48 ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE Dejero
When Team Sky partnered with network blending firm Dejero for the world’s biggest cycle race, the result was a win for both sides CONNECTIVITY CLIMB
he difference between owning that coveted yellow jersey and coming last place in the Tour de France can be a matter of 30 seconds, and according to Dr Scott Drawer, anticipation is everything. Drawer, who heads up Team Sky’s Performance Hub, the technical unit that supported this year’s winning British team, says: “Buying the team a few precious seconds to prepare support in cases of crash, injuries, changes in weather, punctures and other such events can be crucial.” The challenge for the Performance Hub this year was to find new ways for its sports directors – the coaches who sit in the ‘follow’ vehicles and manage the race on a daily basis – to monitor the competition and communicate with cyclists. Typically each of the 22 teams of eight riders has its own radio frequency for the 3,500km race and they can communicate with support vehicles – which trail about 1km behind the peloton – via radio mic. However, as Drawer points out: “While we can radio riders, it’s harder when you can’t
see what is happening and we are trying to make decisions in as close to real time as possible.” He also likens the process of trying to track the progress and conditions for a cyclist biking up a mountain as “like trying to direct a football match in the dark”. In-car portable TV sets broadcasting the live feed have been used, but in vehicles that are always on the move, travelling through cities, over farmland and up and down mountains in all weather, it can be difficult to get a signal. While a satellite dish on top of the car could provide the team with the constant connectivity it required, Drawer adds that in a vehicle already carrying nine bikes on the roof rack and, in the back, spare wheels, food and medical supplies and support staff, “space is a big issue”. TECHNOLOGY PARTNERS Part of Team Sky’s remit is to find creative ways of resolving these kinds of challenges, often looking beyond its own specialism and towards the arts, music, sport, military and business for solutions.
Working closely with its sponsor BSkyB’s mobile broadcast technology division, the team’s quest to find compact in-car connectivity led them to Dejero, a ten-year- old network blending firm based in Ontario, Canada. Perhaps best-known in broadcast streaming circles for its EnGo mobile transmitter, which enables journalists to broadcast high-quality video live with reliable connectivity, the Canadian firm also produces a router called GateWay. According to the firm’s director of sales for EMEA, Rob Waters, GateWay is
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