The Opportunities of Signal Monitoring in a Large Serial Digital Plant

Robin Wilson

When faced with the technical planning of a digital television facility, signal monitoring is a topic that appears at first to be of low priority. This was the case at NBC while structuring the initial plans of operation in a digital plant. First assumptions were to use waveform, vector, and picture monitors similar to those used today. Perhaps a minor modification would be required to convert the serial digital data stream to an analog waveform. The analog waveform can then be displayed on the same types of cathode ray tubes (CRTs) that are presently used. After further research it was discovered that additional circuitry would incur an alarming amount of extra costs. Further analysis cast more doubts when the monitoring philosophy was considered. What is the point of monitoring analog waveforms that had previously been digitized? In summary, we had a scenario where the analog test signal had little or no value in the digital domain and could give misleading results if interpreted in the analog domain.

Print ISSN
Published
1992-05
Content type
Original Research
DOI
10.5594/J02283