Case Study: IP Telephony Helps Formula NIPPON Driver and Pit Crew to Communicate

OKI Networks has begun testing a pit communication system for the driver and pit crew of the Formula NIPPON racing team sponsored by NTT DOCOMO, Inc.(hereafter DOCOMO), DOCOMO TEAM DANDELION RACING (hereafter, DANDELION), using OKI Networks’ “IP CONVERGENCE Server SS9100 TypeM,” (hereafter, SS9100) an IP telephony server.
DOCOMO is promoting the F-PROJECT as a means to improve FOMA communication quality and testing results will be applied to product development. FOMA equipment has been installed in the DANDELION formula racer for testing under various excessive conditions, including extreme high-speeds, sudden decelerations, high temperatures, vibrations and more. The results will advance communication technology even further.
Moving forward, DOCOMO is looking to offer a wider variety of services, including communication services that use IP technology. After considering the adoption of new communication systems, DOCOMO considered OKI Networks’ wealth of experience in offering corporate customers a wide variety of unified communication systems, combining our SS9100, 3G/wireless LAN dual terminals, Com@WILL software phones and more, and has begun testing to evaluate a future purchase.
This communication system constantly connects a maximum of sixty personnel, including the driver and everyone in the pit crew (managers, engineers, mechanics, etc.), using PHS-compatible headsets. These headsets are also used for them to communicate all at once. OKI Networks will install an SS9100 and approximately twenty IP compatible PHS base stations at each race venue and verifies frequency conditions and communication quality as the driver communicates throughout the course.
This communication system offers fourteen communication groups, each of which can support a maximum of seven participants. These groups are organized as tools for the drivers and managers to communicate, and pit crew can switch among them easily by pressing the switch on the headset. The driver communicates with the pit crew by means of a FOMA network.
OKI Networks will further continue testing to introduce the product and to develop solutions based on our experience and knowledge. We will also use that experience and knowledge to offer business customers the SS9100 as a unified communication solution.
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