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THE CHALLENGE
Uninterrupted connectivity to support an influx of astrotourists
A total solar eclipse is one of nature’s most phenomenal experiences. Occurring roughly once every 18 months, people come from around the world to witness these spectacles, which often take place in some of the world’s most remote locations.
A rare solar eclipse in April 2023 put Western Australia’s regional coastal town of Exmouth on a global stage. While these events are usually observable from multiple locations, Exmouth was the only place in the world to witness this incredible phenomenon. With 25,000 stargazers expected to visit, on top of regular school holiday traffic, WA’s Department of Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) faced significant challenges in providing the infrastructure and resources required.
DPIRD was also working with the Perth Observatory and Perth Gravity Discovery Centre, which carried out research and documented the event from the ground. Global scientific institution Time and Date also travelled to the peninsula to conduct interviews and live stream the eclipse to audiences around the world.
“This was an opportunity to showcase the Exmouth Peninsula to a global audience. It was critical that all our amenities exceeded expectations, and everyone involved was given the connectivity they needed.”
Penny Griffin, Project Manager, Regional Telecommunications, Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development WA
Connectivity was the key challenge. Exmouth is a beautiful, yet isolated town located on the tip of the North West Cape of WA. It had limited existing internet and telecommunications infrastructure to cater to the people coming in, who were eager to take photos, stream video and keep in touch with family and friends. The town was welcoming visitors with open arms, putting on a festival with music and other entertainment that required strong connectivity. DPIRD wanted to ensure people could also receive emergency alerts and make calls, in the case of a critical event like a bushfire or cyclone.
DPIRD was responsible for enabling these organisations to seamlessly conduct this important work, without having to worry about connectivity on the day.
THE SOLUTION
Network infrastructure supporting stargazers, researchers and the Exmouth community
DPIRD engaged Telstra to provide connectivity infrastructure to support stargazers, researchers and the Exmouth community. Telstra’s local enterprise team and consulting specialist arm Telstra Purple worked collaboratively with DPIRD to develop a three-phase plan to meet all their requirements, including:
- Deploying additional 4G cellular coverage to support visitors and other people on the ground
- Public Wi-Fi and Satellite trailers to support additional requirements and non-Telstra customers
- Bespoke mobile network infrastructure to support research teams and live-streaming requirements
“Telstra was enthusiastic and willing to support our efforts. They came in with a great attitude and took the project on as a challenge that they owned, which we really appreciated.”
Penny Griffin, Project Manager, Regional Telecommunications, Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development WA
Telstra’s teams held regular scoping meetings to map out technical requirements with DPIRD and all research teams. The solution was also extensively tested before the day.
Watch the I.T. Deep Dive for Exmouth here
THE APPROACH
Unparalleled technical planning setting the bar for future eclipse streaming events
As a starting point, Telstra delivered eight mobile base stations to significantly increase the total available 4G bandwidth across the peninsula. Five state-of-the-art Wi-Fi trailers supplemented the 4G coverage, providing another network that non-Telstra customers could access.
Telstra’s enterprise team leveraged the organisation’s scale and extensive vendor portfolio to deliver this infrastructure incredibly quickly, well ahead of the eclipse date.
To support research teams, Telstra Purple leveraged its partnership with Fortinet to deliver a ruggedised ‘network in a box’, including the required switches, cabling, power supply and other hardware. This network-agnostic unit was connected to a local fibre backhaul, providing the blistering speeds and reliability required for multiple live streams. The fibre link was backed up by StarLink satellite services.
“I went into our conversations with Telstra thinking about the kind of connectively we needed as an absolute minimum to support our work, given how remote we were. Telstra shifted the conversation to: what would we like to do, if we could do anything? That was exciting.”
Matt Woods, Tour Administrator, Perth Observatory
Research teams connected their telescopes directly to the unit, with footage streamed by Perth Observatory, GDC and Time and Date across four telescopes to their websites, as well as directly to YouTube. Time and Date hosted a streamed live event, including expert interviews and observations from the ground.
“The resources Telstra and everyone involved put in — in terms of people, time and technical planning — was unparalleled. I wish I could repeat the same process and work with the same people for every eclipse we work on. It was thoroughly planned and brilliantly executed”
Graham Jones, Astrophysicist and Science Communicator, Time and Date
THE RESULTS
A networking connectivity triumph reaching over 100 million people
The total solar eclipse was a huge success for DPIRD, researchers and the Exmouth community with total visitors on the day exceed 50,000 people. The mobile infrastructure registered roughly 7.5 terabytes of total data transfer on the day, with 1.8 terabytes uploaded. This comfortably accounted for an additional 8000 devices when compared to the same day the week before.
Wi-Fi trailers registered an average of 500 megabits per second per trailer, amounting to 2.5 gigabits of average throughput across all five. 47,000 calls were successfully made on the day of the eclipse.
Research teams had access to unparalleled speeds and connectivity through the network in a box and fibre link, with four concurrent live streams beamed to audiences around the world. Perth Observatory and GDC also broadcast a stream to Perth’s Yagan Square, allowing more people in the state capital to experience the event. The footage was rebroadcasted through local and global news and media organisations including ABC News, CNN, BBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post and Reuters. Time and Date also collaborated with NASA for their live replays.
Overall, through live streaming and rebroadcasting, footage from the event is estimated to have reached over 100 million people.
“The internet connectivity turned out to be a triumph. We had three full HD streams coming out on the day. It was a terrific result in terms of the outcomes that we got.”
Graham Jones, Astrophysicist and Science Communicator, Time and Date
ABOUT DEPARTMENT OF PRIMARY INDUSTRIES AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT (DPIRD)
Formed in 2017, The Department of Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) works with Western Australia’s agriculture, food and aquatic resources sectors.
A large part of the agency’s work involves working with regional communities to drive improved economic outcomes, helping local industries and businesses by providing the resources they need to thrive.
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