Narrowband  |   Broadband  |  2023-02-21

Empowering Marathon Communications with Convergence PoC-LMR Systems

Source: The Critical Communications Review | Gert Jan Wolf editor

Unlike many other types of events, marathons require many different departments to be in constant contact along the trail routes.

The marathon has its own set of challenges when it comes to communications. Unlike many other types of events, marathons require many different departments to be in constant contact along the trail routes. You will need collaboration among event administrators, emergency response agencies, police, volunteers, and all other departments, and they should be able to reach each other immediately.

In the past, marathons usually relied on two-way radios for effective, convenient, and robust communications. The cost was the biggest issue. The conventional solution was to rent analog or digital walkie-talkie equipment and have the vendor provide repeater stations to achieve a wide range of communication. Obviously, two-way radios alone can no longer meet the dispatching and communication needs.

In the post-epidemic era, marathons are coming back. In order to manage these mass events in the best possible way PoC-LMR convergence solutions are able to  deliver full communication coverage, multi-group calls, unified command, and efficient dispatching. It ensures clear, efficient, and barrier-free communication needs for all segments and departments throughout the race.

How to use PoC-LMR communication devices for different scenarios to maximize the benefit during a Marathon.

  • The starting and finishing areas are small and the mobile signal is unstable due to the density of people, which requires the establishment of contact through LMR radios to ensure reliable communication.
  • Along the 42km route, there is relatively less spectator traffic and strong cellular carrier network signal coverage. If traditional repeaters and radios were adopted, it would increase the deployment and communication costs. With the PoC radios, you can access the cellular network and you don’t need to deploy private base stations.

In emergency rescue at aid stations, when volunteers cannot handle the situation, they can contact ambulances or specified hospitals for assistance. Two-way radios are limited to voice calls and cannot satisfy multimedia needs. PoC radio can synchronize the video to the hospital in real-time and provide first aid according to the hospital guidance.

A marathon of 20,000 runners usually requires around 3,000 workers of all different functions. If all of them were equipped with two-way radios, the cost would be very high. By installing a PTT App on the smart phone, you can realize the PTT function and achieve interconnection with LMR radios through a PoC-LMR convergence platform.

Convergence systems can easily achieve PoC-LMR convergent command & dispatch. Through monitoring and AI facial recognition technology, it can quickly and accurately identify emergencies and violations, which is the key to improving response efficiency.

  • Through AI facial recognition technology, the face is identified at the entrance and compared with the police database to avoid suspicious people taking the opportunity to cause trouble such as the terrorist bombing at Boston Marathon in 2013.
  • The convergence platform can interconnect and communicate with third-party systems, such as traffic command centers (Tetra) and hospitals (DMR). Traffic command can perform traffic diversion and plan the optimal route for ambulances to arrive at the scene to gain more time for rescue.
  • The convergent trunking gateway allows the interconnection of narrowband two-way radios with broadband PoC devices. The dispatch center can group different departments in the field. Through group calls, it achieves cross-department communication; through call priority, it seizes the right to talk first and give orders uniformly; with circle-to-call, it can dispatch the personnel within the specified range on the map.

 Companies with experience in professional wireless communications like INRICO are able to achieve an outstanding events management solution. With a full suite of customized solutions from devices to systems, INRICO's core advantage, converge different technologies to one platform is the companies' ultimate goal.