London 2012 Olympic Games
Wireless Communication Solution.

The challenge.

It was essential that the organisers of the London 2012 Olympic Games created a centralised and mission critical radio communications system due to the coverage footprint and widely dispersed teams. Substantial new PMR networks were needed, not only for the Olympic Park but for example for the stewards managing the road races, the athletic teams and the organisers’ transport function.

After a full and comprehensive tender procedure Radiocoms Systems Ltd were awarded the contract to supply the London 2012 Olympics to support teams within the main Olympic stadium and at 23 other locations throughout the UK.

The approach.

With any high level event of this nature it is essential that a systems architecture can withstand any potential security threats and interruptions.

The brief was to create a resilient, high capacity wide area radio communication solution to satisfy the requirements of an ‘always on’ system, and meet the core demands of rigorous security protocols. To ensure the coverage footprint was achieved over the diverse landscape, Radiocoms designed and deployed a 16 channel encrypted repeater lead radio communications infrastructure.

Alongside Ofcom and LOCOG Radiocoms identified any risk of interference to the spectrum for critical applications and implemented mitigating actions to minimise them – for example, reserving some frequencies for rapid assignment if required to keep critical users operating.

Key facts and figures.

• The project was managed by Mark Blythe who has over 11 years experience in system design for large events prior to joining Radiocoms (UEFA / Music Festivals / LOCOG).
• Due to the scale and coverage footprint requirements the solution infrastructure was deployed centrally and in outlaying areas to maximise the coverage and call reliability, mobile repeaters were issued for wider area/on the move sports.
• Over 960, 000 calls were made by users over a variation of vehicle mobiles, desk top radios and 4,500 hand portables radios.
• Radiocoms provided their own in house team for onsite engineering & administration as part of the service for the entirety of the event.
• Radiocoms managed the OFCOM licensing spectrum for the games including the reprogramming of third-party broadcasters’ equipment to Olympic frequencies.
• Sustainability was a major focus for the games. Radiocoms ensured that all of the equipment was re-deployed for short and long term hire requirements after the London 2012 Olympic Games, making our supply approach highly sustainable

Radiocoms successfully achieved the project objectivesas identified in the bid by LOCOG for both the resiliency of the physical infrastructure deployed at the main Olympic Park and for the solutions provided and supported in the 23 outlying areas. The system overall boosted collaboration with unified messaging and call management, and supported the stringent health and safety requirements.