IP and Satellite: Communication Worlds Merging

 

Not Really New

IP gear for satellite data communications is not new, nor is video-over-IP technology. Enterprise video networks have employed IP since the late 1990s, and the technology has been used in satellite Internet backbone connectivity links, corporate VSAT and consumer applications with huge benefits in terms of cost savings and network flexibility. In television today, non-real-time video delivery applications from video-on-demand content to spot and syndicated program distribution to news clips all take advantage of IP networking. For real-time television transmission, delivery of video over IP transport has not been the standard. Key reasons include the technical challenges in assuring MPEG picture quality over IP links in general, but that is changing. Satellite video equipment manufacturers’ current and next-generation products are already playing in an IP-networked world, and IP is becoming mainstream in real-time satellite video according to hardware players.
One area equipment providers see growing is IP multiplexing in the direct-to-home (DTH) satellite headend and the potential for remote encoding and multiplexing of contribution signals over terrestrial IP networks feeding the DTH uplink. According to Are Olafsen, director of satellite headend solutions with Thomson, “By adopting IP technology in the broadcasting industry, DTH satellite operators can gain increased flexibility to design their headend architecture and realign services at any point during the lifecycle of the system.”
The DVB-ASI (DVB asynchronous serial interface) protocol tends to be the protocol of choice for satellite video connections, but IP offers some advantages over ASI such as greater capacity and network flexibility. IP/Gigabet Ethernet network capacity is about 950 megabits per second (Mbps), compared to about 270 Mbps for an ASI connection. IP/Ethernet networks can be simpler to install, manage and maintain. For example, channel lineup changes are transparent to an IP/Ethernet network. IP equipment is used universally for networking, unlike DVB-ASI, which is limited to the broadcast and satellite world. Gigabit Ethernet Network Interface Cards are cheaper than their ASI equivalents. IP technology also allows for a geographically distributed encoding architecture.
Tandberg Television has been deploying IPTV headend systems at DTH centers around the globe. In 2007, Bharti Telemedia, a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel Ltd., chose Tandberg’s advanced IP headend for the launch of a new DTH satellite TV service in India. The solution chosen by DirecTV for its local high-definition (HD) expansion also includes Tandberg’s newly-released EN8095 encoders, part of the EN8090 MPEG-4 AVC SD/HD encoding family, which includes IP statistical multiplexing. And recently, Tandberg announced that its MPEG-4 AVC compression and IP multiplexing solutions are being used in Europe by Telenor Satellite Broadcasting to provide IP video contribution and direct-to-consumer IPTV services in Scandinavia. Telenor’s system involves remote encoding and multiplexing from six locations across Northern Europe and Scandinavia. Telenor encodes video at various source points for delivery over an all-IP transport network using the EN8030 MPEG-4 AVC encoders and MX8400 IP multiplexers.

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