12 December 2024

Stuart Will, TCCA TETRA Industry Group

The role of LMR in hybrid networks within critical operations
As industries grapple with increasingly complex critical operations in challenging environments, the demand for reliable, secure, and efficient communication systems is intensifying. While the spotlight increasingly falls on technologies renowned for high-speed capabilities, such as broadband, Land Mobile Radio (LMR) continues to play a vital role. Instead of viewing these technologies as competing forces, hybrid network solutions that combine LMR with broadband offer an advanced, cost-effective, and resilient option for ensuring seamless communications in the most demanding situations.

Hybrid networks are emerging as a preferred approach for organisations looking to protect workers within critical operations. By blending the strengths of different network types—specifically, LMR with LTE/5G—they provide flexibility, redundancy, and cost-efficiency that neither technology can achieve alone.

Hybrid networks enable organisations to leverage both private and public infrastructures, creating scalable solutions that can adapt to fluctuating operational demands.

This is particularly relevant for environments like rail networks or mining sites, where bandwidth requirements can vary depending on user numbers, data volume or task complexity.

By utilising both networks, operators can efficiently meet fluctuating bandwidth demands without compromising performance or communication quality. The ability to scale operations seamlessly also positions hybrid networks as a future-proof solution, adaptable to growing operational needs.

Reliability is non-negotiable in critical communications, where system failures can have severe consequences. Hybrid networks excel in this area by integrating multiple network types, allowing traffic to be dynamically routed between LMR and broadband systems in real-time. This ensures continuous operation even in the event of network outages or infrastructure failures.

In environments where communications infrastructure is often spread across difficult terrains, maintaining uninterrupted communication is paramount. A hybrid network can automatically manage failovers without human intervention, ensuring that essential operations remain online. LMR provides the foundation of reliability with its robust, dedicated channels, while LTE/5G supplements it with additional bandwidth for data-heavy applications. The result is an operational safety net that reduces the risk of communication failures during emergencies or high-demand situations.

One of the most compelling reasons for adopting a hybrid network approach is its cost-effectiveness. Fully redundant broadband systems in challenging environments can be prohibitively expensive, requiring significant investments in infrastructure, ongoing maintenance, and support. However, hybrid networks balance this by utilising standard internet connections alongside private, dedicated networks like LMR, reducing the need for entirely redundant systems.

Organisations can deploy LMR to handle critical voice communications, ensuring secure and reliable operations, while reserving LTE/5G for high-speed data transmission where necessary. This reduces capital expenditure while maintaining a comprehensive communication solution. Particularly in industries like transportation or energy, where operational budgets are tightly managed, hybrid networks offer a way to deliver world-class communication capabilities without the cost burden of building extensive broadband-only infrastructure.

Hybrid networks also optimise performance by deploying network gateways closer to the action, whether it’s a wind farm or a sprawling mining site. This minimises routing paths, enhancing data transfer speeds and reducing latency—critical factors for real-time decision-making. At the same time, hybrid networks maintain robust security controls, leveraging both LMR’s established strength in secure communication and the encrypted capabilities of LTE/5G, making hybrid networks particularly suited to operations where both efficiency and protection of sensitive data are critical.

With the integration of next-generation technologies like 5G, hybrid networks are uniquely positioned to support advanced applications that are becoming essential in modern critical operations. These include real-time data analysis, video streaming, augmented reality (AR), and enhanced situational awareness—applications that require not just speed but also consistency and resilience in data transfer.

For example, in an offshore wind farm, LTE/5G could be used to support real-time video feeds from drones inspecting turbines, while LMR facilitates direct voice communication between the drone operator and maintenance crews. By using a hybrid network, the operation can simultaneously manage both advanced, data-intensive applications and critical voice communications without interruption, significantly boosting operational efficiency and safety.

Amid all the hype surrounding LTE/5G, it’s important not to overlook the enduring value of LMR in critical communications. LMR has long been the backbone of voice communications in industries that rely on reliable, instant communication in isolated or hazardous environments. Its dedicated spectrum ensures that LMR channels are never congested, providing uninterrupted service even in the most challenging conditions.

Additionally, LMR systems are designed with built-in redundancy and resilience, ensuring that they remain operational during power outages, natural disasters, or network failures. In contrast, LTE/5G networks may be vulnerable to congestion, latency, or complete outages in high-demand scenarios. For operations where every second counts, such as a mine site facing a potential hazard, LMR’s reliability remains irreplaceable.

Rather than viewing LMR and broadband as opposing technologies, organisations are increasingly recognising the value of hybrid network solutions. By integrating the best aspects of both, hybrid systems deliver unparalleled agility, reliability, and cost-efficiency.

For industries like transportation, energy, and mining, which operate in challenging environments with little room for error, hybrid networks offer a robust, future-proof communication infrastructure. They provide the flexibility to scale operations without significant additional costs, the resilience to withstand outages and infrastructure failures, and the performance needed to support both traditional voice communications and cutting-edge applications.

As we move forward, hybrid networks will continue to be the communication backbone for critical operations, ensuring organisations can operate with confidence in even the most demanding environments. Hybrid solutions offer the perfect balance of reliability, security, and cost-effectiveness, making them indispensable to the future of critical communications. Stuart Will’s work for TCCA is sponsored by DAMM Cellular Systems.