Clear Communication and Precision
The Winning Formula for Mette Bjerknæs
“Today, my focus is solely on becoming Sprint World Champion in Formula 2.”
“Faulty radios have always been the main reason for me not performing to my best ability, as my attention is moved from the task at hand, to worrying about missed information.”
Powerboat racing is in Mette Brandt Bjerknæs’ DNA. Both of her parents raced powerboats, so as a family they pretty much lived and breathed the high octane sport every day. At the age of 19, Mette started racing herself and within three years she was competing in World Championships.
Mette grew up in Norway where she was exposed to the logistics of the sport and developed her resilience, determination and drive with the insight that anything is possible when you put in the hard work – and have the best supporting team around you.
While the sport is still predominantly male orientated, Mette aspires to be a great female role model and to send the message that it is within everyone’s power to ‘be the change’.
This healthy mindset and belief that anyone can change the world by example seeps into her life beyond the roar, spray and adrenaline of racing. After obtaining her teaching degree twelve years ago she became a full-time teacher.
“In 2012-2015 I competed in both the Sprint and the Endurance World Championship and in 2014 I became the first and only female World Champion in Endurance class 2.”
Throughout her career, both on the water and in the classroom, Mette insists on good communications. If ever there is a block to the giving and receiving of information, you are at a huge disadvantage.
The ability to communicate with her team members when racing is crucial for a successful outcome. Her coach is in constant dialogue relaying details of the race, the water conditions and the boat and transmitting immediate instructions. Should there be even a slight delay in this communication, it can mean the difference between winning the World Championship and not.
Racing on water is physically demanding and requires complete focus meaning that the communication technology cannot be in any form of a hand-held device. To give Mette the best chance of gaining future titles, the tech must be hardwired, reliable, responsive, unobtrusive and noise cancelling. To put this into some perspective, the tiny boat she pilots has limited visibility, takes 90 degree turns at 150 km/h, produces a G-force of up to 5G and accelerates faster than high performance race cars. And that’s not all, she races against other powerboats which, at times, are only centimetres away from each other. That’s why precision and clear communication are key.
“Radio communication is not only mandatory to race in the F2 World Championship, but it’s absolutely crucial for me to keep my focus on my racing.”
The coronavirus pandemic may have disrupted all powerboat racing activities in 2020 but it didn’t stop Mette making plans. This year she joined forced with a UK powerboat team to form JRM Racing. Her racing will resume in 2021 in what will be her 10th season.
Servicom are proud to be a part of Mette’s next challenge and will use their expertise to provide the JRM Racing team with the technology needed to make her a World Champion once more. The custom two-way communication that Servicom is supplying consists of Motorola DP4600e radios for the land-based team and a Motorola DM4400e which connects to Mette’s boat.
Two of Mette’s main issues in the past have been faulty radios and the noise from the water and the boat making it difficult for her land-based team to interpret her speech. She told Servicom that she has used analogue radios previously which did not perform well and didn’t filter out the sound of the engine enough for her to exchange information clearly back to the team. The dedicated team at Servicom are currently working with Mette to find her the best microphone to wire into the helmet. In addition, the headset is wired but a connection is in line with the radio housed in the boat’s bulkhead.
"The over air protocol is DMR which has inbuilt noise cancelling capabilities, this will bring huge benefits to the team."
Taking into account that Mette’s inshore race circuits are close to land, the team at Servicom are providing a back to back radio configuration chosen for its reliability as it eliminates the need for any additional infrastructure which could potentially fail.
Servicom is no stranger when it comes to high-speed projects, they supplied the communication technology for the Bloodhound LSR, a British land vehicle designed to break the land speed record at supersonic speeds.
They are tackling Mette’s project exactly the same as they did for Wing Commander Andy Green and are speaking with Mette frequently to ensure that they are meeting her exact needs and working hard to ensure that she has the best kit on board.
Alternatively, there is the multi-network roaming option.
A SIM card provides registration to a Mobile Network Operator. This enhanced SIM option will automatically switch between a country’s Mobile Network Operators working on the strongest system/signal. With access to multiple networks the chances of being affected by dropped calls are lower. Some operators offer higher QoS SIMs where devices move faster between networks.
Push-to-Talk over Cellular, PoC, Communications Solutions: Short term, long term, small scale or across the country.
PoC Solutions can connect radio systems and smart mobile telephones; extending the range of two-way radio and adding the ability to communicate with (and track if required) many Smartphone users concurrently.
In brief:
- It’s easy to get up to speed. We can add Push-to-Talk over Cellular to your existing smart devices through “app stores” enabling a communications network with no new hardware to meet your current needs or we can start a new installation.
- Servicom can deploy an entire system in a few hours.
- Push-to-Talk over Cellular reduces long contracts and is a low commitment solution for changing workforces.
- This isn’t just a small system; it can link people up and down the country as a stand-alone or as an add on.
For functionality PoC offers fast PTT and the group calling familiar from two-way radio but also allows any number of call groups and channels. Additional features include dispatcher services, GPS location tracking, monitoring services, emergency alarming as well as remote control for devices.
The arrival of commercial 4G, LTE and 5G has meant that PoC can offer lone worker monitoring, call recording & playback as well as taking a key role in job ticketing, scanning, proof of delivery & workflow.
Push-to-Talk over Cellular, PoC can potentially be faster than consumer mobile phone services.
Such a service can work through a client’s own on premises WiFi systems and through wider mobile networks roaming between systems as the users can maintain mobility removing the need to deploy fixed hardware; aiding the speed of deployment. Services are hosted either privately or in the Cloud, being a Software as a service (SaaS) hosted on Amazon and/or Microsoft as a tiered service.
Is Push-to-Talk over Cellular something that could help your business, right now?
Business as usual?
Developing your company is not so much about the ‘new normal’ as carrying on business as usual. Servicom’s communications solutions are here to help you get the job done.
Two way radio can help you keep in touch with staff in the field or working from home; Push to Talk can be the integration that makes your employees back into a team, even in these complicated times. Radios on site can be integrated with other devices; digital mobile radio, mobile phones, tablets and landlines can all be connected through your own onsite control centre.
CCTV coupled with Artificial Intelligence can be an extra set of eyes on the ground. COVID-19 means we change the methods but the core of all our businesses remains the same. Whatever it is you do we can help you keep your business in touch.
In a world where we’re all responsible for each other safety CCTV and AI can help you assess health by checking body temperature, ensure masks are worn and maintain social distancing.