2‑5

2 Telecommunication Radio Broadcast

Services/Systems Provided over the Games
Data Network [Ⅱ] : Telecom Services
Offered by the Organising Committee
MUTO Kenji

KAKUTA Yuki

WATAI Mutsumi

SAITO Wataru

This article provides an overview of the main “telecommunication services” provided by the Organising Committee of
the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games using the Games Data Network their achievements and results This
paper also discusses the problems encountered in the preparation and construction of these services and provides a
viewpoint for providing similar services at future events
Keywords：Communication service for the Games Press Plus (Press VLAN services) Local 5G CATV FMC service･

CATV (Community Access Television) service･

IP fixed‑line telephone and FMC services

the･

VLAN for TV conference service

network for FA systems housed in OCOG Technology･

IOC staff network (used at Olympic Family

1．Communication Service
An overview of the Games Data Network

Network (OTN) and the widely used basic functionalityof Wi‑Fi connectivity are described earlier In thissectionHotel)･

we will continue to introduce the design

construction

and provision of some of the main

VLAN Connect (VPN within and between
venues)･Internet with global IP address etc“communication services” used during the Games time
as described below

2．VLAN Service for the Press(Press Plus Service)

Main communication services･

Internet for the Stakeholders･

Special VLAN service for the press (Press Plus)

21

What is the Press Plus Service?

Major press agencies covering the Games send photos
taken by photographers at each venue to the Main Press
Centre (MPC)

MUTO KenjiBusiness Innovation Headquarters Nippon Telegraph and Telephone East
Corporation
E‑mail kenji muto@east ntt co jp
KAKUTA Yuki
Business Solution Division NTT Communications
E‑mail yuki kakuta@ntt com
WATAI Mutsumi
Business Solution Division NTT Communications
E‑mail m watai@ntt com
SAITO Wataru
Technology Services Bureau The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic
and Paralympic GamesThe Journal of The Institute of Electronics Information and Communication Engineers Vol 105 No 8 Supplement pp 45‑53 August 2022
© 2022 The Institute of Electronics Information and Communication Engineers

where they select the photos anddistribute to the media worldwide The network used tosend photos from the venues to the MPC was called“Press Plus ” a virtual private network (VPN) service
with secure bandwidth provided by the Organising
Committee (Figure 1) A total of ten agencies international press agencies accredited by IOC and official
domestic press agencies of the Olympic and Paralympic
Games Tokyo 2020 (hereafter referred to as “Tokyo
2020 Games”) used this service

Special Issue : Technology and Innovation in the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 202045

Figure 1

22

Press Plus Service Image

Main Service Requirements

need to include the function to connect to the Internet

In the past Games a static VLAN (virtual LAN)but since security threats such as unauthorized accessenvironment was provided so that the terminals of eachare more serious some press agencies had said that thepress agency at the venue were able to communicate

Internet connection is unnecessary in consideration ofwith the terminals installed at their MPC desks

security and the Internet connection is finally excluded

However because it was static the location of switchesfrom the Press Plus specifications On the other handthat could be connected to the press VPN and the ports

there was a strong request from press agencies for Wi‑

that could be connected with the VPN were limited and

Fi connectivity so it was provided after joint verification

the press agencies needed to travel to those locations andby NTT East and Cisco In addition for fixed locations

use the specific ports to send data from venues to theeach company was able to statically connect to its own

MPC

VLAN by connecting to a predetermined cable ports

For greater convenience a new method of “dynamicSpecificallythe designated locations such as Photo

VLAN assignment based on MAC address (unique

Position/Press Tribune/Venue Media Centre were

physical address called Media Access Control) authenti-

connected to Press Plus VLAN via specific wired LAN

cation” was introduced for the Tokyo 2020 Games andcables while the Catwalk/Underwater locations were

this service was provided as a “closed L3‑VPN” and “Wi‑connected to Press Plus VLAN via specific L2 switch

Fi access” specifications The communication terminals

ports

such as cameras had unique MAC addresses assigned
and when a terminal was connected the MAC address

23

was recognized by the L3 switch which functioned as a

As this was the first time in the history of the Games

router and a switching hub By managing and register-that a dynamic allocation function was introduced thising which terminals were used by which agencies theservice was tested beforehand with the press agencies

Operational Testing and Operation

moment a terminal (precisely a wired cable connected tothree times in June 2018 October 2019 and May 2021 :the terminal) was plugged into an open port on an L3

the first was to confirm “dynamic VLAN allocation based

switch at various locations in the venue

it wason MAC address authentication” and the second was torecognized and authenticated which agencyʼs terminal it

confirm registration and overall functionality using thewas and was dynamically and securely connected to the“portal for MAC address registration” and the third was

