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Project Delivery: Connected Wharves and Ferries @ Sydney Ferries

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Project Delivery: Connected Wharves and Ferries @ Sydney Ferries

Background

Transdev Sydney Ferries (TDSF) is the operator of the Sydney Ferries transport system on behalf of Transport for New South Wales (TfNSW). TfNSW is the ultimate owner of all assets.

Challenge

Transdev Sydney Ferries (TDSF) transports about 15 million customers each year between 38 wharves over 10 key routes. They have operated Sydney’s iconic fleet of ferries — including nine classes of vessels — since 2012. As part of its contract with Transport for New South Wales to ensure the safety of passengers and crew, Transdev uses CCTV connected to the 4G network to stream and download footage from the ferries, but the quality and reliability was not always meeting their needs.

TDSF must also provide high-availability CCTV and Emergency Help Point services as a contract commitment with Transport for New South Wales (TfNSW). Applied to their vessels, which operate throughout Sydney Harbour (Outer Harbour, Inner Harbour, Parramatta River), also known as Port Jackson Bay, TDSF are forced to use a mobile communication service.

The default solution was 4G, however this was acknowledged as not meeting the throughput needed but was commercially the best viable option mobile transportation services had. A difference with the Sydney Harbour was that there were black spots, but they were never acknowledged by the major telecommunication companies. TDSF required a high-availability, low-latency, large bandwidth solution for large CCTV streams (>30Mb/s) and massive offloads whilst the vessels was on its daily service routes (>330GB/day). The Emergency had high-availability and low-latency needs but is not bandwidth hungry (as Voice plus 1x CCTV channel).

Solution

Australian Sentinel was engaged to develop the business case and then contracted the complete project deployment (initiation, planning, design/build/test, vender selection, project execution, monitoring & control and project closing) and now provide managed services of the solution (5G Device support services currently installed at wharves and ferries. The Australian Sentinel Team worked collaboratively with the client to govern, oversee and help deliver the project scope.

When their 4G cellular broadband solution wasn’t enabling fast enough download or providing the clear footage required by police to ensure security of passengers, TDSF invested in 5G connectivity, which allowed the company to confidently stream high-quality HD CCTV video footage — with far less time and effort devoted by the Transdev staff to technology troubleshooting. With high-performance 5G routers able to withstand the elements and centralised, cloud-based management capabilities with Cradlepoint NetCloud Manager, Transdev can download clear and accurate footage and Help Point data from vessels to their operation control office in almost real-time while also providing primary connectivity for onboard public announcements, passenger information displays, and corporate Wi-Fi. Using location-based services within NetCloud, lean IT teams can easily track and trace vessel locations and routes in real time and determine LTE and 5G cellular coverage over a travelled area.  This all-in-one management platform allows IT teams to easily integrate 5G expansion of their network even with the additional need to manage cellular providers and plans.

More specific technology benefits they project had delivered:

  • 5G’s greater bandwidth allows streams of much higher quality.
  • 5G supports live access to a greater number of concurrent CCTV Streams.
  • Lower latency offered by 5G streaming will minimize time outs and out of order frames.

Outcome

Australian Sentinel managed the overall project governance and control. This included ongoing steering committee, project management, stakeholder management, executive briefing, and general project governance and control. They also deployed the solution which included finalisation of design, test plans, implementation plans, physical installation/commissioning/cabling, development and configuration, testing acceptance and transition to trial operations readiness.
The 5G solution also enables a number of other critical safety systems to operate effectively, including Help Point Systems, PA systems, GPS, timetable systems, tampering alarm systems, passenger counting, water depth transducer, fuel meter, oil meter, speed sensor, and a remote boat monitoring system.

The new 5G solution also enabled TDSF to track and trace where vessels are in order to ensure the safety of passengers and crew travelling on its vessels. Australian Sentinel measured and recorded 50% improvement in Latency, 300% in Bandwidth and Speed, 50% in Packet loss, 100% in WAN Uptime as well as Signal Strength and Quality of the 5G solution compared with 4G.
The success stories were published in the following articles:
https://www.arnnet.com.au/article/700262/australian-sentinel-uses-innovation-grant-bring-sydney-ferries-onto-5g/
https://www.crn.com.au/news/sydneys-australian-sentinel-tapped-to-manage-transdev-sydney-ferries-cradlepoint-5g-trial-583298
https://cradlepoint.com/press-release/transdev-sydney-ferries-connects-to-security-systems-on-board-vessels-with-cradlepoint-5g/

What They Say

“There were two key elements of this technology that we were extremely impressed with: the 5G connection to the vessel CCTV systems — which enabled almost real-time footage review — and the speed at which we were able to get the connection live.”
Loretta Lynch, managing director, Transdev Sydney Ferries
“Our newest fleet, the River Class produces up to 330GB of CCTV per day. That’s the equivalent of 100 Netflix movies. And yet our investigation team is now able to download hours of CCTV footage in minutes, which is significantly faster than what we could get with 4G.”

Eric Cannell, general manager finance and commercial, Transdev Sydney Ferries

“The applications of 5G connectivity are endless – whether it’s in moving vehicles, in IoT devices or for Artificial Intelligence The work that Australian Sentinel is doing with Transdev is an example of the huge impact that 5G connectivity can have on an organisation’s operations. The Australian Government invested in this very worthwhile grant initiative and Cradlepoint commends grant recipients for their innovative applications and executions of 5G trials.”

Nathan McGregor, senior vice president, Cradlepoint Asia Pacific