04 April 2024

Stadiums are going digital, with AI, VR, AR and a near limitless and growing demand for connectivity placing new pressures upon the networks…

Once upon a time, stadiums and theatres were a simple thing, a place to view a sports team, a musical, a gig from your favourite performer. While AV equipment, CCTV, etc. have always had their place, for the consumer, such sites would feature bathroom facilities, food and drink stands, merchandise shops, and not a lot else – maybe not even cellular coverage.

All that has changed with the era of digitalisation, as stadiums have become an ‘experience’ in and of themselves. Exciting new technologies have come into play, with four key business drivers: maximising fan engagement, unlocking new revenue streams, increasing operational efficiencies, and improving sustainability.

“Stadiums are already areas of high-density demand with tens of thousands of visitors in a confined space wanting connectivity, which places significant performance requirements on networks,” says Paul Osborne, chief commercial officer UK & Europe, Boldyn Networks. “These requirements are set to grow substantially and developing a highly reliable network with sufficient coverage and capacity will be key.”

Indeed, “large stadiums are showing year-over-year exponential growth in term of capacity being consumed over wireless connectivity during events,” agrees Samuel Buttarelli, VP, sales ICN EMEA/APAC, CommScope. “The data consumption is bi-directional, with higher demand on uplink prior the game start and during half-time breaks and higher demand in downlink during the game itself. In the future we see this trend continuing and therefore networks need to be designed for ease of scalability.”

Connectivity is crucial to allow stadiums to evolve and innovate, embrace new digital content delivery to enhance experiences, concessions, advertising, subscriptions, and content creation.

“It’s vital that today’s network solutions are deployed in a modular and flexible manner so they can evolve to meet the future needs as technology develops,” says Osborne. “All wireless systems in venues and stadiums rely on underlying cabling. One foundational principle when installing DAS systems, WiFi and other solutions is to ensure the fixed cabling – including structured cabling, fibres, power, and containment - is designed in a way that allows for systems to grow and evolve. This is particularly important as next generation wireless standards typically evolve every 7-10 years.”

Fans at the heart of the experience

Providing fool-proof connectivity for such large-scale buildings is no mean feat – particularly in an era defined by the ease with which consumers can (and do) complain about perceived shortcomings like connectivity not-spots.

“We are talking about an exceptionally demanding environment. The technological challenge of having very high-performance connectivity in places with such a high density of users eager to consume data is extraordinary,” explains Albert Hernando, global head of DAS & small cells. “Therefore, a combination of next-generation connectivity technologies must be incorporated. The challenge is also at the business model level, to make highly performing connectivity profitable in a type of venue that usually fills up a few times a month.”

Meticulous planning and execution are required to design and deploy a solution that delivers reliable coverage and capacity, says Osborne: “it should have fans at the heart of the experience. User ‘journeys’ and ‘touch points’ should be well understood, as tens of thousands of visitors descend on a stadium.”

“The challenges are related to the continued optimisation of the radio environment,” explains Buttarelli. “Highly dense wireless capacity requires minimal interference to maintain a high-quality user experience. Adding more capacity without maintaining the highly optimised radio environment might create degradation in the individual user experience. We expect in the future automated AI driven software defined radios and intelligent antennas able to control radio interference.”

“Each venue is different from a RF perspective – depending on the materials employed in the stadium and the status of the surrounding macro cellular environment,” agrees Osborne. “Key rooms and ‘back of house’ offices/below ground areas may also need to be covered. Of critical importance is the survey carried out at the venue to inform the high level and detailed level designs. Consideration of how fans get to the stadium from transport hubs and rail routes is also important – with coverage and capacity plans developed for the entrances and outdoor areas of the building.”

WiFi7 for the win?

Ultimately, connectivity must be sufficient in both coverage and capacity.

“The most effective and reliable technology to deliver this in wide areas of high-density demand is 4G/5G cellular mobile connectivity. Typically, this is achieved using a dedicated venue network based on a DAS, which uses a network of antennas to provide mobile coverage where it’s needed, ensuring continuity with public networks outside the stadium, particularly important in supporting frictionless e-ticket stadium entry,” says Osborne. “However, ensuring good coverage and performance for all mobile network operators is a further challenge. This is where the neutral host model comes in. This provides a single mobile infrastructure that can be shared by all mobile network operators, radically reducing the amount of space required for network equipment.”

“With the rise of real-time applications that need processing at the edge, businesses of all kinds are seeing a need to start migrating data workloads deeper into the network.”

No single technology can hope to deliver the all-singing, all-dancing connectivity required for stadiums and theatres today, but WiFi and cellular will remain integral.

“A combination of connectivity technologies will be necessary to support all the requirements not only for fan experience, but also to serve operations, security, and efficiency of the ‘smart stadium,’” says Hernando. “The main technology in the short and medium term will be 5G, incorporating techniques such as slicing, beam forming, massive MIMO, mmW and MEC among others. This connectivity technology will be complemented with WiFi 7, IoT and MEC connectivity.”