VLAN configured by each agency This was called ato test the final operation using the actual environment“closed L3‑VPN” specification

between venues In June 2021 nine of the press agencies

This closed L3‑VPN service was initially considered to46

participated in the third test along with the IOC the

THE JOURNAL OF THE INSTITUTE OF ELECTRONICS INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERS

Organising Committee Cisco NEC and camera manu-

technology and service were in the phase of expansion at

facturers (Canon Nikon and Sony) The service was

the time of the Gameslaunched on the same day of the MPC soft opening July

expectation on the speed for distributing visual contents

1 2021in the current media is increasing and transferring

On the other handtheDuring the Games time an engineer dedicated forphoto data reliably and quickly is significant for thePress Plus was assigned as a support staff in MPC enable

events that draw large attentions such as global sports

each agency to inquire about the service directly without

eventsgoing through the service desk Thanks to such careful

With this background a telecommunications service

preparation and organization there were no network

partner NTT East provided local 5G as one of Press Plus

problems or trouble reports The system also performed

connectivity functions to agencies at Tokyo 2020 Games

well during the opening ceremony and track and fieldin order to gain practical knowledge of the use of local 5G

events such as menʼs and womenʼs 100 m finals which

for news coverage of large‑scale eventswere reportedly expected to be the most heavily used

NTT East installed local 5G at the Olympic Stadium

events during the Games The total number of devices

Unlike spectator seating the stadium field where theused during the Olympics was 2 253 and the maximum

Games were held often lacked sufficient cellular cover-communication bandwidth to the MPC was 1 8 Gbit/s

age so a local 5G environment was built to cover thosespaces Six media agencies that wished to use the24

Local 5G Demonstration

system connected their devices through Local 5G to theirTechnological innovation and institutional develop-

Press Plus VLANs This system enabled photographers

ment of the next‑generation communication systemfrom each agency to upload large‑volume photo data

Local 5G (see Figure 2) has been progressing rapidly

taken in the field during the opening and closing

including institutional revisions related to the expansion

ceremonies as well as Track and Field competitions in aof the frequency band used for Local 5G ; Sub6 of 4 6 tostable environment in real time Each company was

4 9 GHz and Millimeter wave of 28 3 to 29 1 GHz were

provided five terminals

newly available in December 2020 In addition the NSA

volume during the Games was 475 GByte ; assuming that

(Non‑Stand Alone) system using Sub6 which will beeach file was about 10 M this means that nearly 50 000

the mainstream system became available and thishigh‑resolution photos were uploaded Three antennas

and the total transmission

were designed and built to cover the field the photo
positions where wired LAN ports were not located andthe competition field During the competition there wasonce a situation in which connection was difficult due tointerference between some cells so the antennas were
adjusted and recovered to provide an optimal signal
environment during the competition There were no
major complaints from users and all companies seemedsatisfied with the quality of the system Local 5G is atechnology that offers the advantage of high‑quality
wireless access in an environment where Wi‑Fi andpublic networks are unstable due to interference andcongestion and it can be said that the characteristics ofthis technology were fully demonstrated at the Games
Some of the press agencies expressed their hope that thesystem would be used for the FIFA World Cup Qatar
2022 and the next Olympic Games
Figure 2 5G Demonstration Image
Local 5G is a dedicated 5G
network that a company or municipality builds within a certain
area or site A radio station license is required for each case andthis time a license was obtained at the Olympic Stadium during theGames and the service was provided to the press in the area thatpublic services or the Organising Committee services were difficult
to reachSpecial Issue : Technology and Innovation in the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 202047

Figure 3 Inter‑Venue CATV System Configuration
Games video and commercial TV channels
provided by the Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) system were distributed to 56 venues/
locationsFigure 4 In‑Venue CATV System Configuration
The figure shows the system in the form of
RF signal transmission In addition HD‑SDI signals from the OBS system and Real Time Data
System (RTDS) are transmitted as they are The competition video and RTDS video werereceived via DIVA network a video and audio network within the competition venues anddistributed to the TVs within the venues･

3．CATV Service
31

basis

What is CATV?

