When the Kappa FuturFestival opens its doors to two days of electronic music on 7th and 8th July 2018, a brand-new stage area will be one of the attractions for the concert goers. What visitors are less likely to notice is that this stage is also one of the focus areas for the deployment of the MONICA solutions with the aim to improve their overall event experience.
The Kappa FuturFestival takes place every year in the park Parco Dora with two full days of concerts from noon to midnight, featuring both national and international performers. Covering a 100,000 m2 fenced area, the event is expected to accommodate a total of 47,000 visitors this year.
As for all concert events of this magnitude, organisers constantly seek solutions that can help increase the event experience for all stakeholders. So is the case for the Kappa FuturFestival, which is deploying MONICA solutions to make sound and crowd management more efficient.
Better sound experience, less noise
One of the main interests for the Kappa FuturFestival lies in getting the balance right between an optimal outdoor concert sound and a reduction of unwanted noise in the surrounding environment.
The purpose of deploying the MONICA sound solution is therefore to enable a more accurate monitoring and control, both of the quality of the sound experience inside the venue and of the sound propagation outside the venue.
To do this, monitoring of sound levels takes places at all stages and at the most exposed residential dwellings by using sound level meters. To demonstrate the control of sound, the new stage, FUTUR, works as the main experimental area for the MONICA sound control system, based on a set-up of four sound level meters and 20 loudspeakers.
Data are captured and processed through the MONICA IoT platform and presented via a web interface, the MONICA COP, which the production staff uses to monitor and evaluate the acoustic performance. Additionally, MONICA is developing a mobile app for the production staff to monitor the sound level and provide feedback on the sound quality at all the four stages.
To understand how large-scale events affect the neighbouring community, MONICA is conducting a survey targeted at local inhabitants. This will help understand not only their feelings but also indicate if there is any perceived improvement, i.e., less sound annoyance from year to year after the deployment of the sound control system. The results from the survey will be compared with the measurement results from deployed sensors in the neighbourhood to give a more precise picture of the actual impact of MONICA in terms of noise mitigation.
Crowd monitoring for security and safety
The MONICA crowd solution offers real-time monitoring of crowd density, behaviour and flow which is a valuable tool for making decisions on security more efficient.
The MONICA blimp used at the Kappa FuturFestival is 5 meters long with a diameter up to 2½ meters. It can be tied to the ground or moved around by two field operators. Read more about the use of airships in MONICA HERE
Based on a system of 8-10 cameras installed along the stage and staff members wearing wristbands, data are processed and results visualised in the COP, showing direction and magnitude of crowd flow and displaying crowd heat maps with the density and number of people in the different areas. The operator can thereby detect incidents such as crowd unrest and even fights, prompting a quick response from the security personnel.
To give an overview of the concert area, a MONICA blimp equipped with a camera, will be hovering 40 meters above the ground to monitor the crowd levels. Initially, the blimp will be placed behind the FUTUR stage, but if the wind conditions permit it, the blimp might also be moved around.
The data will be analysed separately but is foreseen to be integrated into the MONICA IoT platform for the 2019 demonstration.
Wristbands for locating staff and handling incidents
Knowing the precise, real-time location of staff members enables a more accurate supervision of both the venue and the event and a prompt intervention in case of a security incident. To demonstrate how this can be achieved, 15 staff members, mainly from security and production will wear the MONICA smart wristbands based on UWB radio technology that enables both accurate localisation of staff (precision range below 50 cm) and communication to and between staff members. The supervisor can then monitor the status via the COP, having a complete and accurate overview of staff positions.
Apart from staff tracking and crowd monitoring, the staff and crowd wristbands will also be used to demonstrate the handling of incidents and the location of missing persons.
Added functionalities in 2019
The results will be used to refine the solutions and scale up the number of end users for the 2019 demonstration. Furthermore, new features and functionalities will be added, such as: incident detection through sound processing of sound level meters; the establishment of quiet zones and enhancement of the sound control system, adjusting for changes in weather and crowd size. Additionally, visitors will be engaged through the use of crowd wristbands, to help strengthen the crowd and capacity monitoring solution and to enhance user experience and engagement.
Want to know more? Contact us:
Festival representative: Gabriella Botte from Movement Entertainment
Technical coordinator: Francesco Sottile from Istituto Superiore Mario Boella
