High-speed communications testing at the Bloodhound supersonic car (SSC) land-speed record attempt site at Hakskeenpan, in the Northern Cape, had delivered promising results, Bloodhound information technology head Sarah Covell told Engineering News following a test in November.

The test included an L39 jet aircraft flying multiple passes down Bloodhound’s specially prepared desert track, which were synchronised with a new all-wheel-drive Jaguar F-TYPE R Coupé and a Jaguar XF saloon.

Covell said that the technology would be optimised over the coming 12 months leading up to the official land-speed record tests and attempts in 2015 and 2016.

Bloodhound head of desert communications Conor Lagrue explained that the Bloodhound communications system had just been commissioned and, therefore, the team wanted to test its signal strength and connection speeds.

“What we wanted to do is check the signal strength from our new systems across a big area and also check the connection speeds we were getting at such a high speed. We wanted to test the signal strength to the MTN Klipkolk mast 14.5 km away and we wanted to do it in the fastest way we could. “We wanted to see what effects we have with high closing speeds on voice communication, on data rates and, basically, do a spectrum check,” he told Engineering News.

He added that, while the desert might seem an easy environment in which to operate an information and communication technology (ICT) network, the high salt content of the Hakskeenpan and its clay shell layer actually created a challenging communications environment.

MTN capital projects GM Brandon Gombert stated that, as the ICT enabler for the Bloodhound project, MTN had, over the past two years, built four new sites around Hakskeenpan.

“We have deployed three different networks – we have a second-generation (2G) and a third-generation (3G) network that everyone has access to, and then we built a private long-term evolution (LTE) network specifically for Bloodhound’s purposes.

“The purpose of the LTE network is to get the 300 channels of information off the car, and they want at least three, maybe even five, video streams coming off the car, which has never been done before using an LTE network with such a fast-moving object,” Gombert said.

He added that, while the private LTE network would expire once the Bloodhound project was completed, the 2G and 3G networks would remain for the people in the area to use.

During the recent test of the communications infrastructure, the vehicles and the jet achieved closing speeds of up to 804 km/h, which was half the speed the Bloodhound SSC would ultimately travel.

The cars carried the same equipment that would stream data, voice and imagery live from the Bloodhound SSC during test runs and record attempts.

For the test, custom-made Poynting antennas with Sierra Wireless Air Prime embedded long-term evolution modems were mounted on the Jaguar XF, replicating the kit that would be built into Bloodhound’s tail fin.

Simulated Bloodhound SSC data and footage from four high-resolution Stemmer imaging cameras, equipped with BJR lenses, were streamed live from the Jaguar XF during the high-speed passes.

Driving in tandem was the Jaguar F-TYPE R Coupé carrying Emcom’s latest digital very high frequency radio technology. This equipment had been specially calibrated to ensure clear voice communication from the Bloodhound team to driver Andy Green in the SSC, as well as to two Jaguar rapid response vehicles that would be provided for the Bloodhound project as part of a new partnership between the vehicle manufacturer and Bloodhound.

Jaguar sponsors and brand partnerships global head James Barclay said Jaguar would reveal the specific details of its partnership with Bloodhound at the Los Angeles motor show later this month, and was only willing to say that the partnership would include cooperation in a number of areas.

Meanwhile, flying the full length of the track above the cars in the L39 jet, Covell measured signal strength from the 60-m-tall solar powered MTN mast 14.5 km from the track.

"Currently, the equipment is exceeding our requirements, so, given that we have a year to get it better, we are looking really good," Lagrue said.

He added that the Bloodhound team would now also start to consider its link budget, which would enable it to get a data link from the SSC to the project’s film studio to provide live coverage.

“[Last week’s communications test] is one of many we have been doing and we now have data that allows us to understand data rates on the whole pan. “Now we will optimise the system, do some static testing and do some accurate trimming and tuning of the system so that we have an optimised link budget and we will slowly but surely use more and more of the car equipment,” he said.

Education and Inspiration
One of the specific aims of the Bloodhound project is to inspire learners to become the next generation of scientists. To this end, schools around the world are being encouraged to follow the project.

In line with this goal, MTN recently provided a local Northern Cape school, Grootmier Primary, with a fully fledged computer lab and broadband Internet access.

The lab, which holds 21 computers with preloaded software, an interactive whiteboard and a printer, has also enabled the school to connect with two other schools in the UK that were also following the Bloodhound project.

Grootmier Primary would be communicating with the two UK schools on a regular basis through Skype.