Considerations in Physical Infrastructures for 3 Gbit/sec Systems Design

Abstract

The progression to higher definition television imagery and live production requirements has led to the development and adoption of SMPTE standards that support realtime data rates for 1080p60. Terminal and routing equipment, production switchers (vision mixers) and camera platforms are emerging rapidly. The integration of this equipment into existing or new facilities challenges the practices and concepts for the design and implementation of the physical infrastructure. To fully meet the various requirements of the new 3 Gbit/sec world, an understanding of the electrical and physical parameters—and their limitations—must be undertaken. This paper looks at how one company approached the testing and qualification of various physical elements (connectors, patching, and cable) for the transport of 3 Gbit/sec signals inside a television facility. The impetus for this research project came from the design experience of the transmission operations center (TOC) for a major sports entertainment network being constructed in 2009. <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">1</sup> This TOC will support the reception, aggregation, and transmission of high-definition programming at 1080p60. The qualification testing used readily available materials and components common to the television industry, with the methodologies and findings presented herein.