SilverBULLET 3G Fiber Link

• Get a 3G HD–SDI SMPTE mini Fiber Optic Link at the cost of a 1.5G link.
• Priced at $749 per end including Power Supply and Pelican style case.
• Why pay more for less?
• Save on Power Supplies and Pelican case and upgrade to 3G SMPTE for the same cost.

The SilverBULLET is an economic solution designed for transmission of SDI and HD–SDI TV signals on single mode fiber optic cable. Perfect for today’s professional and broadcast applications.  At just three inches in length, this cost–effective solution is ideal for a wide variety of pro A/V and broadcast applications, including video production and editing, ENG with additional uses for sports teleproduction, field production, remote camera links, cross oh–campus production, pre–fibered venues and courtesy feeds.  The SilverBULLET is designed for simple, single hop, 3G HD SDI fiber optic runs with a clean signal at the start. Longer fiber optic runs and multiple hops will start to accumulate jSilverBULLET now ships in a compact pelican style carrying case.  The carrying case holds one transmitter, one receiver, and two power supplies.

When designing a 1.5G or 3G HD SDI fiber optic system, proper management of signal integrity and jitter is critical.  If the noise or jitter characteristics of your HD SDI signal are not carefully managed and reduced with re–clocking circuitry, it is possible that your HD SDI signal becomes so noisy and full of jitter that the signal degrades beyond repair and recovery.  For better Jitter Management and Reclocking it is recommended that a fiber optic transport system be used with HD SDI re–clocking such as the HD–1500 1.5G HD SDI fiber optic link or the HD–3000 3G HD SDI SilverBULLETBUSilverBULLETBULLET

BULLET™ Mini 3G HD/SDI Fiber Optic Link. Now less than the cost of 1.5G. $749/end with PS & Pelican Case

• An economical solution for the fiber optic transport of 19.4 Mbps to 3 Gbps HDTV signals
• Supports the SMPTE 424M 2.97Gbps, SMPTE 292M 1.485 Gbps and SMPTE 259M 270 Mbps standards
• Typical Link Distance up to 30KM
• Get a 3G HD-SDI SMPTE mini Fiber Optic Link at the cost of a 1.5G link
• Priced at $749 per end including Power Supply and Pelican style case
• Power 5-16 VDC with 4 Pin XLR

New SilverBULLET Power Clip that eliminates the need for an additional power supply.

MultiDyne is also introducing a new SilverBULLET Power Clip that provides the SilverBULLET with power via the DC power output on a camera. As other camera mounted fiber transport systems add additional weight to the camera, they can throw off the center of gravity for a cameraman, making it difficult to operate a camera that is off balance. The SilverBULLET Power Clip, when combined with the SilverBULLET, provides a small and lightweight 3G HD-SDI fiber transport solution powered by the camera.

Applications, Applications for Video Fiber Optic Transport, FAQ, Fiber Optic Transport Systems for Broadcast Television, New Products, News 3G HD-SDI Mini Fiber Linkn Priced at $749 per end including Power Supply and Pelican style case, Complete 3G HD-SDI Multirate Fiber Optic Transport Systems starting at $749, Get 3G Mini HD SilverBULLET instead of 1.5G Telecast Rattler, Get a 3G HD–SDI SMPTE mini Fiber Optic Link at the cost of a 1.5G link, Get FREE Power Supply and Pelican Case with SilverBULLET 3G HD-SDI Mini Fiber Link, provides a small and lightweight 3G HD-SDI fiber transport solution powered by the camera, Save on Power Supplies and Pelican case and upgrade to 3G SMPTE for the same cost, SilverBULLET Power Clip that eliminates the need for an additional power supply, SilverBULLET with power via the DC power output on a camera, The SilverBULLET Power Clip, when combined with the SilverBULLET

Written by Jim Jachetta, senior vice president of engineering and product development at MultiDyne.

Common application we address is the transport of cable television signals over Singlemode fiber. There are several key items that need to be remembered when implementing a cable TV fiber optic system.

