Mission Critical for Industry at Critical Communications World 2014 Author Peta Spinks

From our correspondent. At CCW 2014 public safety is a big message but ‘business’ critical solutions for verticals are also hitting the headlines. Users in many industries need genuinely mission-critical communications to keep their workers and customers safe. On the Motorola Solutions booth I visited the Minerals and Energy zone and talked to Stuart Heath Engineering Manager, minerals and energy, based in Australia. Originally from the UK, Stuart has been working in TETRA since the first networks were installed and has extensive experience in the mining sector. “Mining expertise is country agnostic and we are seeing a lot of interest from Africa, South America, Australia and China in particular at this event.” “We are leveraging our Public Safety heritage to provide proven solutions to the minerals and energy sector.” “TETRA has always been relevant to the oil and gas industry due to its intrinsically safe features. But other features can extend the use of a TETRA network. Customers are buying TETRA for voice and then seeing what else they can do with it such as using Short data for GPS; Packet data for telemetry; Remote vehicle management.” “There is a saying that if a radio system goes down for 1 hour it can cost $1m in lost operations, so the resiliency and reliability of TETRA is key.” And Motorola takes the experience and software from its nationwide systems into its small and mid-sized network solutions including a certification process that ensures an effective full end to end solution from software through to accessories. An example of using a solution initially launched at a public safety audience is the built-in camera in the MTP6750. This can record evidence, such as fatigue on a pipeline, spotted during a worker’s inspection round and create a permanent and visual record of the damage, complete with time and GPS stamps. Due to security concerns mobile phones are banned from many mining sites but TETRA can offer mobile phone functionality and camera functionality. Stuart also showed me the remote monitoring and control functionality that can be achieved with the newly launched ACE 1000 Remote Terminal Unit which can alert users to any changes in normal working in remote sites (for example oil pumps) and even allow simple control such a shut down prior to an engineer being dispatched to fix the issue. Keeping an eye on activity in any remote area is a challenge, but when you have huge unmanned haulage trucks weighing up to 600 tons fully loaded moving around, you need to know when there is a problem and take a close look at it. Stuart showed me how with BANDWIDTH MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS using private LTE, users could access up to 20 simultaneous video streams running at 300-600kbps to survey every area of a site operation. And when the alarm sounds and you need a better look at the problem? Simply switch to a higher bandwidth feed (2-3Mbps) for that camera so you can see the problem in high definition. And safety and efficiency in mining can be improved by providing a more accurate solution to the traditional manual ‘ tagging in’ and ‘tagging off’ system of tracking mine workers as they go on and off shift. Simply by RFID tagging their equipment and identity passes with unique data so when they pass through the RFID portal on the way underground a shift manager will not only always know who is in the mine, but that they have the right certification and the right radio for the job. In the Transport and Logistics zone I heard how the transport sector is also discovering that the TETRA networks installed to ensure blue light coverage at stations and airports can have other uses. I spoke to John Helliwell, from the Motorola Solutions TETRA team who explained that Integrating TETRA in railway cabs means that not only voice but location, train ‘health’ data and passenger information can be relayed, including allowing a direct link with the PA system if the control centre needs to speak directly to crew or passengers in an emergency. TETRA can also be used to manage signaling controls that allow two trains to end one sector of line at the same time (at different ends!) meaning more trains can be efficiently and safely run. Airports are another transport sector that is offering buoyant growth opportunities with 169 new airports planned globally and 179 existing airports likely to move from analogue to digital. And the radio is developing from being ‘just a radio’ to becoming the hub of an ecosystem of bluetooth devices. John gave the example of complex event processing in an airport with a solution using an MTP6750 TETRA mobile radio with integrated camera, connected by Bluetooth to a barcode scanner. An abandoned bag is spotted by an airport security guard, using his barcode scanner the guard scans the baggage label and sends the passenger information to the Motorola’s Real Time Intelligence Centre. Because the passenger picture has been captured during security clearance his or her picture is then matched using facial recognition techniques using the CCTV. Once the passenger is spotted in a coffee bar, happily unaware of their loss, their picture and location can be sent back to the security guard on his MTP6000 radio and the bag can be restored to its delighted owner. A happy ending – but think of the time lost and unnecessary emergencies caused to both airport authorities and passengers by lost and unidentified baggage and the benefits of reducing that. Hopefully this gives you a taste of this year’s Critical Communications World. To find out more visit our Critical Communications World microsite where we will have fresh news, videos and more from the show. Find out more on TETRA too here. Peta Spinks is Director of Events for Motorola Solutions,EMEA. Peta is on LinkledIn at uk.linkedin.com/in/petaspinks1 Follow #CCW2014 on Twitter. Join the Motorola Solutions Community EMEA at http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Motorola-Solutions-Community-6519590/about