The company provided more than 100 outdoor and indoor access points across 35 locations at the site, along with end-to-end network control. The latter enabled seamless device management of Cambium Networks’ cnPilot E501S Enterprise Outdoor and cnPilot e500 Enterprise Outdoor access points. These were placed around the showground to provide end-to-end Wi-Fi connectivity in public areas as well as on the runways, where coverage is usually unavailable due to the inability to lay fibre. Indoor cnPilot e410 access point were used to deliver connectivity to hospitality suites and marquees across the grounds and Cambium’s PTP600 series Point to Point link and PMP450 Point to MultiPoint solutions were also deployed.
Cambium deployed the network while working to a no-single point of failure concept and this approach allowed thousands of spectators to simultaneously use the service without disruption to download, upload and stream content live from the air show.
“In addition to connecting spectators, the network was also used by staff to scan and validate passes on entry of the show via tablets,” said Rob Hancock, communications & information systems manager, The Royal Air Force Charitable Trust Enterprises. “This was of particular importance to RIAT, after we faced connectivity issues last year which resulted in up to three hours of queues.
“The bandwidth, availability and criticality requirements of RIAT dramatically increased during the show. I don’t believe we could have supported the communications needed without Cambium Networks' PTP, PMP or Wi-Fi equipment. The system worked brilliantly and carried an amazing amount of communications traffic while remaining unbelievably reliable.”
RAF Fairford has been using Cambium Networks’ solutions for more than 10 years to address its core network requirements and Cambium was the partner of choice to lead the deployment of its Point-to-Point (PTP) and Point-to-Multipoint (PMP) solutions at the airfield.
“We were delighted to be able to provide reliable, scalable connectivity to RAF Fairford and its guests in attendance, which enabled them to share photos and update their social media live from the spectacular event,” said Dan McCarthy, sales manager UK, Ireland and Nordics at Cambium Networks. “In light of our great partnership with RAF Fairford, it was only natural that we held our annual partner event at the show, which provided a unique setting for our partners from across the globe and highlighted what is possible with the latest and greatest Wi-Fi technology.”
