Providing Seamless Cashless Payment Networks at Music Festivals.

The ability for music festivals to process payments on a greenfield site is an essential part of its operations. Emerging technology is making payments for goods and services possible even in remote locations. What do festival organisers need to consider when building a reliable seamless payment network for their events.

A multi-day large-scale music festival located on a greenfield site may attract tens of thousands of festival-goers with each one making multiple payments for goods and services during their attendance. This can result in hundreds of thousands of transactions where customer and vendor expectations are for a seamless payment experience. How can festival organisers plan and implement a robust cashless network that has no outages.

Payment Options.
Organisers will generally aim to provide cashless payment options for their events, but cash may still be available at some smaller events. Vendors accepting payments will generally offer a variety of cashless payment options, which will often be a requirement when accepting their event attendance application. The majority of festivals now use passive RFID wristbands with online accounts which are pre-loaded with funds by festival-goers prior to the event dates. Organisers prefer these wristbands because they also operate as access control for a festival site. Vendors use handheld readers that store an offline balance with mini servers which sync over a local Wi-Fi to prevent payments if a wristband balance limit has been reached. Other popular payment options are standard credit and debit cards which require vendors to use terminals with smart offline modes where transactions get immediate bank authorisation. The charge is made when the device connects to Wi-Fi.

Remote Location Networks.
Specifying and setting up a remote location network can be complex and requires expertise to implement successfully, usually performed by a specialist contractor. The site will usually have a three-tier network that assumes an off-grid scenario. The primary uplink could be a combination of starlink terminals and multiple network ISPs, 5G, satellite, and fibre for example. A dedicated private 5G layer is also deployed specifically for staff and PoS terminals, so they are not impacted by festival-goer general use of Wi-Fi. Finally, a local mesh redundancy system that uses Wi-SUN or LoRaWAN mesh for low-bandwidth transaction heartbeats is common. If the Wi-Fi/5G fails, the mesh can still transmit small Approved/Denied signals across the site.

Handling High Traffic Payment Processing.
It is normal for food and beverage vendors to experience a rush of transactions, typically between performances when festival-goers take the opportunity to buy food and drinks. This can push transaction volumes to critically high levels, so it is essential for organisers to ensure that no outages occur during these periods. Vendors can use ruggedised android terminals which support dual-sim and Wi-Fi with built-in offline store and forward logic. When vendors are using payment terminals with dual-sims it is preferable that each sim is connected to a different mobile network in case one becomes saturated. The use of passive RFID wristbands are the most reliable form of payment because they require no battery power and will continue to work in adverse weather conditions and during Wi-Fi blackouts.

Planning and Implementation Processes.
Organisers appoint a specialist contractor to specify and implement their site wide network infrastructure. This will include detailed instructions and specifications for all vendors regarding the payment terminals they will need to use on-site. This allows vendor transactions to be integrated with network systems that a contractor may install. A common solution is the use of Edge Nodes where vendors are grouped into clusters with each having a local master server. This enables local validation of RFID balances which are cached on the local vendor server where transactions are processed in <500ms even with no internet. When internet connections return, local servers use a ‘gossip protocol’ to sync to global databases with zero data conflicts or double spending, for example. All systems need to be stress tested on site once installed prior to the event opening. This can include exercises where internet connections are purposely cut during a 500 terminal simulated load test; terminals will be expected to automatically switch to ‘offline mode’. Contractors may recommend the use of segmented networks with a VLAN for payments only in addition to prioritising payment packets over all other traffic.

For festival organisers planning their next event using a software management platform like Festival Pro gives them all the functionality they need manage every aspect of their event logistics. The guys who are responsible for this software have been in the front line of event management for many years and the features are built from that experience and are performance artists themselves. The Festival Pro platform is easy to use and has comprehensive features with specific modules for managing artists, contractors, venues/stages, vendors, volunteers, sponsors, guestlists, ticketing, site planning, cashless payments and contactless ordering.

Image by Andrea Piacquadio via Pexels

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