Vol. XIX, No. 1

January-March 2013

Contents

Vol. XIX, No.1

BES Review January' 13 - March’13

Editorial

2

From the President

3

BES Council 2012-2014

4

Broadcast Engineering Society (India) : A Report on Objectives and Activities - P. K. Singh

6

AES #3 STANDARDS - E.Venkitakrishnan

10

Optical Fiber Communication - Smt Manisha Shete

12

Cloud Computing - M.Y. Thote

17

News Activities In AIR : A Technical Angle - A K Shrivastava

21

Digital radio Transmission Requirements of Antenna and matching circuits - I. I. George

26

400 KHz FM Channel Spacing for Common Service Area Co-location & Allied Issues - B. P. Srivastava

31

New Media Platforms - Opputunity For Braodcasters - Pradeep Mehra

36

Report - Yogendra Pal

38

Report : Chennai Chapter nd - Digital Terrestrial Television 2 Generation

39

Report : Thanjavur Chapter -World Communication Day Celebration

40

Report : Pune Chapter - Inauguration of BES(I) Pune Chapter

41

A Journey through a good old 'channel', Doordarshan - C. Satyanandan

42

Appointments

45

What's New - Deepak Joshi

46

Bridging Old and New at Blog

50

New Members

51

Obituary

52

Editorial Board Chairman Ashish Bhatnagar Co-Chairman Deepak Joshi Member R.P. Joshi Pradeep Mehra Devesh Kumar Deepali Sharma D. Ranganathan Published by : P. K. Singh, Hon. Secretary, on behalf of Broadcast Engineering Society (India) 912, Surya Kiran Building, 19, K.G. Marg, New Delhi-110001 Tel. : + 91-11- 23316709 Fax : + 91-11- 23316710 E-mail : [email protected]

Printed at : Pragati Creations 27/1B, Dilshad Garden Ind. Area, G.T. Road, Delhi-110095 e-mail : [email protected] Ph.: 9312438440 Views expressed by authors are their own and may not be that of BES(I)

Editorial Broadcast sector in India is passing through a crucial phase wherein digitalization is making its presence felt, which will pave the way for ultimate transparency and customer/viewer/listener satisfaction. Cable TV digitalization, DAS Phase II has covered 38 more cities of the country thus passing on the dividends of digitalization to many more cable TV homes. India's Public Service Broadcaster is also looking forward for its massive digitalization plan, having achieved almost full studio digitalization and proceeding further on Digital transmission front. All these developments are creating newer challenges for the Broadcast Engineers of the country every day. BES as the biggest professional Society of Broadcast Engineers in the Asia Pacific region is facilitating knowledge sharing through BES Expo, seminars, conferences and publications. Editorial team of the BES Review is pleased to present the current issue of BES Technical Review which contains articles on varied technical topics such as Digital standards, Studio automation, Optical fibre communication, Issues related to FM channel spacing, Cloud computing and New media initiatives. Reports on the activities of BES and BES Expo 2013 may help the professionals, who missed the event, have a glance of the Show. The editorial team of BES technical review has put in their best efforts to bring out this issue. I would like to place on records the special contribution made by Shri Devesh Kumar, Shri Pradeep Mehra and Shri Deepak Joshi for investing their time and energy. Hope this will meet your expectations and standards.

(Ashish Bhatnagar) [email protected]

2 January'13 - March'13

From the President It gives me immense pleasure to write to you through this BES review, which is being released after the 19th BES Expo was successfully organized from 29th to 31st January 2013, showcasing the latest state-of-art broadcast equipments and emerging broadcast technologies. Broadcasting, and digital broadcasting in particular, has got a big boost by the Society's unparalleled efforts in widening the horizons of knowledge of the broadcast fraternity of India, providing guidance and instilling confidence amongst broadcasters in choosing the right and apt technologies through this annual event. My heart-felt gratitude and thanks for the BES fraternity for organizing the great show. The introduction of digital broadcasting has popped up a number of issues. Is investment justified for migration from analog to digital? Is there a really a public demand or a social demand? Is broadcasting necessary at all when the content can be delivered on-line or through internet? Broadcasters all over the world have faced these questions. Broadcasting may never, even in long term, be superseded by on-line delivery systems. It does some things much too well. However all the questions do not have straight and simple answers. One reasonable answer is if we do change to digital broadcasting, we may have pain in the beginning, but in the end we will be doing things much more economically, efficiently and in a much better way. Migration to digital is a mammoth task and I urge the BES fraternity to contribute their very best in tackling the challenges connected with this great task. This issue of BES Review brings a number of articles on sought-after topics. . The Review has an article on Cloud Computing, contributed by Sri M.Y.Thote, former Chief Engineer of Doordarshan. Rather than procure our own IT servers or rent the maximum processing and storage capacity we will ever need, why not pay only for what we use, when we use it? Centralized computer intelligence is going to play a vital role in broadcasting today. The subject has been dealt by Sri Thote very deftly. There is another article on 400 KHz channel spacing of FM services, contributed by Sri B.P. Srivastava, former Director(Engg) of All India Radio, which will draw everybody's attention. It is a very timely, important and interesting topic, particularly in view of spectrum becoming one of the costliest national resource. Sri B.P. Srivastava's article helps us in understanding the technical and policy issues arising out of adopting 400 KHz channel separation in FM services. There are excellent contributions from Smt Manish Shete, Sri A.K.Srivastava, Sri E. Venkitakrishnan and Sri Pradeep Mehra, on very relevant topics, which are worth reading. The Review also carries report from the vibrant BES chapters of Chennai, Pune, Bangalore and Mumbai. I perceive the role of BES as important strategic ingredients in the development of future broadcasting in India and I am sure that BES will strive to fulfill that role. Thanking you once again for making the BES Expo 2013 a huge success. R.K. Sinha President, BES(I)

3 January'13 - March' 13

BES (I) Council 2012-2014 Name

Designation

Mobile / E-mail

R.K. Sinha President

Engineer-in-Chief Doordarshan

9868631895

[email protected]

Ashok Lakhanpal Immediate Past President

Former Chief Engineer All India Radio

9868114396

[email protected]

R.R. Prasad Past President

Former Engineer-in-Chief Doordarshan

9910347887

[email protected]

Ashish Bhatnagar Vice President

Dy. Director General (E)

9422304888

[email protected]

Yuvraj Bajaj Vice President

Engineer-in-Chief All India Radio

9868189374

[email protected]

Pravin Kumar Singh Hon. Secretary

Director (Engg.) All India Radio

9968993838

[email protected]

R.C. Bhatnagar Hon. Treasurer

Former Addl. Director General (Engg.)

9968296792

[email protected]

A.K. Jha Council Member

Dy. Director General (E)

9968656902

[email protected]

A.V Swaminathan Council Member

Former Chief Engineer

9811470018

[email protected]

Bindra S.S Council Member

Former Addl. Director General (Engg.)

9899968022

[email protected]

C.K. Jain Council Member

Dy. Director General (E)

9990647004

[email protected]

Deepak Joshi Council Member

Dy. Director General (E)

9435032256

[email protected]

Deepak Mehrotra Council Member

Former Chief Engineer

9810862165

[email protected]

N. Thiyagrajan Council Member

Dy. Director General (E)

9445562769

[email protected]

Om Prakash Rajpurohit Council Member

Asstt. Engineer

9414251557

[email protected]

P. Mohanadoss Council Member

Former Chief Engineer

9940688812

[email protected]

S.C Khasgiwal Council Member

Former Chief Engineer

9869047581

[email protected]

Yogendra Pal Council Member

Former Addl. Director General (E)

9811572044

[email protected]

V.K. Singla Co-Opted Member

former Engineer-in-Chief All India Radio

9582220496

[email protected]

K. Subramanian Co-Opted Member

CMD, BECIL

9968200973

[email protected]

P.S. Sundram Permanent Invitee

Managing Director Technomedia

9811197746

[email protected]

B.K. De Permanent Invitee

Former Engineer-in-Chief

9810044554

[email protected]

V.K. Mehra Permanent Invitee

Former Director Engineer

9999986234

[email protected]

4 January'13 - March'13

Local Chapters Chapter

Chairman

Hon. Secretary

Hon. Treasurer

Tel. No. /E-mail.

1) Ahmedabad

Chandira J.K.

A.K. Gupta

M.H. Chaudhary

9426513961 [email protected]

2) Bangalore

Anil Mangalgi

A. Hanumant

Sanjeev K.P.

9448490241 [email protected]

3) Bhubaneshwar

-

-

-

-

4) Chennai

S.K. Aggarwal

K V Ramachandran

P Bhoopathy

[email protected]

5) Jaipur

R.S. Tyagi

O.P. Rajpurohit

K. C. Jain

9414051284 [email protected]

6) Kolkatta

-

-

-

-

7) Hyderabad

M.B.S. Purushottam

Er. Nuli Namassivaya

R. Janardhan Rao

+91-9869489551 [email protected]

8) Mumbai

CH Ranga Rao

Shipra Manaswita

P.S. Khurana

91-9869047581 [email protected]

9) Thanjavur

Ms A. Chitra

A. Sakthivel

G. Muthukrishnan

9443782765 [email protected]

10)Thiruvananthapuram

-

-

-

-

11) Pune

R.N. Katkar

A.C. Kale

S.S. Raman

12) Guwahati

-

-

-

+91-9421053428 [email protected] -

BES Committees S. No.

Name of Commitees

Chairman

Co-Chairman

1.

BES EXPO Event (Exhibition)

Sh. A.V. Swaminathan

Sh. C.K. Jain, Sh. A.K. Jha

2.

BES EXPO Event (Conference )

Sh. Yogendrapal

Sh. C.K. Jain, Sh. A.K. Jha

3.

BES Review

Sh. Ashish Bhatnagar

Sh. Deepak Joshi

4.

Website Management

Sh. Yogendrapal

Sh. Devesh Kumar

5.

BES Awards

Sh. S.C. Khasgiwal

-

6.

Industrial Relations

Sh. P.S. Sundaram

-

7.

Constitution & Legal

Sh. P. Mohanadoss

-

8.

New Member Induction

Sh. P. Mohanadoss

-

9.

Seminar and Lectures

Sh. V.K. Singla

-

5 January'13 - March' 13

Broadcast Engineering Society (India) A Report on Objectives and Activities The main objective of Broadcast Engineering Society (India) is to promote the advancement and dissemination of knowledge & practices of broadcasting in the field of Radio & TV and to enhance the knowledge of broadcast engineering professionals. The Society was established in 1987 and is registered with Registrar of Societies, New Delhi as a Not-forProfit Society. Broadcast Engineering Society (India) i.e. BES (I) provides platform for exchange of ideas, technical discussions, interaction, updating of knowledge, panel discussions, technical lectures, symposiums, seminars on the topics of current interest & tutorials for beginners. The society is trying to bridge the gap between educational institutions and professional bodies and wishes to work with various like minded professional organizations.

General, CSIR, Prof. S. S. Deodhar, Former Chairman, Electronics Commission, Prof. R. Rao, Former Chairman, ISRO, Prof. M. G. K. Memon, Former Scientific Advisor to the Govt. of India, Prof. K. K. Aggarwal, Vice Chancellor, Guru Govind Singh IndraPrastha University, Delhi, Dr. Raja Ramanna, Eminent Scientist, Justice K. Jayachandra Reddy, former Chairman, Press Council of India, Mr, David Astley, Secretary General, ABU, Malaysia, Sh. K. S. Sarma, former Chief Executive Officer, Prasar Bharati, Dr. K. Kasturirangan, Eminent Space Scientist, Lt. Gen. D. P. Sehgal, PVSM, AVSM, VSM(Retd.), Member, TDSAT. The Society gives various awards every year to the individual for their outstanding contributions in various fields of broadcasting. These are generally given away by the Chief Guest or the Guest of Honour attending the BES EXPO and NPSBD. The awards are Mukul N. Trivedy Award, Mrs. Jayalakshmi Panchakesan Award, Prof. Sethuraman Award, D. V. Nirmal and Mangal Sain Award, EDI Award, V. P. Nanda Award, Dr. Vassumal Hazarimal Merani Award,

BES (I) is one of the founder members of Engineering Council of India. It is affiliated to Society of Broadcast Engineers [SBE], Indianapolis, USA and has friendship agreement with Society of Cable Television Engineers and National Association of Broadcaster, USA. It is also working closely with Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU), UNESCO, IGNOU, Prasar Bharati and Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Govt. of India. The Society has its headquarters in New Delhi, India and has 12 local Chapters at Ahmadabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai, Thanjavur, Thiruvananthapuram, Bhubaneswar, Guwahati and Pune. The Membership categories of BES (I) include Honorary fellows, Life fellows, Life members, Associate members, Student members, Affiliates and Life Corporate members. The society has over 2400 members on its roll as on date in India and abroad spread in more than 300 locations. The Fellows of the Society include Dr. A. P. Mitra, Director

6 January'13 - March'13

P. K. Singh Hon. Secretary, BES(I)

th

A report on the BES EXPO 2013, the 17 International conference & Exhibition on Terrestrial and Satellite Broadcasting is given below: Introduction: th

The Broadcast Engineering Society organized its 19 International Conference cum Exhibition on Terrestrial and Satellite Broadcasting at the Pragati th st Maidan from 29 January to 31 January, 2013 in Hall No.12-A. The theme of the Conference was “Convergence and New Broadcasting Technologies”. The event was approved by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Govt. of India, endorsed by International Association of Broadcast Manufactures [IABM], UK and supported by Prasar Bharati, IGNOU, Ministry of Communication and IT, Govt. of India and Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union [ABU], Malaysia.

Public Service Broadcasting Award and Life Time Achievement Award. In order to disseminate the knowledge of broadcasting, BES (I) brings out a quarterly journal, BES Review, which contains technical articles and latest information about technological developments in the field of broadcasting. The society has also brought out the following publications:

The Inaugural Function: The function started at 10.00 am on 29th January, 2013 with an Invocation. Mr. Manish Tewari, Hon'ble Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Information & Broadcasting, Government of India graced the occasion as Chief Guest. Other dignitaries present were Mr. Sam Pitroda, Advisor of Prime Minister on Public information infrastructure & innovations, Mr. Uday Kumar Varma, Secretary of Min. I & B, Mr. Jawhar Sircar, CEO of Prasar Bharati, Mr. Jan Eveleens, Chairman of IABM. The Hon'ble Minister addressed large gathering on the new challenges posed by social media & issues of responsibility & anonymity in social media. Mr. Pitroda mesmerized everyone in his speech about the challenges posed by aspiration of young generation.

BES Review [Quarterly Journal]: A professional quarterly journal containing Technical Articles relating to broadcast. Book on Broadcast Planning; A book containing selective and important topics in the field of Radio frequency planning for broadcasting. Glossary of TV Broadcasting: This has compression of words, phrases, acronyms and other abbreviations that comprise the technical vocabulary used in all spheres of broadcasting. Hand book on Digital Video Compression: This book on Digital Video compression is a step in that direction. It is an excellent compilation of various compression techniques and standards right from MPEG 1 to MPEG 2.1 & DV and there is a brief mention of Quick Time and Windows Media player. Principles of RAID configuration used in the servers have been detailed with good schematic. Apart from the above, a Conference Proceedings containing detailed papers presented during the BES EXPO Conference, an Exhibition Directory and Newsletter are also published every year during BES EXPO, which is an International Conference and Exhibition on Terrestrial and Satellite Broadcasting organized by BES (I) in New Delhi, India.

