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Google teams with NASCAR for broadband test
Business Insider http://www.businessinsider.com/google-is-running-an-experiment-on-racecars-at-nascar-events-2017-4 [businessinsider.com] reports that Google is testing a new broadband wireless system for streaming data (video?) from a high speed race car to a base station.
It's all happening this summer at four events in NASCAR-loving locales like Tennessee, Michigan, South Carolina, and Virginia.
The application, filed with the FCC on Friday, is highly redacted and provides only limited details about the plans. There's scant technical info about the type of wireless technology to be used, other than the fact that it will involve a frequency between 3400 MHz and 3600 MHz.
That's the spectrum for the so-called Citizens Radio Broadband Service, an unlicensed radio band that companies like Google beleive could be useful for 4G LTE wireless networks.
I wonder how that high frequency works through chain link fencing -- which surrounds all the NASCAR tracks. Maybe they have to get the base station antenna up in the air and put it in the infield?
For all of the aw-shucks image that NASCAR exudes for the general public, there is actually quite a bit of high tech engineering behind the scenes, with the three car manufacturers supplying advanced engineering to their top teams.
If you would rather read the details from a racing site, try http://www.espn.com/jayski/cup/2017/story/_/id/19274226/google-working-nascar-test-new-high-speed-wireless-technology [espn.com] but be prepared for ESPN's ads. Up until last year Jayski was an easy site to navigate, but not this year, it seems that ESPN has taken over the original managers.
