PMR products deployed clear and safety critical communications for the 100km2 London Array windfarm, located twelve miles from the Kent coast. Providing reliable communications is pivotal in facilitating the seamless interaction of the many personnel as they move around the vicinity.

We were tasked with facilitating three pivotal elements:

• Reachability

• Response

• Robustness

THE CHALLENGES

Turbine towers are constructed of steel and therefore create an almost impenetrable Faraday cage which prevents radio signals from outside transmitting within the tower structure. Once inside the turbine, technicians lose the ability to communicate.

THE SOLUTION

To ensure radio coverage both inside and outside the turbine towers we had to develop a system that provided a dedicated radio channel optimised to work inside each turbine and link it to the main site-wide TETRA system using a Gateway Repeater.

When a radio user moves in the tower, a location beacon is detected which automatically switches the radio to the turbine channel. When they leave and enter a vessel, the radio detects another beacon which switches it back to the main Tetra network.

THE RESULT

We created seamless communications between the operational teams and across a site; both outside and inside the tower. Additionally, they can now identify who is inside the tower or on a vessel by tracking the radio as the user enters or exits the tower.

CONCLUSION