NZ Defence Force deploys high‍-‍capacity radios for voice communications

A nationwide analog to digital upgrade of the New Zealand Defence Force’s (NZDF) voice communication links has provided a large boost to network throughput, supporting a greater number of dedicated voice channels.

While initiation of the project began eight years ago, disruption throughout the pandemic years meant the NZDF was only finally able to start deploying MimoLink Tornado radios from Ubiik from 2022. NZDF’s Waiouru site was chosen as a trial location, other NZDF sites across New Zealand followed, and the final site was completed in 2024.

Providing high-capacity voice backhaul links at NZDF camps and bases, the links are used for unclassified (unrestricted) voice communications for range safety, emergency services, security guards and general non-encrypted base communications. The priority traffic at each location is range control (ie, ensuring firing stops to maintain personnel safety) with each range now having its own dedicated channel.

“With our old analog system, our personnel had to share channels, which wasn’t ideal,” said Dennis Judd, High Frequency Platform Owner, Information Command at NZDF. “The upgraded system has provided greater network capacity, which means our teams can have their own dedicated channel for voice communications while also making room for nationwide channels for New Zealand’s Civil Defence service.”

Given the remote locations of some of the NZDF’s sites, terrain and climate challenges were considered during the RF design phase. Two of the NZDF sites are in the mountainous central regions of both the North and South Islands, which means snow and ice are a regular winter feature and the links needed to be designed to cope with environment. During deployment in July 2023, for example, the temperature was –8°C in the South Island location.

In addition to the requirement for rugged equipment, another key consideration was power draw. While most of the NZDF locations are mains-powered sites with battery back-up, some are solar-powered and therefore the lower power consumption of the Tornado radios was a key aspect contributing to their selection.

Engineered to meet the exacting standards of critical voice backhaul, the Tornado radios are designed for low latency in addition to very stable jitter and asymmetry. The use of MIMO also assists in boosting reliability for RF paths across difficult terrain, including mountains, dense tree cover or paths over water.

“Sub 1 GHz communication technologies, like the Tornado family of radios, have also been proven to offer greater resilience in the face of weather events,” said Clément Dieudonné, VP Sales EMEA & APAC at Ubiik. “We have several customers whose microwave networks have struggled with fading during heavy rain episodes and whose fibre has been damaged by land movement or flash flooding, yet their narrowband Tornado network has operated with few, if any, errors.”

“I don’t believe we have had a single failure of the Tornado radios, to date,” Judd said. “The system upgrade has been very well received and the benefit of having extra channels has increased the number of users, helping our camps and bases to operate smoothly.”

This article originally appeared on www.ubiikmimomax.com.

Image: Supplied