Pty Ltd

testing panels of boards.

www.rohde-schwarz.com

XJTAG www.xjtag.com

34 Critical Comms - May/Jun 2014

www.CriticalComms.com.au

Bluetooth beacons Cloud services for handheld tester

Unique Micro Design (UMD) has been appointed a Value Added Solution

Fluke Networks has introduced cloud services for

Provider by Adiant Solutions Australia

its OneTouch AT Network Assistant. Free with any

for StickNFind Bluetooth Low Energy

new handheld OneTouch AT tester or as a software

(BLE) beacon innovations.

upgrade for existing units, the cloud service lets the

BLE beacons are suitable for con-

OneTouch AT tester provide visibility into network

sumer, enterprise and industrial applica-

performance over time, which is an invaluable aid

tions, whether for tracking assets and

in troubleshooting intermittent problems that often

people, indoor navigation or custom

occur when a network technician isn’t available.

applications. Whether the task requires

The tester and cloud service make it easier to

tracking 500 or 500,000 items, Stick-

see network irregularities, with sequential test re-

NFind Enterprise Beacons can help

sults automatically uploaded to the cloud service

streamline the process of efficiently

and plotted on colour-coded charts. Technicians

monitoring, maintaining and managing

can view trended results from multiple tests

an organisation’s valuable property.

side by side to identify correlated events, and

UMD offers BLE beacons that easily

even zoom in to see details for an event within

integrate Apple’s iBeacon technology in new or existing mobile apps to create rich and contextually aware experiences

a narrower time window, and then print or download charts as documentation. Technicians can also launch a series of autonomous tests and walk away. The

by sensing proximity in real time.

tester measures network performance, uploads the results to the cloud service

Unique Micro Design Pty Ltd

and repeats the cycle as frequently as every 60 s for as long as a week.

www.umd.com.au

Fluke Australia Pty Ltd www.fluke.com.au

www.CriticalComms.com.au

May/Jun 2014 - Critical Comms

Case study

Wireless in the warehouse

resh Produce Group, one of Australia’s largest providers of fruit and vegetables, urgently needed help to improve stock control and efficiency. Established in 1991, Fresh Produce Group (FPG) has quickly grown into one of Australia’s largest and most innovative fresh produce providers, managing all aspects of procurement and supply from the farm gate directly to the customer’s plate. To make sure that information about stock location and details is accurate and instantly accessible, FPG installed a Motorola solution of a wireless network and mobile devices.

Replacing a tired system FPG’s service centres are located at Sydney Markets, Sydney Arndell Park and Brisbane Markets. Each facility is purpose-built for the receipt, handling and dispatch of fresh produce, with the objective of providing efficient daily service and product supply to each of the major supermarket chains in Australia as well as leading independent retailers. Sydney Markets in Flemington house the main warehouse as well as head office. The existing warehouse management system was not only old and tired but was also poorly designed and integrated. According to Malcolm Price, IT/systems manager at FPG, “infrastructure was just plonked in where it was convenient, and the equipment was not even commercial grade. The wireless network didn’t work throughout the facility, so it wasn’t well used and there were black spots. At times there were equipment failures with no available backup plan. “We had lots of issues with stocktaking with the older system, such as poor visibility of where stock was and asynchronous updates to stock movements. Often we had to rely on a person’s memory.”

Mobile computing The new infrastructure consists of a new wireless network, supported by Motorola AP-7131 wireless access points, which delivers the throughput, coverage and resiliency required for an all-wireless enterprise, at all three sites. The points provide support for FPG’s high-speed wireless data services. Furthermore, all access points can be centrally managed from an RFS6000 wireless RF switch located in the Sydney office. As the points operate in adaptive mode, they can also resume functionality as a standalone access point in the event of loss of connectivity. The switch drives the access points, but if the switch fails for any reason the points become independent and can work for up to three days in this way. In the meantime the switch is repaired or replaced, so redundancy and reliability are assured.