1. A RF cable TV fiber optic transport system requires angle polished SC type connectors. This type of connector is typically green in color. If fiber optic cables are connected to the CTV-2000 units that are not angle polished, the fiber optic equipment could be damaged. If you’re fiber optic infrastructure does not include SC-APC or angle polished connectors, please ask your MultiDyne sales engineer to include angle polished fiber optic patch cords.
2. The final factor is the input RF signal level delivered to the CTV-2000 fiber optic transmitter. The RF input port is a standard 75 Ohm F Type connector. The RF input range is 15 to 25 dBmV. An input RF level exceeding 25 dBmV may damage the internal laser. The optimum input RF level is 20 dBm V. An RF power meter can be used to measure the ideal RF input level. The CTV-2000 fiber optic transmitter has some external adjustments, but under most circumstances the standard automatic mode is required. Please see the user’s manual for some of these manual settings.
3. Cable TV signals can be transported over Singlemode fiber only.  A Multimode fiber does not have the bandwidth over distance capability to transport a 870 MHz signal. Theoretically a Singlemode fiber has close to infinite bandwidth making it ideal for the transport of broadband RF cable TV signals.
4. The CTV-2000 fiber optic receiver requires a specific optical input signal level. The ideal optical level seen on the optical input of the cable TV fiber optic receiver is between -3 dBm and -8 dBm. Ideally we would like to see the optical input level at or close to -5 dBm. We recommend the installer utilize an optical power meter to measure the optical power delivered to the CTV-2000 fiber optic receiver. If an optical power meter is not available, we will discuss how to approximately adjust the optical power.When the cable TV fiber optic system is designed, with the aid of one of our sales engineers, we try to calculate the required optical power for the transport distance. We take into account any splitters or taps in the fiber optic infrastructure to calculate the required optical power. For example, a system may contain one CTV-2000 transmitter and up to 32 CTV-2000 receiver units. This would describe a system with a cable TV head-end feeding 32 residential homes.We typically design the system to have a little bit too much power, say around -3 dBm’s, and then we use a variable optical attenuator to get the power in the -5 dBm sweet spot. The easiest way to measure the optical power is with an optical light meter. If the system is designed and planned out carefully, an optical light meter may not be needed. Ideally we want the optical signal slightly higher than the required -5 dBm and then we adjust the variable attenuator to get the signal as close to -5 dBm’s as possible. The video signal will look noisy if the signal is both too powerful and too weak. This fact makes the system difficult to diagnose without an optical light meter. If we assume the optical signal is too strong or powerful, we should see an improvement in the signal as you begin to slowly attenuate the optical signal. When you reach the ideal point of about -5 dBm the cable TV video signal should look its best.

FAQ, Tech Talk with Jim Jachetta broadband fiber link, cable television, cable TV over fiber, CATV, catv fiber link, CATV fiber optic link, CATV over fiber, ctv-2000, CTV2000

Written by Jim Jachetta, senior vice president of engineering and product development at MultiDyne.

Ideally one should always use single mode fiber optic transport equipment with single mode fiber and multimode fiber optic transport equipment with multimode fiber. Several of MultiDyne’s newer products such as the HD-1500 are fiber mode agnostic or support both multimode and single mode fiber.

MultiDyne uses proprietary techniques in our fiber optic optical assemblies to give the capability of supporting both multimode and single mode fiber optic cable for most of our product line.  This includes the HD-1500 family for HD SDI transport, and the DTV-235 SDI fiber optic transport solutions.

FAQ, Tech Talk with Jim Jachetta DTV-235, fiber, HD-1500, multimode, optic, singlemode

Requirement: MultiDyne’s RGB-5000 Series Fiber Optic Transport System handles Tri-Level Sync required by the Polycom Series of Eagle Eye Cameras for the component HD video outputs. The HDX9000 series of video conferencing systems utilize YPbPr video with a 1280 x 720 resolution for 720p analog HD.

Technical Description:Tri-level sync is used on analog HDTV formats such as 720P, 1080i and 1080p, and was introduced with the SMPTE 240 analog HDTV standard. It is frequently used when the video is in YPbPr format, and the sync is placed on all three channels. In standard video, the signal normally goes from 0 volts to 1 volt, with 0.3volts being black level. One volt is peak white and the sync pulse is a negative going pulse that goes between 0 and 0.3volts.

