The Australian outback is pretty rugged. It’s vast, harsh and unforgiving. And 5 million square kilometres (more than 65% of the country) receives no mobile signal.
A lack of reception is not just a buzzkill for locals and tourists. It can be dangerous.
But while the outback might not have many mobile phone towers, it has an abundance of Toyota LandCruisers.
The LandCruiser’s toughness and ability to go anywhere has made it rural Australia’s most popular 4×4. In many places, a LandCruiser is the only vehicle you’ll see.
This gave Saatchi & Saatchi Australia an idea to make LandCruiser helpful in a whole new way. In partnership with Flinders University, the agency is pioneering a new device that can be fitted in Toyota LandCruisers, enabling them to create a pop-up emergency network that will bring communications to the most remote parts of the outback.
The LEN device has been engineered using a mix of WI-FI, UHF and Delay Tolerant Networking (DTN) technology, an area that many groups are exploring – including NASA for interplanetary communications, to turn vehicles into communications hotspots, each with up to a 25km range.
The technology is being piloted in a fleet of LandCruisers fitted with the device in the remote Flinders Ranges – one of the most harsh and dangerous parts of the Australian outback – where the Mars Society tests its vehicles.
Brad Cramb, divisional manager – national marketing Toyota, said, “The marrying of communications technology and the LandCruiser, a vehicle that has a long history in the outback, presents a huge opportunity for us to provide much-needed infrastructure to remote communities around Australia.”
Dr Paul Gardner-Stephen of Flinders University added, “Humanitarian technologies aren’t just something nice to have, they all too often end up being the difference between life and death. It is hard to conceive of a more robust and extensive support network for Outback Australia than the collective LandCruiser drivers of this country”.
Mike Spirkovski, executive creative director, Saatchi & Saatchi Australia noted, “It’s amazing that in this day and age with such epic technology advances in mobile communications over 65% of Australia still receives no mobile signal.
“With this in mind and the fact that Toyota’s Land Cruiser is one of the toughest vehicles in the world and rural Australia’s most popular 4×4, we created the Land Cruiser Emergency Network”.
Toyota is currently exploring the feasibility of a commercial vehicular rollout of the LEN devices.
