Exstreamer 100 and Instreamer 100 provide clear signals and improve audio quality
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND, September 20, 2010 — Barix AG, a pioneer in IP-based audio, intercom, control, and monitoring, announces that Radio Notimil, the official radio station for the Armed Forces of Ecuador, has deployed a Barix Audio over IP network to distribute programming to radio stations in four cities. Diseños Integrados y Telecomunicaciones (DIT), a design and integration telecommunications company specializing in providing networking solutions, designed and installed the system on behalf of Radio Notimil.
Located in Quito City, Radio Notimil is an FM station that began emitting its signal over the Internet with the intention of establishing an IP distribution network for its broadcast signal. The Senatel in Ecuador, the national telecommunications office that authorizes the use of frequencies, granted Radio Notimil permission to simultaneously or independently transmit programming in Emerald City, Tulcan City and Coca City. To achieve this, DIT suggested a Barix Audio over IP solution with two distinct encoding and decoding points to distribute programming from the master studio and provide local studio-to-transmitter connections.
According to Jorge Cardenas, business development director for DIT, Barix offered a cost-effective solution with outstanding signal strength and audio quality for a complex and challenging distribution strategy.
“We investigated analog technology prior to choosing an Audio over IP solution,” said Cardenas. “The Barix Instreamer/Extreamer solution provided a three-to-one cost savings compared to analog distribution,” said Cardenas. “Integrating the stations on a national level presented a logistical problem, given their distances between the studios. The Barix solution addressed our distance challenge and offered wide bandwidth and very high-quality audio transmissions.”
DIT designed and configured a LAN network to transport program audio throughout the entire audio chain. Radio Notimil in Quito City encodes the audio using a Barix Instreamer 100 for transport over the internet. A Barix Exstreamer 100 decoder connects to a studio console in each city as a continuous program source, allowing the local operators to control what is sent out over the air. The signals are then re-encoded through an Instreamer coming out of the console and delivered to a second Exstreamer at each transmission facility for local over-the-air transmission.
DIT established OFDM links to enable the local Instreamer-to-Exstreamer connections for STL transport. At the transmission site, the Exstreamer decodes the audio and sends it to an aural exciter, which restores harmonics and improves the audio quality of the over-the-air signals from the FM transmitters.
All Barix products are inexpensive, low-power devices that are scalable to the growth of the operation; offer reliability through a PC-FREE design with no moving parts; and serve as a flexible platform for integration into virtually any operation requiring audio transport and delivery. Barix also offers its programmable BCL standard open to all customers to easily tailor applications for specific needs. Local control, audio relay, and low-latency streaming are a few examples of custom programs using Barix’ BCL software environment.