ENG/SNG Camera Snake

Telecast Fiber Systems announces its new camera-mounted fiber optic multiplexer family for electronic news gathering (ENG) and satellite news gathering (SNG) applications at NAB 2001. The new CopperHead family is aimed at the local TV station news market with pricing that fits stations' limited equipment budgets. Recent advances in digital semiconductor, laser, and optical multiplexing technologies have enabled Telecast to create a unit small enough to fit on the back of an ENG mini-camera, yet powerful enough to transmit all broadcast signals to and from the camera over a single optical fiber strand.

The CopperHead consists of a multiplexing transceiver, which mounts between the ENG camera body and camera battery, such as Anton/Bauer or PAG. The other end of the link is a 1 RU 19-inch frame, typically located in the news vehicle. The simple Tac-1 single-fiber cable is less than a quarter-inch in diameter and weighs as little as 10 pounds per thousand feet (15 kg/km), yet it meets the stringent military durability specifications of tactical battlefield cable. The fiber terminates in a ruggedized bayonet-style ST connector. Because of the transparency, bandwidth, and small cable size, the CopperHead delivers signals at 30 times the distance of ordinary coaxial or triaxial cable (more than 30 kilometers) on cable that's only one-tenth the weight.

Signals in both directions are sent over the same hair-thin strand in the single conductor fiber optic cable. This is accomplished by sending high-speed digital laser signals in opposite directions through a Y-coupler known as a wavelength-division multiplexer, or WDM, in each unit. This one fiber simultaneously carries a 12-bit digitized program video with two 24-bit audio channels from the camera; return video, black burst, tally and IFB audio back to the camera; and intercom, RS232 data, and CCU control data in both directions.

Because the system's fiber is compatible with single-mode fiber used in telecommunications, the company believes that the CopperHead will also find significant uses in metropolitan applications, directly linking remote venues to studios via leased "dark fiber" (replacing microwave links), and in pre-fibered venues and campuses.

CopperHead deliveries will begin in early summer.

Telecast Fiber Systems, Inc., 102 Grove Street, Worcester, MA 01605. Tel: 508-754-4858; Fax: 508-752-1520.