How cell tower ‘COW’ drones will preserve followers secure on the Tremendous Bowl

For followers in Los Angeles, host to this 12 months’s Massive Recreation, the Tremendous Bowl is an opportunity to tailgate and have fun. For first responders within the LA area, it is a huge public security occasion that is a 12 months within the making.

One of many massive considerations is community pressure. AT&T is answering the decision for assist with plenty of applied sciences, together with the “flying COW,” primarily drones that double as cell towers.

Additionally: Methods to watch the Tremendous Bowl: Your entire streaming choices

The issue is acute. There is a lengthy legacy of community disruptions throughout giant occasions. That may result in important security considerations. 

One placing instance is the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. So many bystanders had been utilizing their cell telephones that the excessive name quantity saturated the native mobile networks, inflicting sign delays and failed calls that rendered cellphones practically ineffective. For space first responders on obligation that day, the implications of poor community protection and capability was dire — the dearth of a dependable community delayed the power to share the pictures and movies that in the end helped to establish the alleged perpetrators.

AT&T has been busy mobilizing round SoFi Stadium, and has elevated its community capability 10x in comparison with its capability on the 2020 Tremendous Bowl. Because of the supplier’s public-private-partnership with the First Responder Community Authority (FirstNet Authority) — an unbiased company inside the federal authorities — AT&T can be delivering 5G to first responders in Los Angeles. FirstNet has been dedicated to revamping public security for huge occasions and in addition throughout catastrophe restoration. 

The three Flying COWs (which stands for “mobile on wings”) within the FirstNet fleet comprise two tethered drones and a trailer for transport that’s geared up with a satellite tv for pc dish and fiber connections. Southern California is a good climate place, however the drones are able to withstanding gentle rain and wind speeds as much as 25 miles per hour — whereas reaching heights of as much as 400 toes. Outfitted with Band 14, AT&T can use the COWs to assist equip FirstNet subscribers within the US with connectivity throughout high-usage occasions. 

For the Tremendous Bowl, FirstNet may even deploy a Communications Automobile, a remedy canine to assist with first responders’ psychological well being throughout traumatic conditions, one FirstNet Micro SatCOLT (Satellite tv for pc Cell on Mild Truck), six floor COWs (Cell on Wheels) with Band 14 spectrum antennas for FirstNet, and hundreds of toes of fiber in and across the stadium.

AT&T has been shifting aggressively in Los Angeles. From 2018 to 2020, it expanded protection and improved connectivity by investing practically $2.7 billion in wi-fi and wireline networks within the higher Los Angeles space.