When the match is happening on the other side of the stadium, how do you get the live picture into the dugout?

Modern football is increasingly driven by technology.

At Premier League, Champions League and EFL level, it is now common to see members of the management and coaching teams with a screen or device in the technical area, providing access to the live match feed.

The ability to watch the game from a different perspective — and quickly review incidents or previous passages of play — can provide valuable information to a coaching team.

At home, this is relatively straightforward.

The home team's dugout is usually connected directly into the stadium's existing camera, video and television infrastructure.

But what happens when the team travels away?

Suddenly, the familiar infrastructure isn't there.

The cameras may be positioned on the opposite side of the stadium. The television production equipment may be located in another stand. There may be significant distances to cover, changing stadium layouts and, importantly, no convenient wired connection between the camera system and the visiting team's dugout.

That was the challenge presented to Soltech IT by Bristol Rovers Football Club.

And the solution required a little more than simply running a network cable across the pitch.

The Challenge: Taking the Match to the Away Dugout

Bristol Rovers, the 2015 Conference Premier Play-Off winners, approached Soltech IT with a very specific requirement.

The club wanted its management team to have access to the live camera feed when playing away from home.

The problem was that every stadium is different.

The camera position can change.

The television production facilities can be located in different stands.

The distance between the camera and the away dugout can be substantial.

And there certainly isn't an RJ45 Cat6 network cable conveniently waiting for Bristol Rovers to plug into at every ground.

The solution therefore needed to be:

Portable.

Reliable.

Quick to deploy.

Secure.

And, most importantly, capable of working at different football grounds without knowing exactly what the stadium layout would look like beforehand.

Soltech IT's Bridging Solution

Soltech IT designed a specialist wireless bridging solution capable of transporting the live video and audio feed from the stadium's camera location to the Bristol Rovers management area.

The principle is relatively simple.

The engineering behind making it work reliably in a live football stadium is considerably more involved.

The Bristol Rovers media team can connect the camera footage directly into a laptop.

The laptop converts the video and audio feed into a network connection.

That feed is then presented through an RJ45 Cat6 connection and connected to Soltech IT's wireless bridging equipment.

The signal is then transmitted wirelessly across the stadium.

At the other end, a second wireless bridge receives the signal and converts it back into a network connection.

That connection is then fed directly into the team's display system in the dugout.

The result?

Live match footage, delivered directly to the away management team.

From One Side of the Stadium to the Other

This is where the solution becomes particularly interesting.

Football stadiums aren't designed with visiting teams' technology requirements in mind.

The camera might be located behind one goal.

The away dugout might be halfway around the pitch.

The television production area might be in another stand.

There can be substantial distances, physical obstructions and challenging radio environments between the two locations.

Rather than relying on the stadium's existing network infrastructure, Soltech IT's solution effectively creates a temporary point-to-point network bridge across the stadium.

The camera feed enters at one location.

The wireless bridge carries the data across the ground.

The receiving bridge delivers it at the other end.

And the management team gets the feed where they need it.

Why Wireless Bridging?

Running a physical network cable across a football stadium isn't exactly practical.

There are safety considerations, spectator areas, access restrictions and potentially hundreds of meters between the two points.

A wireless bridge provides a much more flexible alternative.

The equipment can be positioned at the required locations and establish a dedicated high-speed connection between them.

That means the same fundamental solution can be deployed at different grounds, even when the physical distance and stadium layout change.

It effectively gives Bristol Rovers a portable network connection between two locations that may otherwise have no direct connectivity.

Turning a Camera Feed into a Network

One of the clever aspects of the solution is that the wireless bridge doesn't need to understand football video production.

It simply needs to transport the network traffic reliably.

The workflow is essentially:

Camera

↓

Bristol Rovers Media Team

↓

Laptop / Video & Audio Feed

↓

RJ45 Cat6 Network Connection

↓

Wireless Bridge

↓

Wireless Transmission Across Stadium

↓

Receiving Wireless Bridge

↓

RJ45 Cat6

↓

Management Display

↓

Live Match Feed

This approach provides a flexible way of transporting the feed without requiring the camera system and dugout to be physically connected.

More Than Just Watching the Match

For a football management team, having access to the live feed isn't simply about watching the game.

It can provide another source of information to support tactical decisions.

A manager or coach can see the match from the camera feed while also monitoring what is happening on the pitch directly.

Depending on the stadium's video setup, they can also use the system to review previous moments of the game.

That could mean looking again at:

• A tactical situation
• A defensive error
• A set piece
• Player positioning
• An attacking move
• A substitution
• A potential incident

In a game where decisions can be made in seconds, access to the right information can be valuable.

Designed for the Real World

Perhaps the biggest challenge wasn't building a system that worked in one stadium.

It was building something that could work away from home.

Every week could present a different environment.

Different stadium.

Different camera position.

Different distance.

Different physical obstructions.

Different network environment.

Different radio conditions.

Soltech IT therefore approached the project as a portable infrastructure solution, rather than a fixed installation.

The equipment could travel with the club and be deployed wherever it was required.

That is where good IT engineering makes the difference.

It's not always about having the biggest or most complicated technology.

It's about designing something that solves the actual problem.

A Specialist IT Solution for Bristol Rovers

For Bristol Rovers, Soltech IT's wireless bridging solution provides the club with a practical way to connect its media and management operations when playing away from home.

It demonstrates how networking technology can be adapted to solve highly specific operational challenges.

The same principles used in the project — point-to-point wireless connectivity, network bridging, video transmission and portable infrastructure — can also be applied to many other environments.

IT Engineering Beyond the Office

At Soltech IT, we work across businesses, education, healthcare and specialist environments where standard IT solutions don't always provide the answer.

Sometimes the challenge is connecting two buildings.

Sometimes it is providing connectivity across a large site.

Sometimes it is delivering network access where there is no existing infrastructure.

And sometimes, as with Bristol Rovers, the challenge is getting a live football match from one side of a stadium into the management dugout on the other.

That's where engineering comes in.

We don't just supply technology.

We design solutions around the problem.

Soltech IT – Connecting What Matters

From managed IT and networking to wireless infrastructure, projects and specialist connectivity, Soltech IT provides technology solutions designed around the way organisations actually operate.

Whether you need to connect offices, buildings, remote locations or something a little more unusual, our engineering team can assess the challenge and design a solution.

Have a connectivity challenge that doesn't have an off-the-shelf answer?

Talk to Soltech IT.