dB Broadcast launches ASI TS 2x2 switch and monitor

dB Broadcast, the Cambridgeshire-based independent systems house, has introduced a user-configurable ASI transport stream (TS) 2x2 switch and monitor on one module, the Hawkeye B082S.
The Hawkeye B082S continuously monitors two MPEG-2 DVB ASI transport streams and can automatically switch them to the two pairs of outputs. The two inputs are typically main and reserve streams. The switch is fully configurable via a command line or Windows interface. This includes various methods of switching, such as an ‘immediate hard’ switch or ‘near seamless’ switching without loss of sync. The latter has the advantage of not causing further problems down the chain. According to dB, no other current modular model has ‘near seamless’ switching.
Both the monitor and alarms are user configurable. Various critical levels, defined by the user, can be monitored within the transport stream. These include up to 64 PIDs from a customer's specified lists (32 PIDs per input channel); user-defined maximum and minimum data rates for each transport stream; catastrophic failures (such as may be caused by no TS, loss of synchronisation, or low signal level); and basic integrity checks, such as monitoring the program association table (PAT).
The status of the input streams and of the switch is indicated on the front panel, and on the serial ports, DART interface and the user-configurable general-purpose outputs. An optional Ethernet TCP/IP interface is available.
Tom Swan, dB's director of sales and marketing, said: "The B082S is one of the next-generation of Hawkeye modules to be released in 2004 and represents a considerable investment on our part. The development of these modules is based our experience of installing over 150 encoding and compression systems and in supplying ASI DVB monitoring systems over the past six years.
"The first two next-generation modules were released in April 2004 - the B082M for monitoring only and the B082S, which is the same module with the addition of the on-board 2x2 switch. Even at this early stage, we have already received orders from the BBC and a continental broadcaster."
(GB)