2.4m C Band Satellite Dish. Photo: Av-Comm.

Av-Comm has announced the successful completion of its latest satellite communications project in Brisbane on behalf of the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). The university engaged Av-Comm through a competitive tender process to design and install an Internet Protocol (IP) TV solution to distribute a range of foreign language and local television and radio programming throughout their Kelvin Grove and Gardens Point campuses.

The project called for the reception of foreign language TV from three satellites combined with reception of local terrestrial programing received from nearby Mount Coot-tha. The channels were received and processed with two separate IPTV headends due to the terrestrial and satellite antennas being installed on separate buildings. The PBI headends were linked together via the University’s existing IT infrastructure, which also provided the primary distribution path for the IPTV system with students accessing the services via a web-based interface and video player.

One of the challenges presented by the project was the limited roof space available to install the 2.4m C-band satellite dishes required to receive the foreign language content. The project scope called for reception of three satellites: Asiasat-5, Asiasat-7, and Chinasat-6B, with roof space only available for two satellite dishes. To overcome this, Av-Comm fitted one of the satellite dishes with its dual satellite reception feedhorn, allowing one dish to simultaneously receive Asiasat-5 and 7, allowing all three satellites to be received with just two satellite dishes.

Av-Comm also deployed several Cloudtron High Layers for Satellite (HLS) set top boxes to display the IP distributed content on the University’s existing TV, video monitor, and projector based display systems via a HD Multimedia Interface (HDMI) connection.