omnicore Radio Dispatch System

omnicore Radio Dispatch System Managing Communications Across Sydney’s Iconic Beaches and Beyond

Every weekend in summer, Surf Life Saving NSW’s State Operations Centre (SOC) at the SLSNSW Head-quarters at Belrose in Northern Sydney is a hive of activity, supporting beach patrols at 129 Surf Life Saving Clubs in Australia’s most populous State, managing emergency situations and search and rescue operations across the NSW coastline.

The network of 76,000 members with 28,000 volunteers and 26 SOC team members across the state, SLSNSW is tasked with saving lives and delivering community education programs.

The SOC controls and coordinates the State Emergency Response System multi-agency responses with other NSW emergency service organisations including NSW Police, Ambulance, Fire, AusSAR and SES, 365 days a year in order to provide the most appropriate Search and Rescue assets to the scene of coastal accidents or emergencies.

Upgrading

The Challenge

At the State Operations Centre, the existing Omnitronics radio dispatch system consisted of a combination of EOL DX-64, DX-Altus Dispatch and RediTALK-Flex Radio Dispatch systems. The array of radio dispatch consoles was reaching capacity limits when it became increasingly hard to manage the volume of communications on the radio network. They were looking to upgrade to a solution that features cloud based centralised updated of the system, consoles and remote tablets. Furthermore, access to cloud-based recording, channel patching and the ability to access Analogues, DMR, and P25 within the one system were required functionalities.

Future-Proof

The Solution

Omnitronics partner Control Centre Solutions was entrusted to devise the best solution for Surf Lifesaving NSW’s requirements and recommended they upgrade to omnicore Enterprise Dispatch.

As an omnicore Enterprise Beta user, the state’s peak water safety and rescue organisation has had the opportunity to try and test the radio dispatch system on 2x fixed and 2x mobile dispatch operator stations before committing to buy, and, in addition, the organization was able to directly feedback suggestions for possible future enhancements to the system’s feature-set.

After a successful trial using omnicore Enterprise simultaneously alongside existing Omnitronics RediTALK-Flex and DX-Altus Dispatch systems, they found that omnicore is easy to install, manage and easy to use with minimal operator training.

 

This vital piece of mission-critical technology includes radio dispatch console licenses for 12 simultaneous dispatch operators each using 1 of 33 console terminals that manage communications on 22 radio channels across the state.

The two dispatch centers and 65 repeaters sites along over 2,000kms of Pacific Ocean coastline from Fingal Head in the North to Eden on the South Coast are connected using an existing DMR T2 Radio over IP Network. 20,000 active volunteer patrol members as well as paid lifeguards at 80 locations along the NSW coastline are tasked with protecting 8.5 million beach goers annually, including at popular Byron Bay, Manly and Bondi beaches.

The system integrates with the organization’s existing technologies and allows them to continue using their existing gateways. It is used both in the State Operations Center and as mobile dispatch console on fully rugged 4G Panasonic ToughPad tablets, giving the team of lifesavers a range of flexible communications options that help them safeguard the public 24/7/365. Advanced reporting capability allows the Operations Center Management to access vital reports that help with workload planning and incident forecasting.

The Dispatch Solution

Network Diagram

omnicore to the Rescue

A Special Mission

During the 2022 Flood Disasters on the East Coast of Australia, the SLSNSW team played a crucial role in the emergency response efforts. Communications System Manager Ugarte was allocated to the Homebush State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC). This central hub brings experts from critical response agencies including the State Emergency Service, Police, Fire and Rescue, Resilience NSW, Health, Planning, Rural Fire Service, Service NSW, and more together to co-ordinate a cohesive, co-ordinated and effective whole-of government emergency response. Liaison officers were assisting at regional and local level coordinating emergency responses specific to their areas of need.

In addition to their expertise and people on the ground, SLSNSW contributed a significant number of RIB boats, also dubbed rubber duckies, and assistance from part of the fleet of 65 AVs – the largest drone fleet in the Southern Hemisphere.
The drones were used to livestream footage of the disaster straight to the control room for risk and damage assessment. Using omnicore Dispatch on a tablet, Andrew Ugarte was able to monitor local radios on the DMR network, communicate with UAV pilots on the ground, and relay messages to everyone in the control room in real time.

In the very near future, Andrew plans to embed Omnitronics omniGateP25 CSSI software gateways to enhance interoperability with other agencies, a full transition to the NSW Governments P25 Public Safety Network PSN is expected to be completed in 2025.