ASIA-PACIFIC BROADCASTING

Vislink’s latest enhancements for wireless cameras — Deep Interleaving and Long Period Diversity software technologies — are combined in live broadcast for the first time during the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2009 last December.

Outside broadcast (OB) company Broadcast Solutions supplied the coverage of the event to SPORTFIVE Asia. At the same time, Broadcast Solutions appointed wireless specialist Broadcast RF to manage the complex wireless camera coverage using Vislink’s wireless camera systems enhanced with Deep Interleaving and Long Period Diversity techologies to give unbroken live coverage of the marathon, despite obstacles along the route.

The race passed through two very different environments — the city and coastal sections of the circuit. In the 2008 marathon, wireless cameras were used only in the city stretch of the race utilising a single receive point installed on top of a 44-storey building. The more difficult coastal area could only be covered by a separate OB facility and fixed cabled cameras along the route.

For the 2009 marathon, the challenge was to achieve unbroken coverage of the coastal area, which has trees and low-rise buildings and a few reflective surfaces, using cameras carried on motorcycles. Every 5m or 10m along the route, the cameras would be out of line-of-sight as the bikes passed trees and travelled behind chalets and amenity buildings, causing glitches and RF break-up in traditional COFDM systems.

As Deep Interleaving software had been used successfully in the tree-lined sections of the London Marathon earlier last year, Broadcast RF decided to introduce the same technology for the 2009 Singapore Marathon.

In order to cover the coastal section, a second receive site was required, creating another problem as it was impossible to run cables to link the two sites together. But Vislink’s Long Period Diversity technology made it possible to link the sites via a simple COFDM link. The Long Period Diversity unit was able to cope with the additional delay and switched automatically between the two sites, giving seamless unbroken coverage.

Two wireless cameras on motorcycles were deployed to follow the lead runners. These cameras were fitted with Link L1500 transmitters using L2134 four-way Diversity receivers which had been Deep Interleaving- and Long Period Diversity-enabled. Vislink said the marathon was the first live event in which the two software technologies had been used together.

The entire race was covered with just two receive sites, one installed at Suntec Tower and the other on the end of a jetty in Bedok, which covered the East Coast section of the race. No extra OB and fixed cameras were required.

Chris Brandrick, sales manager of Broadcast RF, commented: “The Deep Interleaving technology gave vastly superior results to standard DVB-T COFDM, better than last year’s results, with no break-up at all, even though the bikes passed under bridges and behind buildings in the difficult zones of the East Coast section. We will be keen to use Deep Interleaving again at similar events in future.”

Ray Hume, producer for SPORTFIVE, added: “When I saw the Singapore course, with high-rise buildings, going under large bridges and at times dense undergrowth, my words were  — ‘we are never going to get coverage from here based on my previous experience’. But the new gear performed far, far, beyond my expectations. It made the impossible, possible.”

Meanwhile, Vislink has rebuilt its website, following the re-organisation of Vislink-owned companies so as to create four new operating divisions.

Vislink’s new website, which went live last December, brings together all of Vislink’s product lines — Advent Communications, Hernis Scan Systems, Link Research, Microwave Radio Communications, Pacific Microwave Radio and Western Technical Services — into one united Vislink family, providing ‘Secure Communications’ at www.vislink.com.

The website also provides a “cutting-edge online communications channel” for the company and is said to set a new industry standard for customers, suppliers, shareholders and researchers to easily understand Vislink’s strategy, the markets the company addresses and the solutions Vislink provide.

“A website is often the first point of contact a person has with an organisation. Therefore, we knew how important it was to have a clear approach to the design of the site. Throughout the past year, we have guided the corporation through a journey, and the launch of our new site is a key milestone in our reorganisation. It reflects the way that we are now truly integrated and poised to deliver better customer service,” said Vislink’s chief executive, Duncan Lewis.

Comments

Add New Search

3.26 Copyright (C) 2008 Compojoom.com / Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."