Sailing in Marseille, a breeding ground for 5G innovation

For the sailing competition in Marseille, OBS installed up to 28 onboard mobile phones per day of competition (boats, passing buoys, kite-surfers and windsurfers), whose images were transmitted to the control room via a private 5G network, with relay antenna installed on board specially equipped catamarans, as close to the race as possible: a world first for this size of event! 

In partnership with Samsung for the phones and Orange for the 5G, both partners of the Olympics Games, our role, and Pierre Chenot's in particular, was to coordinate the hundred or so technicians involved, in particular with Cisco. Support systems, adaptation to the natural environment, connection, transmission, reception... It was a project that took almost two years to bring to fruition, not without difficulties given the lack of feedback on the use of 5G technology in the retransmission of live broadcast events: "We had to coordinate this large-scale project, linked as it was to the Olympic Games, with Orange, Samsung, Intel... whose core business is not the same. I spent a lot of time developing the skills. Then the supports were fragile, exposed to the elements, and we lost some of them along the way. But we found solutions. In the end, the experiment was a success. We were at the heart of a global technical innovation, with French players - it was a great experience!" says Pierre Chenot, RF Technical Manager in charge of the project.

The system consisted of 28 onboard 5G systems, 12 of which were simultaneous, and we added 252 false onboard systems, one on each boat, to comply with the fairness requested by the federation. According to François Valadoux, Executive Vice President in charge of technical services, "This deployment in Marseille, combined with the similar 5G technological system installed for the opening ceremony, is completely in line with our strategic plan for this year, for which we must anticipate, learn about and exploit new technologies in order to consolidate our position as a versatile technical service provider". "This experience, which comes on top of the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games, the Vendée Globe and the Route du Rhum, further strengthens our reputation and expertise in the sailing world" concludes Gille Sallé.