ARTES supports new era of bandwidth efficiency

One such company keeping the competitive edge is Newtec. Based in Belgium, Newtec has grown from its humble beginnings in 1985 to a worldwide player in the satcom market.

The company has been involved in many ESA projects and activities, including the development of the Digital Video Broadcasting or DVB standard. In one of its most recent collaborations with ESA, Newtec further developed its line of Azimuth satellite modems for TV broadcasting, together with a range of frequency converters and redundancy switches. This has also led to the development of the company’s M6100 Broadcast satellite modulator.

The M6100 is the DVB-S2, DVB-DSNG and DVB-S modulator, specifically designed for tasks such as; broadcasting direct-to-home (DTH), primary distribution to headends and the contribution of television and radio content. The M6100 can be used in conjunction with set-top boxes or professional satellite demodulators.

Recently, Newtec ushered in a new era of bandwidth efficiency by achieving 0.5 Gbps two-way throughput over a 72 MHz transponder on a Eutelsat satellite with the M6100 modulator. The tests were completed under fully operational conditions, proving Newtec is prepared to efficiently deliver future services based on new technologies including 4k HDTV, Ultra HDTV, stereoscopic and multiview 3DTV.

In future, this will translate into the ability to deliver more television channels through one transponder, a benefit to broadcasters and end-users alike.
Some of the technologies, developed with the guiding hand of ARTES, include:

  • Clean channel technology™ providing up to 15 per cent bandwidth efficiency gains on top of the DVB-S2 standard. Clean channel technology can be applied in satellite links with single carriers, multiple carriers or carriers sharing the same transponder with other providers.
  •  A “future proof” modulator platform design combining video and IP multi-service capabilities, with enhanced bandwidth processing capabilities, making upgrades possible without the need to replace hardware.
  • Carrier Identification insertion: RF carrier interference is high on the agenda of satellite operators, broadcasters and broadcast unions. With built in carrier ID this makes solving interference issues a piece of cake.

Newtec, along with several other ARTES-supported ground segment companies including Advantech Wireless(UK), Cobham(UK) , Global Invacom Ltd (UK) , International Datacasting (CA), IZT GmbH (DE) , ND SatCom (DE) , Skyware Global (UK) and Work Microwave GmbH (DE), will be exhibiting at IBC2012 in RAI Amsterdam starting this week.

The International Broadcasting Convention is one of the world’ largest annual conferences and exhibitions for professionals engaged in the creation, management and delivery of electronic media and entertainment content worldwide. It is held annually and attracts 50 000 visitors.

More information can be found under the related and contact links in the column to the right.

Published 22 November 2012
Last updated at 06 August 2014 - 12:08