The Situation
The Oakland International Airport is the 5th busiest airport in California and the second busiest in the Bay Area. In 2021 alone, it served over 8 million passengers, all of whom depend on its technology and staff to keep the airport running safely and reliably.
The Challenge
Like all airports, communication and coordination between staff members are crucial—especially during a disaster, security concern, or other emergencies. The size of the Oakland Airport is vast, making communication technology a necessity. In addition, the Emergency Operation Center (EOC) and security team have different objectives—yet both divisions needed access to redundant communications in the case of an emergency.
The Solution
To address the needs of both the EOC and security, Remote Satellite Systems engineered, designed, and implemented not one, but two, backup communications systems that would act as a fail-over. Located at opposite ends of the airport, each of these systems has a specific purpose. The northern location was to be used by the emergency operation center (EOC) for strategic and operational decisions, while the south site would be used by security for general enforcement and ensuring passengers and cargo didn’t present a risk to others.
Although these two sites used much of the same in-building infrastructure, including land-based equipment and satellite communications (such as the C-Com FMA 120 VSAT), the objectives of each site needed to be taken into account during the design. For example, the EOC’s primary responsibility is to monitor and coordinate all aspects of an incident or disaster; likewise, security needed the ability to monitor video cameras and coordinate with other members of the security team if a potential threat was identified.
Both sites served a critical role, but the staff could only do their jobs if they had consistent, ongoing access to reliable communication. The MSAT G2 fixed satellite radio offered an ideal solution, as it provides interoperability with other emergency response and public safety agencies over satellite mutual aid radio talk groups (SMART)—perfect for broadcast (one-to-many) over satellite communications.
As a provider of high-level enterprise communications solutions, Remote Satellite Systems dynamically monitors and manages our clients’ networks and critical communications in times of disasters or emergencies while also offering full support and training. In addition, every system Remote Satellite Systems designs and installs is completely customizable and scalable to your needs—whether it’s expanding the number of workstations that can access a particular set of equipment or designing two sets of redundant backup systems on either side of a large site.
