Audemat secures new DVB-T2 monitoring deal

Audemat has announced the sale of 45 GOLDENEAGLE DVB-T2 monitoring platforms to South African network infrastructure provider SENTECH. The GOLDENEAGLE DVB-T2 units will enable SENTECH to monitor its DVB-T2 transmissions at more than 30 high power sites throughout the network and to conduct off-air monitoring from Control Centers at various locations throughout the country. This includes Single Frequency Network (SFN) monitoring.

As a state-owned company, SENTECH’s role is to provide signal distribution services for South Africa’s licensed broadcasters and ensure that communication coverage reaches the furthest and most remote places. When they first rolled out DVB-T in metropolitan areas in 2008, SENTECH held a competitive tender process for monitoring receivers and Audemat’s GOLDENEAGLE DVB-T was selected as the most appropriate. The unit performed well in the field and, when the network was converted to DVB-T2, the DVB-T units were exchanged for the GOLDENEAGLE DVB-T2. A further SENTECH tender for DVB-T2 monitoring receivers recently closed.

Within the South African network infrastructure, each GOLDENEAGLE DVB-T2 provides RF monitoring of two multiplexes and analysis of an MPEG 2 transport stream. The units also measure all relevant T2 (MPLP) parameters such as MER, BER etc, and maintain logs of measured values as well as any alarms or deviations for future analysis. The NMS software of the GOLDENEAGLE also interfaces via SNMP so that all information can be incorporated into SENTECH’s entire monitoring infrastructure.

Marius Scheepers, manager of Transmitter Systems within SENTECH, comments: “It is SENTECH’s experience that the GOLDENEAGLE DVB-T2 units were easy to install and configure. In service, we find that measured results are recorded and presented in a clear, intuitive and logical manner. Overall, the units give powerful and accurate performance with minimal fuss.”