36 Critical Comms - May/Jun 2014

The recommended devices were Motorola MC9190-G mobile computers, which are more rugged; more powerful; have a higher resolution display, better scanning performance and more scanning options than their predecessors. The selection of the devices was partially based on the ability to customise the key face as FPG could choose the buttons to suit the application being used. Unused buttons could be mapped to software-specific functions. Another particularly appealing factor was the robustness of the devices. “We saw that they can take a pounding and not break. We’re in quite a primitive environment so that’s important. They also need to handle temperature variations of between 18 and -2°, which they do well. We’ve had no issues,” says Price. Throughout the Flemington warehouse, the old infrastructure was swapped out for a new network. The Brisbane service centre is a new building, so FPG took the opportunity to set up new infrastructure from the beginning. Access points were installed, with Motorola handheld devices using software developed by FPG’s own in-house developer. The Arndell Park service centre operates out of a 6000 m2 premises and had no pre-existing system, so was also installed from scratch. “The rollout went well. It was very straightforward and it all worked. We just plugged the access points in and everything started working,” says Price.

The sweet taste of success Locating stock and the attached data is much faster and based on accurate information, explains Price. “One of the benefits is the improved ability to track stock, and better stock management is a major business benefit. “For example, the truck arrives and uploads 10 pallets of pumpkins. Staff print a label which they attach to the pallet. They scan the label and update the database with details such as arrival time of stock and location. So if an order for pumpkins comes in, the pallet can be quickly located. “Being in the highly perishable business, stock has to be in and out within hours. We can’t afford to hunt around looking for stock, which is what we used to do, especially when we have 6000 square metres of warehouse.” The new system has also provided benefits in terms of staff management. Training staff is easier as new staff do not require extensive training on the new system or devices. “We can also delegate to floor staff some of the tasks which used to be done by managers. For example, in the past staff had to be instructed to get the oldest stock first. Now they can be simply instructed to ‘pick pallet 10’ because that logic already exists in the software.” Staff productivity can be measured by records of log-on and log-off times, as well as tasks completed such as numbers of stock picks. Staff management and work processes can be assessed with the detailed data now available. Motorola Solutions Australia Pty Ltd www.motorola.com/au

www.CriticalComms.com.au

Industry Talking The ARCIA event in Perth on 10 April saw around 80 people gather for an afternoon of discussion and an evening of presentations and a formal dinner. I always enjoy talking with people about our industry, so I was fortunate to be able to travel to Perth and help support the event. Our thanks go to Rob Howes for organising it and making sure that everyone was given a great welcome, and to Tait Communications for supporting the event and providing guest speakers on the future of networks and change management. Next on the calendar is the ARCIA Sydney dinner on 18 June and, of course, Comms Connect Sydney. This is really shaping up to be a great event; bookings are now open so don’t miss out. ARCIA was recently invited by ACMA to present at its 2014 spectrum tune-ups in Sydney and Perth, which were aimed at milestones 2 and 3 of the 400 MHz bandplan changes. ACMA had asked ARCIA for comments on a range of issues and I would like to thank the many people I rang and emailed to gather information for our presentation. I would also like to thank WA member Albert Hazelbrook for presenting in Perth. A wide range of issues was discussed and, of course, we all know there are problems with making such wholesale changes to this critical spectrum. However, it is only by having good general engagement with the regulator that we can find common ground and try to get resolutions on many of the problems that are occurring. It was pleasing to see genuine commitment from the ACMA staff, and many of the items we raised, such as a more modern renewal system, are being worked on. We intend to have follow-up meetings on many of these issues, as I believe our members have a huge amount of experience that will benefit both ACMA and the industry. One of the most interesting things to come out of the meetings is that many state governments are treating Tier II and III government users differently in terms of the obligation to move to harmonised government spectrum (HGS). This is causing confusion in the marketplace and really needs direction. I was also surprised to hear from many government sectors that funding is not available to change systems to be compliant with the HGS. It would appear that the states have not fully realised the implications of signing up for the 400 MHz changes. I would suggest that all members review the ACMA 400 MHz website, especially the e-newsletter on the site. The ARCIA committee has signed off on the comprehensive economic study on the value of our industry to Australia now the hard work begins. I’m delighted that we have the support of many people for this very important project. The committee is acutely aware that it has a responsibility to spend members’ money wisely, but we have to fight for good policy outcomes and we see this as a very important tool for the future of our industry.

