Now Available with SMPTE 3G HD-SDI Re-Clocking Input/Output Blades

AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 – MultiDyne Video & Fiber Optic Systems, a premier provider of fiber optic-based video and audio transport and routing solutions for broadcast and pro A/V applications, debuted its EOS-4000 Series fiber-optic switchers now available with SMPTE 3G HD-SDI Re-Clocking Input/Output Blades at IBC 2009 (Stand 2.A54). When combined with the MultiDyne SilverBULLET, HD-1500 or HD-3000, the EOS-4000 3G SMPTE video electro-optical routing solution provides a complete routing and long-haul distribution system for broadcast, medical, government and pro a/v applications.

The EOS-4000 Series devices provide high-speed switching between ports, and are designed to function as incredibly versatile, multi-purpose solutions crucial for any distribution system. They are an ideal solution for routing DVI single and dual link, HDMI, RGB-HV, SDI, HD-SDI and 3G HD-SDI signals optically. As electrical routing switchers for high bandwidth signals do not currently exist in the market in any scalable size, electro-optical switchers are a welcome alternative. The EOS-4000 switches in the light domain, functioning as a natural solution for users who need to transport high bandwidth video over longer distance. It can also switch many different formats of video, HD and audio, eliminating the need for additional switchers while maintaining signal integrity, security and quality.

In addition, the EOS-4000 transparent, non-blocking solution is inherently “future-proof,” with scalable size and bandwidth for all future standards up to 10G. When using SMPTE SFP optics, the EOS-4000 switchers are also fully SMPTE compliant. The bandwidth through SFP ports is 4.25 Gbps, with up to 10 Gbps via XFP.

New features for the EOS-4000 series include SMPTE 3G HD-SDI re-clocking input/output blades. The EOS-4000’s standard input and output blades are a multirate device design for general purpose switching, including composite video using the DVM-2000 Series or for DVI-RGB with the MultiDyne flagship DVI-6000 solution. However, as special attention must be paid to signal processing and management for in-demand 3G HD-SDI video applications, combining the EOS-4000 with the new EOS-16PORTSFP-3G 16 port, SFP, SMPTE 3G Re-Clocked I/O Blade achieves optimal performance and compliance. This solution, which requires SMPTE compliant SFP modules, provides 16 re-clocked optical outputs exceeding SMPTE jitter and pathological specifications. MultiDyne also provides the SFP-1310-SM-10K-3G family of 3G SMPTE video SFPs to ensure users can meet this requirement. Blades are scalable in increments of 16 ports, and scalable 10 Gbps XFP I/O blades for future migration to 10 Gbps include 4 XFP ports per blade.

The new enterprise version of the EOS-4000 includes new monitoring software, an embedded web GUI that controls switches remotely from a web browser over a network and utilizes SSL for security. The software gives the user the ability to monitor the switcher input sources separately from the output destinations. This feature is very important in many broadcast and professional audiovisual applications. The EOS-4000 series of switchers also support Crestron and AMX control systems. 

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Electro-optical Switcher, OEO

The second type is the Electro-optical switch.  The Electro-optical switch uses a hybrid approach.  The input is Optical, the cross-point is Electrical and the output is Optical. The abbreviation for this technology is OEO.  An OEO switch supports point to multi-point or multicast switching.  Any input can be switched to every output if necessary.  Since the optical signal is converted to electrical, only one wavelength can be switched at a time.  Also an electrical cross-point only operates in one direction.  Therefore only one wavelength in one direction is supported.  MultiDyne provides a wide array of Electro-optical Fiber Routing Switchers scalable from 16 by 16 up to 288 by 288 matrix sizes.  Electro-optical routing switchers can switch any digital opticsl signal type from DVI Dual Link, Audio and Data to analog video and RGB-HV.  The EOS-4000 is the only large scale routing switcher that can support DVI Dual Link up to 2560 by 1600 or WQXGA.  When combined with the DVI-6000 DVI Dual Link and RGB-HV Fiber Optic Transport Systems, the EOS-4000 Series of Electro-Optical Fiber Routing Switchers will support all your DVI and RGB-HV signal distribution needs.

