How to deploy HD Wi-Fi for 45 thousand fans in 10 days? Spartak stadium awaiting 2018 World Cup

You can’t just take and invite foreign football teams to play in the stadium as part of the World Cup. Is the stadium built recently and meets international standards? This is not enough. You need to pass FIFA certification. The International Football Federation, among other things, controls the free access of fans to the Internet. So, we had to deploy networks in the stands of the home stadium of the football club Spartak Otkrytie Arena. To catch the Confederations Cup matches, which actually became a rehearsal of the World Cup, we had a little more than a month. And directly to install access points and debug the system is 10 days.

I will say in advance that Russia did not yet have such large-scale projects for equipping Wi-Fi stadiums.

Why did you have to equip the stadium for the World Cup

The stadium was built with private money and, first of all, it had to meet the requirements of the Spartak football club: it was planned to hold matches of the Russian Championship and the Russian Cup, UEFA and the Champions League, as well as concert and entertainment events. I will remind that on Habré we already wrote in detail how they built the infrastructure of this stadium.

For the Confederations Cup, and later the 2018 World Cup, the Spartak Stadium had to be brought into compliance with all FIFA requirements. In particular, to organize separate rooms for FIFA employees, a zone for the media to work (including changing the configuration of the media room — it is also the “press box” for the required number of seats), to build temporary buildings and facilities for technical staff / broadcasters, and to satisfy many other requirements.

Regarding IT infrastructure, one of the requirements of FIFA is the provision of Internet access for fans in all stands over Wi-Fi.

Source

In 2013, during the construction of the IT infrastructure of the stadium, Wi-Fi access was presented in the following areas: VIP (Sky-boxes), newspapers and restaurants. This Wi-Fi coverage was enough for the existing tasks at that time.

In May 2017, the owner of the stadium contacted us to organize Wi-Fi in all stands. The first match at the Otkrytie Arena stadium was scheduled for June 18, and such a short time for the project could seem unrealistic. However, we had a serious theoretical background, since earlier LANIT-Integration worked out a project in detail for another stadium.

Design

According to FIFA requirements, a Wi-Fi network in the stands should provide access for at least 15% of the total number of all viewers in both bands (2.4 and 5 GHz) and at a speed of Internet access of at least 2 Mb / s. Looking ahead, I’ll say that we were guided by higher requirements. In addition to the FIFA requirements, we had to comply with the requirements of our legislation: the identification of subscribers when connected to a public Wi-Fi network.

Of the currently existing methods for identifying a subscriber that meet the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation, we have chosen the most popular and convenient one - by cell phone number. It works as follows: a subscriber, after connecting to a Wi-Fi network, opens any http-page, redirects him to the Web portal, in which he goes through the identification and authorization procedure: the user enters his phone number and confirms it using a code that is sent to mobile phone in SMS message.

Web-portal with SMS-authorization

During the construction of the stadium, the IT infrastructure was built on Huawei equipment.
This vendor was also chosen for the construction of HD Wi-Fi on the eve of the 2018 World Cup. Thus, we were able to use the Internet access points established in 2013 and saved the customer’s investments.

For Huawei, our project was the first case in Russia. In principle, the creation of a high-density Wi-Fi network can be considered the most difficult task for equipment manufacturers.

We had to choose the model of the access point, the location of their installation, the type of antennas and methods of attaching all this stuff. The choice fell on the AP8030DN, since this model, firstly, is high-performance, supports the IEEE 802.11ac Wave1 standard and works in both frequency ranges (2.4 and 5 GHz). Secondly, it has an integrated directional sector antenna, which is important when covering areas with a high density of subscribers. Thirdly, the model can operate in an extended temperature range and maintains a high protection class IP67, which is mandatory when mounted on the stadium bowl.



To increase the number of Wi-Fi subscribers served, increase productivity and throughput, and to support further scalability of Wi-Fi networks, we decided to replace the Wi-Fi controller used at the stadium with a fault-tolerant solution of two ACU2 controllers. This model is designed just for the deployment of high-density Wi-Fi and supports serving up to 2048 access points and 32000 Wi-Fi users.