7 January'13 - March' 13

He also spoke about technology changing the life of commoner. Mr. Varma presented serious issues reshaping & emerging in broadcasting. Mr. Sircar spoke about the technological role & responsibilities of public broadcaster besides posing coverage issue of FM in india. Mr. Jan Eveleens delivered the KeyNote address. The Hon'ble Minister presented the awards to winners & inaugurated the conference proceedings & exhibition directory. Thereafter, the Exhibition was opened. Panel Discussion: A Panel discussion on “Digital Cable & other TV Delivery platform-terrestrial internet satellite & so on” was moderated by Mr. Tripurari Sharan, Director General, Doordarshan. The Panel members were Ms. Supriya Sahu of Min of I & B, Mr. Anthony D'silva from Hinduja, Mr. Anil Prakash from IPTV forum, Mr. S.N. Sharma from Den Network, Mr. Shashi Arora from Bharti telnet, Mr. Ali Hussian from youtube & Mr. Thiagrajan from Doordarshan.

about cloud computing in the start of session & artfully summarized the deliberations in end of session. nd

The 2 session was on “3D/Ultra HD TV & Beyond-a move toward bringing reality closer”. This was chaired by Mr. P. S. Sundaram from Technomedia Solutions Pvt. Ltd.. The speakers were Koichi Murakami- Sony, Mr. Jason Power- Dolby, Mr. Guru Vaidya-Adobe & Mr. Hideki Ohtaka-Panasonic. The speakers presented intricacies & constituents of 3D/Ultra HD TV technology.

The members shared frankly their views on different stack holder's role & responsibilities regarding the Digital Cable & other TV delivery medium. They also discussed technological aspects & its usages.

rd

The 3 session was on “Audience research technologies” and chaired by Ms. Supriya Sahu, JS in Min. of I & B, India. The topic was very contemporary considering the recent controversies in this field. Many unknown management & technical facts were discussed. Mr. L.V. Krishnan, TAM has presented current functioning of TAM & Mr. Vineet from LEI discussed technical solution to accuracy & authenticity of audience research. Mr. Ashok from Hansa & Mr. Prameshwaran from TRAI has clarified many doubts & presented their view very boldly & efficiently.

The Conference: th

There were 8 sessions spread over the two days i.e. 30 st st and 31 January, 2013. The 1 session was on “Cloud Computing-new realm in broadcasting”. Mr. R. K. Sinha, E-in-C, Doordarshan, India chaired the session. The speakers were Mr. Ganesh Sankaran from Prime Focus, Mr. Chistophe Messa from Quantel, Dr. Rajesh Agarwal, from AISI, Mr. Protik Banerjee from EVS. Mr. Sinha posed a few interesting but critical questions

The last session of day was on “Stress management”. Ms. Asha from Bramakumaries beautifully explained the causes & ways to handle the mental stress arises due to fast life of urban area. Mr. Samarpananad Giri from Kriya Yog effortlessly presented the importance of various body parts & ways to control stress. The session was chaired & summarized by Brig (Retd.) V.A.M. Hussain from Prasar Bharti who added his experience of defence to clarify certain aspects of stress. th

The 5 session on next day was on “Digital Radio Broadcasting-adding new dimension and colour to

8 January'13 - March'13

th

operators, Mr. Indrjeet Grewal, Min. Of I & B. The 5 speaker Mr. B.M. Bakshi, DDG (DD) explained creatively by footages to present same theme with different style. The session was summarized by chairperson & also posed question to media to address to masses. The last session was on “Global distribution of TV Channels”. Mr. Sushrutha smanta, Dish TV Mr. Ishwar Jan, Avani TV & Mr. Yaron from RRsat Global communication presented the ways to reach globally to targeted audience. The different points were admirably summarized by Chairman Sri R. K. Singh, JS Min. of I & B. This year the participation from the manufacturers was overwhelming. Altogether there were 91 exhibitors.

Radio” and chaired by E-in-C, AIR Mr. V.K. Singla. st The 1 speaker Mr. O.K. Sharma, ADG (NZ), AIR & DD, presented existing & future planning of AIR digital Radio implementation schemes. The Next speakers Mr. Alexender Zink from Fraunhofer IIS and Mr. Herman Zenson from Digidia well know speakers of DRM technology. They explained the benefits of DRM technology. Mr. Moritz from Ampegon & Mr. Subrahmanyam from Analog Devices had thrown lights on aspects of digital Radio.

The future plans: The future plans of Broadcast Engineering Society [India] are to broaden the membership base and organize more Conferences/Lectures/Workshops/ Exhibitions on the topics of broadcasting to disseminate technology in masses at Delhi as well as in the cities having Local Chapters, start classrooms and distant education for freshers, start refresher courses for serving Engineers, start short-term training courses on Audio/Video editing, Programme Production, Satellite Communication, Digital Transmission etc., to start accreditation for under graduate Broadcast Engineers and to increase publication of technical books for the benefit of the broadcast engineers and professionals. BES [I] is willing to collaborate and work with other bodies to achieve these aims & objectives.

The 6th session was on “New Media Technology & Multi platform Strategy” & chaired by Mr. Ahmed Nadeem, ABU. The Speakers were Mr. Mustapha from Netia, Mr. Bin Li Eric from R & S, Dr. Deepan Sinha,ATC Labs,Mr. Atul from What on india, Mr. Danny Wilson from Pixelmetrix The 7th session was chaired by Mr. L D Mandloi , DG-AIR. The topic was “Broadcasting for Masses”. The topic was discussed by Mr. K.V.L. Rao, NDTV, Dr. Vartika, Lady Sri Ram collage, Mr. Uday Chawala, Association of Radio

9 January'13 - March' 13

AES #3 STANDARDS DIGITAL AUDIO

0

Sub frame is divided into 32 time slots. One time slot is 1 sample bit in duration. Preamble has 4 time slots.The next time slot gets filled ineither of two ways. If it is a 20bit audio sample, then there will be an auxiliary slot of 4 bits as user bit which can be used for low quality audio for cuing or for other information.If it is a 24 bit audio sample, then this user bit would not be there. Audio word is represented by LSB first and MSB last. For shorter audio words 0 bits get added.

It is single serial digital transmission stream There are two audio channels There is a sampling It is linear , that is, uncompressed The cable is single ,shielded ,twisted ,pair

HOUSE KEEPING Let us get to slot 28.This is a Validity bit.This bit will indicate whether audio word is suitable for conversion into analog.And on to slot 29.This is a User bit. Time slot 30 is for channel status:gives info like length of audio sample words, sampling frequency, number of audio channels in use,emphasis info, consumer or professional being implemented, audio or data being transmitted on the interface. And lastly, Time slot 31. is for Parity check: that is for detection of data errors. Even parity in sub frame to ensure time slots 4-31carry even no of0s and 1s.

The digital data is arranged in a system of blocks,frames & subframes. The biggest unit is block and smallest unit is the subframe. 1Block=192 Frames 1Frame= 2 Sub Frames 1Subframe=Preamble -> Audio Word >Validity ->User -> Channel->Parity 1 Sub Frame= Preamble 4 Bits+ Audio word24 Bits+Validity1 bit+User1 Bit+ Channel1 Bit+parity1bit = 32bits =Bit count/Sample

0

4

Preamble

8 Aux LSB

28 24 bit audio sample word

PREAMBLE Preambles come at the beginning of the subframe. They are of 4 bit length.There are 3 types of preambles for Channel identification and frame identification.AES3has two audio channels to identify and the beginning of the first block.In the block structure illustration X,Y & Z are for Channel#1, channel #2 and beginning of first block, first subframe, respectively.

31 V U C P

THE BEAUTY OF BIPHASE CODING

MSB

Here we reach a very interesting part of the topic. As a Frame= 2Sub frames=2x32=64 bits. For a Sampling

Fig.1a:Subframe 20 bit Audio word

10 January'13 - March'13

V U C P MSB

TIME SLOTS

STRUCTURE OF AES3



31

Fig.1b: Subframe 24 bit Audio word

The format, to quote from AES/EBU, “provides for the serial digital transmission of two channels of periodically sampled and uniformly quantized audio signals on a single shielded twisted pair.”This description beautifully says it all-

• • •

28 24 bit audio sample word

LSB

THE FORMAT

• • • • •

4 Preamble

As we transit fromAnalog audio to Digital, looks like we have already done it, awhole new world of parameters open up. Each of these needsto be standardised as well quickly to match the pace of technology.The AES/EBU lays down such standards for digital audio known as AS3, which describes the nittygrittiesof the digital audio interface.

E.Venkitakrishnan

X

Channel 1

Y

Channel 2

Z

Channel 1

Y

Subframe 1

Frame 191

Channel 2

X

Channel 1

Y

Channel 2

X

Subframe 2

Frame 0

Frame 1

Start of block

1

0

1

0

0

1

1

1

0

0

1

Figure2: Block and Frame Structure rate of 48 kHZ,Data rate of interface= 64x48000=3.072Mbps.The interface employs an embedded clock signal twice this, that is,6.1MHZ. All time slots except preamble are encoded.

Figure 3: Bi-phase coding Top: clock Middle: Data Bottom: Bi-phase coded

Bi phase mark coding requires a clock that runs at twice the data rate .See illustration.Top-clock runs at double the data rate to enable bi phase coding.Symbol rate is twice the bitrate of signal.

An example of encoding: data before clock, and 0 means transition. OTHER RELATED AES STANDARDS There are a few AES related standards.AES-5 is for Sampling Frequencies,AES-10 is for MADI,AES-11 is for Synchronisation in Studio,AES-17is for Measurement of Digital Equipmentand AES-18 is Format for User data channel.

Each bit period is divided into two half periods-clock and data.Clock half period always begins with transition fromL to H or H to L. Data halfperiod makes a transition for one value and no transition for the other value.Code Version 1: Makes transition for 0, no transition for 1 in data half.

Things are pretty organised in the digital world. The struggle with analogue standards is a thing of the past. The march of digital has been fast and digital electronics has become all pervasive.We reached the frontiers of technology. Thanks we are witnessing the excitement in real time!Equipments are being built with a lot of format compatibility. It is almost anything IN and anything OUT!

Code version 2:- Makes transition for 1 and no transition for 0. if “1” is represented by one transition, then “0” is represented by two transitions and vice versa .Either code can be interpreted with the clock half period either before or after the data half period. The beauty of Bi phase marking is evident from the plus points gained such as minimisation of DC component, immunisation to polarity at connections & selfsynchronisation.

About The Author Shri E.Venkitakrishnan, served All India Radio from 1964-1998. He worked in designations- from Engineering Assistant to Deputy Director(E), at locations of Broadcasting House, Delhi, HPT, Avadi, Dibrugarh, Thrissur, CE(WZ), P&D, New Delhi, Agra and HPT Khampur, Aftre superannuation from AIR, Shri E. Venkitakrishnan is closely associated with BESIL and executed several tunkey projects in Radio, TV and Auditoria. He was also on assignment to World Space Satellite Radio, as Consultant for its Indian projects. He lives in Bangalore, runs a Small Scale Enterprise (SSE), which caters to the need of growing broadcast industry, in a modesr scale. Email. : [email protected] Mob . : 9810634434

11 January'13 - March' 13

Optical Fiber Communication Smt Manisha Shete

Introduction Motivation for optical communication began with the invention of the laser in the early 1960s. Since then, the technology has evolved at the speed of light. Optical technology has advanced so fast that it has become the information conduit of the world. The transmission of data, voice and media is distributed at the speed of light over a mesh of glass fibers that span thousands of kilometers throughout the world. This article gives an over all view of optical fiber communication each component of link is discussed in detail and some light is also thrown on design aspect of an OFC link along with applications of OFC in different fields.

required every 2 to 3 km. 2. Immunity of optical fiber from electromagnetic radiation and lightning. 3. As signal travels in form of light through optical fiber, there is no cross talk between the channels this is common problem in copper cable. 4. Long Distance Transmission due to low loss of optical fiber. 5. Optical fiber is made from glass/silica so it is light weight, has low cost compared to copper cable and there is no theft threat.

Before we go in details into working /specifications of each elements of optical fiber link, let us first go through advantages of using optical fiber communication.

6. Signal cannot be tapped, making it ideal for high security network. Its disadvantages are cost of converters and terminal equipment, also tools and test equipment are costly.

1. One of main advantage is ultra high bandwidth of the optical fiber compared to copper cable making it ideal for supertrunks in communication network, for same quality of signal, amplifiers is required at every 50 km for optical fiber whereas for copper cable they are

Figure1.1 shows element of an optical fiber network.

Transmitter

Receiver

Electrical interface --Video --Audio --Data

User Inputs

Optical Fiber

Data Encoder/Modulator --AM --FM --Digital

Electrical interface --Video --Audio --Data Data Decoder/Demodulator --AM --FM --Digital Light Detector --PIN Diode --APD --Materials: Silicon, Germanium, Indium Gallium Arsenide

Light Source --LED --LASER --Wavelengths 800 nm,1310nm,1550nm

Electrical to Optical Conversion

Optical to Electrical Conversion

Figure 1.1-Elements of Fiber Optic Link

12 January'13 - March'13

User outputs

pedestals,multimedia distribution systems,intra studiobroadcasting,inter studio broadcasting,A studio transmitter link is one example of inter studio broadcasting. A Typical uncompressed video is 270Mb/s and with HDTV signals rate for single uncompressed channel is 1.485Gb/s.for such huge data rates optical fiber is the only solution to carry signal within studio.Fiber optic communication is used by cable industry using HFC(hybrid fiber/coax) cable where optical fiber is used upto curb and from curb to subscriber coaxial is used. Its other uses are in high resolution imaging ,in distance learning (Teleclassrooms) and Teleconferencing.

Application of Optical Fiber Communication 1.Telecommunication industry Due to high bandwidth and low loss of optical fiber compared to copper cable optical fibers have replaced all the trunk lines and thus form the backbone of telecom industry.Telephone companies offer services such as information and video at present this technology uses hybrid fiber/coaxial distibution. However future is for all optical fiber.For now,subscriber loops can be configured as (FTTC) fiber to the curb and FTTH.(fiber to the home).In FTTC transreceiver are at the curb and copper cable is laid upto subscriber from curb.In FTTH the transreceivers are at subscriber's home and can deliver video,audio and inforrnation in single fiber.

Optical Fiber Link A typical fiber optical link has three important components: 1. Optical Transmitter–The transmitter converts electrical signal into optical signal to launch it into optical fiber. Practically electrical signal modulates intensity of the LED or LASER. In simple terms it converts electrical signal into light signal. 2. Optical fiber- It is extremely thin strand of ultra pure glass designed 1. to transmit light signals from transmitter to receiver. 3. Optical receiver-It decodes received light signal into electrical signal.

2.Medical Industry Optical fibers have paved the way for a whole new field of surgery, called laparoscopic surgery or keyhole surgery which is usually used for operations in the stomach area such as appendectomies. Keyhole surgery usually makes use of two or three bundles of optical fibers. A "bundle" can contain thousands of individual fibers". The surgeon makes a number of small incisions in the target area and the area can then be filled with air to provide more room. One bundle of optical fibers can be used to illuminate the chosen area, and another bundle can be used to bring information back to the surgeon. Moreover, this can be coupled with laser surgery, by using an optical fiber to carry the laser beam to the relevant spot, which would then be able to be used to cut the tissue or affect it in some other way.

Optical fiber An optical fiber is a cylindrical dielectric waveguide that transmits light along its axis, by the process of total internal reflection. It is long ,thin strand of very pure glass about diameter of human hair , optical fibers are arranged in bundles called optical cable and is used to transmit light signals over long distance. Construction wise fiber consists of a core surrounded by a cladding layer, both of which are made of dielectric materials (silica, plastic). To confine the optical signal in the core, the refractive index of the core is kept greater than that of the cladding. The boundary between the core and cladding may either be abrupt, in step-index fiber, or gradual, in gradedindex fiber. Optical fiber can further be classified into single mode fiber and multimode fiber. Single mode fiber has a small diameter core typically in range of 510µm and light travels in straight line in this type of fiber it is mostly used for long distance communication. In multimode fiber the core diameter is large that is 50-100 µm as light travels in different paths there is more attenuation and more dispersion in these cable and such

3. Industrial Applications Optical fiber can also be used as sensors. With fiberoptic sensors it is possible to measure the data at different points along the fiber and to know to what points the different measurements relate. These are the so-called distributed sensors. Fiber optics are also used to carry high power laser beams from fixed installations within factories to the point of use of the laser light for welding, cutting or drilling. The fiber provides a flexible and safe means distributing high power laser radiation around a factory so that robots or machine tools can be provided with laser machining capability. 4.Broadcast Industry Fiber optic links can support both video,audio,as well as data transmissions.Its actual applications are in ENG(electronic news gather ing),signals to TV camera pan/tilt/zoom

13 January'13 - March' 13

type of cable typically used for short distance communication and Figure 1.2 shows the structure a typical single mode fiber

Figure 1.3 shows attenuation char acteristics of optical fiber. The attenuation in optical fiber is due to two factors 1. Extrinsic losses- Due to bends, splices 2.Intrinsic losses- Due to absorption, scattering. Extrinsic losses are can be reduced to some extent but intrinsic losses are inherent feature of optical fiber. Absorption occurs in several specific wavelengths called water bands due to the absorption by minute amounts of water vapor in the glass. Scattering is caused by light bouncing off atoms or molecules in the glass. It is strongly a function of wavelength, with longer wavelengths having much lower scattering. Thus the normal wavelengths are 850, 1300 and 1550 nm used where attenuation of optical fiber is minimum. Broading of light pulses is called dispersion and is a critical factor in signal transmission over optical fiber link. Multimode fiber suffers from multimode dispersion where light travelling in different modes travel with different speeds causing multimode dispersion. In single mode fiber there is chromatic dispersion and polarization dispersion. In chromatic dispersion the refractive index of core depends on wavelength of the incident light. Dispersion is measured in picoseconds/kilometer*Nanometer(spectral width of the source).

