In a powerful demonstration of innovation and technological resilience, the Connectivity Innovation Network’s Large Area WiFi (LAWiFi) System—a collaborative project led by the University of Technology Sydney, the University of Sydney, and industry partner Pivotel Satellite— successfully maintained mobile connectivity, via WIFi during Navshield 2024. This remote training exercise, held in Ghin-Doo-Ee National Park, provided an extraordinary environment to trial LAWiFi’s capabilities under real-world conditions. Terrestrial Carrier outages experienced during the event highlighted the value of reliable connectivity, as LAWiFi seamlessly filled critical communication gaps where needed.

Hosted annually by the NSW State Emergency Service (NSW SES), Navshield is Australia’s largest search and rescue training exercise, pushing the boundaries of emergency response capabilities. Navshield 2024 provided the NSW SES with an opportunity to enhance the navigation skills of Australia’s emergency services across 100 square kilometres of wilderness. Known for equipping its teams with cutting-edge technology, NSW SES reinforces its commitment to response readiness through this annual training exercise, which showcases the rigorous demands of emergency operations in challenging environments.

This year, NSW SES provided CIN with an opportunity to trial the LAWiFi System independently, using the event as a test bed for advanced connectivity solutions outside the official event infrastructure.

The event provided a challenging real-world environment to test LAWiFi’s ability to maintain reliable connectivity under demanding conditions, simulating one of its primary applications as an evacuation centre communication solution for providing internet connectivity using specially developed Wi-Fi and satellite communication technology. Deployed 350 metres from the event base, LAWiFi delivered robust coverage across the camping area with 650 personnel, with connectivity extending up to 1.7 kilometres in line-of-sight tests. This large-scale deployment demonstrated the system’s capacity to offer seamless communications during emergency incident responses across a range of use cases.

High winds during the event caused a power outage at the nearby Cabbage Tree Mountain telecommunications site, temporarily disabling Telstra and Optus towers in the area. As traditional networks went down LAWiFi promptly rerouted calls from event participant phones over its satellite backhaul, ensuring continuous communication until standard mobile services were restored. This live demonstration underscored LAWiFi’s potential as a critical tool for maintaining communications during disasters, where major network disruptions are commonplace.