Broadcast Facility Design

  • An Innovative In-Service Antenna Monitoring System to Protect Your Antenna and Transmission Line - $15

    Date: April 3, 2024
    Topics: ,

    Antenna and transmission line systems are critical components of the broadcast transmission infrastructure. Unfortunately, traditional monitoring is limited simply to reflected power. Depending on speed and accuracy of the monitoring equipment, some arcs or small reflected changes can go unnoticed. SPINNER introduced the Antenna Monitoring System (AMS) in 2015. It scans for arcing from the transmitter building all the way up to the end of the antenna. The AMS provides protection to the entire RF system by alerting and or opening the transmitter interlock when an arc is sensed. While the AMS provided protection, it couldn’t tell you where the fault occurred. We have innovated again by adding Distance to Fault (DtF) analysis in the AMS 2.0 system. This paper will discuss the methodology and benefits of the AMS 2.0 along with some real-world results where the AMS protection detected and closely located faults before significant damage occurred.

    Heidi Stamm | SPINNER GmbH | Munich, Germany
    Anton Lindner | SPINNER GmbH | Munich, Germany
    Christoph Neumaier | SPINNER GmbH | Munich, Germany
    Todd Loney | SPINNER ICT Inc. | Duluth, Georgia, United States



  • Developing Media-Specific Traffic Profiles for Reliable Media Over IP Network Testing - $15

    Date: April 3, 2024
    Topics: ,

    In the face of a transformative shift in the media production and broadcasting industry, the adoption of Media over IP solutions has become prevalent, facilitated by standards such as SMPTE ST 2110 and AES67. Despite this critical need, proper network testing is often sidestepped due to budget, time, and equipment availability constraints. Addressing this gap, the author’s previous work introduced an accessible approach to Media over IP network load testing, leveraging off-the-shelf hardware and open-source software. However, this innovative solution highlighted a crucial area for further exploration—developing media-specific traffic profiles. Traditional traffic profiles, such as internet mix (IMIX), fall short in accurately representing media traffic’s unique characteristics and demands. This paper builds upon previous foundational work explaining the methods and considerations towards such profiles, exploring one of the approaches for the actual creation of such profiles based on the data from labs and large operational facilities, aiming to mirror real-world media traffic patterns and load scenarios more accurately. This work contributes to the ongoing evolution of the media industry’s transition to IP, offering valuable insights and tools to broadcasters, integrators, and network engineers.

    Ievgen Kostiukevych | European Broadcastion Union
    Thomas Kernen | NVIDIA | Zurich, Switzerland
    Willem Vermost | VRT | Brussels, Belgium
    Pavlo Kondratenko | European Broadcasting Union | Geneva, Switzerland