6000-6075 MHz coaxial resonator oscillator Crystek’s CVCO55CXT-6000-6075 coaxial resonator oscillator (CRO) is a coaxial-based VCO with an internal proprietary frequency doubler. The CVCO55CXT family’s frequency-doubling technology is said to enable lower phase noise, lower harmonics and lower current consumption. The product operates from 6000 to 6075 MHz with a tuning voltage range of 0.5 to 4.5 VDC. The coaxial VCO features a typical phase noise of -100 dBc/Hz @ 10 kHz offset and has good linearity. The CRO exhibits an output power of 5 dBm typ into a 50 Ω load with a supply of 8 VDC and a current consumption of 25 mA (max). Engineered and manufactured in the USA, the CRO is packaged in 0.5 x 0.5″ package. Pushing and pulling are both minimised to 1.5 MHz/V and 0.5 MHz, respectively. Second harmonic suppression is -30 dBc typical. The product is suitable for use in applications such as digital radio equipment, fixed wireless access, satellite communications systems and base stations. Crystek Crystals Corporation www.crystek.com

Copper test solution Available to rent, the DSX-5000 CableAnalyser copper test solution enables testing and certification of twisted pair cabling for up to 10 Gb Ethernet deployments. It will certify shielded and unshielded structured cabling systems from Category 3, to 6A and Class C, to FA at Level V accuracy. Features include: high-speed testing, including a 9 s Category 6 autotest; built-in Alien Crosstalk testing capability, PLA004 (Cat 6A/Class EA), CHA004 (Cat 6A/Class EA) adapters included; ProjX management system for tracking complex jobs; Taptive user interface - simplified testing protocols across multiple media types; LinkWare management software for test analysis and professional

Hamish Duff, President Australian Radio Communications Industry Association

test reports; dedicated diagnostics. TechRentals offer a set-up and download service for this product. TechRentals www.techrentals.com.au

38 Critical Comms - May/Jun 2014

www.CriticalComms.com.au

Enclosures Hager’s golf enclosure range along with the onekonekt system of modular protection devices provides a solution that makes installations easier, safer and faster. The range is available in flush or surface mounting and with a choice of Q Link terminals and 63 A or 100 A brass links. The onekonekt range of residential protection devices connects to the same busbar, increasing safety, reducing installation time and improving technical characteristics and aesthetics within one system. This red dot design award and Australian International Design Award winning range provides the option to be installed as a stand-alone home network hub or combined with the mains distribution golf enclosure by utilising Hager’s patented double slider. Hager Australia www.hagerelectro.com.au

Oscilloscopes element14 has introduced Tektronix TBS1000B Series digital storage oscilloscopes which feature affordable performance in a compact design. The series includes USB connectivity, 34 automated measurements, limit testing, data logging, frequency counter, trend plot and a contextsensitive help menu. Fourteen commercial and educational variants have different price points and unique features tailored to each target market segment. The oscilloscopes have a 7″ high-resolution TFT display and an interface that provides quick access to all functions and includes a high-resolution ‘pan and zoom’ feature enabling visibility of even more signal details of up to 10x normal resolution. The user interface has dedicated per-channel vertical controls, zoom/magnifier button and convenient access to functions via soft keys; the multipurpose knob makes these instruments easy to use, reducing learning time and increasing efficiency. element14 au.element14.com

www.CriticalComms.com.au

May/Jun 2014 - Critical Comms

JOB FUNCTION

FREE SUBSCRIPTION If you live in Australia† and your job title matches those on this form, we will deliver you 6 complimentary issues a year!