1. Core: 8 µm diameter 2. Cladding: 125 µm dia. 3. Buffer: 250 µm dia. 4. Jacket: 400 µm dia. Based on construction optical cable can be divided into tight buffered optical fiber cable ,it is used to lay in conduits or ducts. Mainly used in LANs, CCTV network. Loose tube design is for protection against mechanical damage/moisture, In this type of design bundle of optical fiber are placed in loose tube filled with gel so there is no stress on fiber during installation, number of fiber vary from 2-144.Used in high speed voice and data communication, long haul link, Telemetry & SCADA links for oil companies. Two important specifications of optical fiber cable are

Optical Sources Two common sources are LED (light emitting diodes) and LASER. The difference between LEDs and laser diodes is that LEDs produce incoherent light, while laser diodes produce coherent light. In its simplest form, an LED is a forward-biased p-n junction, emitting light through spontaneous emission, a phenomenon referred to as electroluminescence. The emitted light is incoherent with a relatively wide spectral width of 3060 nm. LED light transmission is also inefficient, with only about 1% of input power, or about 100 microwatts, eventually converted into launched power which has been coupled into the optical fiber. However, due to their relatively simple design, LEDs are very useful for low-cost applications. The large spectrum width of LEDs is subject to higher fiber dispersion, considerably limiting their bit rate-distance product (a common measure of usefulness). LEDs are suitable primarily for local-area-network applications with bit rates of 10-100 Mbit/s and transmission distances of a few kilometers.

1. Attenuation (dB/Km). 2. Dispersion (PS/Km*Nm).

14 January'13 - March'13

A semiconductor laser emits light through stimulated emission rather than spontaneous emission, which results in high output power (~100 mW) as well as other benefits related to the nature of coherent light. The output of a laser is relatively directional, allowing high coupling efficiency (~50 %) into single-mode fiber. The narrow spectral width also allows for high bit rates since it reduces the effect of chromatic dispersion. Laser is used as optical source for long distance OFC links. Thus as a thumb rule LED sources are used for multimode optical fiber and LASER are used for single mode fiber. Cost wise LED are cheaper optical source compared to LASER.

power that can be detected by the detector.NEP has unit watts/√ Hz

Band

Description

Wavelength Range

O band

original

1260 -1360 nm

E band

extended

1360-1460 nm

S band

Short wavelength

1460 -1530 nm

C band

conventional

1530-1565 nm

L band

Long wavelength

1565-1625 nm

U band

Ultralong wavelength 1625-1675nm

Optical Detectors Because the effect of dispersion increases with the length of the fiber, a fiber transmission system is often characterized by its bandwidth–distance product, usually expressed in units of MHz·km. This value is a product of bandwidth and distance because there is a trade off between the bandwidth of the signal and the distance it can be carried. For example, a common multi-mode fiber with bandwidth–distance product of 500 MHz·km could carry a 500 MHz signal for 1 km or a 1000 MHz signal for 0.5 km.

Optical detectors form important part of OFC link as they convert optical energy to electrical. Most common detectors are APD(avalanche photo diode) and PIN photodiode. Basic physics or working of these diodes is beyond the scope of this article Detectors are also used to measure optical power of LASER or LED. A photodiode detector is operated in the lower left quadrant of the figure1.4 where the current may be drawn through an external load resistor increases with

Design Of OFC link Step 1 – What wavelength do we wish to operate at?- for “Short haul” (e.g. LAN): 800 – 900 nm can be selected. “Long haul” (e.g. transatlantic cable): 1300 or 1550 nm is to be selected. As attenuation of cable is about 3-2.5 db in the range of 800-900nm and about 0.25 db at 13001550 nm. Step 2 – For selection of detector we have to keep in mind- What is minimum light power incident on the detector as driven by the BER or SNR?- PIN or an APD type of detector. APD detector can be picked if optical signal detection and multiplication is required if received optical signal is weak. Step 3For selection of optical light source criteria includes Cost, signal dispersion, and distance-For wavelength of 800 – 900nm LED can provide 150 (Mb/s) (km) and Laser upto 2.5 (Gb/s) (km).For wavelength 1300 to 1550 nm LED can provide 1.5 (Gb/s) (km) andLaser: 25 (Gb/s) (km)

Figure 1.4 V-I characteristics of Photo detectors

increasing light level .In practice we measure voltage across the load resistor.APD offers gain along with detection hence is known as solid state photomultiplier. The most common specifications of detectors are: 1. Responsivity—It is detector output per unit of input power. Its unit is Amp/watt. 2. NEP(Noise equivalent Power)—This is defined as optical power that produces a signal voltage (or current) of the detector which is equivalent to noise voltage or current of the detector. In short it is the minimum optical

15 61 January'13 - March' 13

Step 4

4. Fiber bandwidth-distance product measured in Mhz*km. 5. Enviromentalconditions(eg. temperature) As a rule of thumb single mode Fibers are used for high data rates and long distance links. And Multimode fibers are used for low to moderate speed data links.

Select an optical fiber - LEDs usually connect to multimode optical fibers in order to launch an acceptable amount of light power .Lasers can connect to either multi-mode or single-mode fibers. What are the advantages/disadvantages of selecting a single-mode fiber.

Conclusion

Step 5

With all the advantages that are offered by optical fiber communication and with latest demand for video on demand services.and also with digital T.V and with H.D(High Definition Television) ,optical fiber is fast emerging as solution for telecomm and broadcast industry.

Selection of optical fiber depends on application. A designer must consider several factors like 1. Fiber core/cladding size. 2. Fibre material and construction. 3. Fiber attenuation measured in db/km.

About The Author Smt Manisha Shete joined Doordarshan in Oct 2000 as Assistant Director (Engineering) at Ddk,Mumbai through IBES. At Ddk Mumbai was involved in installation of server based playback system. Also handled other responsibilities like ENG, VTR maintenance, Engineering stores , transmitter and earth station .She was transferred to Ddk Pune in 2004. In June 2006 was promoted as Deputy Director Engineering. At Ddk Pune is responsible for studio and transmitter maintenance activities, from 2007 to 2009 also handled responsibility of DMC Satara. Worked as local coordinator in Commonwealth Youth games-2008 held in Pune. As a sponsored candidate of Doordarshan completed Mtech (R.F and Photonics) program from IIT Kanpur in June 2012. Interested in Microwave integrated circuits, Fiber Optics and modern trends in communication.

Editorial Guidelines for BES Review 1. Article should not exceed 3000 words. For book/website/ Conference Reviews, the word limit is 1000. Longer Articles may be considered in exceptional cases. 2. Articles/reviews can be sent by e-mail at [email protected] or by post to The Editor, BES Review, Broadcast Engineering Society (India) 912 Surya Kiran Building, 19 K.G. Marg, New Delhi-110001, India. 3. Relevant figures/ tables/ photographs should be sent in hard copies preferably in 5’X7’ size, soft copies in 300dpi or with better resolution. 4. Passport size photograph and brief bio-data of the author(s) must be enclosed with the article. 5. For book reviews please mention the title, name of the author(s), publisher(s), year of publication, price, number of pages and a photograph of the cover. 6. In case of conference/ workshop/ seminar reviews, please mention the theme, venue, date and name of the organizer. Please send photographs of conference/ workshop/seminar. The conference held in past 3 months of the forthcoming issue will be preferred. 7. The editor reserves the right to reject, edit and adjust articles in order to conform to the format of the Review.

16 January'13 - March'13

Cloud Computing M.Y. Thote INTRODUCTION: Cloud Technology is a full fledged revolution that is sweeping the world. Traditional computing technology is being replaced by faster, more versatile cloud technology that allows internet to access applications, store files, and transmit data and much more. It is changing the way one lives and work. It is the use of computing resources (hardware and software) that are delivered as a service over a network ( typically the Internet ). The name comes from the use of a cloud-shaped symbol as an abstraction for the complex infrastructure it contains in system diagrams. Cloud computing entrusts remote services with a user's data, software and computation. The "cloud" is a big computer or big hard drive that's not physically attached to the computer in any way. It could be hundreds or thousands of miles away from the computer but the files and sometimes even the computer programs one works with are stored on this hard drive. The files or programs are accessed over the internet connection , so even if the computer (desktop, laptop, mini, whatever) that one actually owns and uses, breaks down, all the files and

programs are safe because they're stored on that other computer/hard drive ( Cloud). This means that one can access one's favorite programs or files from any computer anywhere. Cloud, when related to technology is something where end users, small, medium or big businesses store their confidential data. All their functions and daily operations that are present on web based cloud application can be accessed and shared in a virtual environment. Virtual environment here means something that is not visible physically. This means, Internet would act as cloud and computer systems are medium to access or share data stored in it. Cloud computing is a centralized virtual software available in the server which provides all the required resource to the users where the user don't need to think about the location or a device. Just need to browse and have all that is required. The cloud can do things which would have been impossible a couple of years ago. For example, i) photo taken by a iphone camera can

Cloud computing is an agile, secure, reliable, cost effective and scalable ( can add or reduce) method for delivery of computing and delivery of data. End users access cloud based applications through a web browser or a light weight desktop or mobile app while the business software and data are stored on servers at a remote location.

17 January'13 - March' 13

instantly show up on one's computer and ipad. ii) Appointment on one's calendar using ipad, is automatically updated on calendars on other devices to match. iii) Although one's data (and the software used to manipulate it) may be hundreds or thousands of kilometers away, it is always at one's disposal, whenever needed, wherever one may be.

need. Cloud computing service providers, particularly as cloud business model becomes more popular, are likely to price their cloud-based offerings with a resource threshold, in order to establish and meet service level agreements. 2. Virtualized - Information services, including servers, storage and applications, are virtualized. The users are shielded from the details of the underlying architecture and work with virtual resources allocated to their enterprise or application.

Why use Cloud Computing? In older days every company was to license their software's through CDs DVDs.. And when it was to come on upgrading, they were to face lots of problems. When this method comes as a service part like rental, the cost of supplying and vendor system could be reduced, where the software comes to the organization directly. Not only the above advantages. But also some offers will be instantly updated.

3. On-Demand- The Cloud, when related to technology is something where small, medium or big businesses store their confidential data in. remote resources and applications can be allocated or removed within seconds at the request of the user. 4. Internet Powered - The Layer, wide Area Network communications protocol is Internet Protocol or IP and the service is accessible via the World Wide Web or Internet.

How it works? There will be one server which will distribute the resources say, any type of software that will be able to share every operational environment to the clients. One will need server communication for access. So this is the simple process for cloud computing.

5. Multi-Tenant Capable - The resources (e.g., network, storage and compute power) can be shared among multiple enterprise clients, thereby lowering overall expense. Resource virtualization is used to enforce isolation and aid in security.

Classic Cloud Computing: Some properties:

6. Service-Level Assured - The cloud service provider ensures a specific guaranteed server uptime, server reboot, network performance, security control, and time-to-response to the customer, with agreed upon service-provider penalties if those SLA guarantees are not met. 7. Usage Priced - There is no up-front cost to the user for cloud-based infrastructure services, the pricing model is on a per-use basis for bandwidth, storage, and CPU. The cloud service provider assumes all capital costs. Some services are billed on a subscription basis per user, per month. All the functions and daily operations that are present on web based cloud application, can be accessed and shared in a virtual environment. Virtual environment means something that is not visible physically. This means, Internet would act as cloud and the computer systems are a medium to access or share data stored in it. The architecture behind Cloud computing is a massive network of Cloud servers within data centers. Resources are allocated to users on demand with their own software stack from the operating system. Cloud

1. Scalable - The cloud service has the ability to add or remove computing resources including bandwidth, storage, and compute power, as the applications or users

18 January'13 - March'13

computing allows data centers to offer services transparently through the Internet by exploiting their computing and storage fabric of resources. The collection of interconnected and virtualized computers is dynamically provisioned and presented as one or more unified resources based on service level agreements established through negotiation between the service providers and consumers.

their lifespan. Like investing money on new but useless gadgets.. Many times people like to go for a junk bore movies, in the same way, in older days every company was to license their software's through CDs DVDs.. And when it was to come on upgrading, they were to face lots of problems, but what is here? Will these problems be faced here as well? When this method comes as a service part like rental the cost of supplying and vendor system could be reduced, where the software comes to your organization directly.

The cloud technology has many benefits and that would explain its popularity. First, companies can save a lot of money; second, they are able to avoid the mishaps of the regular server protocols. For instance, when a company decides to have a new piece of software, whose license can only be used once and it's pretty expensive, they would not have to buy software for each new computer that is added to the network. Instead, they could use the application installed on a virtual server somewhere and share, in the 'cloud'. Third: These capabilities are becoming even more personalized today, and there are even a few solutions that allow you to use mobile in the cloud. Of course, there are very few people who are not willing to lose control of the little physical tools they are used to (like the dark server room); however, largely, any business that considers cutting costs and wants to move forward in this dynamic age needs to embrace cloud computing, or at least give it a shot to survive. Fourth: In the medical world, it can bring about revolutionary changes. Earlier in the hospital, they used to wrap plastic identification bracelet around the wrist. This has now been replaced by one with computer chip containing lot of information to increase safety, lower costs and speed one's recovery. When one goes to the lab for tests, the high-tech bracelet communicates with a computer, instantaneously scheduling one for correct tests with the appropriate technicians and prioritizing procedures to minimize one's wait. Before giving an injection, the nurse holds the syringe (which has its own computer chip) next to your ID bracelet which glows green to signal that the syringe contains the right drug and the proper dosage. For CAT scan, MRI or X-ray, the ID bracelet signals the medical imaging library to retrieve any previous scans and send them to the specialist. Major medical device manufacturers are seeking to tap the advantages offered by cloud computing.

Not only the above advantages. But also some offers will instantly updated. How it works? There will be one server which will distribute the resources say if you have any type of software that will be able to share every operational environment to the clients. The files can be maintained by either server or client, but to work with environment you will need server communication for access. So this is the simple algorithm process for cloud computing.

Basic needs for Cloud Providers: Internet is the most basic and important need for cloud computing. Cloud computing is the use of computing resources (hardware and software) that are delivered as a service over a network (typically the Internet). The name comes from the use of a cloud-shaped symbol as

Why use Cloud Computing? In every point of time, lots of people waste something in

19 January'13 - March' 13

Conclusion:

an abstraction for the complex infrastructure it contains in system diagrams. Cloud computing entrusts remote services with a user's data, software and computation.

Cloud Computing is one of the major advances in the field of IT and Communication Technology in general. The major advantage as enumerated above is the reduction in cost of both the software and hardware. It is catching up fast in the developed countries and it is hoped that this technology will be soon in India.

