Racing nearly 3,000 kilometers across the Australian Outback, the UNSW Sunswift Racing team relies on advanced technology to maximize solar vehicle performance. Equipped with roughly 60 sensors, the cars track everything from battery health to powertrain efficiency. This data is transmitted in real time via 5G and satellite connectivity, enabling the university’s team of engineering students to monitor conditions, adjust strategies, and ensure driver safety even in some of the world’s harshest racing environments.
According to team members, real-time insights allow precise, data-driven decisions that were previously impossible. Push-to-talk communications and continuous sensor monitoring ensure the team maintains connection throughout the multi-day race. The technology eliminates much of the guesswork, letting team members focus on optimizing performance and efficiency while competing against challenging terrain and unpredictable conditions.
The integration of Ericsson’s connectivity solutions has been critical to this approach, providing stable, reliable links even in remote areasProject Officer at UNSW Sunswift Racing, Luke Tedesco notes that beyond racing, the lessons learned have broader implications for industries that require mobile, data-intensive operations — from emergency services to rural infrastructure and solar energy management. The Sunswift Racing project highlights how real-time data and connected systems are redefining what’s possible in extreme environments.
Steve Saunders:
Is that the beast in the background?
Jon Warner Campo:
Oh yeah. So, this is the Sunswift. Yep. So that's a car that raced across Australian outback, almost 3,000 kilometers from Darwin to Adelaide.
Steve Saunders:
What is the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge and why is it so challenging?
Professor Richard Hopkins:
Sunswift Racing's been around since '96. So entering into our 30th year next year thing, we've competed in the World Solar Challenge since day one. So that focus on efficiency and competition has always been at the forefront. It's called a challenge for a very good reason because it is a challenge. It's not supposed to be easy. As much as it's having that amazing technology, it's the amazing team as well. It's taking 25 young people on a journey that they might never experience anything like it in the future. The Australian Outback, when the sun's shining at its very brightest, can be quite an aggressive place to perform this technology.
Steve Saunders:
You didn't always have access to live data from the vehicle because we didn't have the networks. What difference has that made in terms of the performance of the vehicle and how you race it?
Jon Warner Campo:
Ericsson's part is like we provided the connectivity for them to be able to communicate back to their headquarters where we are right now in Sydney and also the sensors that need to be transmitted back to the headquarters so that they can be able to have a full picture of the vehicle.
Steve Saunders:
What sort of sensors are in there? How many of them and what are they doing?
Luke Tedesco:
About 60 sensors, most of which is powertrain, but particularly our two rear motors, key diagnostics for the battery's health, making sure that our drivers are kept safe.
Steve Saunders:
Can you share an example of where the system directly influenced a team decision?
Jon Warner Campo:
All the traffic coming from the sensors, coming from their communications is being actively transmitted back to headquarters, back to their data. They're able to make some definite or concrete racing strategy. So without a stable connectivity, those sensor data will be lost.
Steve Saunders:
Tell me about the link bonding technology, this way, the system you're using to ensure that even out in the middle of nowhere in Australia, in the Outback, that they were still able to communicate.
Jon Warner Campo:
What we did with link bonding, both links are working and transmitting data. Both 5G and satellite are being used and actively working and transmitting. So in that way, the performance of the tool links together are being utilized and they have more consistency and stability. And you can only imagine on a moving vehicle where it goes in and out of coverage and they're transmitting hundreds and thousands of data from their sensors. Also, they're doing push to talk communication and even Teams calls while they're on the move. They really require stable connectivity.
Professor Richard Hopkins:
The accuracy and knowledge we have around what we're doing to the second is just incredible. And I suppose technology that we have, thankfully through Ericsson, is aimed to create that competitive advantage. And that's what competition does. Technology's amazing, but when you put it in that intense competition environment, just like any form of motor sport, everybody's trying to push those limits and extract more and more. In more recent years if we had a wider focus, not just the technology and the innovation, but the collaboration.
Steve Saunders:
How did the collaboration with Ericsson come around?
Professor Richard Hopkins:
We were actually working with another technology partner of ours. Ericsson joined us on that particular project, and then the relationship just blossomed.
Steve Saunders:
Do you think there's an application for this technology in other industries?
Luke Tedesco:
There's definitely some value, especially with emergency services or any kind of mobile system that needs that reliability and that data connection. There's also rural applications, I think. The things like farming or large things like solar farms and covering large areas. So I think there is a lot of application to other industries as well.
Jon Warner Campo:
Yeah.
Steve Saunders:
Thank you so much for sharing all of this with us today. It's a fantastic, exciting, living project, really. Congratulations. And good luck with it next [inaudible 00:04:39]-
Professor Richard Hopkins:
Thank you so much.
Steve Saunders:
Cheers.
Professor Richard Hopkins:
Brilliant. Cheers, Steve. Thank you.
Steve Saunders:
Thanks.