THREE QUICK WAYS TO REGISTER  WWW.CRITICALCOMMS.COM.AU/SUBSCRIBE  FAX THIS COMPLETED FORM TO (02) 9489 1265  MAIL THIS COMPLETED FORM TO LOCKED BAG 1289 WAHROONGA NSW 2076

Wrapper number: (if known)

*All fields required to qualify for your FREE magazine NAME* JOB TITLE* ORGANISATION NAME* ADDRESS* POSTCODE* COUNTRY* PHONE NUMBER*

MOBILE NUMBER*

EMAIL* SIGNATURE* DATE*

JOB FUNCTION* [

] INDUSTRY* [

[select one from lists to the right>]

]

OPTIONS I WOULD LIKE TO RECEIVE THIS MAGAZINE [ ]DIGITAL [ ]PRINT [ ]BOTH I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO RECEIVE THE CRITICAL COMMS E-NEWSLETTER [ ] † For qualified industry professionals outside Australia, the digital magazine and eNewsletters are available FREE of charge. If you would like the print magazine, contact circulation@westwick-farrow.com.au for subscription prices in your region.

INDUSTRY

(please choose one only) 1 Agriculture/Rural 2 Building/Construction 3 Chemicals/Allied Products 4 Communications Systems 5 Defence/Military 6 Education 7 Emergency Services/Law Enforcement/ Security 8 Engineering Services 9 Environmental Services 10 Finance/Banking/Insurance Legal 11 Food Industry - Bakery 12 Food Industry - Beverages 13 Food Industry - Confectionery 14 Food Industry - Dairy 15 Food Industry - Fruit & Vegetables 16 Food Industry - Meat 17 Government - Federal 18 Government - State 19 Government - Local 20 Health/Hospital 21 Instrumentalities (eg CSIRO) 22 IT - Networking 23 IT - Security 24 IT - Storage 25 IT - Wireless 26 Laboratory - Analytical 27 Laboratory - Clinical/Medical 28 Laboratory - Life Sciences 29 Logistics/Transport/Warehouse 30 Manufacturing 31 Mining 32 Oil/Gas/Coal 33 Packaging 34 Processing 35 Retail/Wholesale/Hire 36 Service/Maintenance 37 Telecommunication 38 Testing/Certification (eg NATA) 39 Utilities

(please choose one only) 1 Management - Corporate/General 2 Management - Manufacturing/ Engineering/Specialist 3 Engineer - Electrical 4 Engineer - Electronics 5 Engineer - Process 6 Engineer - Project 7 Purchasing/Procurement 8 Technician - Maintenance/Service 9 Technician - IT 10 Technical Officer 11 Scientific Officer - R&D 12 Scientific Officer - QA 13 Consultant 14 Contractor/Tradesperson 15 OHS/EHS 16 Education/Training 17 Student-Undergraduate/Apprentice 18 Analyst 19 Sales/Marketing

Universal test platform The VeEX UX400 next-generation modular platform is a flexible, compact and futureproof test solution for OTN, SDH, SONET, PDH, T-Carrier, Carrier Ethernet, mobile backhaul, core and storage area networks. The device is said to be the first robust portable chassis to offer test capabilities ranging from DS1/E1 to 100GE and beyond, allowing any combination of test modules tailored for each particular application or set of requirements. Its versatile and flexible hardware and software architecture optimise configurations to meet usersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; specific needs. This includes transport applications at rates ranging from DS1/E1 to OC-768/STM-256/OTU3 and OTU4 to Carrier Ethernet transport applications from 10M to 40GE/100GE, fibre channel from 1G to 16G and beyond. Its modular architecture allows for up to six independent test modules and up to 12 concurrent tests or combination of tests. It also allows simultaneous users to share the platform and run independent tests, maximising the use of resources. Features include: intuitive multiuser graphical user interface (GUI) with touch-screen control; up to 12 independent concurrent tests; field exchangeable test modules; SCPI scripting/remote control and VNC support; fast and efficient test result transfer to USB memory stick or FTP upload; built-in optical power meter and visual fault locator option; built-in GPS receiver for system clock synchronisation option; built-in atomic clock option, which can be disciplined and calibrated by the GPS signal; industrial -grade SSD (solid-state disk) with up to 32 GB of storage space; high-capacity Li-ion battery pack for uninterrupted testing and added portability; portable with weight less than 10 kg including battery pack; rackmount version available; built-in VGA monitor port for external monitor or projector connection; operate with USB mouse and keyboard. Users can maintain instrument software, manage test configurations, process measurement results and generate customised test reports using the included ReVeal software. TelecomTest Solutions www.telecomtest.com.au

