Project Description
Multi-provider and
multi-technology microcell
coverage at
the Imola
Autodrome
Client:
The Enzo and Dino Ferrari Autodrome, commonly known as the Imola Autodrome, is a motorsport racing circuit located in the city of Imola. The autodrome is named after Enzo Ferrari, founder of the similarly-named car maker, and his son Dino. Until Enzo Ferrari’s death in 1988, the circuit was called the “Dino Ferrari Autodrome”. Known around the world due the car races held there, the Imola International Enzo and Dino Ferrari Autodrome is home to car and motorcycle racing, fairs, concerts, and other national and international events. During most sports and cultural events the place is open to the public. Total attendance in 2017 amounted to some 400,000 people in all the year’s events. During 2006, pit stops, paddocks, briefing rooms, the media centre, race control room and museum were completely rebuilt.
Opportunity:
Given the wish of the Imola Autodrome organisation to provide its visitors with high quality, latest generation connectivity service, SITE S.p.A. considered this challenge a unique opportunity to create a dedicated mobile coverage system based on the DCS1800, UMTS2100, LTE2600 (MIMO) technology. This opportunity came about, then, out of the collaboration between SITE S.p.A. and Formula Imola S.p.A. (The company that operates the Autodrome). The latter, aware of the needs posed by data and voice traffic coming from Autodrome users and processors, invited SITE S.p.A. to offer a solution that would satisfy these needs. The challenge to provide a technologically advanced system led to conducting a feasibility study regarding 2G, 3G and 4G mobile coverage. Specifically, we found out that in situations of high attendance, coverage was insufficient to meet the needs of all users, especially in terms of data traffic. At the same time, SITE S.p.A. established a partnership with the German multinational company Kathrein, which had just developed a new system, based on a pioneering concept, for the creation of dedicated mobile coverage systems. This partnership, which came into being following a joint study of existing technologies and existing opportunities in the Italian market, resulted in the building of the first such system in the world to be based on this technology
Project:
The uniqueness and atypical nature of a place like the Imola Autodrome called for the development of a very complex and articulated project, requiring the pooling together of all SITE S.p.A. fields of expertise. Specifically, when working on a turnkey project of this nature many diverse corporate tasks must be performed, including:
- Designing and dimensioning fibre optic networks and mobile systems
- Requesting and obtaining permits
- Installing, testing and activating the entire system
The area covered by the system is extremely large, amounting to about 58,000 sq m; project numbers include:
- 47 directional and omnidirectional antennas installed to serve Paddocks 1 and 2, race management building, pit stops, museum area, press room, conference centre
- 27 remote devices connected by fibre optic cables
- 1 central unit connected directly to the provider base transceiver station (BTS)
- 2,700 m of single-mode optical fibre
- 1,300 m of hybrid cable (single-mode optical fibre + DC power cable) to power some remote devices
Advantages:
In addition to being another system built and owned by SITE, and given its importance, this project was covered by a number of local newspapers, reported in an Imola Autodrome press release as well as in a Kathrein press release, and was published as a case study by Kathrein at the GSM World Congress held in Barcelona in February.
Prospects:
For SITE, the Imola Autodrome project is just the first step in an even larger project. In its ambitious far-sighted view of the future, SITE plans to expand the coverage provided by the Autodrome system to include the Imola city historic centre.
Further information: