cable satellite

Thefutureof SNGis MNGSatellitenewsgatheringis turningintomobilenewsgathering ,

discoversAdrianPennington

VII/

ithbudgetssqueezedandthedemandforpicturesunrelenting ,

the

technologyforgatheringnewsis evolving at pace.Theemergenceof solutionswhichtakeadvantage

of mobileandinternetnetworksoffera potentialthreat to

satelliteincumbentsbutthesatellitenews

gathering(

SNG)

sectorhasrespondedwithnewtechnologywhichis likelyto seenewscasters andmanagedserviceprovidersoffera rangeof

complementary pipes to deliverthenews."

In themoredeveloped andmetropolitanareassomeof thetraditionalSNGdeploymentsmaybereplacedbymobiletechnology,

" believesTomasPetru

,

CEOof SI andmulti-screenplatformprovider,

VisualUnity.

" However,

whileSNGoutputmayremainthesame

,

thesheernumberof

channels( digital ,

online)

demandsto beaddressedbynewsolutionsformobilecontentacquisitionusingIP or mobilenetworks. "

According to SimonFarnsworthat GlobecastUK

,

thetraditionalSNGvehiclewith1.5to twometreantennaanda dedicatedSNGengineer ,

is

aimedmoreat thesportsmarket( particularly

payTVoperators )

wherepicturequalityis key." Thecriteriafornewsarespeedof deployment

andcost,

" notesFarnsworth .

" Oftenlowerqualitypicturesarejustifiedasaneditoriallook. "

" Thepublic' s appetitefora breakingnewsstoryis suchthattheywillacceptsub-standard

pictures ,

" agreesMarkShadbolt,

salesdirector at

SISLive .

"

It' s notunusualto

seemobilephonefootageonmainstreamprogrammes . Often

, anypictureis betterthannonebutnewsprovidersstillwantHDforthearchiveevenif theydon' t

transmit it.

"

VisualUnity' s Petruagrees :

" Forbroadcastquality ,

livetransmissionqualityof serviceis

needed . QoSis availableonsatellite,

andit maybeavailableondifferentmobilenetworksif

agreedwiththespecificoperator,

butthetrickis

in the' agreed'

,

whichis

almostimpossible to do. "

Purveyorsof mobiletechnologieswouldcontendthatthegrowingconnectivity of

terrestrialcellularnetworks(

3G,

4GLTE,

4GWiMAX

,

andWi-Fi) provideanincreasingly

resilientalternativeto streamingevenIIDvideooversatelliteandfibre.

Riseof thenewbreedAmongthepioneersis IsraelheadquarteredLiveU

,

whichcountsCNN,

ABC,

CBS,

FoxNewsandGermany' s ZDFamongcustomersof itsLU60mobileuplinkkitwhichfitsintoa backpackweighing5kg(

seepicture ).

" Often, anypictureis

betterthannonebutnewsprovidersstillwantHDforthearchiveevenif theydon' t transmitit.

"

LiveU' s technologybondsmultiple3G,

4GLTE

,

4GWiMAX,

andWi-Fimodemsto

aggregatebandwidthovermultiplecarriersviaanin-builtRFantenna . It providesenoughthroughput to transmit1080iHDsignalsusingH.264encoding . Averageconditionsarein the1-2Mbpsrange ,

butthetechnologyis claimed to

transmiteffectivelyevenat 500kbps , dependingontheselectedresolutionandsettings.

" Ourtechnologycantransmiteffectivelyfrommanydeadspotsandareaswherea specificcarriermaynothaveadequatecoverageincluding in tunnels

,

crowdedpublicspacesandundergroundmetrostations

,

" saysRonenArtman

,

LiveU' s VPof marketing.DuringtheJapantsunami

,

Foxnewsused

LiveU' s cellularroamingsolution to deliverlivebroadcast fromthedisasterarea . It wasalsousedto coverhurricane Irene.

" NewcastersontheUSeastcoast(

hitbyIrene)

weren' t ableto usetousesatellitebecause of the

windandlineof sightissues . Theonlytechnologythatcouldassistlive

, qualityshotswasours,

"

claimsArtman.It wouldbedisingenuous to suggestthatthisis

alwaysthecase . SISLive' s Shadboltsaysthatin a

warzone or tornadoaftermaththechancesof theterrestrialnetworkbeingdownarehigh .

" Wherenewscastersareoperatingoutsidetheirhometerritory ,

in Syriaforexample , theyaremorelikelyto takea BGANthana bonded3G

/

4G

systemsincetheyarenotsurewhattheterrestrialinfrastructure is goingto belike

,

" hesays.Artmanrespondsthatfeedbackfromitsclients

hasbeenthatthefirstinfrastructuretobe

re-instated is cellulardueto ease of deployment."

Settingupa satellitevanin theseareasorin

badweather is notalwaysa simplematterandin anycaseLiveUis easilyconnected to dualBGANterminalsaswasthecasein Haitiduringtheearthquake. "

Thereareincreasingusesof imagesgatheredfromsmartphonesor iPads

, mainlybutnotexclusivelyasusergeneratedcontent

(

UGC).