For 3 level sync, there are actually 2 sync pulses. The first one is like an ordinary negative going sync pulse, but it is followed immediately by a positive going pulse that goes from -0.3 to +0.3 volts, a swing of 600mv. Following this pulse, the signal returns to black level at zero volts, and then shortly thereafter the active video starts.

For ordinary video, the interval after the negative pulse is assumed to be the black level of the image, however with 3-level sync, this area is taken up by the second pulse. Systems that are not designed for HDTV will think the top of the second pulse is black level, when in reality the pulse is up near white level. This will cause the competitor’s system to treat picture levels near white as black, and as a result, the image will be too dark.

The RGB-5000 system from MultiDyne bypasses this by waiting till the second pulse has ended before sampling the black level.

Competitive Advantage:  The MultiDyne RGB-5000 series passes Tri level Sync for the Polycom HDX9000 and Eagle Eye Cameras. The entire RGB-5000 series will handle Tri-level sync for the applications described above.

Applications, FAQ 1080i and 1080p, 720P, analog HDTV, component, hd, HD over fiber, RGB -- HV over fiber, rgb over fiber, rgb-hv, SMPTE 240, Tri-Level Sync, vga, vga over fiber, video, YPbPr

A typical Multimode fiber optic receiver will detect 850 nm. Any wavelength outside of 850 nm will not be detected. This concludes that a Multimode optical receiver has a limited optical spectrum.

A typical Singlemode fiber optic receiver will detect any wavelength from approximately 1200 nm to 1611 nm.  Therefore a generic or standard Singlemode fiber optic receiver can receive any CWDM optical signals.  An optical receiver can only detect one optical wavelength at a time. Therefore, a CWDM demultiplexer is required before any fiber optic receiver to single out each individual wavelength and map it to the proper fiber optic receiver.

A perfect application diagram can be found on page 2 of the attached document by clicking here.  You can see in the drawing how the CWDM wavelengths can travel in both directions over the fiber and how a fiber optic multiplexer and demultiplexer is required on each side of the fiber optic transport system.

FAQ, Tech Talk with Jim Jachetta

There are two typical standard wavelengths used in fiber-optic communication. For Multimode fiber optic transport the wavelengths of choice is typically 850 nm. For single mode fiber optic communication the wavelengths of choice is typically 1310 nm. For longer distances and for wavelength multiplexing and combining onto a single fiber, wavelengths are used in the upper band or the 1550 nm range.

Optical lasers and sources in the 1550 nm range typically use distributed feedback or DFB technology. DFB lasers typically have a much tighter and narrower optical spectrum. By having a narrower optical spectrum, the signal can transport down the fiber over much farther distances than your typical Fabre Perot or FP type laser. What happens is the optical signal spreads or disperses over distance due to flaws and imperfections in the fiber optic medium. The result is distance limitations of about 15 to 20 km in most cases. In order to reach distances beyond 15 km, a DFB laser in the 1550 nm range is typically specified.

DFB lasers are also utilized in coarse wave division multiplexing or CWDM fiber optic communications since they have a tight and narrow optical spectrum. Since the optical spectrum is narrow and stable over temperature, a DFB laser is ideal for combining multiple wavelengths onto one fiber.  The lasers are fabricated at different wavelengths with a 20 nm spacing from 1271 nm to 1611 nm.

To maximize bandwidth and throughput in an optical system, multiple fiber transport devices with different colored CWDM lasers are utilized and combined onto one fiber.  A CWDM optical multiplexer and demultiplexer, such as the CWDM-2000, are utilized to combine and un-combine the multiple wavelengths.

The required wavelength of the fiber-optic transmitter needs to be selected prior to manufacturing. In CWDM applications, the required laser from 1271 nm to 1611 nm is chosen during design and manufacturing.  The optical receiver required for a CWDM application requires no wavelength specification.

