The 'grand prix' of radio fleets

More than 500 MOTOTRBO radios were used during the 2016 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix.

This year the Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix marked its 20th anniversary, with the race (held in March) being the opening contest in the FIA Formula One World Championship season.

The 5.3-kilometre-long Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit is built from scratch every year, partially utilising public road sections around Albert Park Lake, south of Melbourne’s CBD. In preparation for the event, work starts two months prior to the race — erecting trackside fencing, pedestrian overpasses, grandstands and other infrastructure.

The race wouldn’t be possible without partnerships with companies that specialise in various solutions. One such company is The P.A. People. Based in Sydney, The P.A. People is among a select group of major event communications specialists worldwide, with experience extending to activities such as the summer and winter Olympic Games, the Commonwealth Games, the Asian Games in Doha Qatar (2006), the Inaugural European Games in Baku (2015) and the New Year’s Eve celebrations on Sydney Harbour.

While The P.A. People has provided the audio system for the Australian Grand Prix for six years, this year was the first time it had been awarded the contract for the radio network. This contract involved the provision of two Motorola Solutions MOTOTRBO IP Site Connect sites and more than 500 Motorola two-way radios with 12 channels.

Two-way radios provide critical communications for the event, such as for the medical teams who provide immediate medical support on the track. Radios are also issued to security staff, engineers, firefighters, race control and cleaning staff, as well as the recover and rescue crew members, who are on hand to remove damaged cars or debris from the track.

During set-up prior to the race, the two-way radios operate on Motorola Solutions’ IP Site Connect coverage. During race week they cut over to Motorola Solutions’ radio system (the ‘event radio system’). The changeover to the event radio system institutes a tactical network, as it becomes dedicated to event users. As a result the network is more responsive and all the radios can key up very quickly — critical for such a big event.

MOTOTRBO was selected for the Australian Grand Prix for a number of reasons:

• Call clarity and radio quality: One Senior Marshall, Arthur Cooksley, is stationed directly underneath an audio speaker, yet reported that the “clarity was good and I can hear over all the noise”.
• Battery life: A trunked radio system places greater demands on battery life, yet long days on-site mean that the radios must operate for long shifts without recharging. Cooksley commented that “the battery life is great: I never have to charge it through a day’s shift”.
• Dedicated channels: The system was set up without time sharing, so that each team using the radios has exclusive use of their channel. Moreover, the medical team’s channel is locked down so they cannot accidentally change channel.
• Security: As part of the security measures for such an important event, MOTOTRBO’s restricted access to system (RAS) key prevents the radio files from being copied and prohibits access to the network.
• Rugged design: The 2016 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix weekend experienced the best that Melbourne’s weather had to offer: extreme heat followed by cold, stormy days. Scott Davidson, senior systems engineer for The P.A. People, described it as “first dusty, then wet, then muddy, but the radios stood up to it all”.
• Transmit interrupt functionality: All MOTOTRBO two-way radios were programmed with transmit interrupt functionality. If a radio user accidentally keys up — for example, the radio push-to-talk is accidentally pressing against something and the user does not notice — race control can take back control of the talk group to free the channel and allow others to use it. This is an important feature when there are emergencies so that if the channel is being used, someone can interrupt the call to ensure their urgent information gets through quickly and they do not need to wait for the channel to become available.
• Software Radio Management: When setting up and integrating all the radios in the fleet, The P.A. People were able to use Motorola Solutions’ Software Radio Management application to bring all radios online on the network quickly and easily. The application can program up to 16 radios at one time and track which radios have been successfully programmed, providing a clear view of the entire fleet and a code plug history for each radio.
• Flexible solutions: The role of the medical crew is to attend any accidents on the track and provide first aid to the drivers, so a rapid response with continual access to communication is vital. Their activities must not be encumbered by the equipment they use. The medical crew initially requested mobile radios for each car; however, The P.A. People suggested portable radios, held in place by a chest harness that can be worn under a seatbelt. A headset could then be attached in a way that ensured it did not become an obstacle if a medical officer got out of their car, thereby ensuring continuous radio contact with the Race Control Room.

“The MOTOTRBO radios are rugged and reliable,” said track manager Campbell Waller. “We’ve been using these radios all around the world. We first purchased a lot of these radios in 2006, and they are still going today, which is a testament to their quality.”

Motorola Solutions’ equipment also impressed Craig Moca, manager, engineering, at Australian Grand Prix Corporation, particularly the battery life of the MOTOTRBO radios. “The big issue in digital radio before was battery life, but these batteries have been lasting a day and a half, which is fantastic, as is the ease of using the handsets,” added Moca.

The P.A. People intends to expand on the functionality of the two-way radios at future Grands Prix. Proposed initiatives include merging the list of staff names with radio programming for improved asset management, a radio shack for troubleshooting and a dedicated channel for The P.A. People on the same two-way radios instead of using a separate radio system.