GameCoverage To better engage design audiences, the requirements When designing wireless networks Georgia Dome for large venues, there are many With the rise of home theaters and mobile It’s About the Fans rolled out a wireless unique considerations. CDW•G’s apps, sports fans have more choices First and foremost, the goal of the wireless Mike Krummrey offers five best network that fans today. The best seat may not always be in deployment is to better serve spectators. practices based on his experience can use to access the stadium — it’s often right at home or “For many fans, there’s nothing more deploying Wi-Fi at the Georgia Dome. in a more convenient location. frustrating than wanting to upload the data, view replays That’s why the Georgia Dome, home of photo from the go-ahead touchdown • Start with capacity. Review the By Steve Zurier the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons and host of the to share with friends and family, only to organization’s goals for Wi-Fi and communicate access and understand the demo- 2013 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament have their phone crawl at a snail’s pace via social media. graphics of the users to settle on Final Four, moved aggressively to blan- and get a message a few minutes later that an expected take rate today and ket the stadium with a high-density wire- the upload failed,” Adkins says. into the future. A take rate is the less network. Patrons in the 72,000-seat Upgrading the Georgia Dome’s Wi-Fi percentage of visitors who access stadium now stay connected with their network had been on the organization’s the Wi-Fi system. Some venues mobile devices, easily accessing their radar for several years. The WorldCongress today expect to have a 20 to 30 favorite sites and applications, including Center Authority board approved the proj- percent take rate, a number that’s steadily increasing. an in-venue app for sports scores, stats and ect last April, work began in June and a • Focus on coverage. With hundreds video replays. new Cisco network went live at the start of access points often needed “There’s a growing emphasis by the NFL of the 2012 NFL season. to satisfy capacity for a stadium on enhancing the fan experience,” says Sam Covering the arena with Cisco venue, coverage is the major chal- Brown, IT director for the Georgia Dome, Connected Stadium Wi-Fi was an ambi- lenge. Most organizations want which is operated by the World Congress tious initiative and a dramatic upgrade to contain coverage within small, Center Authority. for the Georgia Dome, Brown says. Until targeted sections and minimize over-coverage, which leads to “When fans come in, all they have to last fall, the Georgia Dome had various interference. Wi-Fi designers must do is set their smartphones to connect to wireless hotspots throughout the stadium, reduce power on the APs and use the Georgia Dome’s Wi-Fi network, and mainly for the press box, meeting rooms antennas to direct coverage. they are up and running. It’s that easy.” and barcode readers at the ticket turnstiles. • Be judicious about placement. Georgia Dome General Manager Brown describes the Georgia Dome’s Discovering acceptable mounting Carl Adkins underscores that the NFL Wi-Fi network as the “ultimate BYOD locations can be challenging, but has taken a strong, proactive stance on project” because it provides open access Wi-Fi designers should keep the distance between the user and improving the overall stadium experi- to the public on any mobile device they y t hen/ G e tt Ima ges; ma r c elo s a n os/ i ges the antennas at a minimum. Also ence for fans. bring, while keeping the internal network consider the aesthetic requirements “They recognize that if they’re going secure. “We use Cisco ASA firewalls to of the venue. to continue to grow market share in the separate the public traffic from the pro- • Build follow-up into the plans. future, they need to engage fans of all duction network,” he explains. Stadiums are organic facilities and ages through whatever means necessary,” are often reconfigured to accom- Adkins says. “Affordable personal devices Do the Wireless Wave modate a variety of events. Design the Wi-Fi system to anticipate and other emerging technologies present Cisco visited the stadium to explain the the various configurations of the an opportunity for the league and the technology, and the World Congress venue. Plan on continued support : john R o w ley/ G e tt y Ima ges; Chris r a member clubs to reach out to and con- Center Authority contracted CDW•G to to ensure seamless performance as nect with the fans in ways never before conduct the site survey, spectrum analysis the radio frequency characteristics
Fro m le ft imagined.” and design. “CDW•G did the integration of the stadium change.