Types of cloud computing: Types of cloud computing Infrastructure as a service (IaaS), Platform as a service (PaaS), Software as a service (SaaS), Network as a service (NaaS), Storage as a service (STaaS), Security as a service (SECaaS), Data as a service (DaaS), Desktop as a service (DeaaS ), Database as a service (DBaaS), Test environment as a service (TEaaS), API as a service (APIaaS), Backend as a service (BaaS), Integrated development environment as a service (IDEaaS ) and Integration platform as a service (IPaaS).

About The Author M. Y. Thote is B.E. (Hons. Telecommunications) degree. He has served All India Radio and Doordarshan. He was instrumental in bringing Colour TV, Starting TV Networking via satellite and microwave links, contributing towards rapid expansion of Doordarshan network in the country. He was associated with the UNDP project for the setting up of the TV Training Center at FTII, Pune. He was the Operations Manager for the TV coverage of the Asian Games in 1982 in New Delhi. He was the UNITED NATIONS Project Director in Chad, Africa from 1978-1980 for the establishment of the Telecommunications Center. Presently, he has been working as the Advisor and visiting faculty to Pune university and visiting faculty to the Indian Center for Telcom Management (ICTM), Symbiosis Institute of mass communication, Indira School of Communication and Sinhagad Institute of Technology.

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20 January'13 - March'13

News Activities In AIR : A Technical Angle A K Shrivastava Before start reading this article, I will take you back, back in the past, few decades only. Imagine huge old style telephones, Morse code loaded telegraphs, bulky recorders and tired correspondents. Journey through that tiresome era has been all over now with the advent of new technology in sound studios. News is flowing faster then sound speed. Now competition is how fast news can be reshaped to present in nicest way without any delay, without deforming it, with more and more facts and with full authenticity.

• • • • • •

Newspapers. NEWS wires from NEWS agencies. Web sites. Inputs from various Radio NEWS Units. Archives/Library of AIR Delhi. OB Van

Every input needs to be filtered through designated filtering process at every level. Technical wing is ensuring that correct content is reaching to editor's desk. For example NEWS agencies are directly connected to server through VSat , authorized personals are following movement of VIPs/ special events, OB team of AIR is closely monitoring and recording events.

News Service Division (NSD) of All India Radio has been doing excellent job in this field. It has quite huge jurisdiction in terms of not only with content criteria but in terms of geographical coverage area also. NSD has to perform in multi dimension with big responsibilities. Without implementing new technology it was almost impossible to deliver content to its listeners with full satisfaction. Automation of AIR Studios for NEWS and program production does not imply to get rid of manual works in true sense. The process that we are adopting in AIR is to make work flow smooth and to maintain security and integrity of the content. Let us go through few lines on requirements of production of NEWS and program before going in detailed. Diagram in box is indicating simplified work flow in news rooms.

For security issues, AIR has security arrangement at various levels. Firewalls, Scanning of contents, Server administration extending rights to users according to their work area etc are main domains of security and integrity control apart from keeping logs of activities and creating back up content. It is ensured that every changes made at various level should have complete logging. All India Radio is soon switching over to new software that is having facility to store Faxes, emails and Telephone calls 24 hrs directly in a computer. From where these input will be made available to editors for inclusion in program.

Important elements of NSD are Field reporters, correspondents, Pool editor, NF Editor, Editor in Charge, compile Editor and Supervisor.

Hierarchy in production arrangement is must. Every user is having its own jurisdiction and accordingly access right needs to be delegated. NEWS Service Division (NSD) of All India Radio is having main components : • General News Room (GNR) • Hindi NEWS Room(HNR) • Web Site Cell • SMS Unit • Production Unit • NEWS Reading Studios • Archiving of NEWS.

Effective NEWS production needs to collect all the possible inputs from various sources on desk of editor at the earliest. Possible source of news may be : • • • •

FAX. Email. Telephone Calls. Television Channels and Radio channels in and outside of India. • Reporting by Radio/TV Correspondents. • Reporting by part time correspondents.

21 January'13 - March' 13

Typical Structure of News wire

GNR : GNR is mostly producing NEWS content for English NEWS. This English NEWS bulletin is also being used External Service Division(ESD). ESD is broadcasting for listeners sitting abroad. GNR is also having several sub sections as shown in the block diagram.

Reporters are collecting NEWS from the field and pushing in server in text and audio format. This content is also remaining available to EnC. International monitoring Cell is recording bytes from radio and TV. These clips are also available with EnC. Market Mantra one section of NSD is collecting information on financial activities all over the world. Similarly Sports cell collecting news related information and giving it to EnC.

Editing and dubbing unit (NF Editor) is gathering media (audio) content available in server. This unit is creating small bytes for inclusion in news. These contents are ingested with voices, recorded audio, audio from AIR library etc. The edited product is made available to Compile Editor.

Editor in Charge is getting all inputs from various units. Based on this information, EnC is preparing approved pool of news items. Compile Editor preparing final

One person highly busy for creating approved pool of news items, is Editor in Charge. Editor in Charge is receiving inputs from Pool Editors, Reporters, International monitoring Unit, FAX, Market Mantra unit and Sports Scan unit UNI and PTI (News agencies) are continuously sending updates on latest news. This news are from all corners of sphere and in all the fields like political, national , international, sports, science finance etc. NEWS wires from news agencies are tagged / flagged. Based on the information embedded in these tags, NEWS automation software sending notifications based on subscription (category of news items) content to concern editor. For example, if any NEWS related with Vishnathan Anand will carry tag of sport and will available on sport desk. These pool editors are continuously working for round clock and preparing suitable text for news. News wire tags are also having priority flag. Priority tags are generating news flash indications to editors.

22 January'13 - March'13

bulletin from approved pool of news items and mixing audio bytes. One supervisor is supervising NEWS production activities all the time. Now this final bulletin is available with NEWS Reader for rehearsal. And same bulletin is routed to studio from where news reader finally reads the requirement. One copy of this finished NEWS is then stored in server for archiving purpose. Log browsers are giving information on duration of bulletin. Please see a typical snap shot in the box. NEWS flash, if any important development occurs, during news bulletin, compile Editor is giving command to news studio, to include in last minute update. Present practice of carrying paper to studio is yet to be discontinued. NEWS Automation software provides Editing Space. This part of the main window displays the various editors. It can display any combination of the following: • • • • •

A text editor, An audio editor, A newswire viewer, A rundown editor, An asset management form.

Pull/Push SMS

Pool editor EnC can easily and quickly go through the contents and can make an item. Chat & Clock : One CHAT window displays text messages, notification messages when important wires arrive or when important changes are made in bulletin. The NEWSCLOCK displays the time.

Web Site Cell : NSD, All India Radio is maintaining its own site for news through National Informatics Center (NIC.). Website Room is equipped with cables connections, radio sets/ TV sets, recording computers and internet connection. A person is continuously

HNR : HINDI NEWS ROOM (HNR) is having similar arrangements as GNR except few minor changes. HNR is taking inputs from Bhasha and Varta news agencies. Market Mantra is providing contents related with finance where as Sport Scan section is feeding sports related information to HNR. NEWS Supervisor is also common to both units, i.e. HNR and GNR. Block diagram is showing general armaments of different sections in HNR. EDB : Electronic display board and web site units are taking inputs from GNR only.

Monitoring of International Activities in AIR Studios

23 January'13 - March' 13

keeping watch over activities all the time. Contents in text format are coming from approved pool through server. Website cell is selecting appropriate contents according to the importance and placing on the site.

PRODUCTION FACILITY SETUP Current affairs, features, Talks, Discisions

Dubbing Studio

Dubbing Studio

A snapshot of a page from http://www.newsonair.com/

Feature

SMS Unit : On going SMS in the form of pull is also very popular service. SMS Service of News Service

NEWS Reel

NF Editor ESD/DS Library Web Site Content Upload

Transmission Stusio

Transmission Studio Transmission Studio

discussions. For producing such stuff one complete setup is required. Radio News reel and Market Mantra are two most of popular program. Radio Newsreel was started on December 10, 1955 both in English (Radio Newsreel) and Hindi (Samachar Darshan). Production units of NSD are : • Talk Studio • Drama Studio • Music Studio • Editing and Dubbing Studios • Off air broadcast recording • Web site content upload • Pull/Push SMS • NOP

Division, AIR was launched in May' 2008. The service is available for News Alerts and Market Mantra. Content of SMS is again coming from approved pool. No other content can be uploaded other then provided by compile editor. For getting the latest News, just type AIRNEWS on any mobile and send an SMS to 56060.

NSD are using studios for recording of program on current affair, interviews, discussion etc. This raw recording is being saved in a central server. Dubbing studios are getting raw recording from server and after editing, mixing and other processing finished product is being stored in a folder meant for transmission. Backup of this program is being created and saved in server. Off air recording directly from studio console is required for use with website. News on Phone is another part of studio atomization. That is providing latest news head line round the clock. News on Phone Service was launched on 25th February, 1998 from New Delhi. Compile editor is providing news content of 1 minute duration to news readers for storing in NOP server and to broadcast from Radio Channel FM Rainbow. NOP is again having a complete setup with storage server, content delivery setup, user authentication and log creation. "We are using SYNCHRONIZED CLOCK SYSTEM for Consoles, Wall clocks, PCs/Workstations, Automatic switcher system to have synchronized operation of Announcer, New reader, Switcher &

Language Units : NEWS Division of All India Radio is broadcasting NEWS bulletins in many regional and foreign languages. Most of the bulletins are generated in Delhi. Main languages are Assamese, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Bhutia, Chhatisgarhi, Dogri, English, Gojri, Gujarati, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Konkani, Lepcha, Maithily, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Mizo, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, R a j a s t h a n i , SANSKRIT, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. PRODUCTION UNITS : Apart from NEWS bulletins NSD is producing many programs on current affairs in form of stories, interviews and

24 January'13 - March'13

A View of NEWS Studio

Transmission of news is expected to be paperless. AIR is always strictly adhering to time schedule. All the contents are going on air at pre scheduled time. Heart of this is highly accurate and synchronized clock system. Studio clocks are synchronized with satellite for getting highly accurate time. Matrix is an automatic switching system. All 20 masters (getting inputs from different studios including six news studios) of five control booths can routed to any of channel. Engineering sitting in master control room can control this time based scheduling software.

Control Booths. It helps us to avoid sharp cut and overcarrying of programmes. Master clock 1000 (Time Code Oscillator) for Master clock is being used. All the equipment/ clocks & PCs take time from Master clock system installed at MSR.

Object that is expected from all this process of atomization is to create NEWS and news based item as early as event occurs. AIR being an India's PUBLIC SERVE BROADCASTER feels lots of responsibilities. It has to be in complete discipline and has to stick with all laws set for journalism apart. Atomization process keep close watch over content gathering till the final content goes on air. It creates log of all activities involved in content creation. It is also maintaining log of users so that responsibility can be fixed in the event of any lapse.

The MCR1000 Master Clock Reference system is a compact, precision time and frequency device. One unit can reference and output NTP, Time Code and a 10 MHz sine wave all locked to the atomic clocks in GPS satellites. A high-stability crystal oscillator (OCXO) acts as an internal source of accurate time in case GPS signal is ever lost. It provides clock information in SMPTE format." Shantanu Ghosh Assistant Engineer, AIR.

About The Author Shri A K Shrivastava, a 1988 IES officer, working as Deputy Director General Engineering in a prestigious setup of All India Radio, New Broadcasting House, Delhi. He is having working experience of more then 23 year at various positions in All India Radio. This is his first contribution for this magazine.

25 January'13 - March' 13

Digital radio TransmissionRequirements of Antenna and matching circuits

broadcasting. The dipoles used in SW and FM broadcasting are generally considered to be wide band. And hence, may not pose much of a problem for digital transmission. There are spot frequency pre tuned low cost FM antennae which may not be suitable for digital transmission. In some cases of HF broadcast the horizontal dipole antenna may not be able to give the required bandwidth. In such cases, the antenna element can be modified into a cage type dipole which will increase the bandwidth by reducing "Q" of the antenna. Wherever curtain antennas and reflector systems are used as is being done for overseas broadcasting the bandwidth is to be ensured. Matching methods for SW antenna is discussed in the end of this article.

Introduction Radio transmission is switching over to digital mode in our country. A large number of DRM transmitters are being installed. New transmitters being procured are meeting the requirements of band width in the design itself and hence will not be a constraint while commissioning such transmitters for Digital transmission. However, the existing antenna, transmission lines and ATU networks may be reused for digital transmission. In such cases the requirements of bandwidth for DRM and simulcast operation is to be taken care of. This article is looking into various aspects of bandwidth constraints in the broadcasting transmission chain.

MW antennas are normally unipole having an electrical length of 1/4 λ to 5/8 λ, and majority are around 1/4 λ and would have a symmetrical impedance either side of the center frequency as shown in figure 1. It has a resistive part (Blue) and a reactive part (Red). Reactance changes the polarity if the antenna is resonant at the operating

Bandwidth requirements Analog transmission in HF and MW is using about 9 or 10 KHz bandwidth as per the international standards. Existing transmitters, transmission lines antenna tuning units, diplexers, power combiners and antenna meet this requirement adequately. However, when we switch over to full digital transmission, the bandwidth required would be 18 or 20 KHz. It corresponds to a VSWR of 1.1:1 for +/- 10kHz and a VSWR of 1.05:1 for +/-5kHz. If simulcast mode is employed for both analog and digital transmission together, then two such adjacent bands would be required for error free transmission to take place without much cutting off side bands. If simulcast is employed in adjacent channel it may not be possible to use the existing antenna without certain modifications to improve the bandwidth. When we consider the future requirements of using extended bandwidth as envisaged in the DRM standards it would be prudent to go for a flat bandwidth of 30 KHz in the entire broadcasting chain. Antenna

Figure 1

Different types of antenna are used for MW, SW and FM

26 January'13 - March'13

I. I. George

frequency. For such an antenna the VSWR will be also symmetric as shown in figure 2. Most of the existing MW masts used in our network are broadband. The bandwidth of such antennae is dependant on the "Q" which again depending on the effective cross section of the tower used as antenna. Thin masts will have high Q and low bandwidth. Many of the MW antennas in AIR network are of triangular lattice structure and has got a low "Q" and high bandwidth.

If the cross section of the tower is small the effective diameter of the tower can be increased by extending the structure side ways and form a cage like structure using vertical wires. This will increase the effective diameter and lower the "Q" thereby increasing the bandwidth. Some of the countries are using these techniques to make use of the thin and narrow towers for increasing the bandwidth to enable digital transmission. In any case it would be advisable to see the bandwidth of antenna with a network analyzer and plotting on the Smith charts to see that the characteristics of the antenna is within the required bandwidth. Since digital transmission is using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) and both amplitude and phase modulation, it is necessary to see the amplitude and phase characteristics. Optimization of amplitude and phase characteristics can be incorporated either in the ATU or by suitable phase correction in the DRM modulators. Figure 4 below shows a DRM OFDM spectrum for a MW frequency within its spectrum mask.

Figure 2.

Shunt fed antenna working around resonant frequency also can give good bandwidth characteristics similar to series fed mast. Wherever folded antennas or top loaded antennas are used the case may be slightly different. So is the case with "L" and Umbrella antennas. Whenever antenna arrays are used for beam switching, then the coupling between different antenna towers pose a problem, mutual impedances affect not only the impedance but also reduces the "Q" of antenna system.