･

Community Access Television (CATV) was a video
distribution service dedicated to the Games thattion venue and commercial TV channels (national TV
broadcasts from foreign countries) to MPCs competiathletesʼ villages

Sustainability will be realized by utilizing existing
facilities and reusing them after the convention･

distributed images of the competitions at each competi-tion venues

Proven services and equipment will be used as theInter‑Venue CATV distribution shall be provided
as a service embedded on the Games Data Network･

In‑Venue CATV transmits images with low
latencyand other locations

Viewers included stakeholders (IOCInternational

32

Inter‑Venue CATV Requirements and Functions

Sports Federations Games management staff etc )Inter‑Venue CATV was a form of multi‑channel

athletes media representatives national Olympic com-

distribution of competition videos (48 channels) col-mittees who had applied for rate cards (a paid menu

lected at the IBC

provided by the Organising Committee)

channels) and program list for one week of competition

There were two CATV services : “Inter‑Venue

commercial TV channels (15videos The service was provided from each competition

CATV” and “In‑Venue CATV” The system configura-site through the Games Data Network to MPCs

tions of the two services are shown in Figures 3 and 4competition venues athletesʼ villages Olympic family

The design is based on the following assumptions :hotels and individual locations where rate cards were48

THE JOURNAL OF THE INSTITUTE OF ELECTRONICS INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERS

applied for (Figure 5) This was a large‑scale 24‑hourGames Data Network that extended over a wide area

IP multicast distribution of 630 Mbit/s (approximately

between venues we used the technology of “Hikari TV”

10 Mbit/s per channel) to approximately 3 500 STBs

provided by NTT Plala Inc “Hikari TV” is a multi‑(Set Top Boxes video receivers) In superimposing thischannel IP broadcasting service that provides services

on OTN of the Games data network Layer 3 processing

equivalent to broadcast quality

equipment was configured to be independent in order toindustry standard specifications in Japan including the

avoid mutual influence with the closed‑circuit television

standards of Association of Radio Industries and(CCTV) security network which also used IP multicast

Business in Japan and IPTV Forum Japan This system

Figure 6 shows the number of Inter‑Venue CATV

and conforms to

had the following processing functions () to () and

STBs in daily use and the cumulative number of STBs

satisfied the requirements of Inter‑Venue CATV forthat had started to be used up to that datesafe

To superimpose and distribute the data over thehigh‑quality video distribution of competition

videos (HD‑SDI signal) provided by OBS through theGames Data Network①

Real‑time encoding of SDI signals provided by the
program provider(video format : 1080/59 94i encoding method : H 264)②

Superimposition of program information③

Encryption of encoded video and program information

IP packetizationand error correction

processing (FEC Forward Error Correction)④

IPv6 multicast stream distribution

In addition the following customizations ⑤ and ⑥
were made to take advantage of these processing
functions ① 〜 ④ and adapted them to the special
environment of the conventions
Figure 5

STB Screen Image of Inter‑Venue CATV (Home andProgram List Pages) (©2021‑International Olympic
Committee‑All Rights Reserved)⑤

IPv4 compatibility with the Games Data Network
protocol (customization of the distribution function

Figure 6 Inter‑Venue CATV STB Usage Trends
July 21 st was the day when the qualifying
matches started The number of STBs in use on a daily basis and the cumulative total of STBs that
had been put into use by that time or the Organising Committee services Almost all the STBs in
the planed locations were activated by the end of July

Special Issue : Technology and Innovation in the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 202049and STB)

Therefore the problem did not occur in the verification⑥

UI development of STB for conventions

33

Problems Discovered When Providing Inter‑

commercial service to a special environment

Venue CATV and Their Solutions

necessary to take countermeasures such as conducting

environment or in most of the venues delaying thediscovery of the problem When converting an existing

Although the operation of Games Data Network wasverified using the verification environment before

it issufficient pre‑verification in an environment close to the
production conditions

construction a major problem occurred during test
operation in the athletesʼ village (where approximately

34

1 400 STBs were installed) just before the start of

In‑Venue CATV was a form of real‑time distribution

In‑Venue CATV Requirements and Functionsof video images shot by OBS at each competition venue

operation
Hikari TV STBs are equipped with many functions

limited to the competition venue at which the video

that are not used during the Olympic Games such as theimages were taken and provided to the press (Press

ability to watch programs recorded or broadcast on the

Tribune etc ) athlete‑related rooms (Warm‑up Area

STBs with Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA)etc ) and other locations

compatible recorders smartphones and tablets in the

The transmission latency requirement was 300 milli

home Therefore it was necessary to customize theseconds or lesssystem by deactivating unused functions and theachieved by preparing transmission paths for SDI signals

processing affected by such deactivation This problem

provided by OBS as they were or by converting SDI

was a failure of communication between the STBs andsignals to RF signals 3 200 terminals were deployed in

the head end (distribution facility) and was caused by

In‑Venue CATV In some venues TVs STBs andthe presence of an unusual number of STBs on the sameother terminals had to be installed in outdoor spaces(Press Tribune

network
At startup the STBs of Hikari TV searched forso low latency transmission was