www.CriticalComms.com.au

May/Jun 2014 - Critical Comms

Test and tag system The Seaward ProTag Elite System is an advanced testing and tagging and asset inspection management system. It tests portable appliances and RCDs, records asset photographs and inspections, prints Elite UV and harsh environment resistant test tags and downloads all test results, asset photos and inspections to management software. The system consists of the Seaward Primetest Elite appliance and RCD tester, ProTag Elite test tag printer, barcode scanner and PATGuard Elite 3 asset management software. The system carries out all of the tests required under AS/NZS3760 for appliances and leads, and carries out 30 mA RCD tests. The PrimeTest Elite also operates as a handheld asset inspection system by allowing asset photographs to be taken using the in-built camera with flash and users can record any type of test, inspection or risk assessment with their own user-defined inspection routines. This eliminates the need for carrying around a separate tablet or laptop for recording the results of non-electrical inspections and risk assessments. Other features include: compact QWERTY keypad; high-definition colour display; USB for data upload/download; in-built isolation transformer; onboard memory that stores 50,000 assets and 2000 asset photographs. The system is fully protected by the impact-resistant transit case supplied as part of the kit. Each component in the Optima System is battery powered, providing maximum portability. Emona Instruments Pty Ltd www.emona.com.au

42 Critical Comms - May/Jun 2014

www.CriticalComms.com.au

OTDR Available to rent, the Anritsu MT9083A Access Master is a quad wavelength, optical time domain reflectometer that manages 850/1300 nm (29/28 dB) for multimode fibre and 1310/1550 (39/37.5 dB) for singlemode fibre. The singlemode port is SC/APC. Intelligent analysis software identifies problem splices, connectors and even macrobends. Tasks such as fault finding in optical fibres, QoS evaluation, as well as installation and troubleshooting for FTTx, CATV, LAN, Access and Metro networks, can all be handled with just one unit. Features include: full 1 x 64 PON support, up to 39 dB; store up to 1000 traces internally (many more using USB); drag-and-drop results to PC; graphical summary and PDF reporting; ready to test in about 15 s. TechRentals offers a set-up and download service for this product. TechRentals www.techrentals.com.au

Digital gateway Zetron has announced the availability of the Pathway TIA P25 Digital Fixed Station Interface (DFSI) gateway, which has been designed to enable connection of up to four control stations or console systems to a single Pathway device using the DFSI protocol. Zetron says Pathway offers some key benefits, including: it enables up to four DFSI-enabled console systems to communicate to a single DFSI base station; it uses standards-based TIA P25 Digital Fixed Station Interface protocol for normal operation; it works with any manufacturerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dispatch console that is compliant with the TIA P25 DFSI open standard; it has an easy-to-use web-based configuration; and it has the capability to send updated state information to the console systems whenever one of those systems changes the fixed station state. The company says the product is suitable for applications that include console system migration, disaster recovery/ backup centre operation or multiagency control in which the same DFSI resource is required to be accessible by all systems. Zetron Australasia www.zetron.com

www.CriticalComms.com.au

May/Jun 2014 - Critical Comms

ANTENNAS

ANY SHAPE YOU LIKE A breakthrough known as a ‘metasurface lens’ may see dish antennas replaced with ones that conform to any surface shape.

