Hi Gilbert, et. al.,
A quick update on DVB-S2 testing here at the UPC...
We received and installed our Novra S300 receivers on this past Tuesday,
April 19. We configured one of the receivers for DVB-S use and the other
for DVB-S2 use. Two of the three NOAAPort reception machines we operate
here in Boulder remain ingesting the DVB-S datastream and powering
(along with other community machines) the IDD. The third system is
ingesting the DVB-S2 datastream and feeding all of its data to a UPC
test machine on which all data are being decoded by McIDAS-XCD decoders.
Our experience so far is that the quality of the data being delivered
by the DVB-S2 broadcast is measurably worse than that delivered by the
DVB-S datastream meaning that we are seeing lots of Gap messages and
missing lots of products.
rtstats comparisons of the two datastreams can be made by viewing the
'volume' and/or 'products' links for machines ingesting each type of
broadcast:
DVB-S
http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/cgi-bin/rtstats/siteindex?jackie.unidata.ucar.edu
DVB-S2
http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/cgi-bin/rtstats/siteindex?burns.unidata.ucar.edu
The reception quality as indicated by Novra 'cmcs' output on our DVB-S2
machine is good:
CMCS 192.168.1.20> show satellite
Satellite Interface Settings:
Receiver MAC Address: xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx
Receiver Mode: DVBS2
Frequency: 1142.0 MHz
Symbol Rate: 15.120 Msps (Auto)
ModCod: 2/3 8PSK
Gold code: 0
Input Stream Filter: On
Input Stream ID: 13
Signal Lock: On
Data Lock: On
Uncorrectable Rate: 0/Second
Packet Error Rate: 0.0000e+00
Carrier to Noise C/N: 15.3dB
Signal Strength: -46 dBm
CMCS 192.168.1.20>
This coupled with the large number of Gap messages we are seeing suggests
that there are (still) problems with DVB-S2 uplink system. This agrees
with comments made in a previous announcement by NOAA:
NOXX01 KWBC 181358
WHAT - SBN/NOAAPORT EXPANSION AND HARDWARE UPGRADE
DATE - APRIL 18, 2011
NOTICE - 007
--------------------------------------------
SBN ACTIVATION INFORMATION - APRIL 18 2011
--------------------------------------------
THE NEW -SBN/NOAAPORT- SIGNAL WAS ACTIVATED
AS OF 04/18/11 - 1300Z.
--------------------------------------------
NOTICE-NOTICE-NOTICE-NOTICE-NOTICE-NOTICE
--------------------------------------------
DUE TO UNEXPECTED INTERNAL PROCESSING PROBLEMS
ENCOUNTERED OVER THE WEEKEND, THE OPERATIONAL
DEPLOYMENT HAS BEEN PLACED ON HOLD BY THE NWS
TILL FURTHER NOTICE. THE DUAL ILLUMINATION
WILL CONTINUE AT THIS TIME, BUT WE ARE
ENCOURAGING OUR CUSTOMERS TO ONLY USE THE
DVB-S2 SIGNAL FOR TESTING PURPOSES TILL A
RESOLUTION FOR THE PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED THIS
WEEKEND HAVE BEEN ADDRESSED. IF YOU ENCOUNTER
PROBLEMS OR HAVE QUESTIONS, PLEASE REPORT THE
PROBLEM TO THE NOAAPORT SUPPORT TEAM /SEE EMAIL
ADDRESS BELOW/.
...
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO
CONTACT US VIA EMAIL AT THE FOLLOWING ADDRESS
NWS.NOAAPORT -AT- NOAA.GOV
Like everyone else testing DVB-S2, we are eager to see a resolution of
this problem!
Cheers,
Tom
--
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
* Tom Yoksas UCAR Unidata Program *
* (303) 497-8642 (last resort) P.O. Box 3000 *
* yoksas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Boulder, CO 80307 *
* Unidata WWW Service http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/*
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
