Serving upwards of 1.2m people every week Melbourne’s Southern Cross Station is Victoria’s primary metropolitan, regional and airport gateway. Its regional rail platforms are up to 300m long and heave with travellers during rush hours. However, they suffered significant problems communicating with an old paging solution that lacked zoning – the whole station (all 16 platforms) got the same message.
Southern Cross Station called on its managed services partner InSight Systems, and invited Director of Technology, Myke Ireland, and his team to help improve the station’s announcements capabilities.
‘The officers wanted to freely walk up and down anywhere along a platform and make announcements to the patrons of that platform,’ Ireland explains. ‘The problem is, Southern Cross Station is a natural Faraday cage – it’s where RF goes to die. Not only that, it’s thrumming with high voltage cables, and there’s EMF everywhere from radio and TV stations, not to mention thousands of people soaking up RF. But the sort of wireless system the station was after would need to be exceptionally robust: interference-free, and work every time someone picks up a mic.’
Sennheiser worked with InSight Systems to assist in mapping the four regional train platforms to model the RF environment and help specify the type and quantity of antennas required. As expected, this project would require the A5000-CP as the more standard half-/quarter-length ‘paddle’ antennas, normally sufficient in most other contexts, weren’t up to the extreme conditions.
Software modelling recommended eight of these helical antennas for each platform. Now installed, these are placed at the PIDS (public information display structure) positions. They’re highly directional, which is perfect for the job – each platform is its own zone and intermodulation between platforms would be problematic.
InSight Systems was aware that the ‘black dome’ form factor of the A5000-CP was hard to conceal, but its performance took precedence over aesthetic concerns. As it happened a vibrant Reddit thread speculated on the purpose of the A5000-CP units, which were installed during the peak Covid-19 period. Some Redditors suspected the antennas had the capacity to scan commuters’ phones for their vaccine status and, maybe, rayguns would be installed next to quickly dispatch troublemakers. With this, InSight Systems selected wireless microphone systems from Sennheiser’s G4 range, including ew300 handheld systems, powered antenna combiners and receivers.
InSight Systems uses Sennheiser’s Wireless Systems Manager (WSM) professional software solution for remotely monitoring and controlling wireless systems. It displays the data of all controlled devices on the network at Southern Cross Station. It shows all status information and makes setting adjustments including firmware updates for one or multiple devices very easy.
For example, if there’s a significant change in the RF environment – a new TV station appears or an RF-heavy boat moors nearby – InSight Systems can remotely scan and re-stack the RF of the receivers.
‘The Sennheiser aspects of this job were a breeze,’ Ireland reflects. ‘It was so easy to get all the frequencies we wanted and to get the antennas we needed – Sennheiser made the RF design simple.’
‘When Insight Systems contacted me about this project, I was excited because of the long history and prominence of the Southern Cross Train Station in Melbourne, and because I knew Sennheiser would be able to provide a robust solution that simply and effectively fit the station’s needs and unique environment,’ says Sennheiser VIC/TAS Sales Manager Business Communications, George Sotiriadis. ‘Working with Myke and the Insight team in the design phase was a pleasure, and it’s gratifying to know that everyone involved with this project is so thrilled with the end result.’
Southern Cross Station’s wireless audio upgrade has been highly successful. For commuters, timely and contextual information is key. Previously, the scattergun paging approach caused frustrations not only for patrons but also for staff who were stretched as they fielded individual enquiries. Now, they are free to walk the full length of the platforms and make calls specific to the platform at a frequency best suited to the pace and schedule of a platform.
