Let The Games Begin...

While the Commonwealth Games and participating athletes will be hailed a success by organisers, MSPs, media and fans alike, perhaps the real star of this year's competition was Riedel, whose team was tasked to provide and install radio communications for the duration of the event.

Riedel was appointed as the exclusive supplier for the Games, in a deal that saw the company provide over 6,000 radios, plus a full support infrastructure, to cover the 13 venues, three clusters and one athletes' village in and around Glasgow. Riedel also supplied intercom systems for use at every one of the iconic venues around the Scottish city, for organisation, security, spectator services, presentation, connecting medical and other staff and for broadcast production. The planning phase of the system set-up began in October of last year, with installation beginning February of this year. Riedel had its hardware installed, integrated and ready to go by May 2014.

Riedel Hits The Road
Riedel's solutions provided coverage and communication on the street, across the many official venues throughout the city, as well as along the cycling road race and marathon routes and all indoor coverage at the competition locations.
The various venues used for the Games included Celtic Park, Hamden Park, Ibrox, The Emirates Arena and Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, Strathclyde Country Park, the SECC Precinct and not forgetting the Royal Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh, among others. Set in Glasgow's trendy, student-populated West End, the athletes' village alone comprised 35 hectares, 6,500 beds and 700 units of accommodation, which will soon be appropriated as new housing for the city.

Taking Back The City
Anyone who knows Glasgow well will appreciate the vastness and enormity of a network connecting some of Britain's most iconic and modern venues over the eleven days of the Games' duration. To fulfil the demands of the project, 7,500 radios in total were used throughout, including 650 MOTOROLA MOTOTRBO digital private mobile radios, the complete range of which Riedel has secured a deal to distribute. As Motorola's first ever digital two-way radio system, MOTOTRBO is designed to function in both analogue and digital modes, making it suitable for private radio applications such as those required by large companies, organisations, councils and governments to support events like the Commonwealth Games.
The MOTORTRBO solution provided by Riedel was used during the Queen's Baton Relay, which saw 4,000 bearers run the route through the 32 Local Authorities across Scotland to deliver the baton to Glasgow in time for the Games. MOTOTRBO RF Sites including UPS, RF combiners, mounting accessories, antennas and cables were used along with mobile / desk top radios and handheld radios. Riedel also supplied all related and necessary accessories.

Turning To TETRA
For the higher-demand aspects of the project, including the opening and closing ceremonies, Riedel supplied Digital Trunked Radio (TETRA) to accommodate the higher frequency usage and higher range required. TETRA systems made up the core network for the coverage of the Games.
The set-up included FM radio transmitters, receivers and earpieces, professional aeronautical radio equipment – adapted from the company's airport communication / interface projects – professional, digital hand-portable radios (TETRA) and accessories for production communication and professional digital mobile radios (TETRA). Also provided was a TETRA switch and master site, a networking monitoring set-up, antenna BDAs (Bi-Directional Amplifiers) and all associated mounting accessories, antennas and cables, etc.
Each venue was equipped with a 'radio distribution room' to enable staff to pick up fully-charged radios throughout the competition, ensuring there were no breaks in the communication cover provided by Riedel.

"We are delighted to be the Official Radio Communications Partner of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games," said Christian Bockskopf, head of marketing for Riedel Communications. "We've worked closely with the organisers to develop a radio communications solution that satisfies both the technical and operational requirements of all the key players during this world-class event."
Before the close of the Tournament, Glasgow City Council had revealed that the Commonwealth Games was the city's most successful sports event to date. 1.2 million tickets were sold in total, with at least 300,000 visitors having viewed the city's live sites.
The event marked a significant success for the City Council, the citizens of Glasgow and Scotland as a whole, as the country prepares for perhaps one of the most significant political events in its history, later this year. It also marked a significant success for Riedel, who pulled off the project with no hitches and can add another successful event to its portfolio.
"The ability to communicate effectively at Games venues and throughout Glasgow and other parts of Scotland is an essential element to delivering a successful Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games," said Brian Nourse, chief information officer, 2014 Commonwealth Games.
"We have benefited from Riedel's extensive experience of being involved in many previous major sporting events to ensure a robust communications solution is delivered for our event."

The article is available to read in BFV online.

(IT/JP)