Etherlive – Event Technology Experts

01 Apr 2016

Comments: 1

Festival, Li-Fi, Technology, Wi-Fi

Lighthouse

During the summer of 2016 Etherlive will be piloting the innovative new Li-Fi (Light Fidelity) technology at a range of festivals and outdoor events. Operating in a similar way to Wi-Fi the technology uses light rather than wireless signals to transmit data to mobile devices and can offer very high data rates up to 1,000 times faster than Wi-Fi.

To enable this existing mast structures used on sites for CCTV and wireless transmission will be converted to ‘lighthouses’ firing out powerful rapid oscillating infrared beams. Early adopters will be offered an adapter for their mobile devices which when worn externally (such as on the head) will receive and transmit a light pattern to the lighthouse. The device can operate with both infrared and visible light so that at night the festival can be illuminated with thousands of tiny LED lights in multiple colours depending on the speed of connection (green for high speed, amber for slow, red for not connected).

To overcome the issue of more crowded areas the external antennas will be extendable to provide extra height, and will conveniently double up as a lantern when used inside tents.

Etherlive are working in conjunction with Li-Fi developers on this new exciting technology to be known as the Advanced Photocell Rotating Illuminated Lighthouse Gen 1 which can be used alongside our existing range of technology services.

Watch out for which events will be supporting this new initiative over the coming months!

The Summer Events are on the Horizon

31 Mar 2016

ADSL, CCTV, Connectivity, Event IT, Exhibition, Festival, PDQ, Wi-Fi

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Easter always marks a transition point for us – from delivering service primarily to indoor events to the large scale outdoor events. With Easter chocolate consumed there is a rapid ramp in activity both internally and from our customers as plans are finalised and delivery commences in what becomes a back-to-back run until October.

Every year there is talk of ‘the next big thing’ and exciting technologies on the horizon but in reality at the sharp end of delivery the evolution, rather than revolution, of key services is just as important. So with the summer ramp about to start here are four key event technology areas to focus on.

Connectivity

It all starts with connectivity and if one thing is certain it’s that events need more capacity each year. From the data we have gathered over the last eight years you could probably build a complex theorem about the increase rate but in general we see a need for at least a 25-35% increase year on year, and often more depending on what additional services are required. Lack of internet capacity on site remains one of the most common and frustrating issues at events and this is normally down to a lack of budget or not spotting potential issues like high usage due to a mobile app or streaming.

There are trigger points at which existing services such as ADSL, FTTC (the next generation of ADSL), satellite and certain fibre services become limiting and need to be replaced with higher capacity solutions and many of those services can have significant lead times so it is important to plan connectivity as soon as possible.

Payment Systems

The debate around traditional ‘chip & PIN’, closed loop payment systems (wristbands) and open loop systems (‘contactless’) may be ongoing but it doesn’t really matter which route you choose; attendees, exhibitors and traders simply want payment systems that work.

Early, clear communication on what solutions are available at an event is critical as traders and exhibitors need support through this somewhat complex & confusing area. Expecting mobile GPRS payment terminals to work reliably on a crowded event site is crazy and can have a significant impact on revenue.

System Integration

Each year the integration between different aspects of technology at events becomes more complex and the need to coordinate and manage all the different requirements becomes more important. From the basics of wireless spectrum management & access control, to the adhoc needs of sponsors, audio & broadcasters, each requirement can have an impact on the success of an event so the sooner it is identified the better it can be dealt with.

Safety & Security

The area of safety and security breaks into two areas – the use of technology to help manage and secure the event, and the security of the technology itself.

Sadly, hacking isn’t just something that happens to governments and large companies, it is a continuous real threat. Externally we see frequent attempts to access services and systems from locations such as Russia and China. This is going on all the time across the internet and event sites are just as prone to access attempts as any other internet node.

Risks also exist within an event site, generally from people just trying to access Wi-Fi networks but sometimes the intent is more sinister. With so many critical services running on event networks maintaining appropriate security is essential. Encrypted, managed networks, strong authentication, intrusion detection, client isolation and firewalls are just some of the techniques required to keep the network secure.

Using technology to keep an event site physically safe and secure has become increasingly important over the last few years. The obvious aspect is CCTV with high definition cameras capable of excellent detail and response but there is much more available to organisers. Visibility of real-time access control data from gates, scans of social media streams, Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) of vehicles entering a site and ‘heat mapping’ of devices across an event site can all be combined to provide an insight to event control of what is happening on site.