Press Mixed Zoneetc )so thefollowing measures were taken

DLNA‑compatible devices (recorders tablets etc ) on
the network and the DLNA‑compatible devices re-･

devices to protect them from rainfall

sponded to the search and link up with the STBs This
process was also executed in the athletesʼ village and allother STBs responded to one STBʼs search at startup as

Prepared protective cases for STBs and other･Installation of sunshades to make the TV screeneasier to see

a DLNA‑enabled device Because of the large number of
STBs that responded a large number of ARP packets

However during the actual event the heat from the

Because thesunlight caused the TV casing to deform and we had tonumber of ARP packets exceeded the “incoming ARPtake measures such as putting the TV monitors underpacket rate limit” of the ARP Inspection function set in

the feet when they were not in use

were generated during this process

the access switch of the Games Data Network theaccess switch automatically set the port connecting the

4．Fixed Telephone Service and FMC

STB that was about to be activated to the errdisable
state and started operating to prevent the STB from

A fixed‑line telephone service centered on IP telephone service was provided for the Olympic andcommunicating
Because there were venues other than the athletesʼ

Paralympic Games stakeholders In addition extension

village where this problem could occur and because it

services between cell phones and IP phones were

was just before the start of the Games operations theprovided for staff members and regular analog phones

problem was handled by blocking DLNA‑related

were provided in areas where fax machines and IP

communications on the access switch side

networks could not be installed

where

settings could be changed remotely and at once rather
than stopping the relevant functions of the STBs

41

Requirements for Provision

In a network environment with a small number of

The phone system of the Olympic and Paralympic

STBs (several dozen) this problem does not occur

Games had the characteristic of being used by a large

because the number of ARP packets generated is small

number of stakeholders and staff members just before

50

THE JOURNAL OF THE INSTITUTE OF ELECTRONICS INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERS

Figure 7

Composition of Landline and FMC (Fixed Mobile Calling Service)

the Games start after being used by a small number of()

FMC Service

staff members for a long preparation period Many staff

An environment that enabled to connect approxi-

members moved around without a fixed location somately 15 000 cell phones and fixed‑line phones to ancoordination between fixed and cell phones was alsointernal line was established using NTT DoCoMoʼsimportant In addition it was difficult to hear the detail“Office Link” service

requirements in advance so the key requirements were
to complete the delivery in a short period of time and to(respond quickly to the frequently changed requests

The terminals of cloud‑based IP phones and on‑)

Games Data Network

premise PBXs were connected to the LAN for the42

Configuration of the Conference Telephone

conference via a PoE switch The network provided

Environment

priority control and firewall functions to integrate voice

The conference call environment consisted of theand data

following services (Figure 7)
43()

Cloud‑based IP Phone Service

Migration in Preparation for the Games

During the preparation period before the Games cell

“Arcstar UCaaS” a cloud‑based IP phone service

phones were deployed for staff members IP fixed‑line

provided by NTT Communications was used to control

phones were provided for each department and an

approximately 2 600 IP phones and integrate on‑premiseenvironment was prepared to link extensions using FMC

PBX and cell phone extension services The service wasservicehighly compatible with short‑term intensive use because

Since the scale and reliability of the existing on‑

it was able to be used for a monthly fee without assets it

premise PBX were not sufficient and since the number

enabled to flexibly respond to fluctuations in demand beof phones required increased rapidly only around theeasily kitted and configured via a portal

Games time and would be drastically reduced in a few

and beconfigured for several hundred phones per hourmonths it was decided to introduce cloud‑based IP
telephones The deployment of cloud‑based IP teleph-()

On‑premise PBX

ony began three months prior to the Games and was

A fixed telephone environment for staff members had

quickly deployed at competition venues media centres

been required for five years prior to the Games and an

and other locations where reliability was required

IP telephone environment for approximately 300 units(Figure 8) The on‑premise PBX and mobile extension

was continuously provided using a small PBX

services used during the preparation period were also
linkedSpecial Issue : Technology and Innovation in the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 202051

Figure 8

Table 1

Changes in the Number of Cloud Fixed‑line Phones Installed

Number of Calls during the Games (Comparison with London 2012 Games)
London2012
2012 7 27〜2012 9 9Tokyo20202021 7 23〜2021 9 5Outgoing Calls

380k Call

41 1%

268k Call

23 0%

fixed to overseas
fixed to Domestic fixed
fixed to Domestic Moblie
mobile to all outside

