The Bisset Brief: Considering a Wireless Bridge STL

Telos’ invention of AoIP almost 15 years ago has brought with it some amazing changes to broadcast engineering. In addition to simplified installation and the end of punching down long wiring runs, AoIP has brought with it a new look at the STL, or Studio-Transmitter Link.

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Topics: STLs, xNodes

Axia User Offers a Free Utility to Aid Simple Livewire Routing

Anthony Eden is a broadcast engineer and systems integrator in Australia. And, he's a big fan of Audio over IP technology, particularly Livewire+.

PathfinderPC and Pathfinder Core PRO provide powerful and flexible scheduling, routing, monitoring, and alerting for Livewire+ AoIP networks. However, Anthony Eden needed a bit less horsepower for a particular application. His client simply needed to select which studio would feed the station's air chain. So, Anthony wrote a Windows application in Python to do just that - and only that.

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Topics: IP Audio Network Routing & Control, Livewire, STLs

IP-Radios - The New Studio-Transmitter Link (STL)

Abstract

Radio broadcasters have traditionally used 950MHz analog or digital point-to-point radio systems to transport their audio programming from the studio to the transmitter site. Leased T1 or E1 digital land-based circuits have also been popular where a line-of-sight radio path cannot be established. Each system has strengths and shortcomings;  the radio STL is one-way only and has little room for ancillary data. The landline T1/E1 solution implies a monthly lease expense, as well as high capital costs for the endpoint equipment, and still not much extra data bandwidth once the program audio is transported. With multi-station shared transmitter sites, HD Radio, off-site automation backup, security cameras, remote control, and Internet access all becoming necessities, a reliable, high-bandwidth data transport scheme becomes  critical. Enter the modern 2-way IP-radio system. These carrier-grade links can transport several stereo audio channels with bit-for-bit clarity, plus provide for all the other data services just mentioned and have room for growth. This paper describes not only the STL needs and challenges facing broadcast engineers, but provides clear, workable solutions both in the abstract and specific solution cases.

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Topics: IP Radios, STLs, IP Radio STLs