“With mobile devices consuming more and more data – and increasing scope for interactivity between devices and the action – stadium operators will need to have an eye on next-gen WiFi. WiFi 7 is already emerging and close to wider market adoption – with data rates of up to 40Gbps, this brings an even greater need for fibre and composite cable that can offer the necessary distances on power,” agrees Benjamin.

“WiFi is continuously evolving, with WiFi 7 a great example with its ability to handle massively increased peak and average data speeds. We find it a great complement to DAS 4G/5G networks, providing effective connectivity in certain areas such as the stadium entrance and hospitality areas,” adds Osborne.

Buttarelli expects WiFi and cellular to continue to complement each other for stadium applications, supporting today’s rising demand. Moreover, he expects “to see more automation in the coordination between the two technologies making the offload from cellular to WiFi more transparent to the end user.”

Meanwhile, the use of 5G in the main areas of the stadium is becoming essential with the rise of new technologies like AR/VR and IoT.

“Over time we expect to see both public and private networks become the norm. Where a public network can deliver a great connectivity experience for stadium visitors, a private 5G network is becoming increasingly important and offers complete control for the venue, providing high capacity, broad coverage, and low-latency connectivity for IoT devices, screens, dedicated communication channels for stadium staff,” adds Osborne.

Meanwhile, Piers Benjamin, EMEA in building networks (IBN) marketing manager, Corning Optical Communication, believes that the core challenge in meeting connectivity demands is that most stadium infrastructure is based on copper, which reaches its limits inside buildings because of length restrictions.

“The standard permanent link is usually 90m long while the channel can span up to 100m. For far away devices, given the scale of most stadiums and rising data demands, copper won’t be sufficient soon,” says Benjamin. “Despite the initial outlay, transitioning to a fibre infrastructure now – and prioritising fibre for any new builds – will pay dividends in avoiding time-consuming rip and replace in future to meet new technology demands.”
Fibre to the edge (FTTE) is thus an ideal solution for providing the high capacity, flexibility, and reach.

“Capitalising on the reach of fibre enables multiple devices to connect via a single cable that can reach back to a common central point that can serve multiple floors – no need for remote server rooms or PoE extenders,” opines Benjamin. “Power for an FTTE-based LAN is best supplied using composite cabling which contains both fibre and copper. This leverages the bandwidth capabilities of single mode fibre and the powering capabilities of copper to deliver both data and power to enable devices at the edge of the network. Composite cable can take up much less space and this means more capacity for future upgrades as well and often, reduced maintenance costs. From an environmental perspective, this need for less equipment is also advantageous.”

Moreover, with the rise of real-time applications that need processing at the edge, businesses of all kinds are seeing a need to start migrating data workloads deeper into the network: “this is particularly true for stadium infrastructure. IP cameras and security devices, for example, are now increasingly common, but may not be close to existing telecom rooms or a PoE-based switch,” adds Benjamin.

The future is now

“In some respects, the future is already here when it comes to stadium technology. We’ve seen paper tickets replaced by QR codes and scanners, more sophisticated security measures that use enhanced facial recognition and, on a more extreme scale, immersive experiences like the Sphere in Las Vegas,” explains Benjamin.

Meanwhile, some UK stadiums have already launched ‘frictionless’ retail stores where guests scan their payment device at the entrance, collect their items and walk out of the store to complete their purchase.

“This all puts additional strain on stadium infrastructure, with more and more real-time applications that need processing at the edge of the network,” adds Benjamin.
Something that would once have seemed straight out of science fiction, AI, VR and AR have a key role in creating tomorrow’s smart entertainment venues.

“We need to re-imagine the smart stadium concept to provide an improved and highly immersive experience,” says Hernando. “Engaging the spectator to come to the stadium is the great objective. Especially for the new generations who are ‘digital natives,’ transformative, innovative, and exciting experiences are a must. This will be achieved with the introduction of technologies such as integrated social media, in-game experiences, AR, and AI. The level of interaction required by these technologies puts great pressure on the networks, with extremely high throughputs and very low latency.”

“We expect AR to take a critical role for stadiums, enhancing user experience and overall attractiveness for the venue,” agrees Buttarelli. “Most use cases related to AR/VR are highly sensitive to latency to assure high quality user experience. This means engineers will need to design stadiums with an increasing level of edge computing with most of the applications required for the venues handled by on site data centres with very limited requirements to exit the venues into a centralised network data centre.”

Osborne agrees that, looking ahead, such venues will become AI-enabled digital stadiums, supporting a wide array of AI enhanced digital services that underpin the key business drivers.

“For example, digital applications that enable wayfinding, digital ticketing, in-seat food and beverage (F&B) ordering, or AI driven content overlays and language personalisation, open up new ways to grow revenue and enhance the fan experience,” says Osborne. “From recent research, we know there’s also appetite from event goers for more advanced applications to enhance their experience, such as AR overlays that let fans see real-time stats by pointing their phone at a particular player. These new digital capabilities go hand in hand with demand for traditional services, such as the ability to share experiences in real-time on social media.”