7 September 2004
Link Research is to supply new wireless camera systems, transmitters, receivers, encoders and decoders to Australia’s Nine Network in a significant contract which will upgrade the broadcaster’s ENG trucks to the very latest digital newsgathering equipment. The order was placed through Link’s Australian agent, COMSYST.
The news trucks are to be equipped with four-input diversity wireless camera systems and direct satellite uplinks which will be able to transmit live TV pictures with no perceptible delay from outside broadcast locations.
Channel 9 has worked with equipment from Link Research for some time and has invested in Link’s wireless camera transmitters for newsgathering and flyaways. “The equipment from Link Research gives us three key functions that we need for our news teams: Flyaway, wireless camera transmitters and satellite uplinks. This makes it a very attractive choice,” said Ian Wyles, Head of OperationsAssistant Chief Engineer at Nine Network.
The Nine Network is Australia’s most highly rated television network, broadcasting right across Australia with companies in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane. As such, it is Australia’s leading news service and owns the rights to many of Australia’s foremost sporting events, including the cricket, the National Rugby League and the Australian Football league. It is committed to broadcasting superior quality programming in digital and well as analogue signals.
The LinkXP wireless camera system is recognised as an outstanding product internationally and won the coveted International Association of Broadcast Manufacturer’s Peter Wayne Award in 2002. In April this year, Link Research won the British Queen’s Award for Enterprise for Innovation in technology. Sales of LinkXP wireless camera systems are now in the hundreds, with companies such as Sky News, ABC, and NBC choosing LinkXP as they change over to digital ENG.
TV Globo of Brazil is one of the first broadcasters to order LinkXP wireless camera systems with the new wide-band transmitter and has placed an order for eight systems. Link Research’s new wide-band transmitter was first announced at NAB in April 2004 and is launched into Europe at IBC 2004. It allows the wireless camera system to operate at any frequency between 1.95 Ghz and 2.7 Ghz, to give the greatest operational flexibility. It will be useful at events where there are many broadcasters on site, making the frequencies crowded, or for working internationally, since the RF frequencies available vary from country to country.
7 September 2004
RadioScape, the only provider of end-to-end Digital Radio broadcast and receiver solutions, has demonstrated the worlds first complete EPG solution for Digital Radio. The EPG (Electronic Programming Guide) is broadcast using the latest version (v5) of RadioScapes Professional Broadcast System that is being launched at IBC. This is received and displayed using RadioScapes recently launched RS300L DAB module.
With the concept of the personal audio recorder it is now possible by using the information on forthcoming programmes displayed on the EPG screen to automatically schedule the recording facility of the RS300L to store programmes for later listening. The RS300L uses commercially available MMC and SD removable memory cards giving potentially hours of recording time. A USB connection is also available which enables audio to be transferred or streamed to a PC, as well as enabling the PC to control the receiver if required. RadioScape pioneered the use of EPG in DAB receivers back in 2002 with the Psion Wavefinder, which used a PC to decode and display the programme information. The 300L module now demonstrates how affordable, standalone receivers can now be developed and be brought to market based on this technology.
Unique Interactive will be showcasing its Digital Radio EPG Management System and its DLS scrolling text Manager ‘ManDLS’ on the RadioScape IBC stand. To demonstrate the flexibility of the two systems, the servers for the DLS and EPG services will be based in the UK and administered in Amsterdam. The UK servers will send EPG and DLS data back to the RadioScape Data Server for broadcast back in Amsterdam. The two systems will be used to illustrate a complete end-to-end system from user input to seeing the information received onto a stand-alone EPG capable receiver.
As part of the demonstration of the EPG Management System, the Workbench software will be available to create programme information ready for broadcast. Also ManDLS will be available to show how simple it is to setup up dynamic and interchangeable scrolling text services for Digital Radio.
7 September 2004
SES ASTRA and WORLDSAT have concluded an agreement that positions SES ASTRA to extend the provision of state-of-the-art satellite services to the entire African continent.
The agreement covers 24 C-band transponders on the WORLDSAT 2 (WS-2) satellite for the entire expected life span of the spacecraft. WS-2 is currently under construction with Alcatel Space of France and scheduled for launch onboard a Russian Proton booster under the auspices of ILS (International Launch Services) in fourth quarter of 2004.
The WS-2 African capacity will be marketed under the ASTRA brand name. Regional marketing support will be provided by the SES representation office based in Johannesburg, South Africa. SES ASTRA initiated service provision to Africa earlier this year with the steerable beam onboard ASTRA 2B at 28.2° East, which has been focused on Western Africa.
