Barnfind’s first Norway installation took place at Ullevaal Stadium, in Oslo. One key component in the success of the project was the decision to integrate a Ross Video Dashboard control system.
Large portions of the FotballMedia studio relies on Ross Video equipment. The facility’s router, switcher, graphics and robotic cameras are all from the same vendor. In addition, there are many frames of openGear glue equipment with cards from multiple openGear partners. The advantage that Ross Video’s Dashboard brings to this installation is that it can control all of these components. That is one of the reasons why system’s integrator ATG Danmon selected Barnfind to oversee the fiber optic infrastructure.
For the Ullevaal Station project, a good control system alone was not sufficient to win the project. It was also important to expand the potential use of fiber over distances that traditional SDI to fiber interface equipment cannot handle.
Using flexible BarnOne modules
The stadium project relies on BarnOne modules. All BarnOne frames are equipped with a full 32 x 32 crosspoint matrix, which can switch and duplicate any input to any output, regardless whether the signal is optical or coaxial. One day the BarnOne frame might need to act as a 16x HDMI to 3G-SDI converter. On another day it can be reconfigured as an eight-camera fiber multiplexer onto one fiber. It is just a matter of swapping the SFP modules and setting the right crosspoints in the matrix. At its simplest use, the frame is a 3G-SDI router.
The UMC (Ullevaal Media Center) installation relies on four BarnOne frames. The frames are configured in a star topology. All nodes send and receive multiplexed fiber signals to/from the main studio.
The production system has two main tasks, first handle TX contribution and then manage signal distribution around the stadium.
Two BarnOne frames with optical muxes are racked in small fly away cases. These are positioned around the stadium to receive and send feeds back to the studio. One case is used to handle signals between the studio and the production trucks.
The studio frame is configured for 7 x 3G-SDI inputs from the OB-compound and four send feeds in return. There is a separate Gigabit Ethernet and SDTI (Serial Data Transport Interface ) network for the EVS XT3 production servers.The production truck receives blackburst sync from the studio. An important point is that all these signals are multiplexed onto one fiber.
The SDTI is carried via fiber because any latency would render it unusable.The BarnOne frame is completely transparent and does not introduce any latency when converting SDTI to fiber.
The stadium EVS operators can now access clips on all servers in the production truck. This feature saves time for operators on both sides, as there is no need to manually play out content to the studio which consumes time and resources on both sides. As a direct consequence of the SDTI fiber trials in Oslo, EVS has now officially approved Barnfind products to handle their SDTI network.
Gigabit Ethernet works as a multi-function interface. With GigE, UMC can set up both intercom and audio over IP and still be on their own production LAN anywhere where there is a fiber. This works either locally or for remotes by using dark fiber.
Ross Video Dashboard
The BarnOne frames are controlled via the Ross Video Dashboard. This way the technical operational manager (TOM) at UMC can monitor all Barnfind frames. This includes an additional frame that is located off site at the TV Norge network facility in Oslo. Through Dashboard the operators have full monitoring capability of the TX/RX of the contribution fiber.
Small to medium-size installations can also benefit from using the Ross Video Dashboard. Being software based, it is easily customized to a facility’s needs. This solution enables Barnfind to offer a BarnOne frame for routing and distribution of virtually any type of signal over fiber and Ethernet, complete with a custom control panel built to the client’s needs.
