According to a statement from the company, it will provide teams and personnel with “seamless, high-quality 5G connectivity, improving fan experiences and race operations.” The roll-out will also support umpires via live camera streaming from competing vessels, as well as “insights into team locations, tactics, and strategy.”
Discussing the deployment, a spokesperson for Ericsson said: “Split second human responses made by SailGP athletes make the difference between victory and defeat.
“To support those decisions, each team will have access to the fastest connectivity possible under some of the most challenging physical conditions. Ericsson’s solutions deliver instant real-time data and statistical feedback. Despite the F50s reaching speeds up to 100 kilometres per hour over open waters.”
Each competing vessel will carry an Ericsson Cradlepoint edge router, which are expected to handle more than 53 billion data points across the fleet every race day. The latter is represented by functionality, including “IoT, video and critical communications from competing boats, connecting to Ericsson Private 5G during each race day.”
SailGP chief technology officer, Warren Jones, said: “SailGP continues to innovate so we can provide the best experiences possible for our teams and fans. This requires networking technology that can keep up with the speed and intricacies of the sport.
“Ericsson Private 5G, combined with its Cradlepoint edge routers, not only matches the bandwidth and latency challenges of billions of data points during a race, but also addresses our need to quickly deploy networks at locations across the world.”
Manish Tiwari, head of enterprise 5G, enterprise wireless solutions, at Ericsson, said: “The fastest sailing event deserves the fastest possible connectivity for its crews, onshore teams, and officials.
“This collaboration with SailGP is a testament to the innovation of our connectivity products, which support a wide range of use cases. Whether it’s race-critical for real-time decision-making or to enable the best fan experience through race analytics.”
SailGP is a global sailing competition, featuring high-performance F50 catamarans. Launched in 2019, it features international teams and is hosted across multiple coastal cities, including Sydney and Dubai.
