The Challenge
The 43rd Dakar Rally takes place from 3rd – 15th January 2021 and starts and ends in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 295 teams entered the race across all racing categories. One of these teams is BRX Bahrain Raid Xtreme.
The race office was fitted out at Prodrive’s HQ in Banbury, Oxford. Technologies and systems were put through extensive stress tests to ensure that they would perform optimally in the challenging terrain and climate. During these trials, it was discovered that there was very little mobile signal available inside the race office resulting in the inability of the team to communicate on their mobile devices whilst inside. The lack of mobile signal was the cause of great concern as the team extensively rely on their mobile devices to stay in touch with the other support vehicles and race control. This could ultimately affect the team’s chance of success at the rally.
The Solution
As an existing reseller of Frequency Telecom, Activ Technology contacted Frequency to find out whether they could assist with a legal, robust and reliable in-vehicle mobile signal booster solution which could easily be configured to enhance mobile signal in the UK, UAE, and Saudi Arabia. As the master distributor of Cel-Fi products in the UK, Frequency are widely regarded as the experts in providing in-building and in-vehicle mobile signal booster solutions.
Cel-Fi GO M uses smart technology to amplify the frequency bands from the mobile network provider via reception antennas. Nextivity has engineered the award winning Intelliboost® chipset which sits at the heart of the Cel-Fi booster. Effectively, it picks up mobile signal from outside of the vehicle using donor antennas, brings it inside the vehicle to where the GO M booster does its magic, by boosting and enhancing the mobile signal, and then sending it around the inside of the vehicle via small server antennas.
The Results
The Cel-Fi GO M solution was installed in the race office at the Banbury HQ and configured to the corporate network. The deployment was a success. From near to no signal in the race office previously, the team were able to benefit from 5 bars of mobile coverage within the race office vehicle when the booster was active. Mobile phone calls and text messages made to and from the race office were now much more reliable and allowed the team to communicate more effectively with all team members.
The rally cars and support vehicles were then transported from the UK to the UAE in November 2020 for further trials. While there, the Cel-Fi GO M booster was configured to one of the local networks and used to enhance the mobile coverage within the race office while stationed in the UAE.
Contact Alliance today for more information.
Distributed by Alliance Corporation