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Fiber in Action

Pure Digital Fiberlink® 7070 Series Simplifies Broadcasting for Soka University

Celebrating with an entrance ceremony for its first freshman class on May 3, 2001, Soka University of America proudly became California’s first new university in 25 years and America’s first new college of the 21st Century. A four-year, non-sectarian, liberal arts college founded on Buddhist principles, the school is located in Aliso Veijo, California, approximately mid-way between Los Angeles and San Diego. It is situated on a beautiful 103-acre campus surrounded by parklands, the grounds scattered with open greens, reflecting pools, fountains and buildings in a style reminiscent of old-world Italian architecture. However, this peaceful, traditional façade actually conceals a state-of-the-art, technology-laden infrastructure.

With the unusual luxury of being conceptualized, designed and built, literally, from the ground up, Soka’s IT planners had a multimode and single mode fiber optic loop installed, encircling the entire campus. The multimode fiber is used to support the school’s sophisticated computer network. All entering Soka freshmen are provided with laptops and 3,800 computer ports throughout the campus serve as entry points for them to access and share the school’s vast online resources.

The single mode loop has been tapped by the school’s AV department as the means to route audio and video signals from all over campus for broadcasting over three cable channels allocated to the school.

However, as Geoff Westropp, Soka’s IT Services Manager explains, “in order to make this happen, we had to find a simple way to convert the audio and video signals into fiber optic signals. Obviously, we couldn’t just plug our cameras and microphones right into the fiber. We needed some sort of interface, and we weren’t quite sure what that should be.”

To find the product that would make this process as simple as possible, Soka’s team turned to ATK Audiotek Corporation of Burbank, California. Duncan Foster and his team, in permanent installations, recommended using the Pure Digital Fiberlink 7070 Series, which can transmit composite, S-Video or component video along with stereo audio over a single fiber optic strand. The system specified for the Soka installation transmits at 1550 nm wavelength over single mode fiber. The video channel provides 14 MHz luminance bandwidth and 7 MHz chrominance bandwidth; the audio channels provide a frequency response of 20 Hz to 20 kHz. Because the 7070 Series uses all digital processing and transmission techniques, it can support distances of up to 80 km without any signal degradation over the entire transmission path.

“These little converter boxes were exactly what we needed,” says Geoff Westropp. “The system isn’t marketed as being “portable” but, in fact, that’s exactly what it is. We keep the receiver unit permanently hooked up in the technology room of our Ikeda Library. The transmitter unit is stored in our server room. Whenever we need to broadcast an event, our AV Technical support person takes care of setting it up on location. He just plugs the coax from our JVC digital camera and AMX audio system right into the little transmitter box, and attaches that to the closest fiber connecter within the building. Since the unit requires no tweaking or adjustments, regardless of how far the signal will be traveling over fiber back to the library, it just takes minutes. Then, back at the library, the receiver unit converts the fiber optic signal back into standard audio and video over coax, which plugs directly into the cable system channel box.”

Soka currently uses the 7070 Series for transmission of composite video with stereo audio. However, the system’s ability to support multiple video formats, including S-Video, Y-PB-PR, Y-CB-CR, YUV and Y/R-Y/B-Y component video, will provide the A/V staff with the flexibility to use the system with additional types of equipment in the future.

Geoff is quick to point out that when Soka’s fiber optic loop was laid, it was not intended specifically for supporting the school’s AV department. “But it was sitting there, unused, and this seemed like a great way to take advantage of it.”

Certainly, Soka’s student body and faculty would agree with that!

 
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