A typical Singlemode fiber optic receiver will detect any wavelength from approximately 1200 nm to 1611 nm.  Therefore a generic or standard Singlemode fiber optic receiver canreceive any CWDM optical signals.  An optical receiver can only detect one optical wavelength at a time. Therefore, a CWDM demultiplexer is required before any fiber optic receiver to single out each individual wavelenght and map it to the proper fiber optic receiver.

A perfect application diagram can be found on page 2 of the attached document by clicking here.  You can see in the drawing how the CWDM wavelengths can travel in both directions over the fiber in how a fiber optic multiplexer and demultiplexer is required on each side of the fiber optic transport system.

FAQ, Tech Talk with Jim Jachetta

The most visible difference between the two adapters is color. Most singlemode SC/PC adapters are blue and SC/APC adapters are green. This allows for quick identification, especially when used in distribution panels so the end-user inserts the correct connector type. Often users cannot see the connector plugged in on the backside of the panels, therefore the color indicates the SC connector that’s required. SC connectors correspond with the adapter; most singlemode SC/APC connectors have green outer shells while singlemode SC/PC connectors have blue outer shells. SC/APC adapters use premium zirconia split sleeves to achieve the tightest tolerance possible providing critical alignment of the two angle polished ferrules. Whether it is a singlemode SC/PC or SC/APC connector be sure to choose a zirconia (ceramic) sleeve material rather than a phosphor bronze or polymer. The zirconia alignment sleeves have a tighter tolerance and better elasticity, maintaining tight tolerances after several matings.

FAQ, Tech Talk with Jim Jachetta

When we speak of dBm (decibels to a milliwatt) we are measuring absolute power. For example 10dBm equates to 10 milliwatts, watts being a power denomination we recognise. True loss of a signal or the difference in dBms, is expressed in units of decibels, commonly abbreviated as dB. Fiber attenuation and connector loss are generally expressed in units of dB. As an example, singlemode fiber loss may be expressed as .3dB/km and a connector loss may be .2dB. In fiber optics the negative sign (-.2 dB) is generally ignored.

FAQ, Tech Talk with Jim Jachetta

Whenever a connector is installed on the end of fiber, loss is incurred. Some of this light loss is reflected directly back down the fiber towards the light source that generated it. These back reflections, or Optical Return Loss (ORL), will damage the Laser Light Sources and also disrupt the transmitted signal. To reduce back reflections, we can polish connector ferrules to different finishes. A typical hand polished connector will measure at -30dB. This polish is referred to as a PC or Physical Contact polish, which for some systems is considered too high of an ORL measurement. To reduce the back reflection of a connector, we can machine polish it to SPC (Super Physical Contact) polish or UPC (Ultra Physical Contact) polish. Industry standard is a minimum of -40dB for SPC Back reflection measurement and -50dB for UPC back reflection measurement. If even less back reflection is required, an APC, or Angled Physical Contact polish, might be necessary. An APC connector has an 8º angle cut into the ferrule. These connectors are identifiable by their green color. An APC polished connector has an Industry Standard Minimum f -60dB ORL measurement. Abroad most CATV and telephone companies require the use of these low back reflection connectors. PDR has the state of the art technology and equipments to produce higher standard Super, Ultra and Angled patchcords. PDR assemblies are prepared by highly skilled technicians and each assembly is checked to guarantee highest performance.

FAQ, Tech Talk with Jim Jachetta

Most cable TV fiber optic transport gear requires a SC-APC angle polish connector.  A SC-APC connector can be identified by its square configuration and green color.  The fiber optic laser assembly used in a cable television fiber transport link is very sensitive to light that is reflected back into the laser cavity. Optical isolators are used internally in cable-TV optical laser assemblies to limit optical back reflections. In many cases this does not provide enough isolation.

Additional isolation to back reflections is provided by using angle polished connectors.  An APC connector has an 8º angle cut into the ferrule.  These connectors are identifiable by their green color.  An APC polished connector has an Industry Standard Minimum of -60dB optical return loss or back reflection.  When an angle polish connector is used, any back reflections are minimized.

FAQ, Tech Talk with Jim Jachetta