49 ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE Dejero
typically used by broadcasters and media producers working frommoving vehicles and to enable its truck engineers to remotely plug into bandwidth-guzzling media asset management systems. The router delivers high bandwidth connectivity to the internet, private networks and cloud services by blending 3G, 4G and LTE cellular connections frommultiple carriers. Dejero’s own algorithms manage the fluctuating bandwidth, packet loss and latency differences of individual connections to choose the optimal path to route IP packets to their destination. The result is more bandwidth, speed and reliability over a secure connection. Dejero’s network blending technology permits the easy delivery of data in connection-challenged environments. It doesn’t matter if the data is video, audio, analytics or what have you. According to Waters, for the Tour de France, the GateWay used the bandwidth and capacity it typically provides for big outside broadcast clients to essentially create a series of internet hotspots. During the race, these ultra-reliable connections could be used to enable the support team to watch live video streams of the cyclists on their tablets from inside the vehicle and view the course ahead, as well as for tasks such as gathering weather data and monitoring social media feeds. Drawer adds that the product performed well during early tests, but the reason it selected Dejero over other products was because the firm was prepared to ride with them all the way on the R&D effort for this very specific use case. “Right now there is no perfect device – if you don’t have a signal
then you’re not going to get one, but where there is one it needs to be as strong as it can possibly be while we’re constantly on the move, and Dejero was willing to go on that journey to help us improve connectivity,” he adds. The rack-mounted router was placed in the trunk of the support vehicle and trialled on several pre-event races. “The team supplied us with logs and data and GPS of where they were, so we could provide real-time support while they were on the road,” says Waters. RESULTS Team Sky’s Geraint Thomas became the third Briton to win the Tour de France when he crossed the finish line in July this year, while his teammate Chris Froome came in third, making them the only team to have two finishers among the top five. In a race where every second counts, Dejero says that its technology shaved 15 to 30 seconds off the support vehicle's response time. “Without a doubt it exceeded our current TV system, it worked as well as it possibly could have in terms of finding connections for us,” adds Drawer. He was particularly impressed with the quality of the connectivity achieved in crowded areas, which can prove to be a trouble spot with lots of fans connecting to devices and posting - sometimes very large video files - to online platforms. For Drawer and Waters, the project is still very much work in progress. Eventually, as communication infrastructure improves and 5G is rolled out, constant, high-speed connectivity will be possible. Until such time, Dejero and Team Sky are experimenting with
LIKE TRYING TO DIRECT A FOOTBALL MATCH IN THE DARK a small satellite dish under the car bonnet and will use GateWay to connect to satellite broadband to help them achieve their connectivity goals. According to Waters, the manufacturer is continuing to hone GateWay’s software and hardware, improving its general strength and capability. “The unit used in the Team Sky vehicle had three modems, we now have six installed, which we’ve seen perform outstandingly in tests with the ability to reconnect quickly, so the existing product is only going to get better,” he says. Dejero is already working on future product developments, including making the device smaller, according to Waters. “The core product will still remain the same, but we could evolve this into a more mobile version, whether that’s a smaller rack- mounted unit or a backpack with a portable transmitter.” According to Waters, Dejero’s R&D efforts are already starting to pay dividends as its business opens up to a growing number of non-broadcast companies that require robust IP connections on the move. “Sports, music and live events companies have come to us with projects. At IBC we were even approached by a film company that wanted to be able to upload proxies of its daily rushes to the studio and build our technology into its DIT trollies, so they can move large files around while on the move” - a rush of new clients which must surely be the business equivalent of winning the coveted maillot jaune .
TIME TRIAL Dejero technology helped knock up to 30 seconds off the support vehicle’s response time, a significant amount in an event that is won or lost on fine margins; further innovations are already in the pipeline
feedzine feed.zine feedmagazine.tv
Powered by FlippingBook