These controllers are a line card that is installed directly into existing stadium core switches. We planned to switch to a cluster of two new controllers all existing customer access points installed in the VIP box, under tribune rooms, including food courts and halls.

By the way, it is worth noting the responsiveness of the partner, Huawei: they took into account our circumstances, produced and delivered all the equipment not in standard 6-8 weeks, but in 3 weeks.

While the equipment was being manufactured at the plant and flew to Moscow, we needed to quickly prepare the working documentation and give the assignment to the contractor to begin work on laying the SCS to the places of installing Wi-Fi access points, preparing and installing mounts for them.

At the pre-design survey, we decided on the basic concept - how we will build everything: agreed on with the customer the location of the Wi-Fi access points, where, how and where we will “illuminate” the stands, conducted radio modeling and radio testing, according to the results of which we received the required number of access points .

The basic concept involved four levels (contours) of mounting access points. The distance between neighboring access points of the same level is about 8 meters.

Fourth level (upper stands): installation on load-bearing columns with an angle of inclination towards the fans, we cover the upper part of the upper stands.

Third level (upper stands): installation on technological bridges from them, we cover the lower part of the upper stands.

Second level (lower stands): installation under the visor from the upper stands with an angle of inclination towards the fans, we cover the upper part of the lower stands.

First level (lower stands): installation on advertising banners located along the football field, we cover the lower part of the lower stands.

Some installation locations may seem unusual. For example, I do not know such stadiums where access points would be attached to advertising banners. But this, by the way, is a worthy solution, given how difficult it is to find the optimal place in the stadium, which has long been built and operated.

First problems

As soon as we placed an order with the vendor and started preparing the working documentation, at the stage of its coordination with the customer it became clear that part of our concept needed to be changed.

At first it turned out that the banner ads for the time of the Confederations Cup will be removed and replaced with others that are definitely not suitable for us. Then we were not able to agree on the placement of all-weather outdoor cabinets on technological bridges, the switches in which the points of the third circuit were needed as “air”, since the length of the SCS cables to the nearest possible cross-wires was much more than 100 m. So we “lost” the alleged first and third circuit .

I had to look for new installation sites for access points that would provide the same optimal coverage and anti-vandal protection, which is important in the stadium, where after the derby the access point can be taken away as a "trophy".

Taking into account all the comments, the concept was finalized: the points of the first and third contours moved to the facades of the stands, i.e. access points of the first and second, third and fourth circuits should "shine" on each other. According to calculations, one access point was supposed to cover a cell / cell with approximately 170 seats, and taking into account the fact that about 15% of fans should connect to the access point, then about 30 subscribers for an access point of this class was not the limit.

Four contours of mounting access points (visual presentation of Huawei)

In total, about 250 Wi-Fi access points were obtained. Given the existing access points, the total number was 350.

The access points needed to be powered and connected to switches. There were no difficulties with the three lower contours - we used the stadium cross-premises. For the upper circuit, it was necessary to come up with some other solution. And it was found. We decided to install six all-weather outdoor cabinets in which the temperature necessary for the operation of the equipment and the humidity level are maintained.

Finally, after all our approvals, the contractor was able to start laying the SCS and preparing the installation sites for the delivery of access points. Four brigades worked around the clock in three shifts. Before the arrival and arrival of the equipment, there was not much time left, and we needed to prepare for his meeting: to make a radio frequency plan, configuration templates, deploy and test the SMS authorization system with the controller existing at the customer.

Optional bracket for access points on facades

Ready steady go

After the equipment flew to Moscow and passed all the necessary registration procedures, we decided to immediately take it to the stadium so as not to waste precious time, because we had only 10 days to install access points, to launch the system and to test it.

When the stadium was being prepared for the Confederations Cup, a huge number of contractors on various systems attended it every day, as if the stadium was being rebuilt.

Access to the stadium was carried out under strict control, as if it were a “clean zone” of the airport. All contractors were given their territory to place / store their work equipment and equipment outside the stadium. We were “lucky": our site was right next to the stadium, but you could get to the entrance groups only by going around all the barriers in the field. And this is three kilometers!

