Wireless Fan-cam Operation in the Sports and Entertainment Market

RF Central's RFX-CMT-II in use as a fan-cam in Yankee Stadium.

Wireless cameras are not new to the market, but improvements to the technology behind them are rapidly changing the way they are being deployed, especially in the sports market. Inhouse spectators of today's live sporting events want to get into the game as much as possible. Better graphics, larger displays, and additional camera angles have been added to enhance the live sporting event experience, but the means to gather additional content creates many logistical and/or technical problems for game producers. The use of today's wireless cameras has not only satisfied the demands of covering today's sporting events, it has also propelled their use in other ways, including the use of so called "fan-cams."

The addition of fan-cam wireless cameras at sporting events has enhanced not only the game coverage but also the fans' experience of the event. By having wireless cameras that can cover nearly anywhere inside—and in some cases, outside—the stadium, the fans now get to become part of the show. From participating in giveaway contests to just being shown on the big screen during a timeout, fan participation has become an integral part today's live sporting event production.

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While the trend of venues using wireless camera for fan-cam and other applications is on the rise, having the right kind of wireless system is something that is often overlooked. Today's wireless production needs demand the latest technology and features to successfully satisfy those demands. Let's examine these features:

Frequency allocation: While many of today's fan-cam systems are digital, most of these systems were designed for use in the 2GHz broadcast television band. Except for the upper channels (8, 9, and 10), the use of these radios require an FCC license to operate in the 2GHz band. Fan-cam operators should look into purchasing RF systems that operate in the 5.8GHz band, as that is a license-free band. 5.8GHz RF systems often times will offer better coverage results because that band is not cluttered with licensed broadcast television users.

Remote camera control: One challenge wireless cameras have always had is remote control operation within the production process. While there have been a few camera-control options available, these systems have had many limitations. They communicated from the remote panel directly to the camera, without any provisions for bidirectional communication that would normally occur were the camera wired. This results in limited availability of remote control functions, such as iris and pedestal/color gain. Last year, Nucomm introduced a remote wireless camera control system that features bidirectional communication between the remote panel and the camera and also allows the remote operator to have access to every feature that the camera and/or remote panel is capable of—including the use of the camera manufacturer's own panel, instead of a generic remote control panel.

Line-of-sight or limited-range problems: Digital coded orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (COFDM) technology has solved the old line-of-sight requirements, and maximal-ratio combining (MRC) diversity receivers have addressed the range limitations while increasing coverage area. MRC is different from traditional diversity systems, which switch from one antenna to another when the signal is lost. Instead, all of the antenna input signals are combined to make multiple weak receive signals into one stronger signal. There are multiple input receivers available on the market with two to six antenna inputs. Any of these new systems trump an older single-input receiver's sensitivity and performance.

System latency: Wireless systems usually have latency, or delay of the received signal, with respect to realtime to contend with. This causes problems for content producers because cutting from a wired to a wireless camera interferes with the continuity of events, especially with content that involves motion. Recent advances in encoding methods have allowed wireless systems to achieve one frame or less of system latency.

All in all, today's wireless camera systems offer a great deal of new and creative options to today's content providers. Many of our customers, especially teams that are using our systems in fan-cam applications, are now capable of providing even more in-depth coverage in ways they never could have before, both on and off the field. There are many different wireless solutions on the market today that offer many different features and are priced accordingly. All you have to do is identify your requirements and try them out to find the system that best fits your needs.

Anthony Sangiovanni is vice president of the Sports & Entertainment Group at RF Extreme, a Vitec Group Company.