y depositing an array of tiny, metallic, U-shaped structures onto a dielectric material, a team of researchers in China has created a new artificial surface that can bend and focus electromagnetic waves the same way an antenna does. The breakthrough, which the team is calling the first broadband transformation optics metasurface lens, may lead to the development of new types of antennas that are flat, ultralow profile or conformal to the shape of curved surfaces. The new lens, described in the journal Applied Physics Letters, was fabricated by Tie Jun Cui and colleagues at Southeast University in Nanjing, China, and is an example of a metasurface or metamaterial - an artificial material engineered in the lab that has properties not found in nature. In this case, by coating the surface with the tiny U-shaped elements, it acquires properties that mimic something known as a Luneburg lens. First discovered in the 1940s, Luneburg lenses are traditionally spherical optics that interact with light in an unusual way. Most lenses are made of a single material like plastic or glass that bends light passing through in a consistent, characteristic way - a key property of the material, which is called its ‘index of refraction’. Some materials, like glass, have a higher index of refraction and bend light more than other materials - such as quartz. A Luneburg lens has the unusual property of bending light more or less depending on where the light strikes the lens. This is

44 Critical Comms - May/Jun 2014

because, in a Luneburg lens, the index of refraction varies across the spherical lens body, making it very different to a normal lens. Luneburg lenses can focus light or incoming electromagnetic waves to an off-axis point at the edge of the lens (not directly in front or behind it as a normal lens would do). Or they can uniformly channel electromagnetic waves emanating from a nearby point source and radiate them in a single direction - something no spherical lens can do. Because of their properties, Luneburg lenses find a variety of applications as radar reflectors and microwave antennae. However, the spherical shape of a typical Luneburg lens is inconvenient in some applications, Cui said, which is why he and his colleagues used inhomogeneous artificial structures to create a flat surface that acts like a Luneburg lens. The new work compliments the traditional way of constructing Luneburg lenses based on geometric optics - as well as a second way discovered in the last few years that uses holographic optics. “We now have three systematical designing methods to manipulate the surface waves with inhomogeneous metasurfaces, the geometric optics, holographic optics, and transformation optics,” Cui said. “These technologies can be combined to exploit more complicated applications.” The article, ‘A broadband transformation-optics metasurface lens’ by Xiang Wan, Wei Xiang Jiang, Hui Feng Ma, and Tie Jun Cui, appeared in Applied Physics Letters on 14 April 2014 (DOI: 10.1063/1.4870809).

www.CriticalComms.com.au

FREE EXHIBITION ENTRY

Sydney 18 – 19 June 2014

to qualified industry professionals with pre-registration

Australian Technology Park Highlights: Rod Gilmour Chairman, NSW Telco Authority

Training Workshops (included in conference package):

Shane Fitzsimmons AFSM Commissioner NSW Rural Fire Service

• Advanced radio over IP • Mobile broadband & LTE for critical communications • Ensure network migration success with change management

Inspector (Ret.) Lance Valcour O.O.M. Chair, Law Enforcement Information Management, International Association of Chiefs of Police Digital partner:

In association with:

Exhibitors include:

Asia Pacific

Magazine partner:

Organised by:

Supporting associations and media organisations:

In conjunction with the NSW ARCIA networking dinner, 18 June @ Dockside, Cockle Bay Wharf

Interested in exhibiting or sponsoring?