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the Most and helped us get all the wireless configurations set focus radio frequency transmission and reception Several 2013 NCAA March Madness up,” Brown says. on a relatively small section of seats. This enables the venues offer high-speed wireless The Connected Stadium Wi-Fi solution com- creation of Wi-Fi micro cells that together deliver a to boost the fan experience, prises Cisco Catalyst 3750 series switches, Cisco high-quality Wi-Fi experience to all fans in the sta- including a few NFL stadiums: 5508 wireless controllers and 500 Cisco 3500-series dium, resulting in superior mobile experience even access points. The APs came with a mix of antenna in the stadium’s highest density areas. Sam Brown says Discover what technology options, including a dual-band, high-gain antenna Cisco Connected greeted March Madness Lucas Oil designed specifically for high-density stadium Crowd Control Stadium Wi-Fi spectators: statetechmag.com/ environments. The antenna offers high-speed wire- The Georgia Dome purchased licensing for 14,000 lets Georgia finalfourtech. Stadium less connectivity throughout the venue, with total concurrent users. The peak usage to date: the Dome visitors Indianapolis easily access capacity limited only by the wireline backhaul. Third- National Football Conference Championship game data and party provider CCLD Networks manages the wireless (Falcons versus the 49ers), during which 8,800 con- stay in touch 100,000 fans who can text, network with Cisco Prime Network Control System. current users were on the network. “Most of the usage with friends make calls and use the Internet on “The biggest challenge for us when we were is for tweeting, web browsing and for fans to take pic- and family. the wireless network deploying the Wi-Fi equipment was to determine tures and send Instagrams,” Brown says. “I imagine as 400 antennas how many people will be on the network at any one usage expands, we can increase the license.” Cowboys supporting 3G, 4G time and how many will be heavy users,” says Mike Gearing up for the NCAA Men’s Final Four, Krummrey, a senior network engineer for CDW•G the IT group performed systems diagnostics and Stadium 884 access points installed and LTE voice and Arlington, Texas data networks who led the company’s work on the implementation. anticipated making some tweaks to accommodate 2 distributed antenna systems – one for Brown says Cisco’s high-density wireless solution a basketball court instead of an open football field.
inside the stadium and one for outside 630 access points installed is specifically designed to tackle the technical chal- “We want to ensure that everyone at the event lenges of wireless coverage in stadiums. For example, has a great time on all fronts and never has a second maximum 28,000 the wireless APs are connected to antennas that thought about the wireless experience,” says Adkins. simultaneous Wi-Fi establish “micro cells” throughout the venue that “They shouldn’t be able to tell the difference [in Carl Adkins of connections the Georgia target specific seats and sections. connectivity] from the comfort of their own homes Dome says the Bill Seed, mobility technical lead at Cisco Sports with one big exception — nothing replaces being facility caters and Entertainment, says the high-gain antennas there live.” lSTl to fans. Georgia 500 access points installed Dome Atlanta 14,000 Maximum number The of simultaneous connections Difference 1.5Mbps Per-user download speed on the Maker high-density Cisco After the game, people enjoy watching highlights and playing armchair quarterback to analyze the strategy of the coaches. Connected Stadium IT pros also enjoy learning what makes the technology tick. With that in mind, Bill Seed, head of mobile innovations for Wi-Fi network Cisco Sports and Entertainment, outlines some of the factors that differentiate stadium-grade Wi-Fi access points and antennas from other wireless gear. ylor/ G e tt y Ima ges; Cellphone: R b ges/ lo w i ma ges a • Good aesthetics With a low-profile design similar in size to an Apple iMac, the antennas blend in well with flat-panel TVs spread across the stadium and can be painted to match the background. All the fans see is the antenna because the AP can often be tucked away in the ceiling. • Multiband support Cisco’s gear operates in both the 2.4 gigahertz and 5GHz spectrum, which means it supports all modern Wi-Fi devices. For example, a ticketing person may only use a barcode reader that operates in the 5GHz band, while smartphones connect over both the 2.4GHz band and 5GHz bands. • Support for 802.11n The stadium Wi-Fi gear features multiple-input, multiple-output technology, which uses multiple transmitters and receivers to transfer more data simultaneously. 802.11n transfers data at the high speeds users typically enjoy at work,
: john hol d en/ge tt y i ma ges; back groun N c T home or at a local coffee shop. t c our
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