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Photonic Fiber Optic Switcher

The first is 100% optical switching using 3D MEMMS Technology.  It uses electronically controlled mirrors to route optical signals.  This type of switch has an Optical input, an Optical cross-point and an Optical output.  The abbreviation for this technology is OOO.  An OOO switch provides only Point to Point switching.  One input can not be multicast to many outputs.  The mirrors can not point to more than one output at a time.  The use of mirrors does permit multiple wavelengths in both directions.  Switches are available is sizes from 8 by 8 to 256 by 256.  Pure optical switching is available for Multimode and Singlemode applications.  Optical switching supports both analog and digital optical signals.

Pure optical switching is performed using 3D micro-electro-mechanical mirror (MEMS) arrays.  Tiny mirrors are fabricated out of silicon.  The mirrors are positioned and controlled with electrostic charges.  The core of the optical switch is a one inch square cube.  The cube has an array of up to 256 input fibers on the left side as shown in figure 33.  Each fiber has a lens that focuses the optical light onto a MEMS mirror.  Each input has its own mirror.  On the right side is an array of output fibers.  Each output has a MEMS mirror.  An optical connection is made when one input mirror aligns with one of the output mirrors.

FIGURE 33 Three dimensional MEMS pure optic switching element.

3D MEMS Pure Optic Switching, Figure 33

Fiber Optic Switching is ideal for video broadcast, production, security and other video applications requiring transmission, switching and replication of high quality optical signals.  The Fiber Optical Switcher revolutionizes how video is distributed and managed. It is based on sate-of-the-art field proven photonic switching technology. Laser light is switched in a pure optical format, without electrical conversion, allowing it to support transparent connections compatible with any video or data format including uncompressed HD video at 1.5 Gbps.  Also, since the switching is done optically, the switch eliminates video degradation. With a traditional electrical switcher, Electrical to Optical (EO) and Optical to Electrical (OE) conversions are required which cause signal degradation and jitter.

An optical switch supports a wide range of formats from 19.4 Mbps ATSC through 3.0 Gbps HDTV as well as NTSC, PAL, SECAM, SMPTE 259M Serial Digital (SDI) Video, broadband analog, DVI, HDMI, RGB, VGA, component, L-Band, IF, and many more. The optical switcher will also transparently switches CWDM and DWDM signals.

Optical switcher technology can be used in the field to support applications requiring reliable, high-quality video distribution such as Mobile production trucks, sports venues and professional video facilities; Campus video and surveillance networks; Remote video monitoring as well as Government and military.  Optical layer protection and fault tolerant switching can be configured for mission critical, non-stop applications.

Optical switching is extremely cost effective for any applications requiring thirty-two or more switched optical ports. It eliminates the need for expensive video transceivers to convert signals between electrical and optical formats. Switching the signals in optical format can save thousands of dollars per port in fiber optic transport equipment costs.

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Fiber Optic Routing Switchers

Just about every broadcast and audio visual system today has some sort of a video and audio routing switcher.  The switcher gives the user the ability to control the source and destination of a given video and audio signal.  As more and more video and communications migrate from copper to fiber, it makes sense that the need for optical routing switcher arose.   The Optical routing switcher is a new concept for the video market, but it has been used for many years in the telecommunications industry.  It has been used to route and control telephone traffic.

As the complexity of the video and broadcast television industries becomes more and more complex with dozens of different video and encoding formats, optical switching starts to make more sense.   If all or most of our video information is in the optical domain, why not switch in the optical domain.

In broadcast or video application there may be analog video, component video, DVI, RGB-HV, VGA, HDMI, SDI,  HD-SDI, and High Definition 3G HD-SDI. If we are to switch all these signals we will need a different switcher for each type or format of video.  If we are transporting signals in the optical; domain, we will have to convert back to electric to switch and then back to fiber after the output.  If we switch optically only one switch is required.  An optical switch can switch most signals in the optical domain.  There are two basic types of optical switching.

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