Neville Digby — Senior Systems Engineer, Orion New Zealand &
Andrew Mackintosh — Control Systems Engineer, Orion New Zealand
Having caught the attention of New Zealand’s radio communications industry, Orion New Zealand — the country’s third largest electricity network utility — will outline their extensive field trail using VHF DMR simulcast technology, that saw an investment of approximately $100,000 on the trial alone.
Orion already have an extensive private IP data radio network that covers their substations and are currently driven to move their analog voice network to DMR.
The trial involved the implementation of a 5-site DMR (digital mobile radio) simulcast technology network in one of the most geographically challenging areas of the country, being the Banks Peninsular area of Canterbury, with measurements taken every 80m during the 1000km distance travelled.
The trial demonstrated that for the very first time, Orion had achieved 100% coverage, a feat not achieved previously, with existing networks in the area operated by emergency services and local councils delivering a mere fraction of that coverage.