A pilot project was run during the Vodacom Challenge football match between Manchester City and Kaizer Chiefs at the ABSA Stadium in Durban in late July 2009. The objective was to establish the viability of transmitting audio feeds directly from the venue to the broadcast centre.
The SABC/Siemens team will conduct further investigations into the technology and run more trials. However, if the success demonstrated at the ABSA Stadium continues, the intention is to make the installation permanent, a spokesperson for Siemens announced on Monday 24 August 2009.
Johannes von Weyssenhoff, Siemens' programme portfolio manager for radio, says the SABC had decided to upgrade the equipment in its radio broadcast vehicles from analogue to digital. Although the SABC has considered fibre cable, which is lighter and easier to install than the analogue cables, Siemens recommended using wireless technology.
"We identified WiMax technology as robust and fast," von Weyssenhoff says. "It works in a similar fashion to a wireless local area network, but is capable of extending over far greater distances."
Besides the enhanced audio quality, the WiMAX link eliminates the use of cables, and is said to improve security and save costs. For example, a sporting event in South Africa typically involves 11 radio stations, each using an ISDN line to provide commentary to its target market. By using a WiMAX link, all 11 stations would be able to transmit to the SABC at no additional cost - a huge saving.
"Now that this technology has been proven so successfully, we have initiated further trials and will be involving ICASA in our preparations. During the current phase of trials we will test different frequencies, venues and events such as concerts," concludes von Weyssenhoff.
