The monitoring of analog and digital program signals in DBS system

The purpose of monitoring the broadcast transmission system is to provide a means of determining how the transmission system is performing and where a fault or abnormal condition exists in the transmission chain. The discussion in this paper focuses on the monitoring requirements in relation to which signals need to be monitored, where to monitor in the transmission chain, and how often each signal needs to be monitored. This paper discusses the equipment required to observe the parameters of essential signals and their attributes such as the NTSC video signal, analogue audio signal, transmitted signal spectrum, power levels, frequency accuracy, received signal spectrum, and BER of a digital broadcasting system. This paper also emphasises the monitoring schemes relating to effective, fast, repeatable, and reliable monitoring of the DBS transmission system and describes implementation issues such as routing, switching, converting, and interfacing. Finally an evaluation and assessment relating to the trouble shooting and the monitoring results affecting the present transmitter station operation and picture quality are addressed