Figure 4 DRM spectrum

Antenna Tuning Units Antenna impedance is normally a complex value consisting of both resistive and reactive components. Whereas the transmission line used in the output of the transmitter are purely resistive with / without negligible reactance. To ensure maximum power is transferred to the antenna and to prevent high VSWR Antenna Tuning Units are employed in between the transmission lines and the antenna. Normally passive "L", "T", "л" networks are used for tuning the antenna impedance to match with the feeder lines. Existing ATUs are generally adequate enough to take the analog

Figure 3 Broad banding of MW antenna (Source- Wikipedia)

27 January'13 - March' 13

transmission. However, for DRM it is necessary to ensure that the bandwidth is meeting the requirement and also to ensure that there is no phase rotation of the side carriers. Antenna Tuning Unit does the following in different conditions of operation. • Cancellation of antenna reactance • Matching the resistive part of the antenna impedance with the feeder line • To provide necessary phase shift whenever directional antenna or beam steering is employed. • To reject unwanted pickup signals from neighbouring transmitting antenna entering towards the transmitter. For this band stop rejection filters are normally used in series with the antenna • To combine two transmitter powers for feeding to a single antenna which is also known as diplexing

Figure 5 Antenna reactance cancellation

normally done with the help of L, T or л networks. While T and л networks give greater flexibility in designing parameters they have narrow frequency response than L network. Therefore, if wider band width is the requirement like in DRM it would be better to go for L network. However, getting the desired phase shift as in a directional antenna may be difficult in L network. Adjustment of phase rotation also will be difficult in L network. But as a whole, L network can give better band width than the other two methods. The design of an L network for a desired impedance conversion is explained below:

• For power dividing into two or more antenna for a desired directional pattern ATUs as per necessity perform any of the above mentioned requirements. However, each function does affect the other function of the ATU and hence accurate adjustments are required to get desired results. Cancellation of antenna reactance is normally done by adding a reactive component opposite in polarity in series with the antenna. This is often known as cancellation technique. It is also possible to place a component parallel to the antenna reactance which will enable cancellation of the antenna reactance by forming a resonance circuit. Hence this method is known as resonating solution. In such cases the antenna impedance should be converted into a parallel form of impedance to know the exact value of cancellation reactance which is explained in the diagram given below. Please note that for easy notation the reactance of antenna is taken as capacitive in this case. It can be either capacitive or inductive or a pure resonant antenna. When comparing both these methods of "cancellation or resonation" the later one will give a higher band width than the previous one. Hence adopting resonance method would be desirable for getting more band width for digital transmission. This is due to the fact that the impedance variation is comparatively lower in the resonance method. Matching the resistive part of the antenna impedance with the feeder line impedance is

Figure 6- design of "L" circuit

28 January'13 - March'13

Power dividers

As mentioned earlier the Q of the system determines the band width. While designing L network the ratio of input impedance to output impedance determines the Q of the circuit. The higher the ratio, the higher the Q, and lower the band width. Therefore whenever the Q is more than 3 then it would be advisable to use two L networks by cascading two such networks in series as shown below. This will make the impedance transformation by each stage with lower Q and low transformation ratio. For example if a feeder line of 60 ohm is to be matched to a 600 ohm antenna it would be better to find an intermediate value between 60 and 600 and design the two networks for transforming impedance from 60 to 600. In such cases, the geometric mean of the two values would be the ideal virtual impedance which will give a lower value of Q and higher bandwidth. In this case it would be √60X600 = 190 Ω. This is also explained in the diagram given below. We can see that the "Q" of the system is reduced from 3 to 1.47 and BW will increase 3 times.

Power dividers are employed wherever directional antenna systems using active antennae are employed. At times there will be multiple antennae and all of them or a part of them are active. In such case passive power dividers are employed. If power division is equal to two antennae then the divider circuit is simple, mostly "L" networks. Normal symmetrical cardiod/figure of 8 patterns requires two branches and equal power. Such networks offer double the impedance at the branching point and the effective impedance will be the same as transmission line impedance. (R1/R2 = 2) Then "Q" of the branching L network will be small. However if the number of antennae are more, or if there is unequal power division, then the transformation ratio of L network will be high and Q will increase. In exceptional cases we may have to see whether such networks will carry the required band width. SW Antenna Matching Broadband SW antennas are matched by different methods. They are • • •

Stub matching (single or double stub) λ/4 transformers Pinching the vertical feeder

Stub matching is a well known method used for a long period. Double stub gives greater flexibility for matching for number of spot frequencies. While solving stub matching problems we get two solutions. One of the solutions gives a better bandwidth as shown in the figure below. There are two solutions and the second solution gives slightly broader than the first as shown in the graph.

Figure 7 Connecting 2 "L" Circuit in series

Diplexer Circuits Di-plexing is involved when two transmitters are fed on to the same antenna at different frequencies. In such cases rejecter circuits are put in series with the antenna to reject the power of the other transmitter from entering to the power amplifier circuits of the operating transmitter. Depending on power levels the rejection ratio of the filters will be as high as 50dB. To get a rejection ratio of such a high level, the "Q" of the filter will have to be very high. And the reactance offered by such circuits will vary sharply off the frequency. In other words the variation of reactance will be large for a required B.W of 30kHz. In such cases it would be better to have two filters in series, each with a lower "Q" so that both the requirements can be met. So is the case when high power transmitters are operated in close vicinity which gives huge pick up of the signals from the nearby antenna. Rejecters are used in such cases as well and need to be designed accordingly.

Figure 8 - Stub matching alternate solutions

29 January'13 - March' 13

Similarly in double stub matching also there are two solutions and one of them will give a better solution as far as bandwidth is concerned.

+X

R

F(L)

λ/4 transformers

F(C) F(C)

It is a common method of matching SW transmission sections having two different impedances as shown below. It is a simple method of matching but has a narrow bandwidth. Wherever such methods are used for matching SW feeder sections then it would be advisable to have multiple sections with small transformation ratio. For example a 75 Ω to 600 Ω conversion can use three sections of 75 Ω -150-300-600 Ω. Such a combination will have much more BW.

F(H)

F(L)

F(H)

-X

Figure 10- Impedance variation and correction

changes inductive to capacitive and vice versa. Though this leads to envelope delay in the sideband carriers, it will not generate harmonic distortion. The second case shows the asymmetrical load variation, where the reactance variation is on the same side. In such cases there will be cross talk between analog and digital signals(In simulcast) and also serious problems in digital decoding in the receiver. to offset these problems it is possible to give -45 degrees phase shift in between the antenna and transmitter there by making the load appear symmetrical. This is often known as phase rotation. In spite of wideband width systems in place, due to path delays and improper phasing it would be necessary to correct it dynamically. In today's new generation digital transmitters it is possible to dynamically adjust the side band correction using feed back loop.

Figure 9 - λ/4 transformers

Side band correction With this entire entire load matching exercise from antenna to transmitter, ultimately how the load appears to the final power amplifiers is most important. It is not possible to have ideal antenna for the required bandwidth. Impedance changes with frequency. At least the efforts should be ensure such impedance changes are symmetrical in either side of the center carrier. Which way the impedance change will determine the phase delay of side carriers. This can be easily analyzed with the help of smith chart plotting of impedance measurement. Two such cases are shown below. In the symmetrical case we can see that changes in the impedance variation is symmetrical but polarity

Conclusion As we are going digital it is necessary to look into our existing infrastructure of antenna and transmission lines to meet the challenges of required higher bandwidth. We can also save a lot of foreign exchange if we make use of the existing infrastructure with our expertise than importing all those costly networks.

About the Author Shri I. I. George is an IBE(S) officer from 86 batch. A graduate from Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers, Delhi, and an MBA, he got over 30 years of wide ranging experience in broadcast technology, radar engineering , navigational aids and also in mining electronics. He had received four Akashvani awards for technical excellence. He had presented number technical papers in international and National seminars conducted by Asia Pacific Broadcast Union, Kula Lumpur, Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers, Delhi and Broadcast Engineers Society, India. His area of interest and specialization is digital radio broadcasting. He is a Fellow of Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers, India and a member of Broadcast Engineers Society (India). Presently he is Superintending Engineer of All India Radio, Visakhapatnam.

30 January'13 - March'13

400 KHz FM Channel Spacing for Common Service Area Co-location & Allied Issues B. P. Srivastava technical considerations, international experiences and an interference study carried out by the author, assuming transmission of 400 KHz spaced channels from not so co-located two transmitting sites at Delhi.

Abstract The increasing popularity of radio in India has created a clamour for more channels especially in big cities. This demand can only be met by going in for 400 KHz spaced channels not only at new locations but more importantly also on the existing locations where 800 KHz separated channels are already in operation. This paper examines various issues from all relevant angles taking into account various technical considerations, international experience and an interference study carried out for this purpose.

Availability of Suitable Receivers Introduction of 400 KHz spaced channels can only be meaningful, if majority of people in the service area have suitable receivers to tune to them. In this direction, same statistical field work has been carried out at Delhi and Bangalore which has brought out that majority of people in these cities listen to radio on their mobile phones or car radios. It is, however, doubtful if this can be taken as a position existing across the country-more so when seen in the light of quality of listening provided by cheap mobile phones.

Introduction Radio, whose obituary had been written in India by many in nineteen eighties', has made a remarkable come back in the country. This has largely been possible because of introduction of FM in AIR network and later by opening the radio sector to private enterprise, which has rejuvenated the scene of radio listening in the country with the result that there is clamour for more and more channels especially in big cities. This demand, with the present availability of spectrum, can only be met by going in for 400 KHz channel separation within a city in place of the present 800 KHz. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has also, vide its th recommendations dated 19 April, 2012, recommended release of 400 KHz spaced FM radio channels within a license service area. This has given rise to the need of examining the issue from various angles, including the one from the point of view of meeting the Protection Ratio requirements in case all the present transmitters within a city are not exactly co-located and the other from an equally important consideration whether majority of people in the service area are in possession of suitable receivers, capable of discriminating between 400 KHz spaced channels. This paper, accordingly, examines various issues taking into account relevant

A reception survey has also been carried out at Vadodra where two 400 KHZ spaced channels are already operating from a co-located transmission site. No harmful interference has been reported by the survey team. It is, however, not clear whether analog receivers available with the masses were checked for ease of tuning 400 KHz spaced channels. Moreover since only two channels were available to the survey team at Vadodra, interference by inter-modulation products could not be studied. It is, therefore, considered necessary that further survey is carried out with more than two 400 KHz spaced channels in operation. Co-location of transmitters Co-location, as a term in this context, means locating transmitters of all FM broadcasters of a particular city at the same site sharing the same tower. The term gathers mandatory significance in multi-channel situations where there is a need to maximize on availability of channels to serve a common area and thus go in for 400 KHz channel separation. The purpose of co-location is

31 January'13 - March' 13

to achieve same propagation path for all the channels so that they attenuate similarly, making it possible to maintain nearly constant desired to un-desired signal ratio in the service area thus avoiding creation of interference zones. In order to make co-location effective, it is necessary that the power of all the transmitters as also the gain and pattern of the antenna of all the channels is kept the same.

vicinity. As an example, if one antenna is fed with 100, 100.8 and 101.6 MHz channels, the other would be fed with 100.4, 101.2 and 102.0 MHz channels. It was with an eye on the use of antenna diversity in future, that all the new towers in Private FM Phase II have been constructed with two apertures. International Scenario Attempts have been made to gather necessary information regarding the usage of 400 KHz channel spacing for the same service area in various countries of the world. It has been possible to get information in respect of United States of America, United Kingdom, Singapore and New Zealand.

The need for going in for 400 KHz spacing in metros in future was visualized at the time of introduction of private broadcasting in the country itself. It was because of this visualization that co-location was mandated in the case of four metros viz., Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai in Phase – I of Private FM Broadcasting even while allotting only 800 KHz spaced channels in that phase. The policy of co-location was extended to all the categories of cities, in Phase – II. However, with an eye on quick roll out of the scheme, sharing of Prasar Bharati towers was also mandated along with colocation. Since these towers have no further space, new towers shall have to be constructed to bring up 400 KHz spaced channels at most of the places barring a few where new towers were constructed in Phase II. The same exigencies of services have resulted in a situation at Delhi and Chennai, where two transmitting locations have been established. It is in this context that it is necessary to come at a conclusion about the maximum distance between two transmitting sites that would meet the requirements of co-location.

i) United States of America Co-sited assignments with 400 KHz Channel spacing for the Common Coverage are not permitted in USA by FCC (Federal Communication Commission). 400 KHz separated assignments are provided on the basis of specified minimum distances between transmission sites as is being done for other channel separations. No minimum distance has, however, been specified for low power services of 100 w and 10 w ERP operating with 400 KHz spacing except for meeting the FCC's Protection Ratio requirement and restricting antenna height to 30M. While FCC is silent on the issue of maximum separation between two towers/sites for the purpose of co-location in FM, same information seems to exist for co-locating TV and FM stations operating in the same band. The general guideline seems to be that, if possible, both antennas should be mounted on the same tower, but in case it is not so, a maximum separation of 400 meters between the towers would be adequate.

Use of single antenna or Antenna Diversity Generally in the case of 800 KHz spacing, the outputs of all the transmitters, barring the situation where their combined power exceeds the power rating of available antenna, are fed to a common antenna after combining them with a chain of 800 KHz combiners. However, as the channel spacing gets reduced, design parameters of combiners go on becoming more and more stringent and with channel spacing reaching 400 KHz, it becomes almost impossible to design one to satisfy not only the conditions of isolation and insertion loss but also that of the pass band. The problem of non-availability of 400 KHz combiners can be overcome by breaking the combining system in two 800 KHz spaced sets, while keeping the inter antenna spacing as 400 KHz, each set feeding a separate antenna mounted on two different apertures of the same tower or on another tower in the

ii) United Kingdom 400 KHz spaced services are being only operated in London. The two transmitting sites are about a kilometer apart. The services operating from one of the sites are 96.9 and 105.8 MHz and that from the other 97.3, 105.4 and 106.2 MHz. The ERP of stations is low with that of 96.9 MHz station being only 36 watts and the combined one of all the others as 4 KW. As such one kilometer distance between the two sites cannot be taken as a guiding figure for private FM in India. These can, at best, be compared with community radios of India.

32 January'13 - March'13

It is also understood that OFCOM, the regulatory authority of U.K., has so far not been successful in their attempts of getting 400 KHz combiners manufactured from any of the vendors and as such are not able to make use of common antenna for 400 KHz operations.

present. In case, however, another antenna slot is not available on the existing tower, another tower shall have to be set-up at a technically suitable distance, for which no specific information seems to be internationally available. It is in this context that an interference study, as described in the next paragraph, has been carried out.

iii) Singapore

Interference Study

Singapore has 19 FM channels being operated by three agencies operating between 88.3 and 100.3 MHz. Out of these nineteen, three channels are 400 KHz spaced while another three are 500 KHz spaced and one is with 600 KHz separation. It appears from the available information that all the channels are being transmitted from Butik Batok hill meaning thereby that they are colocated.

A theoretical interference study has been carried out taking into consideration the transmission parameters of two existing transmitting sites at Delhi at Pitampura and Kingsway, which are located at an aerial distance of 5.2 Km from each other. Presently, three FM channels viz., 91.1, 93.5 and 98.3 MHz are operating from Pitampura and five channels viz., 92.7, 94.3, 95, 104.0 and 104.8 MHz from Kingsway. For the purpose of Interference Study, a channel working on a frequency of 93.1 MHz (in between 92.7 and 93.5 MHz) at Kingsway has been assumed. This makes two 400 KHz spaced channels available at Kingsway at a distance of 5.2 Kms between 93.5 MHz channel of Pitampura and 93.1 MHz of Kingsway.

iv) New Zealand The Government of New Zealand has got a study conducted through an expert agency viz., Gibson QuaiAAS to investigate and develop criteria for use of 400 KHz channel spacing for FM broadcasting service. In the course of study, amongst other investigations, two trials using 400 KHz spaced stations serving the same area were conducted, one with co-sited transmissions at Sky Tower in Auckland and the second one with 2 sites separated by 12 KMs distance at Wellington. As expected the results with co-sited experiment at Auckland have been positive. Since no results have been put out in respect of Wellington trial, it can safely be assumed that 12 Kms distance between the two transmitting sites does not meet the co-location requirement. The study has also mentioned about their unsuccessful discussions with various combiner vendors to get 400 KHz combiner developed. The final report issued by the Government of New Zealand has taken note of the antenna diversity approach of India and in that connection have made a reference to this author's paper from BECIL, titled as “Multi-Channel FM B r o a d c a s t i n g f r o m C o m m o n Tr a n s m i s s i o n Infrastructures”.

The transmission parameters are as given in Table I. A Transmission 'A' ( Pitampura) Coordinates of the site

' ” 2804151 N 0 ' ” 77 0905 E

Effective Radiated Power ( ERP)

30 KW

Effective Height of the Antenna 205M above Average Terrain (EHAAT) Frequency of operation

93.5 MHz

B Transmission 'B' ( Kingsway) Coordinates of the site

28 4248 N 0 ' ” 77 1216 E

Effective Radiated Power ( ERP)

50 KW

0

'



Effective Height of the Antenna 135 M above Average Terrain (EHAAT)

v) Inference from international experience

Frequency of operation

It would be seen from the international scenario that while co-location is an essential requirement for 400 KHz channeling for the same coverage area, use of single antenna system has not yet been possible because of non-availability of suitable 400 KHz combiners. Antenna diversity is, therefore, the only solution for the

93.1 MHz

i) Average Radial Coverage The combination of ERP and EHAAT of the two transmissions are such that they provide nearly equal

33 January'13 - March' 13

ATDI Study

radial distance coverage, as given in Table 2. Signal Strength in dBµ

90 74 54

A study using the same parameters has also been got done by ATDI using their software to supplement the study mentioned above. It is observed that the conclusion drawn from both the studies in respect of

Radial Distance Coverage in Kms. Pitampura ( 93.5 KHz)

Kingsway (93.1 KHz)

11 27.5 66

10.1 25.3 62

ii) Computation of Interference For the purpose of computation of interference, coverage contours of 90dBµ, 74 dBµ and 54 dBµ signal strength have been drawn for Pitampura and Kingsway transmissions, as shown in Figure 1 and signal strength of both the transmissions computed at number of random points. The observations, so made, are given in Table 3. It is seen from the above results that the protection between the 2 transmissions is well within the recommended Protection Ratio of -20 dB at 400 KHz spacing at all the randomly selected points.

interference due to 400 KHz operations from the said two sites are identical. The relevant findings of the ATDI study are reproduced below:

Note: - While selecting the sampling points, it has not been possible to take into account points very near to the transmitting stations, as the results obtained, there-for fall in in-accurate region.



There is no interference between the two transmitters one at Pitampura and other at Kingsway Camp operating with 400 KHz separated channels.

S. No.

Selected Point

Kingsway Signal in dBµ

Pitampura signal in dBµ

Difference in signal strength in dBµ

Result

1

A

90

104

14

2 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15.

B C D E A2 A3 A4 A5 A10 A11 E1 F9 G1 G2

100 74 77 54 74 69 54 52 64 64 55 62 79 72

90 79 74 61 76 74 60 54 63 68 54 64 79 73

10 5 5 7 2 5 6 2 1 4 1 2 0 1

Within 400KHz PR of -20 dB -do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-

Table 3.

34 January'13 - March'13

However, if the separation is just 200 KHz, there is objectionable interference caused between the two transmissions. •

• The question as to what has to be the maximum distance between the two towers in order to qualify as co-location has not been satisfactorily answered so far. The London example of having two towers about a km apart cannot be taken as a guideline for the purpose of private FM in India because of comparatively very low ERPs of London assignments.

It is to be noted that this small study consisted of only two transmitters. However, when a large number of transmitters are operating in an area, there would be a need of re-assessment.

Conclusion

• A study under Indian conditions has been carried out. The exercise has shown that a distance of 5.2 Kms between the two transmitting sites at Delhi is not likely to cause significant interference.

• Co-location continues to be the essential requirement for 400 KHz channeling to serve a Common Service Area. In view of the fact that technically adequate combiners with 400 KHz channel separation have so far not been developed, use of single antenna is ruled out thus, leaving the only alternative of Antenna Diversity.

• A field trial is, however, considered necessary, both from the point of view of transmission and reception, before arriving at a final decision. The trial with more than two 400 KHz spaced transmissions will also give an insight into the problem of interference caused because of generation of inter-modulation products.

• Antenna diversity can be achieved either by using another antenna slot, if available on the same tower, or by mounting the other antenna on another tower to be erected in the vicinity of the original tower.

About The Author Mr. B.P. Srivastava has been associated with Radio Broadcast Engineering now for more than 50 years, in which he specializes in transmission & propagation of radio-waves. He has vast experience in the planning and development activity of radio transmission systems wherein he has made sizable contribution in all the fields including the part played by him in the introduction of short wave multiband aerials in AIR network. During this period, he was also deputed by Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) and Government of India on an advisory mission to Papua New Guinea to advise its National Broadcaster on planning and maintenance of their medium wave transmitters. After his involvement with the development of short-wave and medium-wave services, he played a pivotal role in the introduction of FM broadcasting in the country when it was introduced on a large-scale in All India Radio in late nineteen eighties. It was under his charge that the technical policy on FM was formulated and 100 FM transmitters were planned across the country. Mr. Srivastava was decorated with “Akashvani Award” for his work in this field. He was also a member of CCIR's Interim Working Party (IWP-5), set-up to study various aspects of tropospheric propagation. Mr. Srivastava again came to the centre stage when Private FM Broadcasting was introduced in the country by playing a vital role in its unfolding by contributing his mite in conceptual planning and preparation of framework of the schemes and then in system design and frequency planning under Phase-I, Phase-II and Phase-III schemes. In recognition of his contribution towards the growth of radio broadcasting in the country, he has been honoured with “Life Time Achievement Award” at Radio Congress 2011 held under the auspices of AROI (Association of Radio Operators of India). Mr. Srivastava has also worked as Panel Expert with Asia Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD)-an organization working under the aegis of International Telecommunication Union (ITU). In this capacity, he has conducted international courses in foreign countries including one on 'Short Wave Multiband Antenna Systems' at Islamabad, Pakistan for the benefit of countries of Asian sub-region extending from China to Iran. Mr. Srivastava is the author of number of papers published in various magazines and concept papers of many new schemes. He is a “Founder Member” of Broadcast Engineering Society (India) and a Life-Fellow of IETE. He is presently working as Technical Advisor to Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Ltd., a Govt. of India Enterprise, where he is involved in formulation of various broadcasting schemes.

35 61 January'13 - March' 13

New Media PlatformsOpputunity For Braodcasters Pradeep Mehra The number of people who access the web from their laptops, smartphones and tablets have grown tremendously over the last decade leading to a steep rise in demand for digital content in all forms. People like to access books, magazines and news content on their laptops, smartphones and tablets than traditional hard copies.The smart mobile phones have become the primary means of access to the internet.Consumers have started using their smartphones for accessing a variety of content on internet including news and social media content. No broadcaster can ignore the increasing pressure for the demand for more and more digital content to meet these growing expectations. Growth in demand has been mightily assisted by the growth of social channels and platforms. Reading news online is becoming a regular thing. Research shows that internet news readership is on the rise among consumers of all ages. In fact , the present age can be safely considered the golden age for new media. There is the technology, the professionals to deliver high quality digital content and there is a great hunger among people for reliable, timely and useful information. The limitations of the traditional forms of broadcasting are being swept away by the new media platforms for digital broadcasting. We are witnessing a great change in the nature of the relationship between the broadcaster and its audience. New media provides an immediate, informative, intelligent, interactive platform for discussion and debate. All India Radio : New Media Initiatives To carve a niche for itself on the social media, the All India Radio (AIR) has launched live streaming of its Urdu service, FM Gold on YouTube and an Android based mobile phone application of for its news service A mobile application for android based phones for AIR News has been launched.The official AIR News app will bring users stories from AIR News network in

India. Users get the latest news, national as well as regional from Prasar Bharati, India's Public Service Broadcaster. The app also brings users India's regional news bulletins along with special news-based programs. Your Android device needs to be Android version 2.2 or higher to be able to run the app and is a mere 1.9 MB to download. •

Live Streaming : Two channels, AIR URDU & FM Gold, are being streamed live on the AIR website. ( www.allindiaradio.gov.in , www.allindiaradio.org )



Mobile Application: Android based Application for AIR NEWS has been launched.



FACEBOOK: AKASHVANI PRASAR BHARATI https://www.facebook.com/Aakashvani2012



B L O G : A K A S H VA N I S A M VA A D http://akashvanisamvaad.blogspot.in



Y O U T U B E : A K A S H VA N I http://www.youtube.com/user/akashvaniair

Smartphone Market : A look at the way the smartphone market is growing gives an interesting insight into the trend that the consumers are setting for the the digital content demand. India Smartphones Market: The Indianmarket for smartphones is no exception .The India smartphones market during 2H 2012 saw a rise in shipments by 75.2% over and above the 1H 2012 number, taking the overall contribution of smartphones to 6.8% for the full year.(Source: CMR's India Mobile Handsets Market Review, CY 2012, March 2013 )According to CMR's India Mobile Handsets Market Review, CY 2012, March 2013 release, India registered 221.6 million mobile handset shipments for CY (January-December) 2012. During the same period, 15.2 million smartphones were shipped in the country. • Media consumption is changing: Consumers increasingly expect and demand content anywhere,

36 January'13 - March'13

AIR

Vendor

1Q13 Unit Shipments

1Q13 Market Share

1Q12 Unit Shipments

1Q12 Market Share

Year-over-year Change

Samsung

70.7

32.7%

44.0

28.8%

60.7%

Apple

37.4

17.3%

35.1

23.0%

6.6%

LG

10.3

4.8%

4.9

3.2%

110.2%

Huawei

9.9

4.6%

5.1

3.3%

94.1%

ZTE

9.1

4.2%

6.1

4.0%

49.2%

Others

78.8

36.4%

57.5

37.7%

37.0%

Total

216.2

100.0%

152.7

100.0%

41.6%

Source: IDC Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, April 25, 2013

anytime, and across a dazzling array of media and devices. To compete and succeed in this environment, organizations of all kinds need more efficient, cost-effective ways to create, store, manage, share, and deliver digitized content. • The rapid growth in mobile phone usage, Wi-Fi WiMAX and broadband availability—fueled by the advent of next-generation networks (3G, Multimedia Broadcast), Fiber to the Home, converged devices, advanced compression, and streaming technologies—has dramatically changed how consumers touch and use content. • Today's consumers use social networks, Internetbased television and radio, streaming and ondemand video, mobile music and applications, and personalized or user-generated content.

• They are increasingly willing to sample and consume both new and traditional types of content online and onthe-go. • This is creating an explosion in the digital multimedia content being made available. There are certain areas on which the broadcasters need to focus upon while entering into type domain of providing content on the social media platforms. Some of these are: q Interactivity q Participation q Platform based content generation q Providing filtered content q Effective Feedback mechanism q Completing the communication process q Personalization of content on various platforms

About the Author Shri Pradeep Mehra is an IB(E)S officer of 1992 batch. He did his B.E.(Electronics Communication) from Netaji Subhash Institute of Technology, Delhi University. Before joining All India Radio in 1994, he worked for Bharat Electronics Ltd., Ghaziabad in the development & Engineering Radar Division. he has worked in Transmitter Design, P&K Units; AIR, Dharamshala, AIR & National Channel. He is presently working at IT Division as Dy. Director, All India Radio, New Delhi. He can be contacted at [email protected]

37 January'13 - March' 13

REPORT

Yogendra Pal India, who is exporter also, sees a great potential of digital radio and has shown interest in manufacturing digital radios in India. Further discussions are on.

Meeting with radio receiver manufacturers by AIR All India Radio had a meeting with radio receiver manufacturers on 3rd May 2013 in Akashwani Bhawan New Delhi. Eight receiver manufacturers, two chip manufacturers and representatives of DRM Consortium attended this meeting. The Director General and Engineer-in-Chief of All India Radio and the Joint Secretary of Ministry of Information & Broadcasting addressed the participants and outlined the progress of installation of the digital (DRM) transmitters. They mentioned that the 1000 kW DRM transmitter at Rajkot is already operational. They indicated that the 1000 kW transmitter at Chinsurah (Kolkata) and six 20 kW DRM transmitters in Delhi, Chennai, Guwahati, Tawang, Barmer and Bikaner would be operational by July 2013. The schedule of implementation for the operation of the remaining 27 DRM transmitters which have already been ordered was also announced. The predicted coverage area for each of these transmitters was also outlined and once the transmitters are operational in August 2014, they should provide coverage to over 70% population of the country. The Joint Secretary explained that the Government of India has made huge investment in the installation of state-of-art DRM transmitters and asked the receiver manufacturers/distributors to come forward so that digital receivers at affordable prices can be made available across the country in order to reap the benefits of digitisation.

Seminar on Digital Radio by IETE The Apex Forum of the Institution of Electronic and Telecommunication Engineers (IETE) organized a seminar on digital radio (DRM) on 6th May 2013 in Delhi. Over 200 members of IETE, including a number of students, attended the seminar. Yogendra Pal, Hon Chairman of India Chapter of DRM Consortium and TVB Subrahmanyam, Director Analog Devices were the speakers. Mr Pal indicated the shortcomings of analogue radio and then went on to outline the features of DRM digital and the implementation plan of All India Radio. He mentioned that DRM radio is not simply a replacement of analogue radio but it is a smart radio which not only provides excellent audio quality but also a number of value added services which are not possible even on FM. Progress on development and availability of DRM radios for automobiles, mobile phones and desktop receivers was then described by Mr Subrahmanyam. The participants were very excited with the features of digital radios and suggested that private operators in India should also make the most of these advantages and also go digital The session was also streamed live on the IETE website for the benefits of IETE members in over 60 centres across the country.

Receiver manufacturers welcomed the initiative and assured that they would take it forward. They recommended that All India Radio should mount a publicity campaign to outline the advantages/ features of digital radio which are not available on the analogue receivers. They further advised that DRM reception on mobile phones should also be ensured. On the issue of cost it was mentioned that digital radio chips are now available and as in the case of mobile phones, the prices will fall sharply once there is an increase in demand. One of the existing radio receiver manufacturers in

38 January'13 - March'13

REPORT

Chennai Chapter KV Ramchandran EYE CARE, Chennai delivered a lecture on “Eye Care tip for above 40 years. It was quite interesting and all the members have actively participated. BES Chennai chapter in cordination with other professional bodies like IETE,IE,CSI&IET jointely hoisted 45 th World Telecommunication and Information Society Day on17th may 2013 at Institution of Engineers (I) .Sri. S K Aggarwal ADG(E ) SZ AIR & TV ,Chairman Chennai BES Chapter was chief guest.Col (Retd) K S Chakravarthi, Chairman IETE ,Chennai centre welcomed the participants.Sri SK Aggarwal, Chairman inaugarated the event and addressed the gathering.Dr.K.Gunasekharan,Dept of Civil Engineering ,Anna university gave a lecture on “ICT's and improving Road safety.Chief guest released a book on “Modern wireless Technology and Application 1G-5 G by Late Sri. A.Ganesan,Past Chairman,IETE,Chennai centre. Felecitation address were given by Sri.T M Gunaraja, Chairman,IE(I), Dr.T S Rangarajan,Chirman, IEEE, Prof . P.Kumar, Chairman, CSI and Sri. G.Pandian, Chairman IET. All members actively participated in the event.

A lecture was conducted by Chennai Chapter of BES on 26.04.13 in the Conference Hall of O/o ADG(E)(SZ), AIR & TV, Chennai. A large number of members have participated in the meeting. In the First session a lecture was on “ DIGITAL nd TERRESTRIAL TELEVISION 2 GENERATION by Shri N. Thiyagarajan,DDG(E) of ADG(E)(SZ),AIR & TV,Chennai. He has explained the fundamentals and advantages and practical points to implement the above services. It was widely praised by all the members. In the second session Shri T. Thiagarajan, Senior Optometrist of M/s. VASAN

39 January'13 - March' 13

REPORT

Thanjavur Chapter A. Chitra

On 14th May, 2013 BES(I), Thanjavur Local Chapter was with at Periyar Maniammai University organization a Seminar in the side lines of World Communication Day Celebration. The seminar was headed by Smt. A.Chitra, Chairperson. The Seminar was well organized and a lecture given by Shri.S.Balaji, Sr.SDO BSNL, Chennai on “Internal Protocol in Television Broadcasting. Shri.S.Balaji briefed the IPTV technology, Benefits of IPTV over normal Cable and Dish TV Broadcasting. He also covered in details about what is IPTV, Protocols used in IPTV, Access/Backbone Network and Content delivery network. The difference between Internet TV and IPTV also explained the benefits of IPTV such as more control over service for user, more interactive, Better quality and personalization etc.

in four metros and at Bangalore and in a phased manner to Tier II cities also by BSNL. BES life members at BES(I), India local Chapter Thanjavur student members and all ECE, EEE faculties attended this seminar. This function was conducted in a grand manner ended with National Anthem.

