Fern device bends radio signals around solid structures

Aberdeen, Scotland – Fern Communications Ltd, a supplier of two-way radio communications systems to the upstream oil and gas industries, has announced that it has successfully trialled its FRX-1 ATEX portable radio repeater for TYCO Fire and Integrated Solutions. The tests, said Fern, were carried out  last month during a planned shutdown operation at the Thetford Power Station in Norfolk, UK.

The FRX-1, which is designed to improve radio coverage by eliminating radio “black spots” that disrupt radio signals, performed effectively during the two-week operation. “The unit worked very well,” said Stuart Harvey, service/training manager for TYCO Fire and Integrated Solutions. “Even those working in the most extreme positions within the superstructure of the power station were able to get a radio signal,” he added.

The radio repeater allowed staff to stay in constant contact while carrying out maintenance, cleaning and safety checks, according to Fern, which operates from bases in Aberdeen and Lowestoft. TYCO, it added, is now considering it for additional work on future outage support projects at the energy facilities that it serves in the UK. 

Separately, Fern is to carry out further field tests of the FRX-1 in the Gulf of Mexico for a major operator that is seeking to improve safety by enhancing radio communications for its workers. Testing of the system’s ability to sustain uninterrupted radio signals on one of the operator’s primary platforms offshore Lafayette, Louisiana will take place in September.

"We are very confident that the FRX-1 will continue to perform well in the extreme environments of the international upstream oil and gas industry,” said Clive Cushion, technical director of Fern Communications. “I have personally conducted extensive field trials with the FRX-1 so I know first-hand how much the unit benefits users,” he added.

According to Fern, the FRX-1 fills a gap in the market for a system that provides consistent, uninterrupted radio communication, particularly offshore. Standard radio systems, it said, are very vulnerable to ‘black spots,’ as the solid structures that make up the platform block radio signals, making it impossible for the targeted receiving radio to receive the signal.

The FRX-1 is claimed to be the only system of its kind that effectively bends the radio signal around a solid structure so that it reaches its target destination: the receiving radio located on the other side of the structure.  The system is approved for use by the European Union in hazardous Zones 1 and 2, gas group 11C and temperature-rated to T6, all in accordance with ATEX Directive 94/9/EC, and can be used in North America, Europe and most oil-producing regions. It is also ingress-protected to IP66, which makes it dust-tight and protected against powerful water jets and water dispersed by heavy seas.