FREMONT, CALIF.— Accelerated Media Technologies delivered a new mobile weather lab for Washington DC’s WRC.
Named the Storm Team 4X4, the mobile weather lab is based around Blackmagic Design’s ATEM Television Studio live production switcher.
The mobile weather tracking lab and broadcasting station includes three cameras, one in front for live shots of weather, a forward looking POV camera and a camera mounted on a 30 foot mast tower that can take 360 degree shots, a large monitor at the back of the truck for showing on location graphics and a host of weather equipment, such as radar and wind speed indicators. The vehicle, built around a Chevrolet Express 3500HD Diesel Van, allows weathercasters to broadcast live while in motion or on location.
Built around an AMT-designed and -customized wireless robotic control system, ATEM Television Studio provides the ability to switch cameras and graphics in motion and on location. This allows WRC’s weathercasters and drivers to switch up to four sources from a laptop, iPad or wireless remote control. A four trigger dashboard control is also available, allowing the driver to switch cameras while driving through severe weather.
“With WRC, the simple wireless control gives the talent a familiar control format, like their weather clicker, for live switching between a weatherproof forward camera, a POV camera inside the work area of the vehicle, their mast camera and their weather graphics running on a laptop,” said David Miscia, systems design engineer, AMT.
“The switcher’s six video inputs, with both broadcast SDI and consumer HDMI inputs, internal frame syncs on each input and both SDI and HDMI outputs gave us the perfect platform,” Miscia said. “The small footprint and rack mount format also was exactly what we needed because it is small enough to mount in the back of racks in vehicles as small as Subaru Foresters. Power consumption is nominal, and the unit's only other necessary connection is Ethernet.”
“With our wireless remote application, we like the ability to use multiple, cost effective, HDMI based POV cameras, intermixed with HD-SDI cameras, all with one switcher and without additional converters or external references. ATEM Television Studio allows us to do that and gives us yet another powerful tool to give our customers a cost effective, dynamic and competitive solution to in motion switching,” he said.
