In Broadcast - November 2012 - 56

I N T E R N A T I O N A L

N E W S

WWW.INBROADCAST.COM | ISSUE 14 - NOV/DEC 2012

InGEAR

Advances In Satellite Technology
Steven Preston talks with David Furstenberg NovelSat Co-Chairman about advances in satellite encoder/decoder transmission technology and the market forces driving DVB-S3…
There are several satellite market sectors that can potentially beneﬁt from maximal throughput. One of the key drivers of this has been the broadcast sports sector. The cost for just 1Mhz of satellite bandwidth for a month runs into thousands of dollars, the return on even quite substantial investments that offer throughput improvements on DVB-S2 would be enormous. Traditional wisdom, amounting to a dogma, holds that DVB-S2 could not be signiﬁcantly improved on, as it neared the Shannon Theorem limit for the information transfer rate of the channel, for a particular noise level. However, NovelSat’s R&D engineers looked again at the encoding/decoding algorithms used, tightened the roll-off parameters, increased the granularity, and rewrote the achievable specs. Granted since DVB-S2 was developed and finalised, the technology, in particular the chipsets that can handle much more complex algorithms, has moved on. The result was the third-generation NS3 satellite modulation and demodulation technology. David Furstenberg, Co-Chairman of NovelSat, said: “We were set to do the impossible. Because of the deep disbelief of all the bright engineers that what we do is doable, we have been careful not to overstate the results. However, with time and deterministic results through independent trials by over 100 tier one companies, the initial scepticism was changed into strong support by the very same engineers.” Furstenberg claims up to a 235% data rate increase which with NovelSat technology is possible with 2-3m antennae. Following exhaustive trials, the European Broadcasting Union selected NovelSat’s NS3 technology to broadcast major sporting events that included the London games. The EBU cited “superior bandwidth efficiency and allaround performance, notably when modulating large carriers”. Catering for the demand for higher bandwidth, the NovelSat solution was credited with a substantial increase in payload mission was demonstrated by Sony in partnership with SES at IBC. “Another market where this technology is critical is the Ka band satellites. One of the hopes of this market, because they have reduced the cost of the bandwidth dramatically is to be able to compete with fibre. For example, Avanti tested David Furstenberg, NovelSat Chairman our technology and concluded that between their equipment from another leading dramatic contribution to savings and vendor was a 53% improvement our technology they could be highly on throughput and this was before we had the NS3000. competitive in the marketplace. But an interesting opportunity for them “In the NS3000 we will have will be fast internet to rural areas.” additional capabilities that include However, Furstenberg points out a Capacity Multiplier where it can transmit two signals utilising the that the performance of the current technology has still additional same bandwidth – another way of room for improvement, and that improving the capabilities. Therefore NovelSat is keen on continuing to the improvement that we expect, push the envelope and increase their over all the other best performing technological gap. modems in the market, will be huge.” “On a 72MHz transponder we are He claimed that the premium for currently providing 365Mb/s with this technology would moderate, and ordinary antenna, but next year we therefore will contribute to the most are transferring our technology into compelling and attractive return on an ASIC and we will then be able to investment when replacing even reach 1Gb/s, and to support much brand new existing modems, not wider transponders, like 250MHz,” to mention cases where a customer said Furstenberg. “For sure, for the need to buy a brand new modem. NovelSat’s mantra of ‘maximizing DSNG operators this technology is critical, and can change completely satellite capacity’ has been realised the way they run their business today. with more complex algorithms It is not only better, more operational running on a more powerful platform ﬂexible, mixing video and IP, with a equipped with exponentially higher return channel from the studio, but computational power. also faster, more cost-effective and Initially utilising FPGA (Field more robust.” Programmable Gate Array) The ROI of NovelSat’s satellite chipsets – offering a future-proof modem is typically below six months. pathway – NovelSat anticipate “We just replaced a link between using Application-Specific Europe to Africa for cellular backhaul. Integrated Circuit (ASIC) systems The improvement that the customer in early 2014. ■ was able to enjoy over brand new

bandwidth without increasing satellite resource costs. Furstenberg said NovelSat equipment was used to optimise live transmission of the London games – in HD and 3D TV – throughout the world beneﬁtting from ﬁeld-proven robustness and the best ROI in the industry. Furstenberg said: “Today, almost all the major games are broadcast using our NS3 technology. We are already the de facto third generation standard of the broadcasting industry.” As well as the London games he cited top motorsports events and the NBA: “Sporting events are the avant garde of the industry – HD would not have happened if not for them. We believe that by mid-2013, practically all the major sporting events will be driven by and using our NS3 technology.” He said that the next frontier of TV will be the support of full HD (1080p), 4K and later 8K to the customers’ homes. This trend is expected to start to have meaningful deployment in 2015. The next generation compression technology – improvements around HVEC – when coupled with the NS3 technological advances would be the only salvation of the DTH market if it is not to lose this huge customer base, as DVB-S2 and H.264 are not capable of economically supporting these bandwidth-guzzling new TV standards. HD sports broadcasting for the DTH market has driven the requirement for the maximal use of bandwidth and capacity, while restraining costs and realising return on investments. Waiting in the wings is the adoption of 4K (starting 2015). A format that is already in common use for digital cinema by the movie industry. So there is an ample amount of content that can enable service already and 4K satellite trans-

NovelSat NS3000 satellite modem

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In Broadcast - November 2012

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