Ericsson partners with SailGP for 5G-enhanced sail races

Ericsson has announced a partnership with SailGP to deliver advanced mobile connectivity solutions for the SailGP F50 catamaran fleet during the upcoming race events. Ericsson Enterprise Wireless Solutions will introduce 5G connectivity to enhance both fan experiences and race operations.

The collaboration aims to support SailGP umpires by facilitating 5G-enabled live camera streaming from competing F50 catamarans.

This technology improvement will offer insights into team locations, tactics, and strategies. Ericsson's Cradlepoint edge routers, which will be installed on the wings of each F50, are designed to manage more than 53 billion data points per race day. These data points span IoT, video, and critical communications, enhancing connectivity through Ericsson Private 5G each race day.

The routers have been developed to withstand the challenging maritime environments faced by the F50s, ensuring that both the boat and crew achieve connectivity before the start of each race.

Warren Jones, Chief Technology Officer at SailGP, stated: "SailGP continues to innovate so we can provide the best experiences possible for our teams and fans, and this requires networking technology that can keep up with the speed and intricacies of the sport. Ericsson Private 5G combined with its Cradlepoint edge routers not only matches the bandwidth and latency challenges of billions of data points during a race but also addresses our need to quickly deploy networks at locations across the world."

"This reliable, scalable connectivity helps teams optimise performance and maintain fair competition while significantly enriching the fan experience through visibility into race analytics."

Manish Tiwari, Head of Enterprise 5G, Enterprise Wireless Solutions at Ericsson, remarked: "The fastest sailing event deserves the fastest possible connectivity for its crews, onshore teams, and officials. With Ericsson Private 5G and our Cradlepoint edge routers, that's exactly what it will get."

"This collaboration with SailGP is a testament to the innovation of our connectivity products which support a wide range of use cases – whether it's race-critical for real-time decision-making or to enable the best fan experience through race analytics."

SailGP initially trialled the 5G solutions in collaboration with Ericsson and T-Mobile during events in the United States as part of Season 4. The global rollout for the 2025 season will see the full deployment of Ericsson's 5G solutions across the F50 fleet. The technology promises to optimise performance and enhance spectator engagement by providing real-time data analysis, supporting informed tactical decisions, promoting fairness and transparency, and boosting race analytics visibility.

SailGP is set to take place at Sydney Harbour on 8-9 February 2025 as part of the Australian leg of the competition, marking a significant event in the racing calendar.