Bridge Technologies launches satellite redundancy switch

Bridge Technologies has launched the VB273 Intelligent Satellite Redundancy Switch – the first of a new line of products from the company. The VB273 provides redundancy switching for satellite uplinks, with an automated decision-making capability.

According to the company, in contrast with the simple ETR alarm analyzers and black box switching solutions that have been deployed to date, the Bridge VB273 system’s analysis capabilities and decision engine make it mor comprehensive and accurate.

The company says that by incorporating a full implementation of Bridge Technologies’ advanced ETR analysis engine, the VB273 can use a greater range of criteria, and base decisions on a more nuanced and realistic assessment of the data. Error conditions are evaluated against a set of user-defined rules to determine the appropriate automated action in any operational scenario.

The VB273 module works with a VB272 and VB120 in a redundant chassis to monitor two signals from dual production chains and switch to the backup chain if the main chain fails.

The VB273 module contains the physical switches and interfaces, with the VB272 module providing dual-channel multi-purpose monitoring of satellite broadcast signals and running the  ETR290 analysis and decision engines. The VB272 also includes an RF monitoring module and supports high-throughput 16PSK and 32PSK operation as well as today’s QPSK and 8PSK. The module provides full implementation of DISEqC v1.2 RF switch control, cue tones and a GPI interface, according to Bridge Technologies.

In use the VB273 Intelligent Satellite Redundancy Switch integrates readily into the Bridge Technologies monitoring ecosystem, providing exceptional advanced data analysis functions through rich graphical displays, with full reporting capabilities to external network management systems. The data from the system is made available for remote monitoring by the built-in web server so that engineers and maintenance staff can be kept aware of operating status and can interrogate the system from any location.

The VB273 has been developed in response to a major operator’s request for a redundancy switching solution, and is already installed by, with general availability to the market from September 2013, according to Bridge Technologies.

“Redundancy switching solutions based on relatively crude ETR analysis are a less than perfect answer to the broadcaster’s requirements,” said Simen Frostad, chairman of Bridge Technologies. “They are inflexible, and may even themselves cause problems and increase costs by generating ‘false positives’ or missing complex error conditions. The innovative approach taken in the VB273 is a response to what broadcasters have requested, and it gives greater security and the cost reductions achieved through running a more intelligent solution that can be trusted to operate with a greater degree of autonomy.”

Bridge Technologies will exhibit at IBC on stand 1.A30