During the Digital Television Summit Conference, held in Chicago recently, Xyratex's Television and Video Systems unit showcased its newly developed MPEG Monitoring System (XMM-1000). MPEG is creating a whole new paradigm in test systems for television, cable and DBS, and is the industry's first scalable monitoring system with remote access capability. This cost-efficient, network-access analysis system aims to meet the rapidly changing needs of MPEG-2 testing.
"In this age of digital television, the demands on people and test equipment will intensify within the professional television community due to the increasing complexity of digital systems equipment," said Michael Krans, vice president and business unit manager of Xyratex's Television and Video Systems Division. Because of the multiple hops a signal goes through as it is transmitted, including microwave, fiber optic, and satellite links, errors can be introduced into the signal at any point. As a result, programmers, cable operators and satellite signal providers will require more sophisticated and flexible testing tools that allow them to quickly identify and isolate any faults from a local or remote point. "Our MPEG monitoring system responds directly to this need and is the perfect analysis tool for remote monitoring of compressed data streams either from within a company or from the other side of the continent."
The MPEG monitoring system was developed specifically to change the testing paradigm for remote monitoring, while raising the level of expectation for the performance and accessibility of analysis tools. It is the first scalable, networked test system that enables remote operation and discrete monitoring of MPEG-2 streams on a continuous 7 x 24 basis.
The base input unit is the right size for terrestrial transmission applications and is economical enough to allow continuous monitoring of the system's multiple points, leading to real-time failure isolation rather than interactive time. As requirements grow, its scalable architecture allows users to add MPEG monitors to meet the increasing complexity of the signal chain to be tracked.
The system interface, connected to the network and using a JAVA-based graphical interface, allows the client independence from the platform. This makes it easy for single or multiple users to interface with single or multiple units, wherever they are located. "Our MPEG monitoring system provides unprecedented versatility by allowing operators, within an enterprise or across the continent, to monitor complex data streams originating from multiple points or from a single location," Krans adds. "This capability enables automatic site monitoring where an engineer can oversee multiple systems while directing local technicians to the fault area."
In addition to automatic error detection and notification, the MPEG monitoring system offers the option of capturing transport stream segments when an error has occurred; resulting in an "in-a-glance" remote monitoring system, rapid fault isolation and subsequent analysis for repair and preventive maintenance. "We are confident that the MPEG monitoring system will quickly become an industry standard," concludes Krans. "As the industry moves cautiously into a new era in digital television, it is reassuring to know that accessibility, and the modular and flexible nature of the system will allow upgrade only when need requires it. This ensures a very high ROI and cost-effective monitoring of the most complex systems well into the new millennium."