MTVFinland,

forexample ,

enablesinstantnewsgathering :

" Thisis a hugelyimportantbusiness

developmentforus,

" explainsJukkaVehkaoja at

MTVFinlandwhichhasinvestedin Aspera' s

MobileClientApplication to speedvideoto itsbureaufromAndroidandiOSapps .

" Thefactthatreporterscouldn' t uploadcontentfromcertainmobilephoneswasa significantholein

thesystem , especiallywiththeincreasingimportanceof citizenjournalism. "

Shadbolt is certainlynotdismissiveof theabilities

of cellularbutis adamantthatthetechnology is unlikelyto erodetheviabilityof a

fleetof SNGtrucks."Anewscastercouldequipeveryone

of itsreporterswitha bonded3Gterminalat relativelylowcostandgetsomepicturesback- butit wouldbecomplementary to thefleet

,

" hesays .

"

If wecouldgiveourcustomersthesamelevelof

service,

costandconveniencebyhavinga bonded

N° and issue date : 120401 - 01/04/2012Circulation : 6999Frequency : BimonthlyCABLESATELLII_120401_32_306.pdfWeb Site: http://www.csimagazine.com

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Eutelsat

http://www.csimagazine.com

3Gantennaratherthanwitha satellitedishwewould . Thefactis thatalthoughsuchsolutionsareseenascomplementary technology theyarenotmaking a lotof headwayin theSNGmarket

,

"

Shadboltsays.

DevelopingtowardsIP

Pointingoutthatmostof thetransmission from

Arabspringhotspotswasdoneusing3G,

LukeKennedy,

DTHdirectorat Vision247

,declares

that4GwillreduceSNGmarketshare." HoweverSNGwillstaythedominantsolution

fortimecriticaldeliverywherelowlatencyandredundancyarerequired - notablyforsportstransmissions

,

" hesays .

" Clientswantoperationalsimplicityand

a costeffectiveTXsolutionto deliverclipsandlivestreamsfromanypointontheglobe.IP deliveryovermobilenetworksis theHolyGrailthenewsgatheringcommunitywaswaitingfor. Howcanyoubeata

EUR1 ,500cigarettebox-sizedencoderwithHD-SDIinputandbuilt-in4Gtransmitter?Especiallywhena gadgetlikethatreplaces

a completeSNGvan. "

Vision247' s newtechnologyin thisspace is XtremeCDN

,whichKennedysays

willdeliverthelastmissingingredient to

transmissionovertheinternet - virtualmulticastat theedge.

SNGhastypicallybeenaboutonewayuplinking ,

butit is developingtowards IP ontwofronts : bydeployingwirelesscameraconnectionswithverylongrange ,

andusingsatellitelinkswithIP to enablebi-directionalcommunication.

SISLive,

forexample ,offersVSATterminal

uPak,whichcanfit intoa rucksack

,

andtheuPoduplinksystemwhich

is IP capablebywayof

integratedmodemoffering4.2Mbpsupand18Mbpsdown.

LivaUW60backpackandunit

Oneof theprimaryargumentsusedto

promotecellularnewsgathering isitsgreater

abilityto circumnavigatesignalfluctuationhazards . Black-spots ,

causedbyskyscrapers or

treecoverforexample ,

area bigproblemforthe

satellite industry."

Havingencountered a blackspot ,

thetimeit

takesto packup ,

movetheteamandequipmentto anotherlocationandsetupagaincancostvaluablecoveragetime

,

" observesMartinColeman

of monitoring andcontrolspecialist ,

Colem .

" Theotherproblem is thatwithnopriorknowledge of black-spots in thearea

,

theSNGcrewcouldverywellgothroughthatwholeprocessonlyto encountera badsignalarea. "

Embedded intoColem's X-Mobileandcamera

controlsystems ,

andusingavailableGPSmonitoringandlocalareamaps ,

is analertwhichcanwarntheSNGcrewwhentheyarein

,

or near,

a black-spotareabeforesettingup.AnotherproblemforSNGs is satellite

interference,

whicha workinggroupof theSatellite InterferenceReductionGroup

(

sIRG)

hasbeensetupto combat." sIRGhasspenta greatdealof timeandeffort

in introducingCarrierIDacrosstheindustry ,

howeverit

is notyetpossible to identifythesatelliteitself

,

whichleadsto carriersmistakenly


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" Thefactthatreporterscouldn' t

uploadcontentfromcertainmobilephoneswasa significanthole

in thesystem ,

especiallywiththeincreasingimportance

ofcitizenjournalism."

usingthewrongsatellite,

" saysColeman,

whois

alsoexecutivedirectorof thegroup .

"

Itis

fundamental to auto-deployCommsOnTheMove(

COTM) systemswhichbyitsnatureis

unmannedandproneto inaccuracies. "

ThesIRGplansto findwaystointroduce

satelliteID,

aswellasworktowards astandardfor

auto-deploysystems . Theaimis to significantlyreduceinterferenceduringdeployment .

