14
Arabsat, Forsway roll
out satellite broadband
services across Africa
Under the Arabsat Broadband package,
Arabsat and Forsway have deployed
“affordable satellite broadband services”
across Africa. Tobias Forsell, CEO of Forsway,
commented: “We are excited to be working
with Arabsat, a leading satellite operator,
to create a new way of delivering highly
cost-effective broadband services in Africa.
“Tapping Forsway’s hybrid technology, we
are helping Arabsat Broadband Services
enable rapid deployment of robust, satellite-
based Internet services and eliminate
the need to deploy costly additional
infrastructure. The Forsway Odin F-50
technology is furnishing Arabsat Broadband
Services with a competitive, low-cost
alternative to VSAT for the new Arabsat
Broadband service model and offering.”
Feel the power of
point-to-point transmitter
Just Add Power (J+P), a provider of 4K/
Ultra HD (UHD)-over-IP video distribution,
has released the 709P2P 3G point-to-point
transmitter. According to J+P, the Power-
Over-Ethernet (PoE) transmitter allows
integrators to utilise a single-power input to
distribute video, audio, power and control
to all downstream devices over Cat-5e cable.
Integrators can also pair the 709P2P with
any model of J+P receiver to create a simple
point-to-point connection, or combine it
with the company’s PoE daisy-chain receiver
for installations of up to four screens.
PANELLISTS
Martin Coleman
Executive Director
The Satcoms
Innovation Group
Amitabh Kumar
Director, Corporate
Zee Network
Louis Boswell
CEO
AVIA
(Asia Video Industry
Association)
December 2018
Broadcast satellite
draws on new
technologies for
efficiency gains
While content delivery over satellite is being faced with a number of
challenges, technologies exist to make the process more efficient.
A
s uncertainty continues to mark the
satellite industry, broadcasters need
solutions that will help boost effi-
ciency, performance and busi-
ness potential as a new era
of broadcast looms, sug-
gests Hans Massart, market
director, broadcast, Newtec.
He tells APB: “The broadcast industry
is facing a host of challenges that are only
set to increase. Today’s audiences expect to
see and hear about newsworthy events im-
mediately, as it is happening. This means
that newsrooms have to take this fresh
from the scene, and straight to the viewer
with little lag time.”
As a result, broadcasters choosing to
deliver this content over satellite are seeing
increasing pressure placed on their band-
width and profit margins. Due to the use
of 4K/Ultra HD (UHD) and high dynamic
range (HDR), these next-generation TV
broadcasts require higher bitrates and
significantly more bandwidth, Massart
observes.
Thus, new technologies that provide
broadcasters with efficiency gains are
incredibly important to ensure effective
space segment usage, he adds. “DVB-S2X
and technologies such as High Efficiency
Video Coding (HEVC)/H.265 are exam-
ples of new technologies and techniques
that enable broadcasters, satellite opera-
tors and service providers to become more
efficient as uptake of 4K/UHD gathers
pace.”
Besides offering a fully DVB-S2X-
enabled modem and modulator portfolio,
Newtec has also developed a range of its
own technologies to provide maximum
throughput under all satellite link con-
ditions, including Equalink, FlexACM,
Mu lt ist re am and C l e an C han nel
Technology.
Designed to compensate for the ef-
fects of imperfections in the filters and
amplifiers of the satellite, Equalink 3 is a
Newtec’s MCX7000 multi-carrier satellite gateway splits a large transport stream into two or
three parts over the satellite, circumventing the bandwidth limitation of a standard Ku-band
transponder.
❝ Because today’s
audiences expect to
see and hear about
newsworthy events
immediately, broadcasters
choosing to deliver this
content over satellite are
seeing increasing pressure
placed on their bandwidth
and profit margin. ❞
— Hans Massart,
Market Director, Broadcast,
Newtec
“revolutionary” linear and non-linear
pre-distortion technology, which pro-
vides breakthrough performance gains
on direct-to-home (DTH) satellite
links, according to Massart.
Alongside this, FlexACM combines
a range of technologies to opti mise IP
Trunking and IP Backbone satellite
links in the most efficient way, while
Multistream allows users to aggregate
a number of independent transport
streams or IP streams into one satellite
carrier in a fully transparent manner,
maintaining the integrity of the origi-
nal content. Finally, Clean Channel
Technology further improves satellite
efficiency by up to 15% compared to
the current DVB-S2 standard for IP
trunking, backhauling and govern-
ment networks, as well as broadcast
contribution.
Massart continues: “We are
also pio neering the use of Channel
Bonding. Our MXC7000, for example,
is paving the way to providing custom-
ers with the 4K/UHD programming
they demand, in a cost-effective and
efficient way.
“Using DVB-S2X, this technique
splits a large transport stream into two
or three parts over the satellite, cir-
cumventing the bandwidth limitation