Case study Parigi Dakar 2020

Peplink and Poynting at Dakar 2020

The route of the 42nd edition of the Dakar will take place in Saudi Arabia. The race will start in Jeddah on 5 January 2020 and will finish 12 stages later in Qiddiyah near the Saudi capital of Riyadh after a total distance of approximately 7,900 km. The official entry list for the Dakar 2020 includes 351 vehicles for a total of 557 participants from 53 different countries. The route of the first edition of the Dakar in Saudi Arabia explores the vast expanses of the largest country in the Middle East. Drivers and crews will face 5,000 km of special stages, five of which are longer than 450 km. In a country where the desert is king, 75% of the event will be on sand … all kinds of sand In this context, the journalist Franco Iannone turned to Know IT for a solution that will guarantee him a fast and reliable internet connection so that he can always be online and give live testimonials to the public during the race.

The request

Have a solution that guarantees a fast and reliable internet connection in order to be always online and give live testimonials to the public during the race.

The solution

The solution developed for Iannone consists of a Peplink dual modem router, MAX Transit DUO LTE- A, and two Poynting antennas from the PUCK family.

The Peplink – Poynting solution

The solution developed for Iannone consists of a Peplink dual modem router, MAX Transit DUO LTE- A, and two Poynting antennas from the PUCK family. Why the Max Transit DUO LTE-A? The Max Transit Duo LTE-A is a versatile and powerful router. First of all, the router has two cat.6 modems equipped with redundant SIM slots (i.e. one active SIM and 1 back up SIM for each modem): in total the router can therefore accommodate 4 SIMs. This will allow Iannone to use up to 4 different operators for the best network coverage, and/or maximize the GIGA ceiling available. Thanks to Peplink’s proprietary technology called SpeedFusion, the router is able to aggregate bandwidth and reliability to ensure that the journalist can not only easily share content such as photos and videos, but can face direct on the main Social Media (e.g. Instagram, Youtube…).

The Max Transit Duo has two 5V (2A) micro-USB ports to power it, making it completely portable: this feature will allow you to closely follow the different phases of the race, documenting them live, thus ensuring the viewers the show they are looking for. The integrated GPS antenna will allow to follow the journalist’s movements step by step and will allow the Know IT team to know the exact position of Iannone to always provide the best network configuration thanks to the cloud management console: InControl2. InControl 2, a Peplink Cloud platform, allows you to remotely manage, configure and monitor any Peplink device.

Why the choice of antennas Poynting Puck 2 and Puck 4?

Puck 2: this 2 in 1 antenna boasts 2×2 MIMO LTE inside the same housing making it very easy to use thanks to its many mounting options. A product of technical excellence and solid design, this antenna offers great performance due to its small size. In fact, despite its size, it offers excellent performance especially in the higher frequency bands where performance is crucial for LTE throughput and connection stability. Puck 4: this model, in addition to having two LTE antennas like the previous one, also has a GPS/GLONASS antenna.

Just what you need to operate in a context, like the Dakar, where you need reliability, mounting flexibility and small footprint: this will allow Iannone to maximize LTE signal reception in multiple contexts, even the most difficult. MIMO 2x mobile phone (for 2G / 3G / 4G) antennas cover the band from 698 MHz to 3800 MHz, which includes the most popular international LTE bands, essential for those who move over large areas even outside of industrialized contexts such as the Dakar. Follow with us the adventure of Franco Iannone at the Dakar 2020.