Ferdinand Kayser, President and CEO of SES ASTRA, states: “ASTRA will be marketing this capacity as ASTRA 4A. SES brings to Africa one of the most renowned and trusted brand names in satellite service provision. With the ASTRA 2B capacity we are already providing active service to our customer Accelon, notably in Nigeria, and, as of this month, also in Ghana. As part of our strategy of offering compelling satellite services to the entire African continent, we have secured state-of-the-art pan-African C-band satellite capacity from our sister company WORLDSAT. This agreement fits perfectly into SES GLOBAL’s strategy of maximizing synergies between operating companies to the best interest of our customers. ASTRA 2B at 28.2° East and ASTRA 4A at 37.5° West are SES’ beachheads into the African market and its vast potential for readily available, ubiquitous satellite-based communications solutions.”
Scheduled to replace Satcom C1 by the end of 2004, the WS-2 advanced high-powered C-band satellite will serve broadcasters, cable programmers, Internet service providers, government agencies, educational institutions, carriers and private networks throughout the Atlantic Region, including North America, the Caribbean, South America, Europe and Africa.
High-powered and state-of-the-art, WORLDSAT-2 will offer unprecedented levels of performance. Its advanced design and high power levels will provide service with higher data throughput to smaller antennas. Two zone beams, one each for North and South America, will complement one hemi beam, covering Europe and Africa. The beams may be interconnected through on-board switching on an individual transponder basis.
The WS-2 spacecraft carries 72 C-band transponders and features a design life of 15 years.
7 September 2004
SES ASTRA’s TechCom unit, INTEGRAL SYSTEMS EUROPE and ENERTEC have signed a partnership agreement for the marketing and provision of satellite control stations as well as related systems and services.
Using both of-the-shelf products as well as customized solutions, the ‘partners’ will offer to satellite operators and satellite manufacturers ‘turn-key’ satellite ground control systems, Baseband systems and Telemetry Tracking and Command (TT&C) stations for the lifetime operations of satellite platforms.
The team will mainly focus on the markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) as well as South America and large parts of Asia. The partnership will aim satellite operators and manufacturers pursuing business applications in many different fields including commercial, civilian and military domains.
SES ASTRA will provide these services through its TechCom business unit that offers expert advice, satellite operations services & training, systems integration and services as well as products developed in-house (In-Orbit Test systems, advanced ranging tools) to the satellite manufacturing and operations industry .
ENERTEC will provide the base band subsystem based on its 3801-20 products family, widely used worldwide by the most important satellite operators (including SES ASTRA) as their baseline AIT, LEOP and In Orbit control equipment. In addition to the reliability, compactness and easy use of this product family, Enertec will provide a worldwide field customer support.
Integral Systems Europe will provide an integrated solution for satellite and ground control using its EPOCH Integrated Product Suite (IPS) and Compass Equipment/Network Monitor and Control products from Newpoint Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Integral Systems.. This same software is used by satellite and fleet operators worldwide and supports virtually every commercial GEO communications satellite design in production as well as many more unique satellite designs common to weather, imagery and science applications.
7 September 2004
BT Broadcast Services, the broadcast and media solutions arm of BT, and SES ASTRA have announced a long-term cooperation contract to promote ASTRA at 19.2° East to independent satellite broadcasters. BTBS will provide the ground segment of the package – including multiplexing and uplink from Paris or London – and SES ASTRA the space segment, through capacity on the ASTRA 1G spacecraft.
The ASTRA Satellite System at 19.2° East provides access to the largest digital satellite audience in Europe, with 10.4 million homes receiving direct-to-home transmissions, and a further 57.9 million through cable. Through this offer, independent free-to-air and ethnic channels new to the ASTRA Satellite System will be able to tap this steadily increasing audience at very attractive rates.
Broadcasters who sign up will benefit from a feature-rich service that includes:
Variable bandwidth from 2Mb/s up to 33Mb/s;
Video flexibility – service can accept SD video and audio as DVB ASI, uncompressed SDI or analogue in any formats.
The latest generation, high quality MPEG 2 compression equipment that can support channels at 2.5Mb/s.
24-hour monitoring to ensure troubleshooting in case of difficulties – plus Internet-based monitoring for customers
Presence in the ASTRA Mosaic – ASTRA’s electronic programme guide (EPG)
In addition to the above, there are a number of premium services, including standards conversion between NTSC and PAL, time shifting to allow repurposing of content between time zones and seamless bit rate conversion as well as a conditional access solution that includes encryption, smart card distribution, authorisation and de-authorisation. Through its global digital network, BT can also help broadcasters get their feeds to the Paris or London uplink if required.
