Critical Communications Conference: Sydney 14 May, 2026

Get ready Sydney, we’re coming back! Don’t miss the ARCIA Sydney Critical Communications Conference and NSW State Networking Dinner 2026!

Following a fantastic conference in 2025, we’re headed back to Sydney in May 2026, for a one-day conference on 14 May.

Bookings Now Open! 

Join us for the third ARCIA Critical Communications Conference in Sydney at the NSW Teachers Federation Conference Centre. The Sydney conference includes a jam-packed stream of radio and critical communications presentations on Thursday, 14 May. 

Finish off the day by getting together with your peers at the NSW Networking Dinner, where the highly anticipated winner of the NSW State Professional of the Year Award will be announced. Nominations have now closed.

Numbers are strictly limited due to venue capacity for the conference and the dinner, so book your seats for you and your colleagues ASAP.

Discounts apply on all rates for current ARCIA Members. Not a member yet? Join ARCIA now >> 

Conference and NSW State Dinner Tickets on Sale Now

Conference and State Networking Dinner: Thursday, 14 May
Conference Venue: NSW Teachers Federation Conference Centre, 37 Reservoir St, Surry Hills, NSW 2010
Dinner Venue: Sydney Masonic Centre, 66 Goulburn Street Sydney NSW 2000
Time: 9:00 am – 4:30 pm (Conference), 6:00 pm – 10:30 pm (NSW State Networking Dinner)

Sydney Training Opportunity

ARCIA is also hosting Land Mobile Radio | Antenna and Transmission Line Fundamentals and Testing training on Wednesday, 13 May in Sydney. This training is available to book in addition to the conference program and the NSW State Networking Dinner. Bookings now open.

Stay updated on event information by following us on LinkedIn or subscribing to our Mailing List.

Sydney 2026 Conference Stream

Thursday 14 May | 9.00 AM – 4.30 PM

• The Evolution of Narrowband to Broadband for Critical Communications | Rhys Clare – National Manager ANZ of Airbus and Director, Australasian Critical Communications Forum, Regional Chapter of TCCA
• The Resilient Future of Land Mobile Radio | Paul Elmes – Managing Director (Asia-Pacific), Tait Communications
• Cybersecurity for LMR Systems | Alvin Singh – Senior Solutions Architect, Motorola Solutions
• Star Wars, The LEO Strikes Back – An impartial review of the satellite industry revolution currently underway | Dale Stacey – Managing Director, SAT Pty Ltd
• Big Data and AI for Mission Critical Comms | Ashwin Dinkar – VP – Defence & International Business, Eventide Communications LLC
• Drone-in-a-Box for Emergency Services: Resilient Connectivity Beyond Terrestrial Networks | James Bassam, Australia UAV Service Manager, Surf Life Saving & Riley Porteous | Communications Systems Team Leader, Surf Life Saving
• Australia’s Critical Communications Challenge for Public Safety | Hamish Duff, Managing Director, Mastercom
• Sydney Metro – Western Sydney Airport Link | Vishal Kohli – LTE/5G Specialist, Commtel Network Solutions

EXPERT PANEL DISCUSSION

• The Evolving Radio and Critical Communications Ecosystem – How Disruptive are Emerging Technologies?
  Moderated by Chris Stevens, Managing Director, CartGIS

Session Details and Speakers

Get to know the speaker and take a closer look at the content of each session.

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The Evolution of Narrowband to Broadband for Critical Communications

Presented by: Rhys Clare | National Manager ANZ of Airbus and Director, Australasian Critical Communications Forum, Regional Chapter of TCCA

In high-risk energy and mining environments, communications are no longer just about keeping people connected—they are about keeping people alive, assets productive, and operations running. While Narrowband Land Mobile Radio (LMR) has long provided dependable voice, it cannot support the real-time data, video, and automation now required to operate safer, more efficient, and increasingly autonomous sites.

The partnership between Airbus and Capgemini is bridging this gap, orchestrating a seamless transition to Broadband MCX (Mission Critical X: Voice, Video, and Data).

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Star Wars, The LEO Strikes Back – An impartial review of the satellite industry revolution currently underway

Presented by: Dale Stacey | Managing Director, SAT Pty Ltd

There is a revolution taking place within the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) sector of the broadband communications industry. The sector is volatile and disruptive, with implications for the terrestrial mobile networks and traditional thinking of backhaul for the carriers, for Public Safety Users and for domestic and commercial users being challenged. This sector of communications has seen exceptional growth recently, with the costs of sat comms tumbling. However, there are whispers about congestion, a bandwidth ceiling, possible increasing costs and concerns over sovereignty and weaponisation.

