| Matsuura Kikai Seisakusho used Alvarion's BreezeACCESS VL products for live transmission of the marathon |
Since it was established 45 years ago, MATSUURA Kikai Seisakusho has engaged in manufacturing and processing of industrial components, manufacturing of specialized machines, machine design and more. In addition to its conventional business of manufacturing and sales of automatic direction adjustment camera platforms for satellite systems and field pickup units (FPUs), MATSUURA Kikai Seisakusho has started developing and manufacturing automatic direction adjustment camera platforms for 5 GHz FWA systems.
About Rikei Corporation
Rikei Corporation was founded in 1957 to provide best-of-breed IT solutions, systems integration and services to the public and private sectors. The company is listed as 8226 on the #2 Tokyo Stock Exchange. Rikei Corporation is committed to introducing the world's most advanced technologies into the Japanese market. Flagship customers include Japan Defense Agency, KDDI, NEC, NTT-ME and Sanyo Electric. Rikei partners include IBM and HP. Rikei Corporation has more than 200 employees with 7 branches in Japan as well as offices in the US, Hong Kong, Singapore and China.
The Challenge
The ideal method for making events such as marathons appealing, is live telecasting. Matsuura Kikai Seisakusho needed a high-quality solution that would enable Cable Television Tokushima, a local TV station, to broadcast the marathon live on cable TV and the Internet. Matsuura Kikai Seisakusho faced several challenges including the need to photograph runners in motion and the generally costly and extensive equipment required for high-quality live telecasting suitable for TV, such as satellite broadcasting vans.
Consequently, they sought a cost-effective wireless solution that could ensure uninterrupted, real time broadcasting on-the-move.
| GPS-based tracking system combined with Alvarion's BreezeACCESS VL product line |
The Solution
Matsuura Kikai Seisakusho combined their automatic GPS-based tracking system with Alvarion's BreezeACCESS VL product line to provide Cable Television Tokushima with an advanced solution for real time transmission of the marathon. The solution - which comprised a BreezeACCESS VL base station; two mobile stations combined with the GPS tracking systems on a broadcasting van and bicycle; two mobile stations on the rooftops of both the Tokushima and Matsuura buildings; and cameras installed at the start and finish lines - enabled turning flat-panel antennas on the mobile stations, towards the base station.
Before broadcasting, the areas where transmission could be interrupted by obstacles such as buildings were identified by Matsuura Kikai Seisakusho based on GPS and wireless transmission quality data including RSSI (Receive Signal Strength Indication) and SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio). The data was then utilized to enable uninterrupted live transmission during the marathon.
The Result
- Cost-effective, top quality connectivity between the base station and mobile stations
- Live, uninterrupted broadcasting of the Tokushima Marathon on the TV and Internet
- Transmission from every part of the course including narrow streets and paths
- Real time interviews with runners while they participated in the marathon