FEATURE SPONSOR
TWO WAY COMMUNICATIONS
specialise in portable radio repeaters and have been designing radio systems for the offshore renewables industry for 12+ years.
Co-founded by Electronics Engineer Jennifer and husband Clive, an Industrial Designer by trade, FernCom have great expertise in the field of designing their own unique products.
Initially, FernCom were tasked with enabling communications along the Galloper transit routes and across the Galloper Field, which they facilitated by installing a multi-site, multi-channel system.
Soon after the system went live, however, Galloper subcontractors were asking for a similar communications solution, which was when FernCom conceptualised Wavecom.
Wavecom is a digital trunked radio system, giving coverage to existing windfarm sites and future planned sites off the East Anglian coast. It’s designed to provide multiple operators and subcontractors with reliable communications across a wide area without them each having to invest in a system of their own.
INCREASING EFFICIENCIES WITH DIGITAL TRUNKING Wavecom is powered by a Hytera Tier III digital trunking system. Hytera’s digital trunked radio solution is designed to tackle high radio traffic, maximising available capacity across user groups and challenging single or multi-site geographies.
Trunking differs from a standard two- way radio system because it enables radio channels to be pooled by multiple user groups. A conventional system has dedicated channels, which are allocated to a specific user or a group of users. If you want to communicate with a particular group using a conventional system, you would need to manually select the channel.
With trunked radio systems, a computer controls the channel selection for you. If one user wants to speak with another
user in the talk group, the system dynamically finds and assigns a free radio channel, allowing the users to speak discreetly on that channel without being overheard.
UNIFYING COMMUNICATIONS The Wavecom System is integrated with a range of portable radios with Marine VHF, data messaging and dispatcher workstations.
While there is flexibility to interconnect to other systems and radios, in this instance the radio handset selected was the Hytera PD755 handheld
issues will trigger a text message alert so that the issue can be resolved as quickly as possible.
Siemens Gamesa, Wavecom’s first customer, is using Wavecom to integrate their offshore Marine Control Centre with portables and vessel radios working in the ports, the transit routes and the Galloper Field. Wavecom’s unique solution to the problem of hand portable radios inside turbine towers communicating with the wider system is proving particularly successful. Due to the success of Wavecom, FernCom and JFMS have also now
Wavecom is a digital trunked radio system, giving coverage to existing windfarm sites and future planned sites off the East Anglian coast
radio, primarily because it offers a digital display to let users know who is calling and because it’s waterproof. This is fundamental given the working environment and conditions.
Additionally, the inclusion of the Hytera SmartXPT dispatcher console provides a centralised control hub to manage and direct the DMR radio fleet. With SmartXPT, the management team can use a wide range of features such as text messaging capabilities to single or multiple handsets and voice transmission recording.
SmartXPT also provides crosspatch, so should two separate companies working on site wish to communicate with one another, this can be easily configured through a private channel for inter-company comms.
A purpose-built system that delivers Wavecom offers a high level of redundancy and is monitored by a comprehensive diagnostic alarm control system purposefully designed and built by FernCom.
The alarm remotely monitors the environmental conditions in which the communications equipment is kept. Sensors are set-up to identify issues with power, cables or antenna and any
joined forces to further expand the solution to provide more coverage locations in the UK. Both parties have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), to work closely with one another on the development of future projects.
FERNCOM - INDUSTRY THOUGHT LEADERS
Thanks to the thought leadership and innovation at FernCom, offshore coverage for radio comms is now supported where previously it wouldn’t have been possible.
To recognise the outstanding work undertaken in developing Wavecom, FernCom engineer James Cleverly was recently awarded the Hytera Engineering Award. This award covers Hytera UK territories and was launched to recognise the skill of the top engineers in the radio industry.
Fern Communications
WEBSITE
www.windenergynetwork.co.uk 51
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