Communications 1985-2002
Based on an interview with Ian Bruce, Senior Technical Officer Telecommunications, 23 October 2000
Although INMARSAT satellite communications had been installed at all the ANARE stations by 1985, it was a very expensive system. The Director of the Antarctic Division at the time, Jim Bleasel, had a background in remote area technology, and was determined that ANARE should have its own system through OTC, later incorporated into Telstra.
ANARESAT was born in the summer of 1986-87, with the first installation at Davis. Mawson and Casey quickly followed suit in 1987/88 and Macquarie Island in 1988/89. ANARESAT satellite technology, which revolutionised communications on Australian Antarctic stations, is the term used to refer to an AAD telecommunications network that uses transponders on two INTELSAT satellites - one above the Pacific Ocean and the other above the Indian Ocean.
The original ANARESAT configuration was two Vista channels, one dedicated to telephones and the other to data transmission. The telephone channel linked only to Kingston, allowing expeditioners phone contact with Head Office during office hours. Between 5pm and 8.30 am on weekdays, and during the weekends, the circuits were switched into the public network allowing them access to the rest of world. This system lasted from 1986 until mid 1989.
By 1989, OTC (Overseas Telecommunications Corporation) upgraded the system to allow ANARE the use of five dedicated Vista telephone channels. This meant that expeditioners could phone anywhere in the world 24 hours a day.
In 1991 ANARESAT was upgraded to include IBS (INTELSAT Business System), providing a digital link between the stations and Kingston. A 64 kb link carried two telephone tie lines, data circuits and a wide area network (WAN) between each station and Kingston.
A computer LAN (Local Area Network) was also installed on each station, with fibre optic cables between the main buildings, and thin wire Ethernet connections within the buildings. The LAN was connected into the IBS to allow users access to the Antarctic Division's WAN. This development gave expeditioners ready use of email between the station and Kingston. Up to this time, telexes, typed by Communications Officers, had remained the most common form of communication. The wintering Comms Officer position became defunct after 1995.
Today, expeditioners have access to virtually the same telecommunications facilities as anyone else in Australia, although it is often slower.
ANARESAT was upgraded again in 1998–99 when the multiplexer was changed to one which utilises dynamic bandwidth allocation resulting in more efficient use of the 64 kb data stream between each station and Kingston. In other words, if the tie lines from the station are not in use, then the unused bandwidth is available for the WAN, facilitating faster transmission of scientific data and quicker internet access.
During 2000, the five public telephone circuits were upgraded to digital circuits, the old analogue Vista service having been superseded by changes in technology.
Although HF radio has been largely replaced by satellite communications today, the Antarctic Division will continue to use HF for the foreseeable future to communicate with aircraft and remote field parties out of VHF range. During the late eighties and early nineties, when ANARESAT was coming into service, the HF radio network was winding down. In 1988, the HF link between all three continental stations and Sydney was closed down by OTC. As other nations began to install satellite connections to their Antarctic stations, the inter-station HF network on the continent gradually decreased in use and was replaced by satellite. Some longer term remote field parties today are issued with satellite phones, which link into the INMARSAT system. An INMARSAT satellite telephone link is also available at each station as a low level backup for ANARESAT.
