MultiDyne Streamlines The Sports Production Payload For SkyCam

MultiDyne Video & Fiber Optic Systems continues to reinforce its reputation as a leading supplier for the live sports and event production community as the company expands the scope and application set of its fibre-optic transport and conversion solutions.

These include an expansive range of 12G and 3G solutions for single-link and quad-link 4K/UHD/HDR productions, including its customisable VersaBrix fiber transport series, FiberSaver multiplexer and HoneyBadger stadium signal extender.

These are just three of the many MultiDyne solutions that SkyCam, the broadcast production company that invented the first suspended flying camera, uses for its many live sports production projects. These projects include this (and previous) season’s NBA Playoffs and the Super Bowl, the latter of which MultiDyne products played a substantial role in helping SkyCam move and manage an ST 2110 workflow with an abundance of camera, intercom, Ethernet and serial data signals across expansive stadium grounds.

The SkyCam team also applied a mix of MultiDyne products to recent sports productions globally, including the NHL Stanley Cup Series in June, and the Concacaf Gold Cup and FIFA Club World Cup 2025, both of which concluded this month. The FIFA Club World Cup 2025 was an especially large event that sets the stage for SkyCam’s work on the 2026 FIFA World Cup next summer.

"Internationally, we manage sports productions all over the world," said Stephen Wharton, GM, COO and CTO for SkyCam. "But our main focus is the NFL and College Football, for which we do 20 to 25 games a week. We manage everything glass-to-glass over fiber, from the acquisition camera flying over the field all the way back to the truck. Within that infrastructure, we have MultiDyne everywhere."

One reason for that is that SkyCam also supplies the support cables that its cameras fly across. These cables include Kevlar, electrical and other strength members that pair well with fiber optics. "That allows us to bring in everything from the payload system on to fiber, including all the technology behind the glass and the cameras that are flying over everybody. In the case of the Super Bowl, we had two camera systems; the low camera system was 3G-SDI HDR video, and we used a VersaBrix system to embed AES audio, Ethernet data, and serial data."

The high camera system merged a Sony HDC-P50A camera with 240 frames of 4K UHD, which required the wavelength-shifting and multiplexing power of FiberSaver. As Wharton explained, that configuration typically has two fibers but one fiber-optic ring or rotary joint. That’s where FiberSaver saves the day during the Super Bowl and arena events like the NBA Playoffs and NHL Stanley Cup.”

"We have to send everything through that one piece of glass," said Wharton. "FiberSaver allows us to put that entire payload onto one fiber, re-clock it at central and deliver to the truck without any issues. This is a high bandwidth signal and requires intricacies for all the different fiber and FORJ's (fiber optic Rotary Joints) that are used in our systems. For these big stadium events like the Super Bowl and the World Cup, we can have 15 to 20 paths for video, audio, intercom, internet traffic, and increasingly, large data loads for augmented reality. Especially for these very large events, we will routinely have a mix of VersaBrix throwdowns, FiberSavers, and SilverBullet miniature converters among older products that we have used for years."

The SkyCam team was one of the first MultiDyne customers to test drive the almighty HoneyBadger, a stadium-sized field fiber solution built to serve expansive production-based fiber transport needs including venue-wide signal extension. "The entire premise of being able to run all the video, audio, return paths, Ethernet comms and serial comms from this one very rugged unit sitting out there in the open sounds brings in an entire new level of efficiency."

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