If you're unfamiliar with multi-cell communication solutions, our colleagues in Germany put together the following case study to demonstrate the type of powerful communication installation made possible by the Snom M700 Multi-Cell Base Station. In this unique setup, the Snom team got creative to outfit The Chaos Communication Camp, an international meeting of 5,000 hackers, with a secure DECT communication system covering one square kilometer of open meadow.
Case Study
Chaos Communication Camp
DECT Coverage of a 1 km2 Open Space
Section 1 – Background
The Chaos Communication Camp is an international meeting of hackers that has taken place once every four years since 1999, somewhere in the Brandenburg countryside. These camps have a festival feel and enjoy a kind of cult status on the scene. They have to be set up in the shortest time possible – a tented community consisting of multiple “themed villages” must be built, by volunteers, for approx. 5,000 guests from across the globe. These events are organised by the Chaos Computer Club (CCC), Europe’s largest union of hackers. They deal with a range of topics in sensitive areas of technical and social development, from civil rights and online privacy to internet neutrality and censorship. Snom was thrilled to be asked to provide a DECT solution for the 2015 camp – a validation of how secure DECT technology is!
Section 2 – Problem
Snom had to provide this DECT solution for one square kilometer of open meadow – and
there could be no coverage dropouts. This was a huge challenge because there was practically no infrastructure available on the land where the camp was held. Initially, more than 2½ km of fiber optic cables were laid between a nearby pylon and the event’s location. This provided the camp with a symmetrical 10 GB dedicated line. Of course, electricity was also unavailable, which meant that diesel aggregates with an overall output of about 1.8 megawatts had to be procured to generate enough power.
In addition, the DECT solution had to be connected to a stationary analogue telephone system. If this wasn’t challenging enough… all of this had to be completed in twelve hours and neither the power nor the fiber optic cables were available in the run up to the camp.
Section 3 – Solution
Unusual requirements demand creative solutions. After analyzing what was available on site and after close consultation with the CCC team, the decision was made to use fifty M700 base stations and 100 handsets.
The M700 base station is usually intended for wireless connections within office complexes and on business premises. In a single operation, up to thirty M65 handsets can be connected to one base station. For larger installations, up to 235 M700 base stations can be connected in a single network, on which up to 1,000 DECT telephones can be used – this is how a multi-cell solution can cover large areas and complex buildings perfectly.
Via the M700 multi-cell system, the Snom M65 mobile equipment could make use of a number of telephony functions, such as direct access to the telephone book and high definition audio quality. Security was provided by high-level DECT encryption, while TLS and SRTP facilitated secure SIP communication.
Section 4 – Benefits
The DECT solution allowed the CCC team to prepare for and carry out their event, attended by approx. 5,000 people, without a hitch. Thanks to the use of mobile equipment in combination with the extensive installation of base stations, the team could communicate with each other on every area of the premises, finding solutions to organizational issues or problems quickly and decisively.
“Installing a DECT solution for an event being held on a square kilometer of open land was quite a special challenge, particularly as there were no buildings or equipment that we could hook everything up to. That our specialists eventually found an effective solution to this task and contributed to the success of the legendary Chaos Communication Camp demonstrates creativity and flexibility on Snom’s part.”
- Oliver Wittig, Senior Presales Engineer, Snom Technology GmbH