Events
16
www.criticalcomms.com November 2019
non-display handhelds is so low, it makes sense to opt for
display models, as they just make life so much easier when it
comes to troubleshooting”.
O’Neill gives an example that highlights the importance
of the integrated approach and having the right fleet map.
“We recently carried out a large upgrade for an event
organiser/venue that connected all the user groups. It took
a lot of time and expense and everyone was wondering why
we did it. Then the show was about to start, but there was
a child trapped in a folding chair. Fortunately, an usher saw
what has going on and contacted the operations team to
tell them not to start the show. They also called the security
team, who were able to free the child. If we hadn’t done
that integration, the show would have started, the child
would be trapped when it was pitch-black and would have
probably started screaming, and they would have had to
start over again. That would have cost a fortune, as everyone
in the audience would have asked for a refund. Simply put,
making sure the right people can talk to each other is how
you prevent incidents from happening.”
Large-scale events often justify the presence of engineers
from the manufacturer supplying the equipment, and
Davalo highlights the need to obtain the necessary security
clearances for them to access the sites, should they need to
install extra equipment for additional capacity or adjust that
which is already there. “When we look at the feedback from
our customers, it was one of the main points they raised.”
On a different note, O’Neill says: “There is no reason
these days to have a single wireless comms solution, you
could easily have a TETRA system for the security team, a
hardwired system for most of the operations team, and an
analogue two-way radio system for those people who need
to hear music at the exact moment it’s played. Unlike the
past, today there’s no limitations that prevent you from
combining different technologies.”
What about latency in such a scenario? O’Neill says it
depends on the type of technologies and the gateway that
is being used – he notes that DECT-based comms offer
35-40ms latency and that voice over IP (VoIP) tends to
be the main gateway technology of choice, but issues with
VoIP packet buffer delay tends to add 60-80ms of delay. He
adds that it hinges on the user’s needs – for example, if they
are carrying out military fire control, in charge of a firework
display or trying to tie musical elements together, they are
better served with back-to-back analogue radios.
O’Neill finds that latency concerns tend to be used so that
people can justify procuring and using a single system, when
it is better to consider what is best for each group of users
and, when working out the initial fleet map, indicate which
comms are mission-critical and most latency-sensitive.
Speaking of multiple technologies, Davalo says during a
large event in China, the public safety agencies had access to
both a TETRA network and a dedicated LTE network, and
by the end of the event most of the users were on TETRA as
they found it to be more suitable, given its ability to support a
huge amount of voice traffic.
Boosting situational awareness
Moving away from voice, O’Neill highlights location-tracking,
which can help in situations where someone’s headset is broken
– a runner can then be sent to give them a replacement.
Naturally, there is also nothing like being able to know who is
close to an incident when planning a response. Davalo notes
that while in-building location systems are increasingly used,
they are still far from common and he attributes this to a lack
of a unified approach, and “while there are many beacon-based
solutions, it’s always an ad-hoc solution”.
CCTV cameras in conjunction with video analytics can
be used to boost situational awareness and O’Neill adds that
fixed networks have more than enough bandwidth to move
broadcast-quality video around in real time, allowing “you to
track who is doing what and spot the signs that an incident is
about to happen”. He says that Riedel is also deploying some
other technologies (such as meshed data networks) that also
increase the ability to move video around an event.
“All our customers are using real-time video from drones
to increase their situational awareness, while more and more
people are entering into predefined agreements with fixed
CCTV networks,” says Airbus’s Davalo. “There are many cases
where our customers have deployed ad-hoc video networks,
instead of fixed networks, moving video on a daily basis so
that they can use the best locations as the event evolves, and
this needs wireless connection for video streams.
“The main limiting factor today when it comes to using
video analytics on a large scale to improve situational
awareness for event organisers is GDPR rules,” he adds. “It’s
very different in China, where all kinds of analytics can be
used fully embedded in their operational processes and they
can very quickly identify if someone is a potential issue on a
massive scale. Because we can’t do this in Europe, the focus
there is more on the identification of abnormal behaviour,
and this kind of functionality is something Airbus has
developed, particularly for use in airports.”
From what we’ve heard, you should start planning early,
make sure that you reserve enough of your budget for a
fit-for-purpose communications system, engage the help of
the local telecoms regulator, avoid a one-size-fits-all approach
to comms, enforce a test and tag policy, and make sure that
your network(s) have the ability to dynamically alter their
operating parameters in response to high demand on their
resources. With those measures in place, you’ll be well on your
way to running a successful event.
Adobe Stock/Artem
The degree to
which video
analytics can be
leveraged hinges
on the strength
of data privacy
regulations in the
country or region
where the event is
taking place
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