Originally built by order of Benito Mussolini in 1932-33, Stadio Olimpico in the Italian city of Turin has undergone a comprehensive refit and refurbishment, completed in time for it to play host to the prestigious opening and closing ceremonies of the 2006 Winter Olympics.
Stadio Olimpico di Torino is now a state-of-the-art sports facility, featuring a roof that overhangs the seating area around its entire circumference, a new commercial area and expansive underground car parking. Ranked as one of the world's foremost sporting venues, 2007 will once again see it become the home for Torino and Juventus football clubs.
Prompted by a requirement to meet strict security regulations instigated by the Italian government and to secure its multimillion Euro investment, the Italian Football Federation commissioned a high-performance CCTV system based on the multi award-winning UTP video transmission technology from NVT. Specified by Videoline of Milan, following a comprehensive site audit and delivered in two stages by Kopa Engineering and LM Sicurezza, the first phase was finished in October 2005 and the second completed in August 2006.
Images from 48 PTZ cameras and over 50 fixed head cameras are monitored from the on-site control room, where the stadium's public areas are recorded on multiple DVRs for review or evidential video production. Due to the unique geographical properties of the stadium, a traditional coax-based transmission system would have proved problematic.
Space in the stadium's ducting is at a premium due to the various primary services it is used for, such as a public address system and the stadium's high-performance lighting systems. The sharing of ducting space also raised a concern over electrical interference that may affect a coax cable-based installation; especially in the areas it would pass the large electrical output services. The interference concern was compounded by the predominantly metal structure of the stadium itself.
These concerns and problems were eliminated by the use of UTP video transmission technology from NVT, with its interference-rejecting capabilities and minimal space requirements, Kopa Engineering was able to reap the benefits relaying crystal clear picture quality to the CCTV control room.
Commenting on the NVT UTP installation, Marco Lazzaroni, technical manager at Videoline says: "Installing a Cat5 cable network proved much less time consuming than pulling traditional coax bundles, resulting in less civil works around the stadium, less disturbance to its day-to-day operation and leading to a more economical installation."
Some of the camera runs extend to up to 1000 metres. Using NVT's active transmitters and receivers meant that Kopa engineers could balance the signal to achieve perfect images. The use of these transmitters and receivers also ensured complete compatibility with the system's DVRs. The high-quality video signals demanded by today's DVR equipment is catered for by NVT's active transmission equipment, with NVT's receivers employing the essential feature of 'fully variable' potentiometer adjustment; allowing easy and accurate adjustments to video signal gain over the varying distances of the stadium's camera cable runs - providing the installer with a reliable route to successfully integrating the high-performance DVRs.
Stadio Olimpico di Torino fulfils a variety of roles and is used for domestic football competitions, through to music and entertainment events and it was therefore part of the installation brief for the system to be adaptable. To accommodate surveillance requirements for future events, if any cameras need to be repositioned or added to gain critical visual coverage, the use of UTP video transmission means this is easily done, by simply connecting into one of the 'built-in' spare UTP pairs contained within the Cat5 cable network. If a standard coax system had been used, this facility would have required a whole new run to be installed - an expensive and time-consuming process.
Providing the Stadio Olimpico with a comprehensive security system has presented many challenges, but as Marco Lazzaroni of Videoline explains, the use of NVT technology has produced a successful, future proofed solution, "It is fair to say that without NVT's expert help and the invaluable technical backup we received, a quality installation such as this, in the challenging geographical layout of the stadium would not have been possible."
The high-end Studio Olimpico CCTV installation is regarded as a showcase cornerstone of the security standards that now need to be met by similar facilities across Italy.
NVT products are available locally through ADI.
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