Event technology has already come a long way from just being about internet access and it continues to evolve rapidly but this evolution and dependence requires an increased focus on planning to ensure it all comes together seamlessly.

Event Technology: Myth Busting #3

11 Mar 2016

Comments: 1

Events, Festival, Technology, Wi-Fi, Wireless

Event Technology Myths

For our third myth busters article Wi-Fi becomes the focus, touching on the relationship between microwave ovens, water and Wi-Fi, wireless signal propagation and Wi-Fi security.

My microwave oven stops my Wi-Fi from working properly – TRUE (but not always)

For the non-technical the idea that whilst warming up a bowl of soup in the microwave oven you struggle to browse the internet on your Wi-Fi seems bizarre but it can indeed be true. The reason is quite straightforward – the frequency of the microwaves used in a microwave oven are around 2.4GHz which is the same frequency as used by one of the two Wi-Fi bands. The issue can occur because microwave ovens are not always perfectly shielded so some of the microwaves can leak out (harmlessly) and interfere with the Wi-Fi. Industrial microwaves tend to be more of an issue as they use higher power.

The good news is that the 5GHz Wi-Fi band which is now more commonly supported in devices is not impacted by microwave ovens – although it can be affected by RADAR but that’s another story!

My Wi-Fi works through walls but not through trees – TRUE

The way wireless signals propagate through objects is quite a complex area but there some general rules. The first relates to 2.4GHz Wi-Fi and interestingly links back to microwave ovens. The reason microwave ovens operate around 2.4GHz is that this is the resonant frequency of water so if you bombard water with 2.4GHz microwaves the molecules vibrate vigorously and the water (or your food that contains water) heats up. This is great when you want to cook bacon quickly but no so good when you want to pass a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi signal through trees which contain lots of water – the signal is simply absorbed into all the water.

It is very important to note that Wi-Fi signals are extremely low power in comparison to a microwave oven so you will not cook yourself if you absorb Wi-Fi signals! On event sites trees can become a real bane for the IT engineers trying to run wireless links which is why you will hear them talking about ‘Line of Sight’.

When it comes to walls it does depend on the type of wall – a basic plasterboard or normal brick wall will only absorb some of the Wi-Fi signal, a more substantial wall will absorb more. Walls which have metal mesh in them will often block Wi-Fi altogether. On the whole though a strong Wi-Fi signal will pass through most normal walls. Windows can help or hinder depending on the type of glass used as modern thermal insulating glass can block Wi-Fi signals quite effectively.

Temporary structures at events sites are a whole case in themselves, some temporary cabins are near enough transparent to Wi-Fi but others, particularly the newer well insulated variety, are just about impervious requiring Wi-Fi access points in each cabin. Marquees and other temporary structures often exhibit a different behaviour, being transparent in good weather but more opaque when it starts raining! The water coats the marquee or structure and can create a reflective layer and also absorb signals so that less signal gets through.

The second element of this relates to the frequency of the Wi-Fi as when it comes to wireless signals the lower the frequency the greater the propagation. This is seen most obviously when you have dual band Wi-Fi operating at 2.4GHz and 5GHz. The lower frequency 2.4GHz signal will travel further than the 5GHz signal, and this becomes an important point when designing Wi-Fi coverage (along with lots of other factors!)

All Wi-Fi networks are insecure – BUSTED

Because Wi-Fi is a broadcast technology that passes through the open air anyone with the right equipment can pick up the signal, for this reason it is very important that these signals are encrypted to avoid information being intercepted by the wrong people. One of the most common ways of encrypting a Wi-Fi network is by using a technology called WPA2 – Wi-Fi Protected Access.

WPA2 is commonly set-up with a Pre-Shared Key (PSK), this alphanumeric string should only be known by those who need access to the network and they enter the key when they are connecting to the network. The potential problem with this approach is that the PSK is used to generate the encryption key and if you use a weak key then the network is left open to a fairly simple attack which can gain access to the network within minutes.

The solution is simple – longer and more complex keys! For every character added the cracking process becomes considerably harder by a factor of compute years. The question is how long. There is no agreed answer on this as it depends on how random the key is. A truly random key of 10 alphanumeric characters is actually very hard to break, taking many years but a similar length key using dictionary words could be broken very quickly.