The hardware requirements of IPTV were also explained. The service is being provided to customers

40 January'13 - March'13

REPORT

Pune Chapter Ashok Kale

Inauguration of BES (I) Pune Chapter With the approval from BES(I), HQ New Delhi, BES(I) Pune Local Chapter was formed its council held during the month of January 2013, under the guidance & patronage of Shri Ashish Bhatnagar, Vice President BES(I), DDG AIR Pune, & Shri M.Y. Thote, Former Chief Engineer AIR & Doordarshan. Shri R.N. Katkar, DE, AIR Pune, was elected Chairman, Smt. Manisha Shete, DDE, DDK Pune, as Vice Chairperson, Shri Ashok Kale, AE, DDK Pune, Hon. Secretary, Shri S.S. Raman, AIR AIR Pune, Hon. Treasurer and Shri C . V. M e r a n i , F o r m e r C E A I R & D D , S h r i R.G.Dakshindas, Former CE AIR & DD & Shri Nitin Chavare, SEA AIR Pune, were elected EC Members. The BES(I) Pune Chapter EC resolved to plan a suitable programme, to inaugurate the BES Pune Chapter. As a part of this programme, a technical session on “Optical Fibre Systems – Applications in Broadcasting” was organised on 05/03/2013 at 4:30 P.M. at All India Radio Auditorium, Shivajinagar, and Pune. Prof. Shrinivas R. Jog, Chairman IETE Pune & HOD E&TC D.Y. Patil College of Engineering, Pune was the Chief Guest. Smt. Manisha Shete, Deputy Director, Doordarshan, Pune was the Keynote Speaker & Shri M. Y. Thote (Former Chief Engineer, AIR & Doordarshan) was the Guest of Honour while Shri Ashish Bhatnagar, Vice President, BES (I), New Delhi & DDG (E), AIR Pune presided over the function.

The function was attended by around 80 participants including AIR, Doordarshan Engineering staff members, Faculties of Engineering Colleges, Engineering college students in the region. In his opening speech Shri Ravindra Katkar expressed need to expand the BES activities in Pune by arranging lectures, workshops, seminars & technical conferences. He also stressed the need to increase BES membership in the region by launching special membership drive. Chief Guest of the function Prof. Shrinivas R. Jog, expressed happiness on BES starting its activities in Pune & wished that some collaborative programmes between IETE Pune, Pune University, DY Patil Institutes & BES Pune Chapter can be planned in future. Mrs. Manisha Shete, Deputy Director, Doordarshan Pune, Vice Chairperson, BES Pune in her Keynote address enlightened the audience by explaining optical fibre fundamentals, modern trends & applications in broadcasting. An interactive Q & A session following the keynote address was coordinated by Shri Ashish Bhatnagar, DDG AIR Pune & Vice President BES(I). Earlier after welcoming guests & audience, the Chief Guest & Keynote Speaker were introduced by Shri S.S. Raman, Treasurer, BES Pune Chapter & Smt. S.D. Upadhye, AE, AIR Pune. Session ended with vote of thanks presented by Shri Ashok Kale, Hon. Secretary, BES Pune Chapter.

41 January'13 - March' 13

A Journey through a good old 'channel', Doordarshan It all began in 1975 when I opted for the training in TV Production and Technical Operations conducted at the Film a n d Te l e v i s i o n Institute, Pune. A batch of engineers that included me, working till then in Radio stations, was introduced to the intricacies of the new C. Satyanandan media which was then in a nascent stage. Television, till then confined to Delhi and Bombay, and perhaps Srinagar, was on the verge of spreading to the other metro cities and even some selected smaller towns. The technology was new and complex and there was a lot of excitement about understanding it. A number of engineers had in the initial days been sent abroad to gain some insight. Here at Pune was an opportunity to get training in the program production process as well.

playback unless the tape movement was perfectly synchronized) to the Space Application Centre at Ahmadabad from where the programme was uplinked to the ATS 6 satellite. These signals were then downlinked by the satellite, which were directly received in the designated villages by community television receivers with 3 mparabolic antennas. For the entire year, thousands of villagers gathered around the TV set and watched the telecast. The experiment ran during period of Emergency which had been declared on 26 June 1975. About this time the TV wing of AIR was separated and came under its own Directorate. Doordarshan thus came into being. By 1977 Emergency ended and a new regime came to power. The success of SITE led to an increased focus on satellite broadcasting in India. As a follow up, in the six states where people had the benefit of the Direct Reception System (DRS) sets, terrestrial transmitters began to be installed. After the end of SITE some of the staff were deployed in these places and I was transferred to Raipur. Raipur had a 1 KW transmitter (which was later upgraded to 10KW). We also had IVC VTRs which we used for playing back the tapes we received from BPC (later called UDK) Delhi where they produced all the Hindi programs.

After the 100-day training, we were dispatched to the Kendras where the real action lay. I was posted to Cuttack, one of the three Base Production Centres which were tasked to produce programmes for the SITE or Satellite Instructional Television Experiment that had begun in August 1975 and was to end in July 1976.

Indian Space Research Organisation handed over its

Days of the SITE SITE was an experimental satellite communications project designed to make available informational and educational television programmes to rural India via satellite broadcasting and to gain technical experience in the field of satellite communications. We, at the BPC, were to record programmes, mainly in Oriya, on IVC tape recorders. These were produced in a make-shift studio employing the Image Orthicon type cameras. The centre also had a film processing plant, 16 mm. projectors and slide Projector in Telecine and audio tape recorders and turntables. The tapes were sent, after completely checking the recording (the IVC format caused instability in

42 January'13 - March'13

community viewing scheme to Doordarshan Raipur in the year 1977. We installed some 250-odd TV receivers (modified DRS sets to receive terrestrial signal) in villages spread over in an approximately 40 KM radius. As the engineer in charge of the scheme, I travelled through most of Chhattisgarh around Raipur attending to complaints about poor reception and also requests for provision of sets in more places. It was heartening to see the enthusiasm of the people of some of the most backward regions. As a fringe benefit, some such villages got electricity for the first time, only to take advantage of Doordarshanprogrammes. Sometime after I left Raipur the scheme was taken over from us by the MP government in early 1984.

Engineers from Bharat Electronics were working during the preceding week, changing modules, tuning the valves and experimenting to make the transmitter 'colour compatible'. This telecast was, however, an experiment and a full-fledged relay in colour commenced with the Asian Games in November of that year. Demand for provision of TV Studios in Bangalore was gathering steam meanwhile. HKL Bhagat the then Minister promised the setting up of an interim Studio for Bangalore, (pending the construction of a regular Studio complex) the work on which started almost immediately. The Chief Minister ordered allotment of floors 20 and 21 of the Tower.

Bangalore

Made of plywood wall partitioning and furnished with coir mat flooring the limited space available was teaming with engineers, production staff, accounts and administration staff and others. The installation had been completed in a record time and now it was time for the mainstream activity of programme production with the help of a still nascent television technology. The interim program production centre was commissioned th on 19 November 1983. Studios had only B & W cameras, although colour equipment had come into use for ENG. The 1 inch helical scan VTR of IVC make gave us literally the jitters and it was a tough task to get the servos to 'lock'. A High Power Transmitter was installed in 1985 and the production centre was linked to it by a microwave link. Following the extended reach of the st signal, sponsored serials began to be aired from 1 November '85.

In May 1982 I got my much desired posting to Bangalore. The city, often called the electronics capital of India had to wait until the end of 1981 to get its first TV Relay Centre, and I got the opportunity to be the first Station Engineer. The transmitter was a 1 kilowatt prototype version installed by BEL and we relayed programmes from Bombay and Madras in the evenings, four days and three days a week respectively. The relay was done using the microwave link of the Department of Telecom that ran from Delhi via Bombay to Madras. This was before Satellite relays started after INSAT-1B was launched in August 1983. nd

We worked from the 22 floor of the Visweswarayya Tower, then, and even now, the tallest building in the city. We had the dubious distinction of occupying the 'highest' government office in Bangalore. Power supply was erratic and the lift would stop functioning, and at least once I climbed the twenty two stories to reach the transmitter.

Installation of the permanent studios were in progress in 1987 and we were in the process of acquiring new colour equipment. Fernseh Bosch cameras of 1978 Olympics vintage were installed in the studios and training was imparted by a German expert. These cameras using the Plumbicon tubes were also assembled at BEL and we used to have unending problems with adjustments for an optimum picture.

A section of the local populace was against relay of programmes of other stations and wanted Kannada fare. Protests and threats over phone were not infrequent, and once, the transmitter was forcibly shut down by an agitating group. In spite of such irritants, however, we were most of the time in the lime-light. Curious visitors would drop in to see our set-up and a sort of camaraderie existed with the local press which wrote about the recently opened TV station and the likely commencement of programmes in Kannada.

In January 1987 BEL completed the assembly of the first colour OB van which was part of an order for six such vans. They celebrated the occasion with great fanfare in the presence of the Union Ministers ShivarajPatil and AjitPanja. Later at a modest function the keys of the first van -intended for DD Bangalorewere ceremonially handed to me. The vans had been ordered to facilitate the live coverage of the World Cup Cricket matches of that year played in thirteen cities in India. For a while all the vans remained parked at our Kendra's premises and with technical staff from far off

It was an important milestone in India's Television history and a special day for us engineers working on the transmitter of limited reach when colour was introduced in Doordarshan on the Independence Day, 1982 to telecast Indira Gandhi's address from Red Fort.

43 January'13 - March' 13

DoordarshanKendras converging on us, furiously testing their respective vehicles before taking them to their respective locations, it was a veritable 'mela'.

was practically the only channel available to the masses who greatly appreciated the programmes in their own language. Later a regular earth station was established in one of the unused halls. The satellite regional language service commenced in 1994.

Doordarshan infrastructure came of age in 1987 coinciding with the World Cup. For the first time we could telecast a sporting event of such magnitude in good colour. We received much applause for the successful coverage. The VTR's, tape formats, cameras, all had undergone tremendous change; we got the stateof-art equipment. Satellite up linking had not yet commenced at Bangalore and the national coverage was achieved by sending the feed to Delhi over the terrestrial link.

Hyderabad A posting at Trivandrum, as at other Southern Capitals, is a much coveted one and I had to make way for other aspirants. I was moved to Hyderabad in late 1997. I was received with great warmth by the staff. Especially noticeable was the rapport that existed between the Engineering and other Wings. We did many things together. We moved the Earth Station from the truck and installed it within the building and we digitalized it later. We moved our OB van to the Thirumalai Hill every year to cover the Brahmotsavam with all devotion. We commenced a live interactive programme by the Chief Minister from our Studio. We built an exclusive playback set up for the round-theclock Regional Service.

Although Bangalore Kendra's programmes had increased in duration with the setting up of the new studios in 1988, only the city and surrounding areas benefitted from them. About twenty low power transmitters were already relaying the national programs from Delhi. A major breakthrough came on 1st March 1990 when with the help of a TRACT (an earth station mounted on a truck), we uplinked our programs on an S band transponder of INSAT 1B and all the transmitters in the state started relaying them. Regular Regional Service commenced later that year when we switched to the C Band transponder of INSAT 1D. From then on it was an explosive growth, as HPTs, LPTs and VLPTs in large numbers started being installed.

Chandrababu Naidu, the CM wanted that his weekly phone-in programme be conducted from his office, a good ten kilometre from the Kendra. This entailed not only the setting up of a small studio at the secretariat, but moving the TRACT there and operating it once every week. Brushing aside my protests and pleadings, I&B Ministry decided to go ahead and this weekly ritual came to stay.

The central government launched a series of economic and social reforms in 1991 and allowed private and foreign broadcasters to engage in limited operations in India. Transnational satellite broadcasting made its debut in January 1991, when owners of satellite dishes began receiving Cable News Network (CNN) coverage of the Persian Gulf War. Three months later, Star TV began broadcasting via satellite. In October 1992, Zee TV began offering stiff competition to Star TV. Following the launch of Sun TV in 1992, several television channels sprang up in the south such as Raj TV and Asianet. Doordarshan's monopoly in TV broadcasting can be said to have ended now.

Chennai I was transferred as Director, Maintenance at the South Zone office at Chennai some time towards the end of 2000. This was a different world, one of files, reports and remote control. I was away from what I considered action. Advances in technology were taking place all around. A digital terrestrial transmitter was being installed at Chennai and Doordarshan's DTH was being planned.The TV tower was being modified to carry multiple FM antennas. I was belatedly given a promotion and came to be known as Chief Engineer. My journey, a four-decade-long one, ends here; for Doordarshan there is a long way to go.

Thiruvananthapuram I was posted as Superintending Engineer, DDK Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) in February 1991. The Kendra already had the reputation of a well maintained one, largely because of a competent staff. On a few rare occasions though, as during strikes, it was rather a tough job to keep transmissions going.

C. Satyanandan • 29 Aug.1964- Joined AIR, Eng. Asst. • 10 April 1972- Asst. Station Engineer, AIR through Eng. Services (Electronics) Exam. 1971 • 30 July 2004 Retired, CE (SZ)

We started up-linking the Kendra's programmes using a TRACT and networked the LPTs and HPTs in the state. This was a significant event at a time when Doordarshan

44 January'13 - March'13

APPOINTMENTS

BES(I) completed 25 years in 2012 Shri Bharat Bhushan Pandit has taken over as Member (Finance), Prasar Bharati Board in April 2013. Shri Pandit, a 1977 batch Indian Audits and Accounts Service officer was earlier Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General in the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. Before that, he has worked as the Director General, Defence Audit, Member-Secretary, Audit Board and Accountant General, Madhya Pradesh government.

Shri Yuvraj Bajaj an IBES officer of 1975 batch has taken over the charge of Engineer-in-Chief, All India Radio w.e.f. 01.04.2013. Possessing Graduate degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering and Post Graduation in Management, Sh. Bajaj started his career in All India Radio from Guwahati on 8th October 1975. He later served in various field offices of AIR including Staff Training Institute (Tech) as well as Directorate and Zonal Office in various capacities. At AIR Directorate, Sh. Bajaj has handled Studio Maintenance, Telecom cell and Engineering Personal Management effectively for long periods, has taken challenging field postings in North East and Andaman, considered to be very difficult stations. He was personally associated with of Radio Channels on DTH Service and implementation of various satellite related projects. He has also worked as Additional Director General in Doordarshan Directorate where he was responsible for Capital Procurements, Human Resources and implementation of Satellite related projects as well as proper operation and maintenance of DD's DTH platform, all Earth Stations & DSNGs etc. Such a wide exposure makes his mammoth task as head of entire technical installations & activities of AIR easy and effective. He had also represented AIR and Doordarshan in various high level meetings of Department of Space as well as ABU Technical Committee. Sh Bajaj is Vice President of Broadcast Engineering Society (India), Life Fellow of Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers, life Member of Indian Institute of Public Administration and Member of All India Management Association. He has traveled various Countries of the world and is a recipient of Akashvani Annual Award for Tech. Excellence.