Only one input control and preparation of the equipment brought for installation was taken from us for two days, including re-transportation from the wagons to the bowl itself. There were always problems with bringing equipment to the stadium: each item will be checked through an introscope, then it will generally be prohibited to bring into the stadium.

Preparing access points for installation

Finally, the equipment entered the arena, and we started installing and configuring it: some of the engineers started launching the switches, and the other “fine-tuning” the access points. A team of installers was assigned to each level (circuit) of mounting the access points, and as soon as the access point was mounted and connected to the network, the engineer selected the optimal angle of inclination.

Access points are ready for installation

One of the unpleasant features of deploying a high-density Wi-Fi network is a lot of work with each access point: you need to tune the radio air - manually configure the channels and powers at each access point, set the required angle and constantly conduct a radio survey.


The problem is that you can see the real picture of signal propagation only at a filled stadium, because the radio air of an empty and a filled stadium is very different. Each smartphone, regardless of the installed operating system, polls Wi-Fi networks stored in it about once every 30 seconds.

Now imagine: 45,000 people in one place, and the phone of each of the viewers broadcasts something every 30 seconds. This creates an incredible noise level in the radio environment, which entails completely different requirements for the signal level in such networks. Did you try to speak with a neighbor sitting 2 places from you during a football match? For him to hear at least something, he will have to scream. I think the analogy with the Wi-Fi signal is clear.

Another problem is that the signal fades as it passes through the audience. Therefore, ideally, the antenna should be located in front of the viewer so that there are no obstacles between the end user and the antenna. Unfortunately, this is not always possible due to the design features of the stadium, and you have to put points where you can fix them and where you can pull the necessary SCS. This arrangement is often not very effective. For example, the points at the bottom of the stands, “looking” at the audience from the bottom up, only 8-10 rows of spectators break through during a full house. And then the signal becomes too weak.

Separately, the problem of the frequency range arose: since in the 2.4 GHz range the signal propagates further than 5 GHz and the range has only 3 disjoint channels in order to avoid interference, we had to disconnect the 2.4 GHz range at one access point through one. Of course, I had to tinker with the power for a long time, but after a few matches we selected the optimal EIRP for each sector.

Mounted Access Points

Since it was the Confederations Cup under the auspices of FIFA, we had to coordinate and share radio frequency channels with various new Wi-Fi segments. And part of the access points had to be disconnected because of the Wi-Fi temporary segment from FIFA itself, deployed across the entire western platform, where they provided access to the network not only for their employees, but also for the entire press box.

The construction of HD Wi-Fi is in full swing: access points of the second circuit of installation

The subscriber identification and authorization system was set up by our partner Netams, who deployed a box solution of his own design - WNAM. Before the new equipment arrived at the stadium, their team managed to deploy their system, successfully test it with the existing at that time customer’s Wi-Fi controller and access points.

Colleagues, like us, had to deal with an interesting task: two days before the first match, the Organizing Committee gave a new introduction: create a Web portal page where the user passes SMS authorization in the style of the Confederations Cup, and not just change a couple of pictures and text, but redo it completely (HTML-layout), including the logic of work. It was necessary to implement multilanguage support, a new design of buttons and frames, auto-adjustment to the size of a mobile device, work with all mobile operators in the world. But the partner successfully coped with this task.

Stadium awaiting first match

Working?

The first match at the stadium was between the national teams of Chile and Cameroon. The stands were packed at 70%. The Organizing Committee did not give advertising about the work of Wi-Fi at the stadium, which allowed us to test the brand new HD Wi-Fi without heavy load.

In the first match there were about 1,500 unique users. At subsequent matches, Wi-Fi was already advertised, and we were only looking for the optimal power of access points. The largest influx of users was in the last match for third place: with almost a full stadium, about 4000 unique users.

In conclusion, I would like to add that this was the first in Russia already built and working stadium of such a scale that launched HD Wi-Fi in 10 days. Now thousands of fans go online and share photos or videos on social networks right during the match.


PS We wrote this article with my colleague ISkrypnik , who in this project helped me in developing the concept and in the technical presale, so we will respond to your comments together.