A small north coast engineering company has developed an innovative deployable alert system for remote RAAF bases.
These units can be offloaded from an aircraft by forklift, the six-metre mast extended, and be fully operable in half an hour, delivering loud audible alerts or PA messages to scattered personnel.
Encrypted alert and PA messages originate at a central command centre which can control a number of dispersed units, and are powered by batteries and charged by solar panels.
Next step, says Mark Wolf, Chief Executive Officer of Emalte, could be integration of a camera and its communication system onto the top of the mast to provide 360 degrees observation and detection of intruders or drones.
“We are starting to deploy shortly. The first batch are going to Learmonth and Scherger. Then we are heading to Townsville in October to put out five more. There are 10 going to Tindal,” he told ADM.
This batch comprises 40 remote systems and 14 base stations.
“We have just completed the first system fully encrypted on voice and data. We have been doing an enormous amount of special engineering for this project.”
Wolf said the RAAF initially acquired 12 alert systems from a company in Denmark which had acquired many components from US company Whelen, represented by Emalte in Australia.
“They went bankrupt. The RAAF contacted Whelen in the US and Whelen said you have to talk to Mark,” he said.
“They contacted us. I said no problem we can do it.”
Wolf made a presentation to the Air Force at RAAF Amberley, explaining this was their core business and they possessed all the necessary expertise.
“We have excellent fabricators and relevant skills in Coffs Harbour. They gave us the 12 that were built by the people in Denmark,” he said.
“We had a look at them. They didn’t comply with Australian standards. The RAAF gave us a contract to upgrade, change all the software to our software and remove any proprietary components and software linked to the original manufacturer.”
Subsequently, the RAAF asked for another 28 new-built remote units and 14 base stations.
“These systems now have a NATO certification number so they are available to 60-plus militaries around the world,” he said.
Wolf said he had been advised that the system could be a hot seller in the US because of the encryption feature.
“It’s pretty good for a little company at Bonville. We have built all the engineering and production facilities on our property. It is quite exciting,” he said.
This is quite a journey for a Wolf who started out studying maths and physics with plans to be a school teacher.
Instead, he joined the Manly Hydraulics Laboratory in the NSW Department of Public Works, performing ocean and river research. That involved extensive field work, learning about remote instrumentation.
Subsequently he transferred to Coffs Harbour on the NSW North Coast, with responsibility for environmental monitoring including waverider buoys and flood warning systems.
That led to a job with an international company with offices in the US, Singapore and the Middle East.
“We did these amazing projects. I gathered around me the best people I could find. We got special permission to go into Iran,” Wolf said.
That company was acquired by US company Tyco which also acquired a number of Australian companies.
“Tyco enabled us to secure and deliver multiple world-recognised projects,” he said.
Among them was the environmental monitoring and modelling for the acclaimed $1 billion 10-kilometre Kuala Lumpur SMART road tunnel, through which flood waters can be diverted to avoid flash flooding of the city centre.
“We are very grateful for the opportunity awarded to us by the RAAF,” he said.