Football comes to life in Qatar’s Al Thumama Stadium with intelligent infrastructure solutions from Belden

In preparation for its role as host of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Qatar designed and built eight new stadiums, including Al Thumama Stadium, which served as one of the host venues and is also set to welcome other types of sporting events after the tournament. The venue integrates the latest information and broadcast technology available in this digital era to support sustainability and deliver the ultimate fan experience.

The Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC), the governmental entity that was responsible for the delivery of stadiums and other infrastructure for Qatar 2022, wanted to deploy the latest and most advanced technology to give fans the best experience possible while they watch their favourite team play. The SC also wanted to prioritise sustainable design and operations, including an energy-efficient data centre. As a result, they looked for installers and manufacturing partners with expertise in intelligent passive infrastructure for LANs, WLANs and data centres.

The goal was to establish Al Thumama Stadium as the only venue in the Middle East with an intelligent infrastructure capable of supporting artificial intelligence and IoT.

Because the stadium will be used for many kinds of events – each with its own technology and network requirements – real-time visibility of network ports and fibre links were important. The network and data centre solutions chosen for this project needed to be easy to install, agile and flexible to deploy, and scalable to support future technology demands.

Integrator Cluster Security Services and Belden along with local partner Al Mazrouei – ICAS Qatar have an established and trusted relationship when it comes to designing, supplying, installing, testing and commissioning cabling systems and data centre solutions for intelligent buildings. Belden’s infrastructure solutions have been deployed in many facilities throughout the Middle East and it offers advanced RFID-based intelligent cabling system, which is used by many organisations in the area to ensure high security, maximum reliability and constant uptime.

For these reasons, Belden, Al Mazrouei – ICAS and Cluster Security Services were chosen to work together to provide Al Thumama Stadium’s intelligent infrastructure.

Cluster Security Services and Belden designed networking and data centre solutions for the stadium in partnership with architectural and engineering consultants Arab Engineering Bureau (AEB) and Turner & Townsend.

More than 520,000m of advanced Category 6A cabling and 120,000m of fibre cabling were installed to support the information and broadcast technology inside the stadium. A building management system (BMS) and access control systems (ACS) were also installed.

The data centre solution provided by Belden features a containment system design. Cabinets with perforated doors create separate aisles for hot and cold air. Some access control system (ACS) racks were also deployed, along with fibre raceways, intelligent power distribution units (PDUs) and environmental sensors and controllers.

To ensure security and reliability, Belden’s PatchPro intelligent patching system was also deployed. It uses RFID technology for wireless identification of patch cords and real-time monitoring of unintended physical changes to network infrastructure. Network managers are immediately notified of changes, so they can be addressed before problems arise.

The end-to-end solution provided by Belden allowed Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy to achieve its goal of providing the best technology and broadcast experiences to fans inside and outside the stadium – all through a high- performance infrastructure.

Systems were put to the test during the FIFA Arab Cup Qatar 2021, and the technology performed perfectly. Similarly, Al Thumama Stadium’s world-class infrastructure also proved to be robust enough to support the demands of the FIFA World Cup in 2022.