CTS 154: Stadium Wi-Fi with Scott Lester

Happy New Year everyone!



This week, Scott Lester, CWNE #253, joins us on the show to talk about Stadium Wi-Fi. Scott works as a Sr. System Engineer for Layer 3 Communications in Atlanta, GA. He has experience deploying Wi-Fi for large public venues (LPV) and warehouses.



Alongside Tauni Odia, Scott is also launching his own podcast called Contention Window. They will be releasing their first episode later this week. Make sure you visit their website (https://contentionwindow.com) and subscribe to their podcast!







The Stadium Experience



Here are some of main points we have talked about during this recording:



Design



* Designed for very high density (20K to 70K people)* Plan for 60%-70% of concurrently connected devices. In reality, you will see 40%-50% of concurrent connected devices.



Implementation



* Different type of installation (overhead, underseat, through concrete…)* There are a lot of moving pieces* The process can take a long time and a lot can change in the meantime* A lot of challenges comes from things that you can’t account for ahead of time



Aruba in Stadiums



* Client Match is useful in stadium deployments* They have done a lot of testing in the San Fransisco Football stadium in order to provide good configuration guidance



Wi-Fi Metrics to Follow



* Number of connections per radio* Overall throughput in specific areas* Channel utilization (high is not necessary a bad thing)



Links and Resources



* Scott’s blog: https://blog.theitrebel.com* Scott’s new podcast: https://contentionwindow.com* Scott’s twitter: https://twitter.com/theITrebel* Aruba VRD on Very High Density: https://community.arubanetworks.com/t5/Validated-Reference-Design/Very-High-Density-802-11ac-Networks-Validated-Reference-Design/ta-p/230891