Australia is a large economy, with a range of climates that is unique in the world. Fixed physical infrastructure to cover the distances and climates involved is expensive, complex, and can take a long time to build.
The Northern Territory (NT) at the top of Australia includes the Barkly Region, which is subject to a tropical climate including monsoonal rain. Reliable access to high quality telecommunications services in remote NT communities is inconsistent at best.
At Distant Curve, we specialize in providing telecommunications services to remote communities. This blog post tells the story of our project to provide high-speed Internet to the remote indigenous community of Nitjipirru, near Kalkarindji in the Barkly Region of the NT.
Adapting to a challenging environment
Our business and not-for-profit work uses off-grid, solar-and-battery powered telecommunications equipment operated by a remotely managed, autonomous monitoring and control system we developed called curveIQ.
However, the project environment posed some unique challenges that we hadn’t encountered before.
The Barkly Region has temperature extremes which can change by 40 degrees celsius in a single day. Being a tropical climate, the area experiences monsoonal rains. Long stretches of cloudy days are common, posing a challenge to solar-powered, off-grid equipment. And regular thunderstorms during the monsoon season mean equipment damage from lightning is a serious concern.
Respect for cultural practices mean that the placement of the long chain of sites required to connect Nitjipirru had to be carefully negotiated and planned. Moving a site even a few metres away from the modelled location can have dramatic impacts upon the functional capacity of that site
Over the course of the project, the service area we were working in experienced three major flooding events, disruption caused by the COVID pandemic, and policy challenges that consumed project resources and proved insurmountable.
While we were not ultimately able to deliver the intended Internet service to Nitjipirru due to factors outside of our control, the team pivoted by exploring potential alternative communities to work with, and by focusing on our technology deliverables.
The curveIQ system
The core of the project was updating and adapting our curveIQ monitoring and control system so that we could deploy in the challenging conditions of the Barkly Region. curveIQ monitors and controls off-grid, solar-powered, and hard-to-access telecommunications sites in remote areas. The system combines software and hardware and embodies years of experience providing extremely reliable telecommunications services to remote communities. Our sites must operate without physical intervention for years, which demands redundancy, self-healing, and minimal maintenance.
Making the system resilient to heat and monsoonal weather meant adding intelligent energy management. curveIQ was improved with new algorithms and processes for the safe and efficient use of Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries in these extremely hot environments. This allowed us to greatly improve the resilience and lifespan of one of the costliest consumables of these systems — the batteries.
Upgrading the processors powering the system from Atmel to esp32 microcontrollers improved security posture through encrypted backhauls, and we added better tamper detection using commodity radar sensors.
Critically, curveIQ does not assume always-on connectivity. The system is built to operate independently, with the ability to make decisions and perform logging offline, which is important for Australia’s remote communities, where even satellite links may drop out for extended periods.
Watch a short, practical demonstration of curveIQ.
Deployment and testing
Early during an acute period of the COVID-19 pandemic, we used curveIQ to provide Internet connectivity to two healthcare centres in extremely remote NT communities in the townships of Atitjere and Engawala. These connections ran reliably for eight months, allowing connectivity even when physical presence was not possible.
We used our commercial Yulara project as a testbed to test and validate the enhanced security, resilience in the face of cloudy periods, and modularization of the system. These tests gave us confidence in the improvements we made through the project.
And following a surprise request, with three weeks’ notice, we were able to provide telecommunications to the Ayers Rock Resort ‘Wintjirri Wirru’ drone show near Uluru.
These deployments validated that modular, solar-powered communications sites could be rapidly deployed to provide high-speed Internet connections to remote communities in challenging conditions with a very small environmental footprint.
Rethinking battery management
I have always maintained that the biggest challenge to remote area communications is power; everything else is irrelevant without it. The project yielded some innovative battery management strategies.
We use the thermal mass of the batteries as heat sinks, cooling them back down at nighttime using the cooler air. We also learned how to use high confidence temporal cloud cover forecasts in power management and generally cycle batteries between a 40% and 60% state of charge.
Additionally, we learned how to charge each pack of batteries according to the highest cell voltage in the pack, ensuring that the cells in the pack age at a similar rate.
Finally, the system relies primarily on the solar panels to keep communications equipment running, switching to battery power only at nighttime and during extended cloudy periods, limiting charging and discharging cycles.
Open-source integration and contribution
The curveIQ system was designed to be interoperable with open-source software. It can be easily integrated and controlled with Home Assistant (an open platform for smart device management) and communicate using Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) via Mosquitto. These integrations mean that operators can use low-cost, self-hosted tools instead of relying on expensive commercial Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems.
Additionally, we open sourced the code for allowing the transmission of arrays of data via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), communicating with commodity Battery Management System (JK), encrypting data between Bluetooth nodes, and a YAML module implementing mm wave radar to detect movement and delineate whether it was human.
Custom designed printed circuit boards
To support the software stack, we also developed several custom printed circuit boards (PCBs) optimized for extreme environments. These boards handled relay control, BLE mesh communication, solar charge management, and secure backhaul via WireGuard, all while keeping costs below USD 30 per unit.
These designs are now deployed in test networks near Uluru and are undergoing further evaluation, with potential licensing models being explored through regional partners.
Real world impact
While the original vision for Nitjipirru wasn’t realized, the project had some valuable outcomes.
In 2023, when other providers were unable to meet the connectivity requirements for the Wintjiri Wiru drone show near Uluru, the curveIQ system was rapidly deployed with just three weeks’ notice. The drone show translated an ancient, culturally rich story from the Anangu people about the Mala (Devil Dog) for a modern audience. The show won the 2024 world travel awards and helped the indigenous owned and operated resort regain profitability after COVID-19.
In a separate case, the platform was used to support emergency operations during widespread bushfires in the NT, providing critical real-time data for responders and residents.
These outcomes, though unplanned, highlight the platform’s versatility and its potential to serve not just communities, but also events, emergencies, and future deployments in similar conditions.
Building capacity, not just infrastructure
Perhaps most importantly, the project generated lasting capacity. The team expanded its expertise in embedded engineering, BLE mesh networking, policy navigation, and licensing. New connections were formed with regional operators and global open-source contributors, creating pathways for continued development and knowledge sharing.
Today, the curveIQ monitoring and control system is running in several real-world sites across the NT. It’s now set to play an important role in future rural connectivity projects. The system shows how locally developed solutions, designed with the environment in mind can overcome tough physical conditions and policy challenges — creating infrastructure that not only reaches remote areas, but works reliably and sustainably once it gets there.
Learn more about this project in the technical report at the APNIC Foundation.
Matthew James is the founder of Distant Curve Remote Area Telecommunications with interests in the rapid deployment of regional telecommunications systems.
The views expressed by the authors of this blog are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of APNIC. Please note a Code of Conduct applies to this blog.
Atmal probably should be Atmel.