DEFENCE FORCE CONTRACTOR

Boosting cellular signal at defence contractor site in Hunter Valley

12 Jun 2024

OUTCOME

Reliable mobile signal across nine buildings at a defence contractor's site in the Hunter Valley, adjacent to the Myambat Defence Establishment. The cellular repeater solution boosts signal strength, allowing online sign-in to the site, and supporting internet access and voice calls for residential employees and visitors.

The Myambat Ammunition Depot, is an ADF munitions storage facility located approximately 10 kilometres west of Denman in the Upper Hunter Valley, NSW. Established in 1938, it is Australia’s largest and most comprehensive ammunition storage depot.

From 2015 the facility was expanded and upgraded to accommodate the Royal Australian Air Force's Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II fighter aircraft in new earth-covered bunkers. In addition, Myambat's demolition range is used by private companies to test explosives intended for use in mines.

Source: Wikipedia

Challenge

This site is a nine building complex spread across 200m² and including an administration block, warehouse, residential accommodation building, social room, and conference facilities.

The cellular reception indoors for both voice and data was unreliable. Voice calling was particularly problematic with constant drop outs or inability to connect. This was an issue for employees who reside onsite, as well as for visitors.

The client also wanted to be able to sign in visitors to the site on an iPad but the internet connection was patchy.

The site's location at Myambat in the Upper Hunter Valley is only 10 km from the town of Denman, however the two are separated by the steep slopes of the Apex Lookout hiking area.

The nearest tower to the site was 1.4km away but the signal was substantially blocked by the lower slopes and vegetation.

Map of topography satellite

Solution

MobileCorp sent a certified radio engineer to the site to determine the optimal signal strength from the surrounding towers, the number of mobile signal repeater units that would be required and their placement, as well as any additional internal ceiling antennas for extended indoor coverage.

Hardware

Across the site, MobileCorp deployed:

➡️ 5x Telstra Cel-Fi G51 mobile signal repeater units on the roofs of five buildings as indicated by the red dots inside purple square on the aerial shot below.

➡️ 5x external RFI Wideband 8-12dBi 3G+4G+4GX+5G LPDA Antenna - 700-3800MHz were deployed alongside the G51 units.

➡️ 9x internal Omnidirectional ceiling antenna were installed inside the largest of the buildings.

thales myambat site aerial shot of buildings marked for installation

Identifying the optimal signal

The Hunter region is notorious for patchy cellular reception. This is largely due to the topography with forested hills and multiple valleys. It is also due to the distance between cellular towers.

At the site, the nearest tower was not the most optimal tower. The best option was a tower 4km away erected near the summit of the range separating the site from the town of Denman. This tower offered Telstra 5G, 4GX and 3G.

There was a small impingement on the fresnel zone between the tower and the site mainly due to trees, however the signal was considered viable by our certified radio engineers.

thales myambat fresnel zone crop

Outcomes

All signal measurements improved quantifiably as shown in the table below.

The Signal to Interference/Noise Ratio was improved from Very Poor to Excellent post installation. The Signal Received measurement moved from Poor-Fair to Fair-Good.

Reliable Voice Signal Indoors
The solution now delivers reliable voice signal indoors for the five targeted buildings. The nine internal ceiling antennas in the largest building allow a strong signal throughout the interior.
Data signal to support Internet streaming
The data signal indoors allows internet browsing, downloading and streaming which meets the needs of the residents.
Site Visitor Sign-In on iPad
Visitors are now able to be reliably signed into via internet access utilising iPads with web forms. This allows real time data sharing and cloud storage.

Myambat Results