Norwest Productions deployed Optocore optical fibre network for site wide signal distribution for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games. The production company worked alongside event organisers, Jack Morton Worldwide, to overcome the challenges of the 25,000-capacity stadium.
The design comprised an Optocore dual redundant ring network of decentralised devices in the form of a 17-node network, all duplicated in a main/backup system, at points including the Speaker Positions, Show Control, Stage, Patch, RF/IEM, Broadcast, other integration locations. The fibre lengths ranged from 75m to 900m.
The drive racks comprised more than 50 Optocore devices, including 17 x DD32R-FX, 8 x DD4MR-FX, 1 x DD2FR-FX, 12 x X6R-FX-8AE/8MI, 6 x X6R-TP-8MI/8LO, 4 x X6R-TP-16MI, 6 x X6P 16 In, 4 x X6P 8AE/8MI, 2 x X6 16 Out. These fed a large L-Acoustics K2 / KS28 sound reinforcement system from DiGiCo SD5 and SD9 digital consoles. Additional MADI signal transport was carried out via RME and DirectOut M.1k2 MADI routing matrices.
Andrew Marsh, Norwest project manager, again gave his reasons for adopting an Optocore solution: “The ability of Optocore to operate interchangeably on both multimode and single mode fibre allowed us to effectively utilise our inventory and operate over long distances.”