Honest question -- why are they using PATA ribbon cables in the new NICAM codec box? Surely SATA would be more reliable and easier to administer.
They almost certainly are not moving ATA commands over those ribbons, so SATA wouldn't be much use.
The NICAM Codec replacement project
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Re: The NICAM Codec replacement project
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
Something akin to this? http://gpsworld.com/wirelessinfrastructuregoing-against-time... I believe that operating a rogue transmitter in a licensed band would get you located rather quickly - even though the tech itself may not necessarily be secure, there are other enforcement mechanisms.
Surely you only need the rogue transmitter to be stronger at the receiver (your electric meter?) than the signal from the transmitter. That doesn't seem like a strong enough signal to easily locate you? Seems a complicated way to do something - doesn't Economy7 operate between fixed times overnight? I wonder if they can cut power using the transmissions - seems like something that could be used for emergency control…
Hm, that's probably the point: there is no threat (to the utility provider) in that model. Worst thing you could do is make someone's appliances run with a more expensive rate; hardly a likely event or one worth preventing.
(As for power cutting, that seems unlikely - the system is in place to provide larger power consumption when base production exceeds the load. Around here, the basic low/high rate info is provided by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Load_management#Ripple_control , which needs a not-really-smart power meter, but runs on top of the power line, obviating the need for a side channel)
Re: The NICAM Codec replacement project
#33Very nice work. What is the rationale behind doing a bespoke design rather than sharing the development cost with all the European broadcasters, is NICAM unique to the UK? What do other broadcasters use for similar services?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NICAM seems to indicate that while NICAM is used by a few broadcasters here and there, it was initially developed by the BBC, and it's no longer as widespread in Europe as it once was.
The wikipedia article only lists the countries that used it with PAL and SECAM, meaning that the lists is only in regards to TV broadcast, not radio.
Re: The NICAM Codec replacement project
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
The BBC seem to have moved to this sort of title with the recent updates to their web properties. They do these things seemingly confusing themselves with a commercial enterprise rather than a publicly funded provider.
Being government funded does not mean you don't have to sell yourself. It just means the target audience for the sales job is different.
Because if they don't have clickbaity headlines the UK government will scrap the license fee?
Re: The NICAM Codec replacement project
#35I can see from the photos that it's using this board: http://zedboard.org/product/zedboard
I'm surprised BBC is not only willing to make custom hardware, but custom RTL design as well.
I'm curious what the failure rate of the FPGA will be, I mean they are more susceptible to soft errors than CPUs or ASICs. Maybe BBC will fund making a custom ASIC :-) Well I see two systems, maybe they are redundant that way.
Why not make the project open source? Put it up on github.
Re: The NICAM Codec replacement project
#36I've always been impressed by the BBC tech people I met, doing a high-quality job in an extremely bureaucratic neophobic environment.
As part of making the unit, we had to ensure it complied with all the relevant European directives so that it could be CE marked. We had the Codec tested for both safety and EMC.
Interesting, I thought this wasn't required for internal use; probably the BBC corporate structure means it no longer counts as "internal".
On "Radio Teleswitch":
[Droitwich] transmitter uses a pair of obsolete metre-long valves which are no longer manufactured anywhere in the world.[1]
In October 2011, the BBC admitted that the Droitwich transmitter, including Radio 4's longwave service and Radio Teleswitch, will cease to operate when one of the last two valves breaks, and no effort would be made to manufacture more nor to install a replacement longwave transmitter.
This is like the Domesday Book (1980s interactive multimedia system on Laserdisc): high-tech and sui generis at the time it was built, but eventually uniquely obsolete.
The BBC itself is very much a valve-and-laserdisc organisation in a Google world. We huddle round the warm glow, concerned that eventually some vital element will give out due to lack of money and the whole enterprise will give up.
Periodically someone comes up with the idea of shutting down analog FM radio. This is politically inconceivable as half the country has ancient radios that were tuned to Radio 4 in 1967 and have never played any other station (an exaggeration, but only a small one).
Re: The NICAM Codec replacement project
#37That's some decent BBC engineering from a team that works away quietly in the background and just makes things happen, or keep happening. I don't work in that field, but like many people in my profession (Systems and networking), I also tend to be invisible until something breaks, and then I am the fall guy if it's not fixed within a heartbeat. /I was half expecting the article to outline how a box full of 80s techno…
BBC engineering is indeed pretty good. I hope they make more than half the german wage as is usual for british engineering jobs.
Re: The NICAM Codec replacement project
#38Will be interested to read the followup article in the year 2048 regarding whether these new boxes lasted as long as their predecessors.
Re: The NICAM Codec replacement project
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, I'd assume that the reason for radio silence (ahem) on broadcasting tech would be various NDAs.
It has been claimed that a literal radio silence of BBC could cause a nuclear strike. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Radio_4 (C-f nuclear)
Here's the article it links to, pretty interesting in and of itself:
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchest...
"Secret orders to the captains [of the nuclear subs] say that these deadly instructions are to be opened and acted upon only if the submarine cannot tune in to Radio 4’s Today programme for a given number of consecutive days. That is a reliable sign that Britain has been hit by a nuclear attack."
Re: The NICAM Codec replacement project
#40I can see from the photos that it's using this board: http://zedboard.org/product/zedboard I'm surprised BBC is not only willing to make custom hardware, but custom RTL design as well. I'm curious what the failure rate of the FPGA will be, I mean they are more susceptible to soft errors than CPUs or ASICs. Maybe BBC will fund making a custom ASIC :-) Well I see two systems, maybe they are redundant that way. Why not…
I would doubt an ASIC would be worth it, giving the number of organisations needing this CODEC would be relatively low. An ASIC run is expensive and even more expensive if there is subsequent error in the design.
FPGA makes sense for this application. It can always be re-flashed.