It’s all about thinking out of the box for Tait Communications, which, for the past 45 years, has been finding innovative ways to create better value for its clients in the critical voice communication field.

With clients in some of the most demanding fields on the planet, Tait chief technology architect, Geoff Peck, believes that its products have been truly battle tested.

“Tait has a reputation for tough, reliable systems that keep performing year after year,” says Peck.

The New Zealand-based group’s narrow band radio systems are designed to deploy voice and data connectivity in critical arenas like public safety, utilities and transport, as well the mining, and oil and gas industries.

The group has deployed operations critical communications systems in a wide range of extractive industry scenarios, including at one of the largest openpit mines in the world – Cerrejon, in Colombia. Its solutions are also used in Australia, Brazil and South Africa.

Peck says the extractive industry, where safety and efficiency are common themes, is an important growth market for Tait.

“Critical communications systems play a crucial role in delivering to the safety requirements of extractive industries by providing an ultra-reliable voice system. By combining this with our data services, we can significantly improve safety.”

Peck uses the example of a product recently added to its portfolio, Tait BioLink, to illustrate how its solutions are designed to improve safety.

BioLink is a sensor-stacked physiological monitoring system designed to be worn by people in the front line of stressful work. The personnel monitoring system alerts operators when individual parameters are exceeded. A common use is to monitor ‘man-down’ situations or heart beat/body temperature that may indicate people operating beyond their range.

While there are clear safety benefits, productivity is also enhanced by having certainty about the status and location (via GPS) of all monitored staff. BioLink operates directly over the Tait critical communications radios and can be used anywhere across the mine site. BioLink delivers this capability through a standards based application programming interface, which allows easy customisation with no proprietary access.

Another recent addition is the Tait SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) telemetry unit, which operates across the Tait critical communications system. This not only ensures reliable operation, but also allows it to be placed anywhere across a diverse mine site thanks to the coverage advantages of digital mobile radio (DMR) solutions, compared with private cellular or WiFi.

SCADA data is sent via the TD9300 terminal, which has multiple data interfaces and the intelligence to simplify wide area DMR-based connectivity, and integrate quickly and transparently support data communications.

Peck says a key benefit of a Tait solution is its strict adherence to globally recognised communications standards, such as DMR. This ensures customers are not locked into propriety solutions, which generally attract a premium price, especially for the extractive industry.

“Our spectrally efficient DMR solution, both tier two and tier three, provides a fully standardised approach with a rich set of features to complement our Tait portable and mobile radios.”

Support for open standards also extends to its application programming interface delivery. These are provided through RESTful interfaces, which allows clients to add their own functionality.

Tait develops its solutions at a state-of-the-art development facility, located in Christchurch, New Zealand. Adjacent to the facility is the Tait manufacturing facility, which complies with ISO9001 and ISO27000.

Tait works closely with its customers and uses Agile design methodology, based on a client-centric model. This helps ensure that its solutions address specific user needs and will meet their evolving needs into the future.

The company operates through three main regional groups and delivers full service and support in local timeframes. Tait retains control of critical elements of its solutions and uses partners to enable it to create a best-of-breed solution that matches individual client needs.