C Band

Here is a C-band satellite uplink truck (The dish behind it is a KU-band dish).
This is a band of frequencies used for satellite transmission. The frequencies used are centered around 6 GHz for transmit up to the satellite, and centered near 4 GHz from the satellite down to the receiver. Also see SNG below or News Gathering\Satellites on the menu ribbon.

When Keith was involved with outside broadcasts he often had to interface and work with the operators of these vehicles.

EIC

Engineer In Charge
The person who generally works for the owner of the production unit who is responsible for insuring that the truck/trailer meets the needs of the client renting/leasing it as contracted. This person is the liason between the truck company and the client.

Keith was an EIC at one time. Goto Remote TV Production\Production Truck Tour on the menu ribbon to see what this world is like.

ENG

Electronic News Gathering
These trucks use microwave signals to send video and audio back to the station. You can find more information under News Gathering\News Trucks and News Gathering\Microwaves.

Keith's department was in charge of the televsion station's ENG fleet.

KU Band

A band of frequencies up in the 12 GHz region. See SNG for more information.

Keith was an operator of these trucks at one time.

Microwave

This is really an archaic term. Microwaves literally means radio waves that have very short wavelengths. They range from one meter (300 MHz) down to 0.1 cm (300 GHz). Thus that includes the C-band and KU-bands also. But to news folks ENG trucks are also called 'microwave' trucks.
You can find more information under News Gathering\Microwaves.

Keith's department's ENG Microwave trucks would beam their signals to a number of microwave receive sites that his station had.

Remote Television Production (Remotes)

Known as 'Outside Broadcasts' by the Europeans, this is the process of doing television production outside of the studio. This could be by a single camera or many-many cameras.

Keith worked on large examples of these units, first as a technician, then as a EIC. Goto Remote TV Production\Remote Truck Tour on the menu ribbon.

SI

Systems Integation

From wiki: The process of bringing together the component sub-systems into one system.

When Keith no longer worked on the remote production units he moved into system integration

There are a number of steps in the process:

  1. Conceptual Design
    1. The end user/client determines what they need accomplished
      and what the required scope to accomplish that is
    2. Either inside engineering or outside SI company compiles a list of equipment, and supplies, and manpower required to realize the system
    3. The required workflow is also determined
      What that means is how many people doing how many tasks to accomplish what the facility is supposed to do
      Also the egonomic aspects are determined
    4. The required documentation to build the project is determined
    5. Miscellaneous design considerations are considered
      6. A few:
      • Serviceability
      • Cabling density
      • Equipment density
      • Heat and power high level approach
      • Seismic bracing
      • Future expansion
      • What permits are required
  2. Intermediate Design
    1. Some call this the placement of the furniture
      Where are the required racks and consoles to be located
    2. Amount of cooling required based on equipment and people heat loads.
    3. Detailed plans on how the project will be constructed
      Also how the system will be brought online
    4. Computer network topology is determined
    5. Plan on how to test the system once built to see that it accomplishes the desired workflow
    6. Once this step is complete the required equipment is ordered
  3. Final Design
    1. Detailed engineering drawings and documentation is generated so that the project can be built
      This entails how all the equipment is interconnected
    2. Meeting with end user/client to have them sign off on the design and plans
    3. Equipment needed to build the project is now ordered
    4. All cables that need to be made are determined and required materials are ordered
  4. Implementation (or building the project)
    1. Cables are constructed
    2. Racks, consoles, and equipment that goes into them are placed and installed
    3. Commissioning, that is equipment checkout and setup is done
    4. Any required end user training is done
    5. Project Hand off
      1. Site Acceptance
        Customer agrees that the new system is functioning enough to be used
      2. Substantial Completion
        This is the step where the client hands most of the money owed to the SI over
    6. Punch list
      This is when the small problems that still persist are eliminated
    7. Warranty support

SNG

Satellite News Gathering
These trucks, there are some satellite vans, use the KU band of frequencies. These are up in the 12 GHz range. This is the same range of frequencies used by home satellite systems like DirecTV and Dish. Since these frequencies are much higher than C-band satellite frequencies the dishes that focus the signal towards the satellite can be smaller. The drawback is that heavy rain can cause the signal to fade. Anyone who has satellite TV has probably experienced this.

The left two pictures are of KU-band trucks or just KU trucks for short. The picture on the right shows a KU dish (left) compared to a C dish (right).

You can find more information under News Gathering\Satellite on the menu ribbon.

Keith was an operator on these trucks at one time.