27 December 2024
The famous Innibos Festival in South Africa recently took place at Hoërskool Bergvlam in West Acres Mbombela (Nelspruit). This multicultural educational institution showcases a truly South African experience, featuring a diverse range of musical acts, stage productions, and other artistic attractions. The festival was held from 29 June to 2 July.
A multi-gigabit challenge
The Innibos event organizers were anticipating 40,000 attendees each day. Based on their previous experiences and events, it was clear that public cellular networks would not be able to handle the high demand for connectivity in such a crowded area. The main challenge was ensuring that there would be enough capacity to meet the event’s expectations within the venue at any given time.
The other requirement was to ensure connectivity to a dozen Wi-Fi access points spread out across a wide area. This area includes two separate stages and relaxation and commercial areas. Typical Wi-Fi access points have a limited range, so it was important to find a solution that would allow for sustainable and uninterrupted service delivery.
It became evident that Innibos would require massive bandwidth, reaching multi-Gigabit levels, to account for the expected amount of video content that would be transmitted wirelessly from performance stages and other areas to a central production studio located on the premises. To provide that bandwidth, many operators and solutions providers would typically consider using a fibre link; but laying fibre for a temporary event is simply too expensive and time-consuming. However, fixed wireless has increasingly become the preferred method of connectivity in this region, as it offers a faster deployment time coupled with the ability to move the solution from place to place…
Fibre-like backhaul
Skywire duly won the contract to provide a high-capacity wireless backhaul link to the event venue, as well as blanket connectivity for Wi-Fi access points, and other devices throughout the venue.
“Adcomtec, a partner of Siklu, was contacted by Skywire to provide a wireless solution with a large capacity in a short amount of time (less than 6 weeks),” said Ted de Boer, Adcomtec Senior Business Development Executive. “Adcomtec helped by gathering the necessary equipment, determining the cost and delivery schedule, speeding up the shipment, and delivering on time (even on a Sunday) to meet the deadline and ensure a successful and smooth event.”
To meet the backhaul requirement, Skywire looked for the nearest fibre POP with a clear line-of-sight to the event’s arena. A path analysis to a nearest fibre POP, some 3.8km away, revealed a marginal line-of-sight that could only be executed if a very narrow beam based fixed wireless could be deployed. As a result, the decision to select Skywire’s preferred fixed wireless solution, a Siklu EtherHaul™ multi-Gigabit 80GHz radio, was made rapidly.
For onsite connectivity, Skywire needed to backhaul 12 high-end Wi-Fi 6, dual-band access points operating at the highest rate. To ensure carrier-grade, multi-gigabit service delivery, those access points would need to be backhauled with a non-Wi-Fi frequency wireless distribution network. After reviewing the project’s wide area and the available equipment options, Skywire selected Siklu’s MultiHaul TG solution, which utilizes the ultrawide, interference-free, and license-exempt 60GHz band. Skywire deployed eight MH-TGT280 terminal units, serviced by two MH-TG-N366 meshed nodes, installed at each stage area. The integrated solution enabled instant fibre-like backhaul connectivity to all Wi-Fi APs and other devices throughout the venue.
Network deployment – in a matter of days
Skywire’s engineers managed to connect the event’s arena to their remote fibre-POP within a few hours and turned to establish the mesh coverage at the event’s area.
To further simplify and accelerate the installation, the engineers utilized the MH-TG-T280 integrated gigabit switch capable of delivering PoE-out, to both serve and power Wi-Fi access points. Skywire was able to complete the deployment of this robust temporary network in a few days.
Key to this deployment was its temporary nature, as Skywire quickly identified the high re-use value of all the equipment installed at Innibos, as it can be easily reassembled within days and reconfigured for future events.