"

In

addition,

it is hopedto forma newgroupearlyin

2012to lookat thefutureof on-boardsatellitetechnologywiththeinclusionof

satelliteID,

"

revealsColeman.

Ka-bandasa saviour.Satelliteremainsthecornerstoneandit

is

investments in technologies to taptheKAbandwhichgivesFarnsworthreasonto suggestSNGhasa

" massivefuture,

" KAbandpromisestwicethefrequency of KUusingsmallerantenna.

" Althoughthereis a licensingissuein theUKandotherEuropeancountriesforKAbandfixedmobileuplinksI anticipatethatin fiveyearsKAavailabilitywillbecomesuchthatSNGoperatorswillhavebuiltKAbandfleets

,

" Farnsworthstates.Indeed

,

Globecasthasinvestedin itsfirsttruck,

outof Italy,

whereitis beingtestedoperating

Eutelsat' s KA-SATNewSpotterservice." NewsSpottercomplementstraditionalsatellite

uplinking ,

" saysCristianoBenzi,

headof videovalueaddedservicesat Eutelsat .

"

It is anewSNG

systemwhichworksoverIP networks. "

AmongtheplusesareitsIP-basedpoint-to

pointsatellitetransmissioncapability,

a lowerservicecost

,

anduplinktechnologythatwillallowtelevisionstationsto

outfitSNGvansfora fractionof thecostof a comparableKuor

C-bandrig." Anoperatoror

broadcastercouldcommissiona fleetof SNGvanswitha

minimalsatellitefootprint ,

insteadof usingmuchlargertrucks

,

" saysBenzi.Downloadspeeds of up

to 50Mbpswithupto 20Mbpsuplinkreturncanbereached

, ampleforSNG." Weprovidecommittedinformation-ratebidirectional IP

connectivity ,

eitherbetweenterminals or froma

terminal to a siteconnectedto thebackbone,

"

saysBenzi .

" VideocontributionsviaIP canbeeasilyintegratedintotoday' s

IP workflowsandofferexceptionalvalueforSNGwork.

" Forexample ,

if yourSNGvancontainedfourcamerachannels

, youcouldencodeallthosecamerafeedsandstreamthemin parallelto yourbroadcastHQforediting ,

ratherthanperformthatfunctionon-siteandcontributejustthefinalfeed

,

" hesays.

Liv-ULU4OiwithGUI

Alternativelyanoperatorcouldfielda van,

servicingtwoclientssimultaneouslyfromtwostand-uppositions . Eachfeedcouldberoutedto

anIPaddressat thedestinationbroadcaster in

differentterritories." Thenewsgathering production environmentis

alreadyperfectly integratedintoIP workflows,

"

addsBenzi .

" File-based technologies haverevolutionisednewsgathering fromcamcorder

recording ,

to offlineeditingoverlaptopsinthe

field .IP contributionbyKA-SATprovidesthe

missingpiecein theworkflow. "

Inmarsatis buildinga $1.2billionnetworkforglobalcoveragein theKAbandincludingthreenewsatellites . Plannedto launch in 2013

,

GlobalXpresswillofferdownlinksupto 50Mbpsand5Mbpsupfromcompactterminals . Eachof

thenewInmarsat-5 satelliteswillcarry89Ka-bandbeams

,

whichcanbeconfigured to focusonhotspots in anypartof theworld . Thecompanysaysthatglobalcoverageis alreadyavailablefromexistingInmarsatL-bandservices

,

butGlobalXpresswillcost-effectivelyofferupto 100timesthebandwidthonthedownlink.

Thereis

alsoNovelSat' s newNS33D-Satmodulationschemewhicheffectivelyallowsthesqueezing of

morebitsof bandwidthgivingsatellitesa newleaseof life . Themechanismenablesthehandlingof fullwidetransponders ,

suchas72MHzasa singlecarrier,

' dramaticallyexpandingsatellitecapacity' ,

statesthecompany." Youmayevenfindthatusingsuchnew

modulationtechnologymakes it cheaperthanfibrein thelongrun

,

whichis notthecaseat themoment

,

" notesFarnsworth.It maybethatcellulartechnologyoutpaces

eventhis . Ongoinginvestments in R&Dintotransmissionalgorithmsandintelligentencodingwillcontinue to takeadvantageof

therapidadvancesin mobilenetworkrollout

, notably4G/

LTEwhichis widelyavailablenowin theUS." Wealreadytakeadvantageof LTEnetworks

andwereableto transmitusingLTEfromtheSuperbowlandGrammiesin February ,

" saysLiveU' s Artman .

"

It opensnewhorizonsforusbutwearealsofocussedonprovidinga

resilientHDqualityvideoevenwhenhundreds of

thousandsof peoplearein oneplace. "

It is alreadydatedto bereferringtosatellite

newsgatheringwhenthefieldhasalreadyshiftedto

mobilenewsgatheringwherethatimpliesa mixof

flexiblesmallvehicleor portablecommunicationsoverIP

,

mobilenetworksandsatellite .psi


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