Ericsson equips Sunswift Racing with advanced WAN technology for race
Ericsson has announced that it is providing Sunswift Racing with improvements in wireless Wide Area Network (WAN) communications using its Intelligent Link Bonding technology.
The implementation will see Sunswift Racing, a team from the University of New South Wales, utilise Ericsson enterprise wireless solutions to maintain seamless connectivity between its solar-powered race cars, the team's support vehicles, and its headquarters in Sydney during the upcoming Bridgestone World Solar Challenge.
Continuous connectivity
Ericsson stated that the technology combines multiple WAN links - cellular, satellite, or wired - into a single logical connection and employs unique traffic steering and cellular intelligence features to manage the distribution of network traffic.
The solution is intended to provide uninterrupted connections throughout the race, which spans from Darwin to Adelaide in Australia.
Sunswift Racing, which has a track record in the World Solar Challenge and has set Guinness World Records in the field, will compete in the race using Ericsson's equipment to ensure real-time data inflow. This includes live telemetry feeds from the solar car's battery, electric motor, and solar panel, as well as the speedometer. The connectivity is also central to live video feeds, internet access, and push-to-talk communications for the racing team and management during the event.
Technical implementation
The deployment features Ericsson Cradlepoint R1900 ruggedised routers linked to both 5G and satellite connections, managed using Ericsson's NetCloud platform for multi-carrier connectivity with the Sunswift headquarters. Intelligent Link Bonding is central to the system, aggregating bandwidth from multiple WAN connections in order to deliver stable performance for telemetry and video streaming activities throughout the competition.
"This next evolution of uninterrupted connectivity from Ericsson will enable our team to perform at their peak during the upcoming race," said Professor Richard Hopkins, Team Principal of UNSW Sunswift Racing.
"The incredible success that Sunswift has had over the years, supported by continuous innovation in technology from partners like Ericsson has enabled us to launch P-ONE Technology, an agile, commercialisation spin-out of Sunswift Racing, backed by UNSW and the Australian Governments TRaCE Trailblazer program. Working with some of the best technology providers in the world, our mission is to transform cutting-edge research into market-ready, automotive solutions through industry and government partnerships."
Key features of Ericsson's Intelligent Link Bonding highlighted in the collaboration include flow duplication, which duplicates application traffic across two WAN connections for higher availability, flow balancing to optimise the use of different network links and manage costs, and bandwidth aggregation to combine the capacities of multiple WAN connections for large data or real-time video uploads.
Features such as application-based traffic steering, error correction, and AI-driven network insights are also available on the Ericsson Cradlepoint router platform.
Use in remote conditions
The World Solar Challenge presents unique logistical challenges, as competitors travel long distances across remote areas. Access to high-quality, high-availability communications infrastructure is considered essential for collecting and acting on performance data in real time and for ensuring safety and operational coordination throughout the race period.
Ericsson suggests its Intelligent Link Bonding solution is specifically designed to support continuity and reliability under these demanding circumstances.
The collaboration aligns with broader trends in enterprise communications, where organisations are adopting multi-WAN strategies for redundancy and performance enhancement.
Ericsson believes that intelligent management of multiple connections in environments such as the World Solar Challenge serves as an indicator of how enterprises can benefit from similar technologies in other sectors.
"At Ericsson, we are committed to ensuring uninterrupted connectivity during high-stakes race events. Our Intelligent Link Bonding technology empowers organisations to achieve unmatched application resiliency, enhanced performance, and optimised bandwidth use - even in the most challenging mobile environments," said Archana Khetan, Senior Vice President of Enterprise Wireless Solutions at Ericsson.
"As more businesses adopt multi-WAN strategies, managing these various connections intelligently is becoming essential. Showing how well this works in one of the world's most challenging race environments underscores the value of this technology in any enterprise environment."
Sunswift Racing will use the new communications capabilities during the August event, where continuous telemetry and live content uploads are expected to play a significant role in both race strategy and public engagement.