This presentation is a snapshot in time of now and some crystal balling as to where it will go. 

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The Resilient Future of Land Mobile Radio

Presented by: Paul Elmes | Managing Director (Asia-Pacific), Tait Communications

The long predicted demise of Land Mobile Radio (LMR) has yet to arrive. This presentation examines why mission critical LMR remains essential, how it is evolving alongside broadband and IP technologies, and what hybrid architectures, spectrum policy, and operational realities mean for public safety and critical industries over the next decade worldwide.

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Cybersecurity for LMR Systems

Presented by: Alvin Singh | Senior Solutions Architect, Motorola Solutions

This session will look at the importance of having appropriate controls to ensure LMR (Land Mobile Radio) systems are cyber secure, including the following key takeaways, along with a case study focusing on a large P25 system in Australia:

• Why do we need to look at cybersecurity for LMR systems?
• What are the attack surfaces/risks?
• What are the state compliance requirements for state government organisations?
• What can be done to address cybersecurity and how can your customers ensure their systems are cyber resilient?

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Big Data and AI for Mission Critical Communications – Exploring the True Potential in Australia

Presented by: Ashwin Dinkar | VP – Defence & International Business, Eventide Communications LLC

This topic explores how AI can and is already transforming the use of historic and near-real time Big Data (say from a GRN or a Telco provider) into useful and easily manageable chunks for proactive and predictive actional intelligence in Public Safety, Emergency Services, Utilities and Mining. We also explore unusual success stories of shared data and how AI has revolutionised the cost of hosting data in the cloud in 2026.

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Drone-in-a-Box for Emergency Services: Resilient Connectivity Beyond Terrestrial Networks

Presented by: James Bassam | Australia UAV Service Manager, Surf Life Saving & Riley Porteous | Communications Systems Team Leader, Surf Life Saving

This presentation will provide a technical overview of a deployable Drone-in-a-Box (DIAB) trailer capability designed for sustained, off-grid emergency operations across NSW and broader Australia. The platform integrates dual LEO (Starlink) terminals and bonded 4G/5G connectivity to deliver resilient, high-availability communications independent of terrestrial infrastructure, supported by an industry-partnered dual-LEO high availability design (delivered in collaboration with Hypha), while retaining the ability to leverage fixed networks where available. Supporting systems include integrated Airband radio, ADS-B monitoring, and IoT-enabled devices (e.g., floodlighting) orchestrated via a centralised platform, enabling both aviation awareness and remote asset control. The session will explore business use cases and the end-to-end architecture, including power autonomy, network failover, edge integration, and interoperability with emergency service systems, alongside real-world deployment considerations for long-duration operations in remote and disaster-affected environments.

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Sydney Metro – Western Sydney Airport Link

Presented by: Vishal Kohli | LTE/5G Specialist, Commtel Network Solutions

The session will cover the project scope and key details, network design considerations, technology partners involved, key differentiators, and an overview of complex system interworking and performance outcomes.

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Australia’s Critical Communications Challenge for Public Safety

Presented by: Hamish Duff | Managing Director, Mastercom

Abstract coming soon

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Panel Discussion: The Evolving Radio and Critical Communications Ecosystem – How Disruptive are Emerging Technologies?

Moderated by: Chris Stevens | Managing Director, CartGIS

Panelists:

• Ashwin Dinark | VP – Defence & International Business, Eventide Communications LLC
• Hamish Duff | Managing Director, Mastercom
• Dale Stacey | Managing Director, SAT Pty Ltd
• Rhys Clare | National Manager ANZ of Airbus and Director, Australasian Critical Communications Forum, Regional Chapter of TCCA

Much discussion is now focusing not only on when MCX will become the norm for critical communications right around the world, but what role satellite should and will play. Land Mobile Radio still plays a crucial role in many environments, and significant investment continues to be made by many for their communications requirements, but are we now seeing a shift that will hasten the end of LMR networks, with increasing spend on emerging technologies? 

Today, we have heard from a range of experts, with various backgrounds and opinions on currently available technologies, and now we will hear again from some of them, as we open up to our panel, giving them the opportunity to share with our audience where they see the radio and critical communications sector heading. 

Are we really seeing the demise of Land Mobile Radio, or do the numbers around the world tell a different story? Will the surge in LEO adoption curtail investment in MCX by certain users, or will we continue to see the mix of technologies we see today for many years to come, based on use case, budget, security, coverage and many other factors?

Conference Chair

View Speaker Biographies

**The conference organisers reserve the right to make changes to the agenda at any time and without notice. Please check close to the conference date for the latest agenda.