The document discusses the use of NVT TBus IP transmission technology for the 2014 TCS New York City Marathon. Virsig was tasked with providing digital information transport and technology for surveillance cameras, signage, and broadcasts along the marathon route. Due to the challenges of installing fiber, Virsig opted to use NVT TBus Ethernet over coax technology to transmit signals over long cable runs up to 3,000 feet. The system performed flawlessly on race day, providing situational awareness to race staff through dozens of real-time camera feeds. The temporary IP network of nearly four miles of coax cable with NVT transmitters was highly successful and will be expanded for future marathons.

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CASE STUDY
NVT TBus®
IP transmission
chosen for the 2014 TCS
New York City Marathon
First held in 1970 by the New York Road Runners Club (NYRR), with just
127 competitors running loops around Central Park, today, the annual
New York City Marathon runs through all five boroughs of New York City
and is the largest marathon in the world.
The Mission
For the 2014 TCS New York City Marathon, NYRR entrusted the supply of digital information transport
services and a technology push package, to New York based IP network & electronic security specialists,
Virsig LLC. On the day of the marathon, the temporary system would be used to provide increased
operational situational awareness, digital information transport for surveillance cameras, voice
annunciators, media broadcast, and digital signage, including Jumbotron large-screen televisions.

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Surveillance system installer, Mace Midlands Ltd, began working for Arriva Midlands Ltd when they
equipped one of the company’s new build depots with the latest in CCTV technology. This led to
subsequent projects at other Arriva depots, updating existing CCTV to match the specification of the
new-builds.
Security and high-quality images is of premier importance at Arriva Midlands Ltd’s bus depots, where
buses often carry large amounts of cash back
to the depots from their daily fares.
Additionally, the service and maintenance
work that takes place in the depot workshops
requires adherence to strict health & safety
guidelines. High-quality CCTV imagery is an
effective way of ensuring compliance, and of
retrospectively investigating the precise
circumstances of any incident.
Picture-perfect specification
“This new specification has proved such a success that Arriva Midlands Ltd have been very enthusiastic
about rolling it out across more of their depots, including this latest one,” explains Richard Sheard, Senior
Security Engineer at Mace Midlands.
“The latest project has seen the installation of CCTV equipment at the Shrewsbury depot, corresponding
to the specification of our previous upgrades at Arriva Midlands Ltd’s other sites.”
At the Shrewsbury depot, Mace engineers installed 38 650TV line Videcon AIR4526HG infrared cameras
to cover the exterior of the depot building, and 24 600TV line DSIRHRV/24 infrared cameras to view the
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The Solution
For the 2014 event, due of the limitations of installing signal over long and costly fibre runs, Virsig opted
to transport digital signals over less expensive and more flexible coax cable. Allowing long cable runs to
be readily deployed across the TCS New York City Marathon start at Fort Wadsworth, Staten Island,
Virsig chose reliable Transmission Bus (TBus) IP transmission technology from Network Video
Technologies (NVT).
Working in compliance under the National Park Service, US Park Police and the US Coast Guard Police
authorities, NVT single and 4-channel TBus Ethernet over UTP/Coax transmitters, surveillance cameras,
wireless nodes and antennas were installed in strategic light pole locations. The NYC Department of
Transportation (DOT) worked with Virsig to keep the power supply to the poles energized at all times, to
power the temporary equipment forming the cost-effective 150Mbs Ethernet over Coax (EoC)
transmission network.
The high-availability IP network was installed using RG59 coax with spans of over 3,000ft (914m) across
the open space at Fort Wadsworth, home to the US Coast Guard and US Army Reserves. Ultimately,
close to four miles of communication cable was installed from pole to pole, and over structures, fences
and high up between trees. In the race command center (RCC), Virsig installed a wall of commercial grade
monitors to be used as part of the primary camera viewing station. A Seneca viewing station was utilized
to control tactical camera operations and Firetide Hotview Pro software was installed on the system to
provide monitoring of the network via the marathon’s Smart Wall - which supplied up to 36 simultaneous
camera views.
TBus Ethernet over UTP/Coax transmitters and surveillance cameras were installed both on the city’s
streets and within Central Park. Above the finish line on a steel Photo Bridge (where ESPN and other
media were located on the day of the race), Virsig positioned cameras and wireless nodes to record the
race finish and capture the crossing of the finish line by every participant. Another camera was positioned
at post-finish to observe the chokepoint - a sensitive area behind the race finish.

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Tel: +44 (0)20 8977 6614 • Fax: +44 (0)20 8973 1855
E-mail: www.nvt.com/email • nvt.com
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The Result
Early on the Sunday morning of the
race, over 50,000 competitors ran
across the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge
from Staten Island into Brooklyn, on the
start of their 26.2 mile journey. A few
hours later as large numbers of runners
started to enter Central Park, the Virsig
technology push package demonstrated
its full capability. The monitoring station
in the RCC displayed dozens of
cameras, which fed real-time data to
the race staff and incident commanders
- increasing overall situational
awareness.
In Staten Island, the Jumbotrons and
systems that needed information
transport worked fine. The near four miles
of cable Virsig strung along with Network Video Technologies’ TBus Ethernet Transmitters operated
flawlessly. The race went on until after dark, and while the last runners were wrapping up the course at
Central Park, the Sony IPELA cameras still demonstrated amazingly bright clear images. And thankfully,
while there weren’t any major anomalies or glitches at the race, if there would have been, the high-quality
recorded camera video would have been available to the marathon’s management and law enforcement
personal for evaluation of evidence.
“My experience with the NVT TBus technology is nothing short of spectacular,” says Adam Roth, VP of
Technology, Virsig LLC. “The alternative to using NVT’s TBus products would have been fibre. However,
the cost and time to install fibre (including man-hours), would have been at least 3 times more. Once the
NVT TBus equipment was paired, it took only minutes to connect the equipment at both ends. The
performance was equal to the experience and we’ll use the NVT TBus products again in the future.”
All together, the massive IP networked technology solution was a success and for next year’s world-class
marathon event, the same system will be used again but in an expanded format.
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