CALL PAUL OR NARELLE ON

+61 2 9487 2700

www.comms-connect.com.au

Backhaul Backhaul takes you on a trip down memory lane as we look at the state of the industry 25 and 10 years ago. 25 YEARS AGO. The cover of the June/July 1989 issue of What’s New in Radio Communications featured the Radius P-200 synthesised FM two-way radio from Motorola. This unit came with a field-programmable EEPROM, choice of power levels and rechargeable NiCad battery. An article from Dr I.T. Wielinga from Phillips described the use of thin-film tape head technology for communications logging - obviously well before the era of cheap digital storage - and Phil Beavis from Marconi described how to lower the cost of radio testing. Readers also learned how the Royal Flying Doctor Service had a network of Outpost Radio Base Stations using HF, but that satellite was on the horizon as the way of the future. Also making news was the first trans-Pacific digital optical fibre cable between the USA, Guam and Japan; and the world’s smallest two-way satcom unit, available through OTC, which used a 30 cm conical antenna attached to a laptop computer. Did they really have laptops back then? 10 YEARS AGO. Icom IC-F50/F60 series VHF/UHF handhelds graced the cover of the May/June 2004 issue of Radio Comms Asia-Pacific. While the 1980s-vintage M o t o ro l a R a d i u s weighed more than 800 g, the Icoms weighed in at just 280 g. Readers of this issue learned al l about: the comms systems linking British embassies around the world; a paperless order tracking and sales system in use with a transport company; and RFID tags built into rubbish bins to help local councils improve their waste management practices. Of great interest was a report on the sale of the Victorian state government’s National Response Centre to Origin Energy. The centre was the point of contact for people advising of gas leaks anywhere in the state. 46 Critical Comms - May/Jun 2014

Spectrum Unused spectrum in New Zealand The Radio Frequency Users Association of New Zealand is undertaking research to show that there's not as much spectrum to go around as some people might think. Who would have imagined it just a few years ago - all analog television closed down, finished, gone, never to be seen again. Now everyone is using digital TV, either through a terrestrial network or via a satellite. Gone are the days of large Yagi antennas on rooftops, sometimes snowy pictures and ghosting in hilly locations. Now the TV picture is crystal clear or it disappears altogether, and most viewing is on a widescreen device. This is a project that seems to have proceeded amazingly smoothly, with excellent project management and cooperation by the New Zealand regulator and broadcasters. But a real bonus is that TV broadcasting is now much more spectrum efficient and has freed up significant amounts of spectrum for other uses. This spectrum is in three frequency bands: Band 1 (44-68 MHz), Band III (174-230 MHz) and Upper UHF (694-806 MHz). In New Zealand, the most sought after spectrum was the new 700-800 MHz band. This has been auctioned off to the three incumbent cellular operators for new 4G LTE cellular systems and is expected to be released for use in 2015. In the Band 1 area, there is little demand but 50-51 MHz has been released back into the amateur 6-metre band. In addition, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has recently released a discussion paper covering the implementation of radio-controlled toys at 49 MHz. The propagation characteristics of this band somewhat restrict its usefulness. The Band III spectrum is far more useful to a number of parties with its excellent propagation characteristics. It could be used for mobile radio, radio microphones or digital audio broadcasting (DAB), to name just a few. Radio microphones are probably better suited to UHF to enable more efficient frequency re-use and there has been little interest expressed in DAB to date, even though there have been a couple of pilot broadcasts operating in Wellington. Which leaves mobile radio. As most people will realise, mobile radio is at the heart of our community - without it our community would likely ground to a halt, emergency services would be constricted, public transport and utilities could not operate. While some may think that mobile radio is dying since the advent of smartphones, this is far from the case. In the recent Christchurch earthquakes and previous significant weather events, mobile radio was shown to be the one technology that did not block or degrade, but just kept providing continuous communication. In addition, demand for handhelds with infill coverage is increasing, as are health and safety requirements. Quirks in the MBIE licensing regime appear to be hiding the increasing demand due to multiple channels on the same licence. MBIE regulators consider that there is no shortage of available channels for mobile radio and furthermore, there will be additional channels available as a result of the 2512.5 kHz channel spacing conversion. RFUANZ disagrees with this response and has commenced some research to prove otherwise - all members of the industry are urged to get behind the RFUANZ initiative to ensure all relevant information is available. Bruce Harding is chairman of the Radio Frequency Users Association of New Zealand (rfuanz.org.nz). The association was formed in 1990; its membership spans the gamut of operators and interested parties in government and private industry.