DIPOL Weekly Review - TV and SAT TV, CCTV, WLAN

Facebook will deliver Internet from drones.

Facebook tests a solution for providing Internet from drones in hard to reach areas of the globe and in poor and technologically underdeveloped regions of the world. Mark Zuckerberg, announcing the completion of the first full scale aircraft built for this project, Aquila, said: "This effort is important because 10% of the world’s population lives in areas without existing Internet infrastructure. To affordably connect everyone, we need to build completely new technologies."

During the first test in the US, Aquila drone flew at a relatively low height and stayed aloft for 96 minutes using solar power. The solar panels that are spread over the entire surface of the drone generate a power of about 5000 W, the same that is needed by two washing machines with maximum load.

Ultimately, Aquila is to fly at altitudes between 18 and 27 kilometers. Powered by solar energy, the drone should
hover over the region up to 90 days without a break. During the daytime hours it will soar to the maximum height, lowering its altitude at night, to use the stored energy more effectively. The drone is made of carbon fiber, the electronics responsible for flight control and Internet connections is located in the central part of the machine. The wingspan of Aquila (over 40 meters) is close to that of Boeing 737, but the weight of the drone is only 400 kg.

Presentation of Aquila drone and the Facebook project

The project will involve laser technology, with transmissions between the drones and dedicated earth stations. Scientists have achieved transmission speeds over laser beams at the level of 10 Gbps. The connections with end users will be based on RF technology. It is worth mentioning that Google is carrying out a similar project.

Video monitoring system based on HD-TVI tribrid DVR.

Hikvision DS-7316HQHI-SH M75316 is a tribrid DVR that allows for simultaneous connection of HD-TVI, CVBS and IP cameras. The application of the DVR enables the designer to create a mixed system with analog and IP cameras, which can be the optimal solution in many situations. Such a concept of flexible choice between analog and digital channels is increasingly implemented in many other DVRs. The concept allows for easy modification and expansion of the network. Typically, one part of the installation can be made using coaxial cables, and the other part may employ twisted-pair cables. A practical example is video surveillance system covering two buildings located at a considerable distance from each other. The building with the DVR can be effectively monitored by HD-TVI cameras connected via coaxial cables, whereas all the video data from the second building monitored by IP cameras can be easily provided by only one UTP/FTP cable, using PoE switch that also performs the function of power supply for the cameras.

The architecture of a video surveillance system with HDTVI and IP cameras, based on the DS-7316HQHI-SH M75316 tribrid DVR

Support for AHD cameras in HD-TVI DVRs.

TurboHD 3.0 DVRs can support a number of video systems. By default, they can cooperate with HD-TVI and CVBS cameras. They automatically detect the video system of a camera and set the suitable recording parameters. In the case of AHD cameras, the user must change the setting of the required input to AHD in the menu of the DVR. The change takes place for the pair of the neighboring inputs. Additionally, the DVRs can support one ( M75205 ) or two IP cameras with resolution up to 1080p.

AHD and HD-TVI cameras connected to TurboHD 3.0 DVR

Bit rates of satellite channels.

For effective conversion of a group of satellite channels (typically from one transponder) into a DVB-T or DVB-C multiplex, it is necessary to take into account the bit rates of individual channels, in order to select the proper number of SD and HD channels in the multiplex. The bit rates can be found e.g. in the DigitalBitrate service.

An example of a table from the DigitalBitrate service with data concerning selected Hotbird 13.0E transponder (11393V) - channel names, PIDs, bitrates etc.

Summary statistics for the 11393V transponder

In the example, the total bitrate of the 11393V transponder from Hotbird 13.0E is about 42 Mbps (31.6 Mbps - video streams, 5.4 Mbps - audio streams). Currently, the transponder provides 18 services (channels). The average video bitrates of the five most popular channels are: 4.0 Mbps (TVN), 3.4 Mbps (TVN24), 2.6 Mbps (TVN7), 3.2 Mbps (TVN Turbo and TVN Style). So, the video and audio streams should take about 16.4 Mbps. The web service also provides maximum bitrates occurring during a day. In this case, the total value of the bitrate could amount to 24.4 Mbps. However, the situation in which all the channels have maximum data rates at the same moment is practically impossible.

Transmission of VGA signal over 100 meters.

Signal HD H3618 VGA extender allows for connecting a monitor or television with VGA input to a remote (up to 100 m) source of signal with VGA output. The video signal that can have resolution up to 1920x1080@60Hz is converted into IP stream and transmitted via cat. 5e or cat. 6 twisted pair cable. The IP signal coming from the transmitter may be applied to an Ethernet switch to split it among multiple receivers. The bit rate of the compressed signal at the output of the transmitter operating in multicast mode is about 20 Mbps.

The set is perfect for connecting remote HD source like PC or DVR/NVR with VGA output to HD-enabled TV/monitor/projector with VGA input. It requires to use only one, comparatively thin cable, which makes it easy to hide it, e.g. when installing the TV/monitor on an LCD mount.

An application of the VGA > IP converter/extender (point-to-point)

Another application of the VGA > IP converter/extender units (point-to-multipoint)

Transmission of HD-TVI/AHD signals over optical fiber.

Modern analog CCTV standards allow for transmission of video signals from 1080p cameras over distances up to 300 meters, using high-quality coaxial cables. In the case of longer distances between cameras and the DVR (e.g. video surveillance systems in large warehouses, factories, big office buildings etc.) the transmission has to be done with other means.

The best solution is to employ fiber optic video converters and and fiber-optic cables. The maximum transmission distance can be easily increased even to 20 kilometers. Additionally, fiber-optic technology ensures ideal electrical insulation between cameras and the DVR as well as insensitivity to RF interference.

The diagram below shows the architecture of the solution based on two-channel TVI-FO video converter ULTIMODE HDTVI-202 L2030. Ultimode video converters are multi-purpose devices, i.e. they can transmit analog video signals of any kind: TVI, AHD, CVI, CVBS/PAL.

Typical application of ULTIMODE L2030 fiber-optic video converter

SMATV system with fiber-optic infrastructure and conventional multiswitches. SMATV systems with optical links are increasingly more popular in housing developments and large multi-family buildings. The use of fiber-optic links allows for long-range distribution of the signals to multiple locations, even dispersed over large area... >>>more

SMATV system with optical links, conventional multiswitches and copper cabling

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