Reported temporary private LTE network for festival payments

Overview

Madison Festivals, Inc. used a dedicated private LTE network from Baicells, designed and deployed with Hoyos Consulting, to connect contactless point-of-sale terminals at 23 beverage tents during Taste of Madison on Capitol Square, according to a Baicells case study.^[1] Baicells says organizers wanted to avoid public networks that could overload when about 250,000 visitors come downtown, and that conventional Wi-Fi did not meet their reliability and security needs.^[1] The case study is undated, does not name the festival year, and does not say what spectrum the network used.^[1]

At a glance

Organization

Taste of Madison, a free food festival produced by Madison Festivals, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.^[2]

Location

Capitol Square, Madison, Wisconsin.^[2] The two base stations sat on opposite sides of the square.^[1]

Date reported

Not publicly stated. The Baicells case study carries no date and does not name the festival year.

Spectrum

Not publicly stated. The case study does not mention CBRS (Citizens Broadband Radio Service) or any other band.

Technology

Private LTE (4G).^[1]

Scale as reported

Two Baicells Nova436Q base stations with 65-degree antennas serving stationary Pocket Routers at 23 beverage tents, for an event Baicells says draws about 250,000 visitors.^[1]

Vendors and roles

Baicells: Nova436Q base stations and Pocket Router CPE (customer premises equipment).^[1]

Integrator

Hoyos Consulting designed and deployed the network with Baicells.^[1] Hoyos Event Networks lists Taste of Madison among its event jobs each September from 2022 through 2025, without saying which years used private LTE.^[3]

Status

Not publicly stated whether the LTE network has been used at later festivals. Baicells presents the design as reusable for future Capitol Square events.^[1]

How the network is used

• Contactless card payments at the festival's beverage tents.^[1]
• Real-time inventory monitoring to keep beverage tents stocked.^[1]
• Tip collection for the volunteer nonprofit groups that staff the tents; Baicells says all tips stay with those groups.^[1] The festival says more than 30 volunteer groups help each year and that Madison Festivals donates about $80,000 a year to local nonprofits.^[2]

Reported results

As reported by the sources below; not independently verified.

• Baicells reports throughput of about 30 Mbps down and 1 Mbps up, which it says was enough for the point-of-sale system.^[1]
• Baicells reports zero network downtime during the event.^[1]
• In the case study, Madison Festivals president Sara Klemme describes the project team as easy to work with.^[1]