Case Studies
Louis Vuitton Trophy 2010
Back in the Winter of 2010, we were asked to be involved with the television production of the Louis Vuitton sailing competition, in Dubai.
The task was to relay pictures from cameras on-board the sailing yachts, plus stabilised cameras on two chase boats and a helicopter. The chase boat solutions were relatively straightforward, transmitters and power amplifiers mounted on the transom bars of both boats, powered by stand-alone battery packs supplied by us.
Helicopters are, of course, fairly common for us, so there were no issues with this system.
The cameras on the sailing boats were a little more tricky, the requirement was for a cameraman on each boat to be able to move around the deck of the boat, whilst staying out of the way of the crew and not trailing cables around that could cause a trip hazard.
The answer was to mount the whole transmitter/PA assembly in a backpack to be worn by the camera operator.
There are a number of technical difficulties involved in transmitting pictures over water, especially when the transmit antenna is moving, and even more so when it's being carried by a human, rather than bolted to a boat. All the receivers were shore based, with a secondary diversity relay station mounted on top of a 4 storey building on one of the fronds of the well-known palm island.
All told, coverage received performed significantly better than everyone expected, and was considered a great success.
