City of Victor Harbor Council
Background and Challenges
The City of Victor Harbor, situated 80 km south of Adelaide, faced a significant challenge in ensuring the safety of its employees working in remote areas with limited or no phone coverage. The council was relying on a single-site analogue radio system using Simoco SRM mobile radios on a trunking network primarily for voice communication. However, this system did not provide the necessary safety features required to manage emergencies efficiently.
The council was in search of a solution that could enhance safety without incurring ongoing costs. Lacking knowledge about the latest radio systems available in the market, the City of Victor Harbor collaborated with Simoco to explore different radio technologies. The primary goal was to upgrade their radio system with safety features provided by a digital radio system.
Solution
After careful consideration, the council selected Simoco DMR Tier III for its reliability and advanced safety features. The system’s ability to provide live tracking was a pivotal factor in the decision-making process. Simoco’s DMR Tier III not only offered near live GPS tracking but also included features such as lone worker and man down alerts. This upgrade allowed the council to address safety concerns effectively, especially for employees working in remote areas.
The Simoco Radio system was also capable of GPS tracking for assets, including trailers, integrated with vehicle tracking and portable radio tracking. This comprehensive solution enabled the council to have a unified system for tracking assets, people, and facilitating emergency responses.
Key aspects influencing the decision to choose Simoco
- No ongoing costs – The council appreciated the cost-effectiveness of the solution.
- Redundancy – The system offered redundancy, ensuring continuous communication even in challenging situations.
- Local support – The presence of local support was crucial for the council’s operational needs.
- After-sales support – The commitment to after-sales service and customer support played a significant role in the decision-making
process. - Cost-effective and reliable – Simoco’s solution was deemed the most cost-effective and reliable in the market.
- Australian ownership – The fact that Simoco was an Australian-owned company with local R&D support added to the appeal.
inquiry.
The new DMR Tier III system has proven not only to be reliable and resilient but is playing a major role in enhancing Work Health and Safety (WHS) for on-call and emergency works. This in line brings an efficient emergency response process and ensures the safety of our council staff throughout the day.Michael Ross – Operations Manager at City of Victor Harbor
Benefits
Live tracking
The system provided near live GPS tracking, enhancing real-time monitoring of personnel and assets.
Asset tracking
The inclusion of GPS tracking for assets like trailers ensured comprehensive asset management.
Lone worker and man down features
These safety features helped in monitoring and responding to emergency situations promptly.
Ruthless pre-emption feature
In emergency scenarios, users could communicate effectively, ensuring a swift and coordinated response.
Equipment deployed
- 2 x SDB680 50W bases
- 26 x SDM610 AC band radios and 6 SDP660 portables
- 1 x Velocity
- 4 desk bases
The successful implementation of Simoco’s solution not only addressed the safety concerns of the council but also provided a reliable and efficient communication infrastructure for day-to-day operations. The ongoing customer service and support further solidified the positive impact of the decision on the City of Victor Harbor.
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Manufacturing Paper Plant
Background and Challenges
The large manufacturing paper plant, based in Scandinavia, produces high quality paper from a range of renewable sources. The plant currently operates across numerous sites in difficult forestry settings and uses a mobile radio network for providing critical communications throughout the area for strong and reliable coverage as well as providing operational safety for their employees. One of their key challenges was the ability to send time critical group calls
from the existing mobile radios. They also required to send short data messages (SDMs) from their extensive fire alarm system over the mobile radio network to portable radios. The plant required a mechanism for operators to check if an alarm raised was false thereby allowing the alarm to be reset before setting the main site alarm.
Solution
With the Velocity EC-810 intelligent communications platform deployed, along with remote support provided by Simoco engineers to configure Node-RED workflows, the manufacturing plant is now able to send group calls to its mobile radios whether those are in fixed environments or in vehicles. Using Node-RED inside Velocity, specifically designed workflows have been setup to send SDMs from the plant’s fire alarm system to any radio user on site. The customer now benefits from a safe working environment for its workforce and consequently the new solution saves the plant from shutting down and evacuating the premises in the event of a false alarm.
Benefits
Edge Computing
Edge Computing is at the heart of the Velocity platform providing the manufacturing plant a secure, reliable and critical communications coverage platform. The integration of Velocity into the current mobile radio network solves the issue of sending time critical group calls and SDMs to the mobile radios. The use of Edge Computing technology in Velocity means that data can be processed where it is needed rather than having to send everything back to a centralised location and then processed. This saves valuable time and reduces the amount of data that needs to be carried back and forth connecting people, equipment and, data to enable faster, smarter decision making for better outcomes. Ultimately this technology enhances smarter operations which are safer, efficient and continuously reproducible.
Integrating Velocity to send messages from the fire alarm system
Due to the size and nature of the manufacturing plant, safety is paramount, and a mechanism was required to link the fire alarm system into the existing mobile radio network. The ability to respond to an incident is paramount, in order to ensure the safety of everyone in the plant. The plant required a comprehensive integration of their fire alarm system to send messages to staff in the event of a fire or unusual heat source. The intelligence of Node-RED workflows in the Velocity solution allowed messages to be sent direct from the fire alarm system to the radios that enhance the performance and response of safety teams on site.
European characters in radios
Upon request from the customer, Simoco were able to provide Swedish characters from the SDM mobile radio and able to integrate the Velocity EC-810 into the existing mobile radio network solution thus providing a seamless integration and passing of SDM messages.
All in one intelligent communications platform
Velocity is now at the heart of the company’s communication system and has provided operational efficiencies by allowing the plant to integrate its current critical communication network with Velocity and the customer is delighted with the solution. The company is now looking to make use of the additional features within Velocity such as Wi-Fi hotspots and Bluetooth interconnectivity.
For more information, please visit https://simocowirelesssolutions.com/products/velocity/