Flying high

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The race communications and broadcast control room features a raft of Riedel technology.

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The Abu Dhabi instalment of the Red Bull Air Race will be staged the weekend of April 10-11.

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Interlaken, Switzerland.

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The 2008 installment of the Red Bull Air Race World Series, which kicks off in Abu Dhabi next month, will showcase a raft of cutting-edge events production and communications technologies.

The Red Bull Air Race World Series is a competition based on speed, precision and skill that pits the world's most talented pilots against each other.

The race requires a dynamic discipline of flying, called 'air racing' where the objective is to navigate a challenging course in the sky, in the fastest possible time.

Flying against the clock, each pilot has to execute tight turns through a slalom course consisting of specially designed pylons, known as 'air gates'. They compete in knockout rounds with the two fastest pilots going head-to-head in the final race.

The first World Series was staged in 2005 and involved 10 internationally acclaimed pilots competing in races staged at seven venues worldwide.

In 2007, 13 pilots took to the skies as part of a 10-race series which took in locations including Perth, Australia, London, UK, and Budapest, Hungary, attracting massive crowds in the process.

With the event's growing popularity, owed in part to extensive international media coverage, this year's series - which kicks off in Abu Dhabi in April - promises to be even bigger again.

The fast-paced nature of the event demands the use of cutting-edge communications technologies linking production techs, event organisers and pilots in the air.

Red Bull Race organisers are working with German wireless communications specialist Riedel Communications to develop a full-scale AV and communications network which will be temporarily installed at each venue.

Riedel supplies around 11 tonnes of communications equipment to each Red Bull Race event.

The infrastructure will allow for voice communications on the ground and in the air, as well as supporting video capture and playout services, with the content eventually being aired by more than 100 television networks located in various regions throughout the world.

"To ensure mission-critical communications, we have designed a system that leverages the best of both wired and wireless communications," claims Thomas Riedel, managing director of Riedel Communications.

The infrastructure is providing communication services to the more than 650 people involved in staging each Red Bull Air Race. Everyone from the pilots to security personnel will utilise the state-of-the-art system.

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