Comms Connect Virtual Conference Series

Welcome from moderator: Chris Stevens, Managing Director, CartGiS Pty Ltd

We are living in an increasingly connected, online, digital world. Data security and data privacy was once about protecting files in rows and columns in a spreadsheet. Now we all generate data in so many different ways, from so many different devices, and through so many different online connections. Use of all of this data helps improve and personalise services but creates challenges for security and privacy. This dual opportunity and challenge will continue to grow as we move to ever more joined up digital services. Technology is part of the solution, but it is a fast-moving game. The growing complexity of keeping personal data safe as we move to an ever more digital world. This presentation will address some of the challenges as we move deeper into the 21st Century. 

Interoperability and information sharing are longstanding challenges for first responders. When multiple agencies or jurisdictions show up to an emergency, they have difficulty interconnecting their communication systems. FirstNet and other public safety broadband networks present both an opportunity for superior information sharing and a challenge to share information securely. Federated identity solutions enable user accounts from multiple organisations to access services from multiple service providers. All agencies that have joined the federation, and all services have joined the ecosystem, can the share identity data. This presentation will highlight the research that Public Safety Communications Research and the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence are conducting to support identity federation efforts in the United States.

Working from home, remote education and our interconnected makes us vulnerable to increasing cybersecurity risks as we access diverse platforms, tools and systems. Network design and broadband network transformations must start with security in mind from the beginning to ensure that resiliency and security for today's applications and the future. Join us to hear about current and future solutions available in mobile and fixed broadband networks that provide high levels of security and protection from cybersecurity threats. We will also share an update on how Safe-Net of South Korea has built security into their Public Safety LTE network and the areas they are researching for the future.

We are reminded, all too often, of the impacts of poor cybersecurity practice. Peter and the ECL Cyber team work to improve cybersecurity for NZ industrial organisations, working with clients and partners to ensure safe and reliable operations. Leaving enterprise security to the IT security companies, the award-winning ECL Cyber team focus solely on OT (operational technology) security. In this talk, Peter will talk about best-practice OT security with real-world examples of the good, the bad and the ugly. Peter will also talk about the NZ industrial cyber community being built around the NZ ICS Cyber Technical Network.

Welcome from moderator: Chris Stevens, Managing Director, CartGiS Pty LTS

Challenge Networks is a global leader in the implementation of Private LTE networks, being the first system integrator in the world to deploy a network and now having over 15 network deployments both within Australia and internationally. Based on this experience Simon will discuss what seem to be the next phase of development in the sector.

The new global mission-critical LTE standards are no longer the future. They are here, and ready to be deployed for voice, video and data applications to aid critical infrastructure users, including those in public safety, utilities and transportation organisations. This presentation focuses on how critical infrastructure control rooms integrate with LTE networks (private, commercial or national) and make use of mission-critical LTE Push-to-Talk (MCPTT) in the broadband migration from narrowband Land Mobile Radio (LMR).

Private LTE networks have gained much momentum in Australia recently, especially in the mining, oil and gas fields, to improve safety and efficiency, and align with Industry 4.0 and IIoT developments. This case study will look at a deployment in the Australian gas fields, focusing on designing and deploying the LTE system with high availability and low latency.

As communication needs change private LTE networks and soon private 5G networks, are growing in popularity as alternative campus deployments to LMR and other technologies. A key feature of these networks is their data capacity. This paper explores a definition of coverage that goes beyond the conventional RSSI and identifies key factors that affect whether coverage performance starts and remains as planned.

Gold Fields is one of the largest gold mining companies in the world and is a leader in the field of private LTE networks. Having the first such deployment in the world for the gold mining industry and has now rolled out an LTE network to three separate mines in Australia. Having a private network for almost 5 years, Rodney will discuss the journey Gold Felds have been on and where the company sees the technology progressing.

Welcome from moderator: Chris Stevens, Managing Director, CartGiS Pty LTS

This talk will look at how Fire & Rescue NSW has integrated location-based services in all aspects of their incident management, from call taking and dispatch to firefighter safety at the incident, as well as the new and emerging technologies being investigated to take this capability into the next phase.

Getting a precise location for emergency communications is one of the biggest challenges emergency services are facing. Advanced Mobile Location (AML) is a technology that makes use of the user’s handset’s location capabilities (GNSS and Wi-Fi) to provide automatically an accurate location information to the services handling the emergency communications. This presentation will describe how this technology works and how it has already helped emergency services in the 29 countries that make use of it.

Location services over LMR systems are used by many different organisations to improve situational awareness, drive productivity, and provide location on duress calls. As digital LMR systems have added more features the popularity of location services is one of the key reasons LMR has remained in use for many critical markets. This session is intended for both technical and non-technical participants and will highlight the value of LMR for short data services including GPS, indoor tracking and messaging.

This presentation will investigate the use of ESRI and other GIS platforms as a data processing and integration tool. It will also highlight using operational dashboards and web-apps, as tools for displaying and analysing disparate data sources.

Welcome from moderator: Chris Stevens, Managing Director, CartGiS Pty LTS

Global demand for Digital Open standard-based Land Mobile Radio remains strong. Enhancements to the standards continue as does the industry product innovation and R&D. What are the dominant reasons underpinning this ongoing growth alongside convergence with broadband and the progress on MCx functionalities?

Learn how to build coverage with a minimal number of frequencies in low density networks like e.g. railways. Through 4 typical use cases for TETRA frequency sharing we will cover how to build simple, highly reliable indoor and outdoor solutions. During this session attendees will learn:
1. How to build coverage with a limited number of frequencies
2. How to achieve indoor coverage without external repeater systems
3. How to optimise frequency efficiency in coverage driven networks
4. How to build a geo-redundant base station solution to protect against antenna failure

New Zealand is creating a new critical communications capability for its emergency services sector. Public Safety Network Technical Director, Neal Richardson, will present the aspirations for this new capability, who and what is involved, and how the challenge of delivering a technology solution to enable the right care, at the right place to be delivered are being met.

LMR has proven to be a reliable technology which has been used for decades. It has been designed as a narrowband technology for critical voice communications with limited use for data applications. The evolution of broadband technologies brings significant potential to transform the capabilities of mission critical communication technologies. Simoco addresses how LMR will not be a single technology in its own right but will converge with revolutionary technologies such as LTE, IoT and satellite in order to create a robust, reliable, secure, and interoperable broadband communications system. Simoco are excited to be unveiling Velocity which offers customers the next generation of technology that will revolutionise mission-critical networks.

In many development projects there appears to be a lack of understanding on the various roles and responsibilities, especially in delivering radio networks. If a client does not fully consider the project requirements it can increase the overall costs by 20-100%. This presentation will outline the key stakeholder roles required, and the responsibility and relationship between project engineer, installation contractor and maintenance technician. The breakdown of relationships between these parties is the greatest project risk – causing delays and variations, and departure from what the project was to achieve for the client.