There are new faces at the Big House this season and ever-growing demands on cellular networks during football games as the season kicks off. Now in its second year, a multi-year effort is underway to provide massive capacity cellular networks at Michigan Stadium – for the 5G era and beyond.
This year, Verizon and AT&T partnered with Information & Technology Services (ITS), Architecture Engineering and Construction (AEC), Environment, Health, & Safety (EHS), Facilities and Operations (F&O), and Michigan Athletics IT to create substantial new capacity in the “bowl” area of Michigan Stadium through the installation of mmWave 5G, the fastest type of 5G radio technology. This upgrade is another building block toward a complete redesign of the cellular network infrastructure at Michigan Stadium to provide a great experience for everyone who attends football games.
These new technology layers have been coming online throughout the month of September, with optimization and tuning work occurring in the first five home games of the year. Combined with the upgrades completed in 2023, this latest enhancement is designed to help bridge the gap while a brand new system is prepared, constructed, and launched from the ground up.
As cellular networks have become more important and accessible to enterprises like U-M, the ITS Infrastructure cellular team is now working continually to repair, upgrade, and develop new U-M and carrier cellular systems across the university, and undertaking initial phases of work with additional cellular service providers. We look forward to feedback on how these systems are performing!
