1. THE APPLICATION OF FIBER OPTICS
IN THE NEW WGBH FACILITY

2. Condensed Timeline
• September 1999 WGBH and Harvard begin discussions and a
collaborative effort on the move of WGBH out of it’s Allston campus.
• Late 1999 WGBH begins the search for a new location.
• April- May 2002 WGBH closes deal on Brighton Landing site.
• Design/build 2003- 2007
• Phased move March to July 2007

3. Technical Design Development
•
Examine workflow
•
Preliminary project budget
•
Timeline
•
Technology and infrastructure decisions
•
Space planning

4. Infrastructure Comparison- Then and Now
Old facility at Western Ave (1964- 2007)
• Analog plant with digital islands.
• Infrastructure additions and rebuilds over the years as needs dictated, IT
fiber backbone in the mid 90’s for voice/data.
• Mostly copper transport of video except for external telecom interfaces.
(Verizon TV-1 circuits late 80’s)

5. Infrastructure Comparison- Then and Now
New facility at Brighton
• Wideband “digital” infrastructure
• Extensive fiber optic backbone for voice, data and video transport
• Multi-bit rate video routing (HD capable)

6. The Need for Bigger and Faster Highways
TV before the 90’s
• Analog plants with modest bandwidth requirements. (NTSC analog
composite video distribution and transmission limited to 4.2 Megahertz)
•Analog audio channel at 15 Kilohertz.
TV since the 90’s
• Analog plants transitioning to digital, in part because of the FCC
mandated DTV transition.
• DTV makes possible the transmission of high definition video and multichannel audio.
• The numbers for uncompressed real time transport.
Serial Digital HD video bit rate is 1.5 Gigabits per second (1080i and 720P)
AES/EBU digtial audio is 3 Megabits per second. (2 channels)

7. Infrastructure Decisions
• Need for flexible, extensible, future proof technical core and distribution.
• Copper and fiber backbone distribution in star configuration MDF to IDF
• Properly sized demark rooms with cooling and backup power
• Backbone to support all manner of signal transport, baseband video –
audio, RF, voice and data.

8. Infrastructure
CENTRAL EQUIPMENT ROOM MDF. 24
MM &12 SM FIBERS TO EACH DEMARK
IDF TERMIATED IN SC,
`

9. WGBH Broadcast Systems Using Fiber
•Transport of Lband RF from Roof top
satellite dishes to Master Control.
• Riser Distribution of MATV, off air and
“house” channels.
• Production SAN employing fiber
channel technology between edit rooms
and studios.
•Bidirectional audio and video routing
between buildings.

10. WGBH Broadcast Systems Using Fiber
DARK FIBER STUDIO TO
TRANSMITTER LINK

11. Thank You
Michael Foti, Director of Engineering
Michael_Foti@wgbh.org