RISE® Pacific is a specialist company operating in the vertical world. They are experts in rigging, access and rescue in the broadcast, aerial and stunt worlds, across live entertainment venues and have industrial, telecommunication and geotechnical solutions. Recently they had a requirement for a very robust and reliable comms system and for that, they turned to intercom specialists D2N – Technology Solutions.
RISE® Pacific design and sales manager, Dane Boulton, explained, “We originally got in touch with D2N having experienced their hire solutions throughout our history as riggers and rope access technicians in the Australian live entertainment industry. Early chats with their MD, Jason Owen, were about sourcing accessories and parts for our existing fleet of Motorola digital radios, but the conversation quickly turned to how we could utilise newer technologies for our on-site communication requirements.”
Due to the danger factor within their work, RISE® Pacific’s requirements were specific and comprehensive.
Boulton continued, “Operating in complex vertical and confined space environments means communications are absolutely critical to our team’s safety and ability to efficiently achieve a given scope of works. What really interested us was the potential to deploy a solution that would allow constant duplex communication with all members of the work party. Not only does this allow our technicians to communicate even when both hands are busy using tools, managing ropes, and operating rope access gear, it also removes the risk of a team member being blocked from passing an urgent message when a radio channel is busy. This is something that poses a major risk when comms systems are being relied upon as a primary means of communication in safety-critical rope access and confined space operations.”
Due to the environments RISE® Pacific work in they also required a comms system that was both durable and compatible with an AS-approved hearing protection/communications earmuff. It also had to be able to maintain interoperability with the company’s existing fleet of digital Motorola radios.
To meet these requirements D2N proposed a comprehensive Riedel Bolero solution, one that is particularly well known for its reliability, flexibility and durability.
Boulton added, “The standalone Riedel Bolero system with audio interface and radio PTT input provided exactly what we were hoping to achieve by allowing us constant duplex communication between our operators wearing wired or wireless Bluetooth 3M Peltor communications/hearing protection headsets and helmet attached earmuffs. Not only did this provide our technicians hearing protection in noisy environments but also clear, articulate communications between them regardless of whether they were one metre or hundreds of metres apart from each other. The beltpacks have proved incredibly durable in use and the ability to interface with our existing fleet of Motorola MOTOTRBO radios allows us to easily scale the system up by providing radios to less critical members of the work party.”
Moving to the Riedel Solution supplied by D2N has clearly provided RISE® Pacific with many benefits over their previous communications solutions.
Boulton said, “With the Bolero system our technicians can quickly and easily connect their 3M Peltor Headsets via Bluetooth and join the communications network on-site. We will often have a party-line just for users on Bolero that also includes our radio interface, a party-line that broadcasts to a speaker at our base station for communications with standby rescue operators and the client and a party-line for external audio such as overload alarms from our Broadweigh load monitoring system or music for those really long days on site. Another major plus is that we can easily get through a day or more’s work with the battery life of the Bolero.”
RISE® Pacific’s system is packaged in a rolling rack case that includes the Bolero system, NSA Audio Interface, Radio Interface and an IP camera system for monitoring of confined spaces and work sites.
For less complex jobs the company can easily package antennas and beltpacks in a small case for easier transportation to the site. Deployment is quick with the antennas being connected back to the rack with a single ethernet cable handling both data and POE power for the antenna.
For Boulton and the RISE® Pacific team, the benefits of the D2N comms solution are plentiful and obvious as he explained, “When we pass our clients a headset they get crystal clear, low latency communications made completely frictionless by the fully duplex, always-on nature of the system. This coupled with good hearing protection and ambient noise reduction is an incredibly powerful tool even on the most complex, loud and communication-hampering sites.”
According to Boulton RISE® Pacific also chose the D2N Riedel solution because it truly seemed in a class of its own when compared with other similar systems and this has very much proven to be the case.
He continued, “So far, we’ve utilised the system in complex confined spaces where our technicians have been separated vertically including in a 160-metre-deep ventilation and maintenance shaft which was a very harsh RF environment and on a working airfield where, even with an extremely high level of ambient noise, a ground team could clearly communicate with riggers working nearly 25 metres off from the ground in large boom lifts. Completing jobs of this nature smoothly and efficiently with clear communication between the team would not have been possible without such an effective means of communication.”
So, with an excellent new comms solution and a strong and successful technology partnership with D2N – Technology Solutions firmly in place Dane Boulton had some solid conclusions adding, “D2N’s assistance from the time of sale right through to the configuration, deployment and ongoing use of our system has been exceptional. Their thorough knowledge of products within the market allowed us to find the best solution for our needs. D2N’s deep technical understanding and ability to produce and source custom parts has also allowed us to utilise the system exactly as we had hoped making full use of the deep feature set of the product. Where additional assistance or service or repairs have been required, communication with D2N has been responsive and timely assisting us in quickly mitigating any problems that arise.”
