Education & research
TAFE, university, WIL, capstone and applied-research partnership.
Proposed research project
Connected Country
Measuring rural internet in the real world
A proposed project where students and VINCONNECT measure why rural internet behaves differently from one property to the next, so networks can be designed better.
This is a proposal. Sites, equipment and the research method would be agreed with the education partner.
Technology sponsorship
Equipment, evaluation hardware, licences, service credits and engineering support.
Technical method
The draft measurement protocol, test modules, data model and QA approach.
The research question
How do environmental and system-design factors affect measurable network performance in regional Victoria?
The study would systematically vary and record distance, line of sight, vegetation, terrain, building materials, antenna height and alignment, network topology and power conditions. Outcomes would be measured through throughput, latency, jitter, packet loss, signal quality, availability, recovery time and energy use.
Path geometry
Measure how distance, antenna height, alignment and Fresnel-zone clearance affect received signal quality, useful throughput and link stability.
Obstruction
Quantify the effect of vegetation, metal-clad buildings, terrain and other common rural obstructions against unobstructed baselines.
Access technology
Run a common test protocol across Starlink, 4G, 5G, available NBN services and other field-testable systems as they become available.
Environment and resilience
Record weather, seasonal conditions, power state and recovery behaviour to understand performance over time rather than from a single speed test.
Method
Short field tests, then long-term monitoring
Short-form experiments isolate individual variables. Semi-permanent monitoring nodes then capture operating conditions over six to twelve months so seasonal and time-of-day effects can be separated from one-off observations.
Controlled path tests
Nominal distances such as 50 m, 100 m, 250 m and 500 m+, subject to site geometry and safe access. Each configuration is repeated against a defined baseline.
Technology comparison
The same test sequence is run across available satellite, mobile, fixed and local wireless systems so the results are comparable.
Persistent monitoring
Raspberry Pi or mini-PC nodes schedule tests, timestamp logs and retain raw data so students can reproduce the analysis.
Education partnership
Students work as researchers.
VINCONNECT would act as the industry research partner, providing the field setting, connectivity hardware, installation capability and EventLink mobile platform. A TAFE, university or other education partner would be invited to co-design the method, supervise student participation, strengthen measurement discipline and guide analysis and publication.
Work-integrated learning
- Build and validate Raspberry Pi or mini-PC monitoring nodes.
- Prepare controlled RF, Wi-Fi and point-to-point test plans.
- Collect field data across farms, equine properties, events and regional businesses with permission.
- Design data schemas, quality checks and reproducible analysis workflows.
- Analyse relationships between environment, network architecture and measured performance.
- Turn the results into technical reports, posters, public demonstrations and publication-ready articles.
Potential outputs
- Co-authored technical field report.
- Anonymised dataset and data dictionary for teaching and research.
- Student capstone or applied project reports.
- Conference or industry poster presentations.
- Technical articles comparing rural connectivity systems and deployment conditions.
- A repeatable methodology that can be extended to other regional areas.
EventLink mobile laboratory
EventLink as a mobile lab and public demo
EventLink is proposed as both the mobile research base and the public demonstration platform. Selected experiments can be translated into hands-on science activities: make a prediction, change one variable, measure the result and compare it with the baseline.
Can a tree line change a wireless link?
Compare clear and obstructed paths and record signal and packet performance.
Why can a fast connection still feel slow?
Compare throughput with latency, jitter and packet loss.
What does antenna alignment do?
Move a directional radio through controlled angle changes and plot the response.
EventLink is a proposed 2026–27 pilot. No research has been done yet, and no partner is confirmed.
Field region
Where: Gippsland, starting near Cranbourne
Planning covers Gippsland, including the Cranbourne, Lang Lang, Warragul/Drouin and Wonthaggi/South Gippsland area. Final sites depend on landholder permission and what each site can test.
Open pasture for clean line-of-sight baselines
Tree lines and variable vegetation density
Sheds, stables and metal-clad agricultural buildings
Mixed house / shed / office properties
Equine and agricultural properties with long outdoor paths
Regional events with temporary infrastructure and variable network demand
Longer-term pathway
A controlled agricultural research site.
A separate one-to-three-year stream could seek suitable partner or government-supported land for repeatable ag-tech, environmental sensing, renewable-energy and communications-resilience experiments. The current proposal keeps that as future scope so the first project remains focused on connectivity science, student learning and public engagement.
Collaboration request
Start with a 30-minute call.
We're looking for an education or research partner. On the first call we'd check the fit, pick a few first-year experiments, list any equipment gaps and decide whether to apply for a grant together.