Page 33 - Islands Business May-June 2022

Fire and space:

forces driving innovative communications tech

The CommsBox container is made of aluminium alloy, which is salt, water, and fire-resistant. It is designed for civil defence and emergency relief personnel to safely airlift or
ship into a disaster zone and be incredibly user- friendly, removing the barriers to instant connectivity.
Deep below the Pacific Ocean, the crusts of the earth’s tectonic plates It took the Kacific team around two years to develop the final version of
meet in a ring: The Pacific Ring of Fire. Responsible for creating 75% of the the CommsBox, after building multiple prototypes. A major challenge was to
earth’s volcanoes and 90% of the earth’s earthquakes, The Ring of Fire has streamline the design to provide the simplest experience for the end-user
unleashed some of the planet’s most violent seismic events, causing loss of to deploy. They’ve produced a piece of satellite equipment that requires no
life and widespread infrastructure damage across the Asia Pacific. training to use – just the understanding of how to use a tablet or device.
Major weather events also contribute heavily to the need for disaster Constructed by suppliers with a background in building military equipment,
planning in the region. In December 2021, Typhoon Odette injured nearly the product is robust and can meet challenging environmental demands.
1,400 people and killed 405 people. Aids teams struggled to reach cut-off With many island nations and mountainous regions, Asia Pacific’s
communities with roads unpassable due to debris and flooding. There geography adds an extra challenge for coordinating rescue and relief. Disaster
was widespread damage to utilities infrastructure, leaving regions without communications systems currently include radio, satellite phones, landlines,
electricity, internet, and phone lines, which took weeks to repair. and increasingly social media apps that rely on a cellular network. However,
Since 1970, Asia and the Pacific have accounted for 57 percent of global ground-based technology is often destroyed or left without power in disaster
fatalities from disasters and 87 percent of the total global population affected events.
by natural hazards. These disaster risks create a need for robust resilience Kacific’s solution is absolutely unique. The CommsBox provides the civil
planning at a Governmental level, particularly how they will equip and defence with a communication solution that does not rely on local ground-
prepare their civil defence, emergency services, and military personnel to based technology. There are three ground stations for the Kacific1 satellite,
provide aid and relief. located at three different sites, ensuring the satellite network will continue to
Christian Patouraux, founder and CEO of Kacific Broadband Satellites function even if one site is damaged.
Group, experienced one of the region’s most deadly tsunamis in recent Unlike radio or phones, the Wi-Fi access point allows relief teams to use
times: the 2004 Boxing Day (or the Indian Ocean) Tsunami impacted coastal multi-media communications, including images to convey the needs of the
communities in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand. area to central relief operations. It also allows them to use any cloud-based
Christian was on a small island where the death rate hit 50 percent. After software or databases for coordination and logistics.
the impact, two mobile towers operated on battery for an hour and a half, To combat the possible overload of networks, as citizens rush to contact
and then all communication ceased. The entire island was shut off from the family and friends, the CommsBox antenna has been set up with a first-
rest of the world. People were severely wounded and needed emergency priority connection.
evacuation. There was also an urgent need for food, water, and sanitary On 20 December 2021, a volcano eruption on Hunga Tonga–Hunga
infrastructure. Ha’apai broke the Tonga Cable System, leaving many without internet access
Fast-forward almost 20 years, this experience has stayed with Christian. It and a means of communication. While Kacific had 50 existing VSAT terminals
has informed the design of CommsBox: a transportable, all-in-one satellite ready in Tonga and was able to rapidly deploy internet connectivity within
communications product designed to provide instant connectivity in disaster days to connect remote communities and enterprise customers, and aid
zones. recovery, it further exacerbates the need for a disaster response product
The CommsBox container is made of aluminium alloy, which is salt, like CommsBox, which can provide instant Internet access for first aid
water, and fire-resistant. It is designed for civil defence and emergency relief communications.
personnel to safely airlift or ship into a disaster zone and be incredibly user- During Category-5 Cyclone Harold, Kacific worked with the ITU to boost
friendly, removing the barriers to instant connectivity. the capacity in Vanuatu and provide a reliable communications network.
On the ground, it takes just minutes to open the box and pressing two Kacific and ITU provided equipment, such as Very Small Aperture Terminals
simple buttons, to activate the satellite antenna to produce a Wi-Fi access (VSATs), and a Community WiFi service, to provide crucial connectivity and
point. The small auto-pointing satellite antenna inside connects to a pre- help relief efforts after normal network coverage was wiped out.
configured modem and satellite electronics. Once connected, users can The Asia-Pacific region is extremely vulnerable to natural disasters and
connect with unlimited data with speeds of up to 50Mbps to reach first will continue to face the threat of worsened climate change. Self-contained
responders and communicate with their loved ones. A user tablet is included disaster recovery systems like the CommsBox can work a long way in helping
so the user of the CommsBox can begin communicating within minutes of its the region’s large, growing populations to respond more effectively to
touchdown. The unit is solar-powered, which means there’s no reliance on disasters in a riskier world.
electricity lines commonly damaged in natural disasters.
Email: info@kacific.com • Website: www.kacific.com • Facebook: www.facebook.com/kacific
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/kacific-broadband-satellites

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