45 January'13 - March' 13

Deepak Joshi the US initially, before a global expansion later in the year. Pricing has not yet been announced. More information on Samsung website

Samsung launches with new Home Sync media streamer: Home Sync brings local storage and Google Play access The early launches at MWC 2013 keep on coming, with Samsung unveiling a new Home Sync set-top box running Android Jelly Bean. The new media streamer, which will compete directly against the Apple TV solution, will serve up a host of popular video on demand services through full access to the Google Play store. Naturally, that also means that the best Android games, music services and online portals will be available on the big screen TV, at full 1080p HD resolution, where available. The Home Sync box is not a Google TV-branded product, however it will offer freer access to a greater range of apps than Apple TV, Samsung's Home Sync will also have another leg-up on Cupertino's favorite 'hobby project.' It has a 1TB HDD meaning users can store a host of their favorite media content on the device, with up to 8 members of the household able to set-up user accounts for private or shared storage. The 2nd and 3rd generation Apple TV products ditched local storage for a streaming-only solution, which has so far served the company well. Like Apple TV, users will be also able to control the box from a smartphone app. Specs: Top-line Home Sync specs include a 1.7GHz dual-core CPU, while there's 1GB of RAM to keep things ticking over smoothly. There's also Bluetooth 4.0, Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi, USB 3.0, micro USB, and an optical audio out. The device will go on sale in April in

Harris Broadcast Breaks Barriers in Router Design with Platinum™ IP3 Common architecture and future-proof design address limitless router expansion, IP network convergence and more to protect and enhance initial investment Harris Broadcast raises the bar it previously set for multi-format signal routing with the introduction of the Platinum™ IP3 router — the broadcast industry's first router to accommodate separate video, audio and data paths within the same frame. The Platinum IP3 is also the first signal router that can scale to multi-frame configurations for very large broadcast and media operations using a common architecture, simplifying installations and eliminating costs associated with external components and complex cabling. The intelligent architecture maximizes on-air security, with a pioneering approach to audio, video and multiviewer signal protection based on redundant crosspoints and integrated routing designs. The industry's first “triple-path” architecture for signal routing is a true innovation, and marks an evolution of the proven technology within Harris Broadcast's Platinum routers — the first to offer a “dual-path” architecture for separate video and audio paths. The groundbreaking triple-path architecture of the Platinum IP3 retains the ability to cleanly separate video and audio signals while becoming the first broadcast router to offer a true path to network convergence. “Offering a future-proof design that looks beyond

46 January'13 - March'13

baseband/IP convergence to cover ultra-highbandwidth needs, including 4K and beyond, gives our customers a unique opportunity to prepare for approaching changes,” said Harris Morris, president, Harris Broadcast. “But the ability for our customers to intelligently scale routing systems to any size using a common architecture, along with the best possible onair protection, delivers real-world benefits that are clearly viable today.” The Platinum IP3 delivers high-quality, multi-format signal routing up to 576x1024 in a single 28RU frame. It can scale to at least 2048x2048 in multi-frame configurations without external distribution amplifiers or combiners, reducing costs and labor. The design eliminates the need to take stations off the air while scaling into multiple frame systems — another industry first. As with other Platinum routers, the Platinum IP3 accommodates multiviewers, frame synchronizers, advanced I/O options and audio mux/demux capabilities within the frame for a space- and energysaving integrated solution. The ability to customize router size, and the integration of multiviewers and other systems, make the Platinum IP3 ideal for traditional broadcast plants as well as mobile production trucks, houses of worship, cable/IPTV facilities and large satellite TV operations among other end users. Systems integrators also benefit from a solution that is easy to configure and customize based on end user requirements. A highly intuitive controller supports effortless setup and simplifies communications management between the router and other connected components. “Ultimately, the Platinum IP3 breaks barriers by ensuring that customers are not dead-ended by limitations to matrix size, control options or expansion of integrated functions,” said Paul Eisner, vice president of workflow, infrastructure and networking, Harris Broadcast. “This architecture gives users the freedom to protect their initial investments and build on their existing systems while also preparing them for an IP future.” Source Harris Broadcast

Some news from Cloud computing based broadcast technologies :

Cloud-based Play out Platform launched by Deluxe Media Cloud Deluxe Entertainment Services Group, Inc., a leading international provider of a broad range of entertainment industry services and technologies, is breaking barriers with the launch of its new cloud-based Media Cloud play out platform. Media Cloud, poised to revolutionize play out in the broadcast space, joins the Company's ecosystem of services geared to simplify the media landscape by increasing efficiency while reducing costs. A next generation, cloud-based play out platform and associated suite of services. Deluxe Media Cloud delivers all of the rich functionality required by broadcasters to launch and operate TV channels, including versioning for new media platforms and distribution over IP to transmission head ends. Significant benefits include low upfront, infrastructure, technology and staffing costs in play out and distribution that result in considerable savings and a quicker path to profitability. Deluxe Media Cloud facilitates very fast time-to-launch whilst retaining and increasing creative opportunities, such as “Pop Up” channels, that enable broadcasters and content owners to fully exploit rights for brands and major events .Deluxe Media Cloud delivers full HD, with network resilience integrated into the architecture and security levels that rival those found in major banks and military operations. Full disaster recovery is implicit within the service offering.

Harmonic Launches Cloud-Based Professional Video Transcoding Service. ProMedia™ Carbon MP Makes Cost-Effective, Broadcast-Quality Video Transcoding Accessible to a Broad Range of Professionals. Harmonic launched a cloud-based transcoding service for professional applications available on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Marketplace. ProMedia™ Carbon MP, powered by the acclaimed Harmonic Rhozet® technology used in the ProMedia Carbon transcoding engine, enables content creators, service providers, and media professionals to quickly and cost-effectively convert broadcast-quality video content to virtually any standard media format, making it an ideal transcoding solution for a wide range of applications. ProMedia Carbon MP allows users to transcode filebased video content in the cloud on an hourly basis.

47 61 January'13 - March' 13

Users can also access the application's powerful transcoding engine via a familiar XML API to deploy highly scalable, cloud-based transcoding workflows. In either scenario, the platform's rich user interface and flexible API allows users to perform a host of critical video operations, such as SD/HD and PAL/NTSC conversions, logo insertion, color correction, and multiformat closed-captioning processing. Harmonic. "ProMedia Carbon MP significantly changes the landscape of high-quality video-format conversion by making it both cost-effective and easily accessible. Whether one utilize ProMedia Carbon MP to meet ad-hoc transcoding needs or as a platform for hosting a cloud-based transcoding farm, they'll be able to greatly improve their transcoding workflow and minimize costs through a pay-as-you-go business model."

and bringing important benefits to broadcasters, manufacturers and consumers. Owners of any device containing a live Euro-Chip – including smartphones and tablets – can enjoy cost-free broadcast reception, even as they cross international borders or pass between digital and analogue signals.

In addition to saving users the expense of purchasing site transcoding licenses, ProMedia Carbon MP supports the industry's broadest array of acquisition, nonlinear editing, broadcast, web, and mobile formats including MXF, XDCAM® HD, QuickTime®, CableLabs®, and MP4. The intuitive user interface ensures complete control over every aspect of the transcoding process and simplifies the ability to convert files into any number of target formats, each with a unique set of operations and filters applied.

Harris Broadcast introduces low-power VHF transmitter series for global standards, VHF applications for ATSC and worldwide terrestrial standards. Harris Broadcast introduced its Platinum VAX Compact Class range of VHF transmitters adapting the company's compact, power-efficient transmission philosophy to low-power

Customers that will benefit from the ProMedia Carbon MP service include media professionals with lowvolume transcoding needs, content owners and service providers who require assistance managing occasional spikes in load on their transcoding workflows, and service providers looking to deploy flexible, cloudbased transcoding farms.

The VAX transmitter is capable of multiple modulation schemes for band III VHF analog or digital operation — including ATSC, ATSC MDTV, DVBT/H, DVB T2, ISDB-Tb, DAB/DMB and future digital standards. Upgrading from analog to digital or to newer digital standards is readily accomplished to further extend the capability and life of the transmitter. The VAX transmitter is available as standalone units or in singleor dual-cabinet configurations, and has digital power levels up to 12 kW ATSC, 6.4 kW DVB-T/T2, 10 kW DAB/DMB, and analog levels up to 16 kW.

Further information about Harmonic and the company's products is available at www.harmonicinc.com.

Euro-Chip integrates the main radio standards An initiative to promote the adoption of a radio reception chip as industry standard to make analogue and digital free to air radio available to all receivers was launched by the EBU in Brussels. Euro-Chip integrates the main radio standards, such as digital (DAB/DAB+/DMB) and analogue (FM), into one universal radio receiver, overcoming incompatibilities

The Platinum VAX Compact Class series is most suited for low-power transmitting

48 62 January'13 - March'13 October’12 December’12

stations and gap filler applications, and is especially useful for covering specific regions in extended markets or difficult terrains.

secure, long-term storage. For a minimal cost, Cache-A provides what are simply the most complete, futureproof archiving appliances available today.” LTO-6 cartridges can hold up to 2.5TB of data natively – an increase of 67% over LTO-5, which holds 1.5TB natively. LTO-6 drives offer a performance hike to 160MB/s native data transfer rate, whereas LTO-5 drives work at 140MB/s. To accommodate the extra capacity, Cache-A has increased the internal disk cache storage in its appliances – from 4TB to 6TB in ProCache6, while Power-Cache has been upgraded from 8TB to 12TB. Internal disk storage on Pro-Cache models can be configured for either RAID 0 or RAID 1, while Power-Cache systems can be configured for either RAID 0 or RAID 5.

S o u rc e H a r r i s Broadcast

Some news from Archiving Cache-A Unleashes the Power of LTO-6 Archiving Cache-A LTO-6 appliances deliver increased capacity and transfer rate, plus advanced LTFS archiving capabilities.Cache-A Corporation, manufacturer of archiving appliances, has launched the first in a new generation of LTO-6 archive appliances. Available immediately, these appliances meet the media and entertainment industry need to safeguard everincreasing volumes of priceless assets at minimal cost, while delivering state-of-the art tools and performance for reliable and future-proof archiving.

With the introduction of LTO-6 to its product portfolio, Cache-A has seamlessly carried its trailblazing LTFS (Linear Tape File System) capabilities into its new LTO6 appliances, along with the industry standard tar format. Cache-A's LTFS implementation enables cartridge-spanning of large projects and high-speed dubbing for additional copies. Each appliance has Cache-A's renowned built-in catalog database making it easy for users to track, search and retrieve content across every tape it has ever seen. The appliances can be used in a wide variety of professional digital media workflows – from on-set cart systems to SAN and NAS storage systems in post production. As they can manage large archives with quick access to any asset, the new ProCache6 and Power-Cache archive appliances are ideal for archiving production source masters or entire projects for post-production. LTO-6 is the sixth generation of Linear-Tape Open (LTO) technology. LTO was launched in 2000, and LTO tape has a shelf life of at least 30 years.

LTO-6 technology is now available across Cache-A's flagship ProCache6, highperformance PowerCache, and flexible Library 24/48 automation systems. These new appliances deliver significantly faster throughput and close to 70% greater storage capacity over LTO-5 appliances. They combine Cache-A's advanced LTFS capabilities with an easy-to-use, webbased user interface, while maintaining identical spacesaving desktop and rack-mount form factors as previous Cache-A products. They can be network-attached, making them easy to deploy in professional digital media workflows.

As with previous generations of LTO technology, Cache-A's LTO-6 systems provide backward compatibility with previous generations of LTO tape. The new appliances can read/write LTO-5 and LTO-6 cartridges and read LTO-4 cartridges, helping to preserve media investments and ease implementation.

“The arrival of LTO-6 is great news for companies in the media and entertainment industries, as one can store more, and archive faster. With the advent 3D and trends towards the adoption of 4K and high frame rates, media projects just keep getting bigger, and can easily run into the hundreds of Terabytes of data. Cache-A's new LTO6 archive appliances keep pace with the hunger for

Availability: Pro-Cache6 and LTO-6 models of Power-Cache and Library 24/48 are available immediately. Source: Cache-A

63 49 61 October’12 January'13 - December’12 - March' 13

Bridging Old and New at Blog www.airddfamily.blogspot.in

Dedicated to all, who contributed to make AIR & Doordarshan of today, PB Parivar Blog gives a platform to present and former employees of Prasar Bharati, irrespective of their designations, to share their precious moments and thoughts. PB Parivar Blog has encountered around 1,25,000 page views and is visited by around 18,000 viewers per month. Membership of the blog (www.airddfamily.blogspot.in) is open to working and former employees of AIR & DD and to anyone associated with these legendary broadcasting organisations.

50 January'13 - March'13

New Members S. No. Name LM 2806

Mem. No.

DesignationAddress

Deputy Director (Engg.)

O/o DDG (E), All India Radio, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh

1.

Mrs. Harsha Latha Ravada

2.

Sh. Vedantham Srinivasa Chary

LM 2807

Engg. Asstt.H.No. 5-4-1211/2, Phase 1, Saradanagar, Vanasthalipuram, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh

3.

Sh. Balla Prabhakara Rao

Engg. Asstt.

H.No. 2-3-857/3, Plot No. 4 Road No:3/A, Arunodaya Nagar, Nagole, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh

4.

Sh. Palagiri Mahaboob Hussain

LM 2809

Engg. Asstt.D.No. 9-72/1, Flat No. 201, Bhagwati Residency , Dwarakapuram Road No. 2A, Dilsukhnagar, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh

5.

Smt. K. Abujam

LM 2810

Assistant Professor

B-87, Dheeranagar, Trichy, Tamil Nadu

6.

Smt. N. Vaijayanthi

LM 2811

Assistant Professor

21, Vivekanand Street, Ayappa Nagar, Trichy, Tamil Nadu

7.

Sh. Sartaj Alam Khan

AM 2812

Technical Support Engg.

D-51, 4th floor Abul Fazal, Jamia Nagar, Okhala, New Delhi

8.

Sh. Abhay Kumar

LM 2813

Asstt. Engg.

D-2/8, D-Block, Radio Colony, Kingsway Camp, New Delhi

9.

Sh. Atul Seth

LF 2814

Addl. Director Engg. (Retd.) D-605, M.S. Appartments , Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi

10.

Sh. Zafrul Hassan Mujib

LM 2815

Director

Flat No.-02, FF, 583 Plot No. 13, Zakir Nagar West, Okhla, New Delhi

11.

Sh. Akhilesh Kumar

LM 2816

Dy. Director (E)

B-49/5, Kendriya Vihar-2, Sector-82, Noida, Uttar pradesh

12.

Sh. Arvind Kumar Tyagi

LF 2817

Scientist Engg.

C/14, Shivalay Bungalows , Near Sarkari Tube wall Bopal, Ahmedabad, Gujrat

LM To LF 926

Scientist (E) NTRO

D-306, Nivadita Kunj, Sector-10,, New Delhi

LM 2808

List of Converted Members 1.

Sh. H.S. Dhillon

2.

Sh. Gundabattina Subba Rao AMTo LM 2702 Asstt. Engg.

H.No.11-13-1304 Road No. 4A , Margadarsi Colony, R.K. Puram , Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh

3.

Sh. Gundabattina Anoop

H.No.11-13-1304 Road No. 4A, Margadarsi Colony, R.K. Puram, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh

SM To LM 2703 System Engineer

51 61 January'13 - March' 13

Obituary Mr. Balbir Chand, Life member of Broadcast Engineering Society (India) and Retired Regional Engineer (NZ), who superannuated in 1981, who was earlier staying at Patiala expired at the age 92 years at Baroda where his daughter was staying.

BES(I) prays to the almighty for peace of the departed soul and strength to the bereaved family.

Death & Life Jiddu Krishnamurti You cannot be frightened of the unknown because you do not know what the unknown is and so there is nothing to be afraid of. Death is a word, and it is the word, the image, that creates fear. So can you look at death without the image of death? As long as the image exists from which springs thought, thought must always create fear. Then you either rationalize your fear of death and build a resistance against the inevitable or you invent innumerable beliefs to protect you from the fear of death. Hence there is a gap between you and the thing of which you are afraid. In this time-space interval there must be conflict which is fear, anxiety and self-pity. Thought, which breeds the fear of death, says, 'Let's postpone it, let's avoid it, keep it as far away as possible, let's not think about it'- but you are thinking about it. When you say, 'I won't think about it', you have already thought out how to avoid it. You are frightened of death because you have postponed it………….. Most of us are frightened of dying because we don't know what it means to live. We don't know how to live, therefore we don't know how to die. As long as we are frightened of life we shall be frightened of death. The man who is not frightened of life is not frightened of being completely insecure for he understands that inwardly, psychologically, there is no security. When there is no security there is an endless movement and then life and death are the same. The man who lives without conflict, who lives with beauty and love, is not frightened of death because to love is to die. From: p. 75-77, Jiddu Krishnamurti, Freedom from the known, 1969

52 October’12 - December’12