Project description:

 

With the dramatic growth of industries in recent decades, monitoring and control have become increasingly complex. In a way, the old control systems could no longer respond to problems, troubleshoot and fix them. During this period, the need for a comprehensive system to check the current status of systems and their scheduling and reconfiguration, led to the design and creation of monitoring systems. Today, monitoring is at the top of the automation pyramid, and this shows the importance of monitoring systems, and it can be said that the activities of all major industries such as petrochemicals, energy production, chemical industries, automotive, food, etc., depend on momently monitoring the process.

Therefore, we can say that a monitoring system is critical to the media industry. Due to the nature of the media, whose performance and output are in front of thousands of viewers at any given time, momently monitoring, quick and accurate diagnosis of the problem, finding the cause of the error and fixing it, is important and it doubles the industry’s need for a robust monitoring system.

Since IRIB is one of the largest media organizations in the world and the most comprehensive radio and television media in the country, which faces a large audience, the existence of a monitoring system seems necessary. Due to the wide range of hardware and software systems required, its management and control should be such that the problems of the signal received by the audience are minimized.

For this purpose, the IRIB organization set up a “audio /visual monitoring system” and Samim group was appointed as the executor of this project. This project, which was carried out at the request and order of the IRIB deputy of media technology and development, started its implementation in April 2017, and after a pilot phase and various tests, it was put into operation in March 2018. This system is currently in use in the “comprehensive monitoring unit” of the general department of monitoring and technical evaluation of IRIB deputy of media technology and development, and according to the contract, its performance will be reviewed, controlled and supported by Samim group specialists until the March 2020 and necessary services are provided. It should be noted that in this system, the tools for receiving, analyzing and displaying signals have been done by the equipment produced in Samim Engineering Group.

 

 

The “audio /visual monitoring system” is responsible for the technical monitoring of all radio and television services, including terrestrial and satellite, and monitors all input, transmitted and received signals 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If a problem occurs, it identifies the source and reports it to the relevant unit.

The broadcasting chain in IRIB consists of three sections: production, contribution/distribution and diffusion: Studios and nodal form the beginning of this chain, contribution/distribution as the second part includes terrestrial and satellite communications, and finally diffusion, which can be done by radio and television transmitters as well as satellites.

All the equipment in this chain is connected to the monitoring system in such a way that the performance of each of them is monitored separately and in case of any error, it is announced. For example, In case of audio interruption, mute or freezing of the received video in any of the TV channels, this system not only quickly detects and announces the problem, but also traces its origin and indicates that this problem is due to a malfunction in which of the technical components of the broadcast chain.

The performance of all equipment and devices is reported in real time and without interruption, and the system displays it according to the user’s needs after analysis. The system administrator can create different users with different access levels depending on the organization’s strategies. The ability to define different levels of event reporting based on the degree of importance is also one of the capabilities of this system.

It is also possible to design a map in this system, i.e. a map of services, equipment, routes, etc. can be prepared separately. Using this feature, the system displays its performance and the current state of the network in the form of graphs and diagrams so that managers and administrators can monitor its current state more easily.

It is worth noting that in this system, it is possible to send tickets, SMS and Email to the relevant official or authority to take immediate action to resolve the problem.

One of the important capabilities in this system is its archive, in which the list of problems encountered is recorded and maintained. This is both a way to speed up error source tracking and troubleshooting, and to categorize, analyze errors occurred, that identify system vulnerabilities. This information can be used in maintenance as well as for future policy-making.

Another important feature of this system is its compatibility with different equipment and protocols; it does not matter what type of equipment, protocols and interfaces are used in the network, and by which company they are made. With this feature, we will not need to replace or upgrade the current network components to use this system.

It is worth mentioning that the audio/visual monitoring project of the IRIB has been launched using the “network management” solution of Samim company. Samim Engineering Group started working on “Network Management System” in 2015 and in a short time succeeded in presenting it under the brand name Smart Cast Manager.

Samim Smart Cast Manager was unveiled at the 15th Iran Media Technology Exhibition & Conference (November 19-21, 2018) by Dr. Ali Askari, head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) Organization, and was among the 12 selected projects of knowledge-based companies in the technical field of media industry. Also, in the 7th Research and Technology Festival of the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade, it was selected as “the best product of research and development of the country’s production and industrial units” and in a ceremony celebrating the best of the country’s industry, on December 17, 2018, this project was honored at the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade.