NORCO Dairy Co-operative
Established in Byron Bay, New South Wales in 1895. Norco is a 100% Australian farmer owned dairy co-operative with 326 active members on 214 dairy farms in northern New South Wales and south east Queensland. Milk production of 219.9 million litres. www.norco.com.au
Requirements
Norco along with its partners Kore Communications, Telstra Corporate, Azentro and Powertec Telecommunications identified the need for a small cell Distributed Antenna System at their Raleigh factory. Based in part from the knowledge gained Kore Communication recent installation at Norco’s Gold Coast facility.
As for the Gold Coast facility Kore was commissioned to design and install a new Distributed CEL-FI small cell antenna system
Backbone
- 12 xCel-Fi GOStationary for Telstra
- 10 x Internal Dome antennas
- 30 x Mars antennas
- 5x External Blackhawk LPDA antennas
Challenges
- Insulated wall and ceiling panel (cold room panels) rooms built within 100 year old hard wood and tin roof building.
- Zoned holding and processing areas both wet, dry and climate controlled.
- Limited access between and above paneling.
- Hazardous work areas.
- Positioning Cel-Fi units and Distributed Antenna Systems to enhance the intermittent signal within the Norco facility to allow for a paperless transition.
Solution
Design and Supply Telstra Cellular Distributed Antenna System through out the Norco Raleigh facility. Starting from scratch with no existing signal within majority of the structure. Kore communications designed a Six Cluster Dual band 3g/4g Distributed Antenna System solution covering the in plant and surrounding offices.

Norco Raleigh Cluster 2
Andrews LDF-450A coaxial cable was used for all major trunks stemming from the clusters to their relevant pathways and zones. Coupled to MARS 5Dbi IP rated DAS panels throughout the facility. Scope included two engine rooms, evaporation rooms, processing, packaging, storage, blow mould areas, yogurt, labelling, distribution offices and main buildings
Kore’s JDSU Base Station Analyser along with hand held IOS and Android devices were used to confirm signal levels after installations. Multiple test throughout the building confirming signal strength better than -67 Dbi. Further simulated testing of data speed rates were conducted utilising hand held IOS and android devices running speed test throughout the facility. Data Rates were taken from Telstra servers and or competitor servers. With minimum reading of 18 Mbps down and 7Mbps the desired outcome was achieved. Unsurprisingly the Telstra to Telstra server testing preformed outstandingly with the highest throughput of 55 Mbps and 17 Mbps.
Norco System Benefits
- Realtime data input and analysis
- Improved efficiency
- Reduction in paper usage