National Camel & Desert Racing Championships
Extreme Desert Environment RF Wireless & High-Speed Mobile OB
- Venue
- Al Dhafra Festival, Al Wathbah, Muzayna, Al Labsah
- Broadcaster
- YAS TV / Abu Dhabi Media
- Dates
- 2019 – 2026 Annual Seasons
Role
Senior OB Engineer & RF Wireless Signal Specialist
Pioneered specialized mobile OB operations in extreme desert conditions (45°C heat, fine sandstorms) with high-speed tracking vehicles, long-range Vislink RF camera links, and dynamic desert sun shading.
- 10 km
- Track Length Covered
- 12 km
- RF Range Maintained
- 48°C
- Ambient Temp Max
- 240+
- Live Race Transmissions
Hardware & signal architecture
- Video format
- 1080i50 / 1080p50 Broadcast Standard
- Vision mixer
- FOR-A HVS-2000 & Sony MVS-6530
- Replay & slow-motion
- EVS XT3 Max (8 Channel) with Multicam LSM
- Master sync & routing
- Vislink Wireless RF Receivers + Nevion 64x64 SDI
Technical approach
- Engineered multi-node RF diversity antenna arrays across 8km–10km desert tracks with automated antenna switching.
- Customized positive-pressure dust filtration and secondary cooling for OB truck server racks during desert sand conditions.
- Maintained extreme dynamic range CCU shading between golden desert sand dunes and high-intensity Arabian midday sun.
Signal flow
- 1
Mobile Tracking Cams
Gyro-stabilized cameras on 4x4 chase vehicles transmitting over Vislink RF
- 2
RF Diversity Towers
Triple antenna receiver masts along 10km race perimeter
- 3
Baseband Demodulation
COFDM receivers demodulating RF signals directly into OB router
- 4
Fast-Paced EVS Clipping
LSM operators logging lead camel split times and photo-finish angles
- 5
Master Transmission
Microwave link direct to YAS TV teleport station
Live faults & engineering fixes
Challenge
Extreme desert heat causing RF transmitter thermal throttling on lead tracking vehicle during 10km race.
Fix
Installed custom aluminum heatsink ducted fans with quick-swap cold gel packs between race heats.
Impact: Maintained 100% RF signal power output with zero frame drops throughout all heats.
Challenge
Intense sand glare blowing out camera dynamic range on standard gamma curves.
Fix
Engineered a custom S-Log/HyperGamma knee curve preset on Sony RCP-1500 paint boxes, protecting sky and sand highlights.
Impact: Rich, broadcast-award-winning visual color fidelity praised by YAS TV production team.
On-air footage
Production gallery
What I'd improve next time
“Implementing automated GPS-steered tracking antennas on receiver towers would further enhance signal margin on extreme 12km marathons.”
Planning a similar production?
Available for OB truck, CCU, and EVS operations across the UAE and GCC.