47k Call
88k Call245k Call
─

5 1%
9 5%
26 5%

1k Call
16k Call
11k Call
240k Call

0 1%
1 4%
0 9%
20 6%

Incoming Calls

492k Call

53 1%

289k Call

24 8%

to fixed phone
to mobile492k Call─

53 1%

52k Call237k Call

4 5%
20 3%

Extension Calls

54k Call

5 8%609k Call

52 2%

fixed to fixedmobile from/to fixedmobile to mobile

54k Call──

5 8%

18k Call
6k Call
585k Call

1 5%
0 5%
50 2%

Total

926k Call

100 0%

1166k Call

100 0%(Note) In the Tokyo 2020 Games all staff members were given cell phones (smartphones) as extension terminals
Information on extensions and outgoing calls to and from staff membersʼ cell phones is also necessary to compare incoming
and outgoing calls from the Organising Committeeʼs terminals with those from London So the figures are listed in this
above table Although extension service was managed by a cloud‑based IP service the extension calls between cell phones
and the number of outgoing calls to/from cell phones do not go through the Games Data Network ; i e strictly speaking
they do not go through the Games Data Network (In other words it is not strictly a closed service in the Games Data
Network )44

Operational Results

functions) were used more than fixed‑line phones but

Table 1 shows the results of the use of the system

fixed‑line phones were used as “a phone that can be usedduring the Games time (the information for the London

reliably for emergency or official communications” to2012 Games is based on interviews with people who had

ensure the reliability required by the Organisingexperienced the London 2012 Games in the past )Committee while cell phones were used as “a phone that

The decrease in incoming and outgoing calls to outside

can be used easily at any time” It is assumed that celllines and the large increase in incoming calls to insidephones were used more frequently in terms of traffic In

lines could be attributed to the mobile extension service

addition it is thought that the use of web conferencing

which was provided to all staff members for the firstbusiness chat and other tools on the smartphones

time at the Tokyo 2020 Games

distributed to the staff members and stakeholders was

In terms of cost

reduction in addition to the introduction of this service

more active than in the past Gamesmigration to a hybrid configuration (FMC service)centered on a cloud PBX was effective when demand
increased and reliability was required
The data also shows that cell phones (with extension
52

5．Final Remarks
The communication services described in this section

THE JOURNAL OF THE INSTITUTE OF ELECTRONICS INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERS

are the basic services that had been used by the
stakeholders and staff members in the past Games forconfirming and communicating with the management
and for reporting on the competitions though there
were some additions and changes in functions We areproud that we were able to provide these services
without any major problems at this yearʼs event
The VLANs provided to the press will change
according to user requests like the “dynamic allocation”
function of this time and it is expected that inter‑Venue
CATV which does not have strict latency condition
may shift to streaming In addition as a communication
tool we have described here mainly the telephone

MUTO Kenji
Graduated from Rikkyo University in 1997
with a degree in Economics He has participated in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games project since 2015 Currently heworks for Nippon Telegraph and Telephone
East Corporation
KAKUTA Yuki
Yuki Kakuta received his masterʼs degreefrom the Graduate School of Hokkaido Instituteof Technology (now Hokkaido University of
Science) in 1996 He joined Nippon Telegraphand Telephone Corporation (NTT) in the same
year Since then he has been engaged insystem development and construction forcorporate clients and national projects in thefields of ICT and broadcasting Currently heworks for NTT Communications Corporation

service operated and managed by the Organising
Committee However it is clear after the postponementof the Games that the use of data communication fromsmartphones and web conferencing using PCs has
increased significantly At the Tokyo 2020 Games theInternet services used by the participants were primarily routed through the Organising Committeeʼs data
centre but because it can be the bottleneck in the
future one option will be to promote the use of the public
network with some control on the application/terminalside In this case how to respond to such changes inusage/provisioning patterns and resulting changes intraffic while ensuring quality and information security
will be an issue for the future(Received February 28 2022 ; Revised March 7 2022)

WATAI Mutsumi
Mutsumi Watai received his masterʼs degreefrom Kyushu Institute of Technology (nowKyushu University) in 1990 He joined Nippon
Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT)in the same year Since then he has been
engaged in switching system maintenance andconstruction ATM/VoIP equipment and VoIP
solution development He is currently a section
manager at NTT Communications Corporation Formerly Chief of the LAN Interconnection Liaison Committee of the HATS Promotion
Council
SAITO Wataru
Mr Saito received his M E from the
Graduate School of Engineering University ofTokyo in 1993 He had been seconded to theTokyo 2020 Organising Committee since 2018
and is the Director of Information Infrastructure Department Technology Services Bureau Executive Officer SOGO SECURITYSERVICES CO LTD㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇

Special Issue : Technology and Innovation in the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 202053