A white U-shaped attachment mounted on the roof of most DTM vehicles first drew consideration through the official pre-season check at Spielberg in mid-April. Curiously, by final month’s season opener on the Purple Bull Ring, each automotive was fitted with the system, with a cable main into the cockpit.
Because it seems, for the primary time this season, DTM vehicles are outfitted with onboard antennas able to transmitting information at 5G velocity. 5G – the fifth technology of cell communications expertise – at present represents probably the most superior wi-fi customary accessible, enabling massive volumes of knowledge to be transmitted in actual time with just about no delay.
The onboard antenna is mounted on the roof of the automotive ready designed to keep away from interference from different radio indicators. It even options an built-in router and connects to entry factors positioned across the circuit, permitting onboard digicam footage from contained in the automotive to be transmitted by means of a devoted wi-fi community.
The system, equipped by Riedel, is just not solely being utilized in DTM from 2026 onward, but additionally within the ADAC GT Masters and GT4 Germany championships. Nonetheless, as a result of not each automotive at present carries onboard cameras for the TV broadcast – solely seven of the 21 DTM entries at Spielberg had been outfitted – the remaining vehicles run dummy items for weight-balancing functions.
Groups should additionally make sure that the antenna’s cooling duct is just not obstructed. The long-term purpose of the 5G rollout is for each automotive within the discipline, fairly than solely round one-third of the grid, to function onboard cameras for reside TV protection.
Till now, onboard footage was transmitted utilizing standard sign expertise alongside a fibre-optic community put in across the circuit to relay the video feed again to the printed vans.
Onboard Antenna
Photograph by: ADAC
Antennas made much less conspicuous after testing
Curiously, the place of the U-shaped antennas modified on a number of vehicles between the pre-season check and the opening race weekend, and a few items had been even painted in workforce colors. This adopted efforts by DTM organisers to make the gadgets visually much less intrusive after the preliminary check outing.
On the Mercedes-AMG GT3, for instance, the part was initially mounted towards the entrance of the roof throughout testing earlier than being relocated additional rearward by the beginning of the season.
The innovation may additionally pave the best way for additional developments. At current, the vehicles can carry as much as three separate digicam techniques: one for the TV broadcast, one for the workforce, and the incident digicam system utilized by the stewards to assessment contentious conditions.
Presently, incident cameras retailer footage on sealed reminiscence playing cards which can be retrieved and downloaded by technicians after every session. With the brand new 5G system, it could finally turn into doable to make use of a single digicam system able to transmitting all video information reside in actual time.
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