To be safe we normally recommend a minimum of 12 characters with typical password rules – upper and lower case, numeric characters, special characters and no dictionary words unless they have character replacements.

Of course a strong key only remains strong whilst it is only known by those who should know it and this is a weakness of the shared key approach as if the key is leaked, security across the network is compromised. There are additional factors that can be introduced to improve security further – for example one technique is called Dynamic Pre-Shared Key (D-PSK) which uses dynamic, unique keys for each user so there is no risk of a leaked key.

We will cover Wi-Fi and general network security in more depth in a later blog but with the right set-up Wi-Fi networks are perfectly secure – more so than most wired networks!

Why Wi-Fi Calling is Big News for Events

07 Apr 2015

Festival, VoIP, Wi-Fi, WiFi, Wireless

EE have launched their Wi-Fi Calling service and Vodafone are expected to follow shortly along with other operators. With the prevalence of other VoIP based calling such as Skype, WhatsApp, Viber, etc. you could be excused for thinking what all the fuss is about.

There are two big things about Wi-Fi Calling, the first is that it uses your normal mobile number so it doesn’t matter if you don’t have a mobile signal you can still receive and make calls on your normal number.

The second aspect of true Wi-Fi Calling is that it is seamless – you don’t have to launch an app and make a conscious decision to switch, it is handled directly by the phone. Here though lies an issue in that only newer generation phones support this aspect today, however, it is expected that all future phones will adopt it. Seamless is also not truly seamless yet in that active calls at this point cannot roam from the mobile operator network to Wi-Fi or vice versa but this is expected to be introduced in the future.

The other cheeky point to note is that operators are still likely to charge (or deduct from bundled minutes) for a call made over Wi-Fi even though they are not providing the network.

For event organisers Wi-Fi Calling sounds like a great development as requests to improve mobile coverage and capacity is up at the top of the list of the things we get asked to fix most frequently, yet generally we are fairly powerless to address as the current system has been a closed environment controlled by the mobile operators.

At a high level this is a great development for event organisers, especially for production staff who can be offered an alternative to the mobile network very easily but it throws up some challenges which need to be considered very carefully if it is to be used beyond production staff. Any event providing a Wi-Fi network for its attendees is now potentially going to see extra demand on that network, not so much in terms of capacity as voice traffic is fairly small, more in terms of quality of service.

Voice traffic is not tolerant of congested networks, previously an attendee just downloading some email might see the network as being a bit slow but it still works, with voice it is a different story with stuttering audio rendering the call unworkable and frustrating the user far more than slow email.

Event organisers will need to make conscious decisions about the use of Wi-Fi Calling and ensuring any network is capable of delivering it at a quality that is acceptable to users. This may mean high density design and increased internet capacity – both of which can push up costs.

For smaller events this is not likely to be that much of a problem but as you scale up to large outdoor events with thousands of people the challenge is a lot more significant. Wi-Fi Calling has the potential to help solve one of the big frustrations at festivals, arenas and sports events but without a good public Wi-Fi network it could make the frustration worse.

The interesting question is that if Wi-Fi Calling is adopted by users and becomes the norm when in a public Wi-Fi hotspot will attendees increasingly expect it at events? And if so, who pays?

Employee Profile: Hannah Wood

From the Office

16 Jul 2014

11ac, High Density, Wi-Fi, WiFi, Wireless

Article recently published by Event Magazine profiling Hannah Wood.

Hannah Wood, connectivity, supplier and site manager at Etherlive, shared her career story with Event for the Women in Events campaign. She talked about working in a diverse role, how she ended up working for an event technology company and how a quad bike featured in one of her past interviews.

What do you do and how long have you been in your current role?

I have been at Etherlive for a year, following my role at an experiential marketing agency. At Etherlive I am in charge of ordering and managing the installation and maintenance of all of our internet connectivity and telephony services; account managing our major suppliers including connectivity, recruitment, vehicles and equipment hire; and I will also be taking on management responsibility for our pool of freelance site managers and managing some event sites myself.

This is the most diverse role I have worked in and I am lucky enough to be involved in many areas of the business, from the ordering process to the financial reconciliation to the implementation of our technology services on-site at events.

