Oki Electric has announced it has succeeded in transmitting video through satellite phone connections with its portable video compression transmitter, MPEG-4 Encoder RS-M. This experiment proved that a compact, lightweight encoder can transmit Internet protocol video via satellite link, enabling a portable live streaming system.

Article Tools

• 

"We conducted the experiment based on locations such as marine vessels and mountain areas, where normal transmission routes including fixed LAN, wireless LAN, FOMA and PHS are unavailable or, at best, difficult to maintain," said Yasukazu Hontama, president of Broadband Media Company at Oki Electric. "With the successful result that confirmed that the RS-M can transmit real-time video using a satellite phone connection, we believe the transmitter can be used in various applications, such as video transmission at disaster sites."

The RS-M, launched in February 2005, is a video compression transmitter that can easily send real-time live video from remote locations by simply connecting to a camcorder. It integrates various functions necessary to transmit video, making possible an IP network-based video transmitter with a compact size of 180 mm x 117 mm x 105 mm and weight of 1.2 kg. The system can compress a video image to the MPEG-4 format, with a maximum bandwidth of 1 Mbps, transmitting real-time high-definition video via various networks including fixed LAN, wireless LAN, FOMA, and PHS.

Oki conducted the experiment to transmit video via the INMARSAT satellite communication service. First, encoded video taken by a small digital camcorder was converted into MPEG-4 via the RS-M. Next, compressed video was transmitted to a fixed satellite using the satellite phone system, INMARSAT M4. The video was received at a ground base station, and then delivered to a client PC through the Internet.

The following are the types of video and transmission speeds used in various experiments: Transmit 5 frames per second with QCIF with a 32 kbps transmission speed; transmit 10 frames per second with QCIF with a 48 kbps transmission speed. Through each experiment, video transmission was accomplished with a delay of three seconds or less, which was equivalent to video transmission via a FOMA line on ground. The experiments were conducted with the help of Teikoku Sen-I Co., Ltd., a company handling disaster prevention products. Teikoku Sen-I provided the satellite phone system, INMARSAT M4, used in the experiments.