Events
beforehand). The main reason for this long timeframe is the
logistics involved; test events start about a year (or in the
case of winter games, two years) before the main event, and
also all equipment going to an Olympic venue needs to be
delivered to a distribution centre first before going to the final
destination. By way of comparison, a G7 or G20 summit will
need the communications to be more or less finalised six to
eight months prior to the event in question.
Davalo says backhaul has to be planned well in advance as
it can’t be changed easily, and typically one-off events don’t
have enough access to fixed-line backhaul, requiring the
additional use of microwave links or possibly even satellite
links. He adds that all of Airbus’s large events customers also
obtain compact and rapidly deployable tactical radio kits that
can be deployed if there is a need for additional capacity.
Freeing up frequencies
Both Davalo and O’Neill highlight the need to have the host
country’s telecommunications regulator on hand to monitor
the spectrum and make sure those who may be unwittingly,
or in some cases deliberately, causing interference are swiftly
dealt with. Davalo adds that it is all too easy for those seeking
to disrupt events to install radio jammers in advance.
The potential disruption can be considerable – O’Neill
gives the example of an event that was hosted by John Cleese
(a famous British actor and comedian and the co-founder of
Monty Python), where a news crew showed up with its own
radio equipment. Shortly afterwards, the audience started
hearing a newscaster rather than their host. “These things
happen and you’ll never find them on your own,” he adds.
Given the risks, it is important to make sure all wireless
equipment is tested and tagged (regardless of whether or not
it is operating on licensed or licence-exempt frequencies),
and then enforce the rule that only tagged equipment is
used. One strong advocate of this approach is John Dundas,
consultant and director at Dundastech, who helped
organise communications for the European Championships
in Glasgow last year and for the Rio Olympics. He also
recommends the use of back-to-back/direct mode operation
(DMO) where possible to reduce the load on the network.
“I know of large performing centres that do thousands
of events, but when they do an event that has high levels
of security, they forget about the impact it can have,” says
O’Neill. “For example, a dignitary will turn up and a vehicle
will turn up and jam all the comms they don’t know
about; you can have the best frequency plan in the world, but
it’s no good when the Secret Service jams everything.
“Government security teams are usually aware of the need
to co-ordinate frequency use with the event. The real danger
comes when you have people who are not used to working in
that environment – for example, at pop concerts, some of the
VIPs may have their own close protection teams, who may be
used to working in their own ‘bubble’ – there’s then often a
‘Why should I change? You should change because we all have
a job to do’ conversation.”
Getting the right spectrum and making sure that people
aren’t using equipment on the wrong frequencies is only
part of the story. During the event, network resources
have to be managed carefully, and Davalo says that from
Airbus’s perspective, this occurs at two different levels. The
first consists of such measures as giving certain calls/users
You can have the best frequency
plan in the world, but it’s no good
when the Secret Service turns up
and jams everything
priority, combining talkgroups and restricting the use of
individual calls and short data service (SDS) messages to free
up capacity. The second level takes place on a large scale and
involves Airbus’s customers having a number of predefined
communication plans. They can then switch automatically to
the one that is most appropriate to the load on the network,
and Davalo says this functionality has been developed by
Airbus on top of the TETRA standard as part of its Tactilon
Management tool.
Training isn’t just for athletes…
“Training is key,” says Davalo. “In many cases you of course
have professionals, but you also have organisations that are
not so well trained in the use of two-way radios and don’t
use them on a daily basis – to prevent them from using their
radios in a way that really impacts on the network’s available
capacity, you have to make sure they receive training.” He
adds this needs to cover not just normal operations, but how
to communicate during complex situations, as inexperienced
users have a tendency to use many different talkgroups during
emergencies, which ties up valuable network resources.
O’Neill adds that one quirk of the largest sport events is
that because it can be around 40 years before they are hosted
by the same country, there is no retained experience.
“Some people opt for a pyramid approach to distribution
– the radio supplier will give out a certain number of headsets
to large groups, who will then distribute them to their own
teams. The problem with this is by the time it gets down to
the individual users, they often have no idea how to identify
which channel they’re on or how to make sure they’re on the
right one.” In contrast, O’Neill says Riedel makes sure to get
those skilled in the use of the communications equipment
as close to the end-users as possible, giving each of them
a 30-second briefing – which “saves so much time and
effort”. Another common trick of the trade is to use different
coloured electrical tape on different groups of handsets to
show which user groups they are configured for. O’Neill adds
that “these days, the difference in cost between display and
While many of
the people using
two-way radios
at events are
skilled in their
use, there will
also be those who
rarely use them
and therefore may
require additional
training
November 2019 @CritCommsToday 15
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