Where was your first job? What was the most important thing you learnt there?

In 2009 I moved to London and began working for the Royal Society of Medicine as an assistant conference co-ordinator and quickly moved up to being the external societies co-ordinator, responsible for all conferences and meetings for a particular society. This was a venue-based role and included dealing with all departments of the society to plan and manage the events as well as close contact with the client and conference delegates.

I learnt a lot here about dealing with many different types of people and how to deal with pressurised situations where there are multiple stakeholders.

Event’s latest Women in Events profile with Etherlive’s Hannah Wood

How did you get from there to where you are now?

Over the next three years I worked at Imperial College London in the role of events co-ordinator for the university’s commercial services department, as an events manager at an agency providing the catering, bars and theming for weddings and corporate events and at an experiential marketing agency managing a promotional staffing team at events across the UK.

In each role I honed my skills and I got to attend events including V Festival, Rockness, Moto GP, Festival No. 6, Lounge on the Farm, Brownstock and many more. This, together with my experience at university where I made sure I improved my knowledge working in events at the student union, gave me a solid foundation for the future.

Looking back, did you expect your career path to take the course it has?

No, I originally thought I would go in the direction of conferences and work with specific exhibitors and clients on stands and contents rather than working on the organisation and management of full-scale events. I also never thought I would end up working for a technology company but I’m glad I do, it has given me even more insight to the workings of events and my previous experience on the non-tech side helps when working with other contractors and clients.

Would you do anything differently?

I would have invested my time in a lot more work experience. The events industry can be difficult to get into if you want to make a career out of it and any experience you have is highly valuable. It’s taken me a long time (and a few not so nice jobs) to get where I am today.

Who has inspired you along the way?

I take inspiration from anyone I can learn from. I work with a number of people who have been in the industry for a long time or who have worked in really interesting areas and I don’t think there’s ever a day when I don’t get taught something new, whether it’s new event knowledge or a bit more information about some sort of technology we use.

Have you ever had a job interview that went particularly well or spectacularly wrong?

I don’t think I’ve ever had an interview that sticks out as being fantastic or awful, but I have had some interesting ones. I ran a bar at a farm show as part of one of my interviews, which was great fun, and I got to drive a quad bike on another interview.

Is there a piece of career advice you’ve ever been told that has stuck with you?

You will never know everything. Don’t think that you do or you might end up looking very silly.

What career advice would you give to your 21-year-old self?

Change your university course, this one isn’t going to take you anywhere you can’t already go.

How do you wind down and relax after a hectic day?

I go to kick-boxing training.

Article published from Republished from http://www.eventmagazine.co.uk/People/article/1303744/how-i-hannah-wood/

The New 802.11ac Wi-Fi Standard – A Good Thing for Events or Not?

25 Mar 2014

11ac, High Density, Wi-Fi, WiFi, Wireless

It has been said that there are two certainties in life – death and taxes. If you said the same about technology it would read ‘confusing acronyms and over hyped performance claims’. Although 802.11ac, the latest in a long line of Wi-Fi standards, has been in development for several years it was finally approved in January and more client devices are now appearing which support it, including the Samsung Galaxy S4, newer iPads and the rumoured iPhone 6.

The ever growing list of Wi-Fi standards

Claiming speeds of 433Mbps up to 6.77Gbps, multi user MIMO and beamforming it would sound like we should all be rushing to implement this technology as soon as we can to solve our Wi-Fi woes. For the home user a shiny new 11ac Wi-Fi router and compatible tablet may indeed offer some benefits but if you look at the limiting performance factor in most households it is the broadband connection itself and not the Wi-Fi which throttles everything to a crawl.

For those of us deploying large scale, high density Wi-Fi, particularly at events and stadiums, the potential impact of 11ac is far more important and if not considered carefully could easily reduce performance rather than improve it. There are many enhancements and extensions within 11ac and as before with 11n it will take time for all the features to be implemented and used effectively.

One of the big changes is with MIMO or Multiple Input Multiple Output streams. MIMO is like moving from a single carriageway road to a dual carriageway or motorway – the data travels from your device to the Wi-Fi access point using multiple paths. Most business quality Wi-Fi access points have supported MIMO since 802.11n but many handheld devices have only just started to implement it. It can provide better overall speed and improve coverage especially where there are lots of obstacles. 11ac allows for up to 8 streams, whereas 11n is limited to 3, however, in reality most devices will not implement more than 3 and in fact most handheld devices will be limited to 1 or 2 because of the cost, complexity and extra power drain of adding more streams.

