Disaster Relief Australia Deployment to Jarrahdale

Date: Jan 2023

Proving Remote Communication Usability Across User Groups

Background

Disaster Relief Australia (DRA) partnered with Ausco and Frequentis to conduct the VTC-2023 Service Project at the Veterans Transition Centre in Jarrahdale, Western Australia. The aim was to trial Frequentis’ OnSite App in a real deployment scenario, ensuring it could be effectively adopted across all user groups – from incident managers to volunteers in the field.

Ausco was responsible for ensuring reliable, high-performance communications at the VTC site, enabling the successful testing of the Frequentis OnSite App. Their contribution can be broken down into planning, deployment, performance, resilience, and future innovation. Ausco was responsible for ensuring reliable, high-performance communications at the VTC site, enabling the successful testing of the Frequentis OnSite App. Their contribution can be broken down into planning, deployment, performance, resilience, and future innovation.

Key Features

Wireless mesh network covering low/no coverage zones.
Integration with Frequentis OnSite App for all user groups.
Mobile command vehicles and tactical systems for scalability.
Resilient performance tested under rugged environmental conditions.
Future-ready design with enhanced masts, uplinks, and ruggedisation.

Challenges

The site had rugged terrain, heavy eucalyptus canopy, and very limited 4G coverage. To make the trial possible, Ausco delivered and managed a wireless mesh net-work that became the backbone of the project, ensuring the Frequentis OnSite App could be tested under realistic and demanding conditions.

Solution and Outcomes

Ausco deployed a wireless mesh network designed to provide robust and high-performance communications. The solution included mesh network trailers, tactical command vehicles, a Starlink uplink, and a range of supporting devices, all optimised on-site by Ausco engineers. Despite canopy cover and high summer temperatures, the system achieved strong performance, delivering transmission rates above 200 Mbps with low latency.

This infrastructure enabled real-time coordination, with incident management teams, strike teams, and volunteers all benefiting from structured and reliable communication flows. Ausco’s rapid troubleshooting and flexible deployment ensured uninterrupted operations, while the project also trialled next-generation mesh features, proving their potential for future deployments across defence, mining, energy, and emergency response.

Conclusion

The VTC-2023 Service Project proved that the partnership between Ausco and Frequentis can deliver a field-ready, scalable communication solution for remote and mission-critical environments.

Ausco’s wireless mesh infrastructure provided the resilient backbone, while Frequentis’ OnSite App delivered the user-facing platform for coordination and safety. Together, they showcased a solution that is usable, reliable, and adaptable for diverse organisations operating in challenging conditions.