With London 2012 and completion of the digital switchover fast approaching, T-VIPS has announced that the T-VIPS TNS541 Seamless TS Monitoring Switch and the CP560 DVB-T2 Gateway have been installed to provide seamless switching within the Arqiva DVB-T2/SFN digital terrestrial network.
The phased roll-out began in April and is scheduled to be completed in time for the London 2012 Olympics.
In order to preserve SFN (single frequency network) operation and avoid DVB-T2 modulators losing synchronisation, the solution involves the use of two independent CP560 DVB-T2 Gateways and a TNS541 Seamless TS Monitoring Switch. This prevents service outages caused by DVB-T2 modulator resynchronisation – a process that typically takes time to complete. This resynchronisation must be done on all modulators in a particular SFN region; therefore, any issues can affect a large number of customers.
Part of the nSure line of monitoring and switching products, the TNS541 safeguards the delivery of high quality video content by providing 24/7 monitoring, advanced analysis and intelligent 1+1 redundancy switch-over between two MPEG-2 transport streams. This switch solution continuously monitors both incoming MPEG-2 transport streams for status and switches over automatically if required.
Providing a central point of control for DVB-T2 networks, the CP560 utilises the advanced processing capabilities of the cProcessor family to adapt the transport stream into the DVB-T2 Modulator Interface format. It also enables the DVB-T2 Modulator Interface to control the modulator parameters and provides the accurate timing and rate control required for SFN operation.
Johnny Dolvik (pictured), CEO of T-VIPS, commented: “I am delighted that we have been able to help Arqiva enhance the robustness and reliability of the delivery of Freeview HD in the UK. Given the importance of this type of service, it’s crucial that every technology deployment runs as smoothly as possible. I’m pleased to say that T-VIPS has been involved with Arqiva right from the start and it’s great news that our intelligent seamlessly switched 1+1 redundancy solution is now enhancing Arqiva’s managed Freeview HD network.”