Those extra streams are not necessarily lost though as 11ac will eventually offer multi-user MIMO where different streams can be directed to different clients providing a much needed boost in situations such as events where the pinch point is the number of connected devices rather than absolute speed. Unfortunately version 1 of 11ac does not support multi-use MIMO so we will have to wait another year or two for that.

Beamforming is another aspect which 11ac requires, a technology which aims to optimise performance based on the direction of signals and provide a higher interference rejection. Beamforming is already supported in 11n and, when combined with adaptive antenna arrays, is very powerful in ‘noisy’ environments like event sites, however, many wireless vendors do not implement it so 11ac aims to standardise beamforming across clients and vendors, which over time will provide performance improvements.

So far it all sounds good so what is the problem? To answer that we need to look at why we have a problem today. Wi-Fi is a shared medium, a Wi-Fi ‘access point’ has to simultaneously talk to a number of client devices and split the available capacity between all the devices it is talking to. For example an 11n wireless access point (without MIMO) can at best deliver 150Mbps of capacity, if there are 100 users connected to it then each user would see a maximum speed of 1.5Mbps. This is absolute best case, real world would be far, far lower.

To add more capacity more wireless access points are used but they all need their own ‘space’ to operate in otherwise they would just interfere with each other like a room full of people shouting. To do this there are a number of standard ‘channels’ defined and each Wi-Fi access point is assigned a channel. The most common form of Wi-Fi today runs at 2.4GHz which has 14 channels but these channels overlap and not all of them are usable in all countries, in fact there are really only 3 usable channels when it comes to designs for large scale deployments. On top of this 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi has to contend with Bluetooth devices, baby monitors, microwave ovens and a whole host of other things which also use the same frequency range!

At home where there are likely to be only a few devices connecting to the Wi-Fi network these issues are not generally a great concern but on an event site where hundreds, or now more typically thousands of users have to be connected simultaneously the combination of the lack of capacity and interference creates a huge problem.

All is not lost though as there is a second Wi-Fi frequency range at 5GHz which offers 23 non-overlapping channels (although that is before you factor in indoor, outdoor, DFS and country restrictions) and much lower interference. Today most of the wireless backbone infrastructure on event sites uses 5GHz – this includes normal data transmission, CCTV cameras and other wireless devices such as video senders. There are enough channels to do this successfully provided it is all managed carefully.

Until recently most client devices did not support 5GHz but now many do meaning that client access can also be provided at 5GHz avoiding the problems of 2.4GHz. The downside of this though is that 5GHz is no longer the quiet frequency it used to be with many domestic Wi-Fi routers supporting it and permanent wireless links using it, all of which increases interference and limits available free channels. 11ac however could make things far worse.

Whereas 802.11n was a standard for both 2.4GHz and 5GHz, 802.11ac is a 5GHz only standard which means we will see an acceleration in the adoption of 5GHz in all devices. This in itself is not a bad thing but it will change the dynamics of Wi-Fi deployments with more and more focus on 5GHz client access leading to less room for 5GHz backhaul. The likely result is that backhaul will have to move to licenced frequencies or higher unlicensed frequencies such as 24, 60 or 80GHz but there are cost and implementation considerations.

The second problem is that 11ac focusses on delivering more speed but one of the ways it does this is by using a wider channel in which to send data and this is implemented by in effect ‘bonding’ channels reducing the number of independent channels available. 11n can already bond two channels but 11ac can bond four which could reduce the available channels by 75% leading to interference issues.

All of these factors are configurable and manageable and the design for a large event site will be considerably different to say an office environment but for everything to work in harmony there will need to be an even greater focus on ‘spectrum management’ ensuring that all parties using wireless equipment do so in a controlled and agreed manner. Without this structure and control the user experience will deteriorate rather than improve. 11ac can bring benefits, albeit without the headline speed claims, but there are greater risks in terms of poor design.

We will be starting to deploy some 11ac access points in a controlled manner over the coming months, working closely with vendors to optimise designs for the challenging needs of event sites.

A Step Forward for Mobile Coverage at Events

04 Mar 2013