TV-SAT, CCTV, WLAN Dipol Weekly Review

Laser Internet from space.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced a breakthrough in the field of satellite communications - for the first time, a high-speed laser link has been successfully established between an aircraft and a geostationary satellite. The experiment was carried out in collaboration with Airbus Defence and Space, the Dutch research institute TNO and the German company TESAT. The aim of the project was to show that future communication systems can provide very fast and secure internet access even in difficult conditions, such as flying at high altitude or travelling through remote regions.

The test took place during a research flight over the city of Nîmes, France. On boardof the aircraft was installed an UltraAir laser terminal, which established a stable connection with the Alphasat TDP-1 satellite located in geostationary orbit about 36,000 kilometres above Earth. During the experiment, it was able to achieve data rates of around 2.6 Gbps, while maintaining an error-free connection for several minutes. This is a tremendous technological achievement, given the long distance and the fact that the aircraft was travelling at high speed.

Laser communication has many advantages over traditional radio transmission. The laser beam is much narrower than radio waves, so the signal can carry more information and is more difficult to intercept or interfere with. In addition, the use of lasers helps to address the problem of congestion in radio bands, which are becoming increasingly crowded with the growing number of satellites and communication devices. As a result, the technology can provide much faster and more secure connections in the future.

One of the biggest challenges during testing was the need to aim the laser beam very precisely. Even slight vibrations of the aircraft, movement of the satellite or atmospheric disturbances can cause signal loss. Despite these difficulties, the system maintained a stable connection, confirming that optical space communication technology can also work in dynamic conditions. This achievement shows how advanced modern satellite communication systems have become.

In the future, such solutions could significantly improve Internet access aboard aircraft, ships or in remote regions of the world. Projects being developed by ESA, including through the ScyLight and ARTES programmes, are expected to lead to the creation of global laser communication networks in space. This opens the way to a new generation of communication services that will be faster, more reliable and more secure than existing radio-based systems.

How to capture HDMI signal on laptop or phone?

When installing monitoring systems, set-top boxes or other devices with HDMI output, there is often a problem with preview of the image. The equipment is sometimes installed in RACK cabinets or in hard-to-reach places, where no monitor is permanently connected. In this situation, each change of settings or diagnostics requires bringing an additional screen, which is inconvenient and increases working time.

A practical solution of this problem is to use an HDMI grabber such as the Etrix GR-24K M31245. The device allows the video and audio signal to be captured from the HDMI port and sent directly to a laptop or computer via USB. This allows the installer to use his computer as a service monitor. An additional advantage is the USB-C connector, which also allows the grabber to be connected to an OTG-enabled smartphone.

The Grabber works in Plug & Play mode, as the system recognises it as a normal webcam. There is no need to install additional drivers - once connected, the device is automatically detected by the system. The image can be displayed in programmes such as OBS Studio, VLC or even in the system's Camera application in Windows. The device has been designed with low latency in mind, so that the image is displayed almost in real time. This allows you to conveniently set up CCTV recorders, set-top boxes or other HDMI devices without the need to connect a separate monitor.

Touchscreen on the Signal Fire Ai-9 splicer.

The Signal Fire AI-9 L5875 is a splicer which quality has been proven during its nearly 7 years on the market. This model has now received a major hardware update. The latest version features a touchscreen that allows most settings (including arc calibration, among others) to be adjusted without the need for a phone and the SignalFire2 app. In addition, the Signal Fire S12 guillotine is included - the so-called 'one-step cleaver' allows a full cutting operation to be performed in just one movement.

Antenna cable for 5G routers.

The antennas used to improve the signal of the mobile operator have an impedance of 50 Ohms, so every component of the radio path must have this impedance value (the use of TV coaxial cable, which has an impedance of 75 Ohms, is not permitted). An example of a cable used to extend the cable from the antenna is the Tri-LAN 240 E1171. As far as connectors are concerned, most often the antenna cable is terminated with an SMA connector, to which an additional antenna connector dedicated to a particular modem can be plugged.

When selecting an external antenna, check whether the modem supports MIMO (two antenna connectors) technology. These types of modems require the use of appropriate antennas to ensure that the transmission channel bandwidth is maintained as high as possible. Two coaxial cables should be run from the MIMO type modem to the antennas.

The most common connectors on modems are SMA connectors - in which case an antenna connector, such as A741024, fits directly. If the modem has a TS5 connector, the E83201 connector is required, while for the TS9 connector the E83206 connector is required.

DIPOL SMART CITY COMBO - with 5 - 24 V power supply.

DIPOL offers the DVB-T2 SMART CITY COMBO A2050 antenna, which has been improved in terms of the amplifier electronics and impedance matching circuitry, allowing more stable reception of DVB-T2 signals in various field conditions. The modified amplifier board provides better impedance matching between the antenna and coaxial cable, resulting in lower signal losses, higher usable signal levels and reduced noise. An unquestionable advantage of the new antenna design is the wide DC voltage range of 5...24 V in active mode, so the antenna can be powered from both a DVB-T2 tuner and an external power supply.

The antenna is equipped with a sealed box with F type connector. The box contains an antenna amplifier with a bypass that allows the antenna to work in two modes:

Group activation of Hikvision network devices and changing their IP addresses using SADP.

SADP (Search Active Device Protocol) is a free and easy-to-use software designed to search the local network for Hikvision IP cameras, DVRs and video door entry systems. It can be used to modify their basic network parameters, activate devices and change or restore passwords. SADP is particularly useful when building large CCTV or video door entry systems. Newly purchased devices must be activated by assigning passwords before use. In addition, the IP addresses of these devices are repeated, so if you connect all of them to the network at once, there will be an IP address conflict. While in the case of a few devices it is possible to connect them individually and activate and change the IP address via a browser (if the device has a built-in webserver), this would be very cumbersome and time-consuming in the case of large, e.g. 32-camera IP CCTV systems. Once all devices are connected, the SADP running on the local network will detect them as inactive. By ticking them all, the devices can be quickly group activated by assigning an administrator password. In the case of DVRs, the password for activating the cameras must additionally be entered. Once accepted, a window will appear confirming the activation of the devices.

When this step is finished, you can proceed to batch addressing of the devices. To do so, select all the devices and complete the network parameters, as shown in the following image. The devices will be addressed one by one starting from the IP address that has been entered. When the password with which the cameras have been activated is entered, a window with information about the changes will appear.

Optical-copper RTV/SAT installation using the SIGNAL PROfessional line of devices. This solution can be used in large facilities where the distance between cages is more than a few dozen metres. The fibre optic cable provides excellent insulation against surges. This means that any surges induced in the vicinity of the antennas will stop at the optical transmitter installed immediately behind them - all other components of the installation are 100% protected. Signal PROfessional uses 1 optical fibre to transmit the entire bundle of TV signals...>>>more