MELBOURNE, Fla.– Harris Corporation, a communications and information technology company, has been selected for a country-wide digital TV transition project in the West African state of Togo.
Harris will update the country’s broadcast TV infrastructure by designing, installing and commissioning an entire digital video chain to transmit throughout the country using a national network of DVB-T2 transmitters and satellite services.
Harris helped to define the requirements for the digital transition with the project’s prime contractor, Togo-based construction company General d’Afrique and the Togo Government’s Ministry of Communications. A driver in the selection of Harris was its experience and technology base in the emerging DVB-T2 transmission standard.
Togo will become one of the first West African states to adopt and implement DVB-T2. The migration will introduce a threefold increase in standard and high-definition TV channel capacity, as well as increase the transmission networks’ resiliency.
To meet Togo’s digital TV transition needs, Harris will supply a complete solution comprising:
· Three TV stations, including production studios, master control rooms, distribution and post-production centers with material indexing, cataloging and storage
· Mobile news-gathering equipment
· Satellite uplink and receiving systems at each TV site
· Content distribution systems at the studios (encoding) and each TV site (decoding) using the Harris Selenio media convergence platform
· Nine TV sites featuring new and refurbished towers, new antennas, electrical equipment, air handling equipment and Harris Maxiva DVB-T2 transmitters
“Harris will play a central role in this groundbreaking digital TV transition – not only in supplying the market’s most advanced digital production, distribution and transmission technology, but also in providing the human resources that are so important to the success of this pioneering project,” said Mr. Vincent Pernin, technical manager, General d’Afrique.
In addition to equipment, Harris will provide a range of consultancy, design and training services to the customer. These include already-completed site surveys of the studios and TV stations, equipment installation supervision, test and commissioning. They will also provide training for studio kit and production processes, transmission and receiving equipment, satellite uplinks and mobile news-gathering systems.
“Togo is setting a new standard in the African region by adopting a digital TV ecosystem based on the DVB-T2 transmission standard and using our most advanced contribution, production and distribution technologies,” said Harris Morris, president of Harris Broadcast Communications. “This investment will provide Togo with a valuable resource that will aid cultural and economic development in the country.”
