Utah Scientific introduced embedded audio signal processing for its UTAH-400 series of digital routing switchers at the 2011 NAB Show. The new capability comes courtesy of a new line of I/O boards that rely on advanced field-programmable gate array (FPGA) technology to perform the signal processing.
Embedded audio has become the norm in media operations of any significant size, but its inflexibility can make it difficult to shuffle audio channels as needed in larger, integrated facilities where quick changes to live feeds are common. Utah Scientific has built advanced signal processing into the router's I/O board, meaning it can deserialize and decode a signal into its component data streams without compromising the router's overall operational reliability. As a result, audio channels are shuffled automatically without an outboard device or manual intervention.
The enhanced UTAH-400 routing systems also incorporate a virtual control panel to provide an easy-to-read display of the video signals and their associated audio positions. The GUI design enables control of digital signal-processing functions and other signal-configuration information.
