First Uncompressed Real-time Gigabit HDTV Transmission Across Wide Area IP Network

DENVER (Nov. 12, 2001) – Working in collaboration with theUniversity of Washington, the University of Southern CaliforniaInformation Sciences Institute (USC/ISI) and Level 3 Communications,Inc., Tektronix, Inc. successfully demonstrated the first transmissionof uncompressed real-time gigabit high-definition television (HDTV)signals over an Internet Protocol (IP) optical network. Thedemonstration was conducted as part of SuperComputing 2001 at theNational Coordination Office for Information Technology Research andDevelopment booth.

The HDTV transmission demonstration proved that Universal NetworkAccess System (UNAS) technology has met the critical requirements todistribute challenging high-speed streaming data (which requires thatthe entire data stream be sent together), such as uncompressed HDTVsignals, over IP networks. Although large amounts of data are sent overproprietary or ATM networks today, IP transmission is expected to bethe preferred method of delivery as it becomes the most cost-effectivemethod of rapidly sending information – including voice, videoand data – over the Internet. The UNAS project is supported bythe Defense Advanced Research Project Agency Information TechnologyOffice's (DARPA/ITO) Next-Generation Internet (NGI) program.

“By participating in the Universal Network Access Systemproject, Tektronix is not just enabling, but also creatingnext-generation Internet technologies,” said Rick King, vicepresident, Optical Business Unit, Tektronix, Inc. “Thissuccessful demonstration incorporates Tektronix-developed technologiesthat are a springboard to the measurement and monitoring tools neededfor tomorrow’s optical networks and the Internet.”

The technologies for the demonstration were jointly developed byTektronix, USC/ISI, and the University of Washington (UW). Thesedevelopments are a part of the DARPA NGI supported projects thatinclude the UNAS project and USC/ISI’s Next-Generation InternetMultimedia Applications and Architecture project. This demonstrationbuilds on the work of UW who first pioneered real-time HDTV over IP atan unprecedented, record-setting demonstration at SC1999.

Leading up to the demonstration, the key enabling technologies weretested and refined using the high-performance networks of the PacificNorthwest Gigapop and Mid-Atlantic Crossroads, as well as the Internet2Abilene backbone network. During the demonstration, the digital videocontent was sent from UW’s laboratories in Seattle, Washington,to the receiver at the SuperComputing 2001 exhibition hall in Denvervia Level 3’s advanced IP fiber-optic network. The demonstrationset a new standard for Internet performance by streaming digital videoat 1.5 Gb/s—more than 25,000 times faster than a typical computermodem.

The ResearchChannel provided the streaming HD content via PacificNorthwest Gigapop’s ultra-high performance ‘PacificWave’ exchange facilities, and along with the UW, the custom highperformance multimedia server. Level 3 provided the network over whichthe transmission occurred. The Tektronix technology allowed videoprocessed as data packets to be sent, received and compiled intoplay-out streams. Tektronix technology was used to compare packets atthe input and output to determine if packets were lost or reorderedduring the transmission.

The DARPA/ITO UNAS project fosters the development of newrapidly-deployable, reconfigurable broadband interfaces fornetwork-edge applications. UNAS is envisioned as a configurable networkelement that resides at the Internet’s edge and adapts to thenetwork’s myriad protocols, hastening the deployment of newapplications and services. UNAS technology will provide Internet“on-ramp” capability for applications ranging fromdistributed computing to telemedicine.

Tektronix took a primary engineering/design role in developing theUniversal Network Access Engine (UNAE) for the system. The UNAE is akey building block for network edge devices such as terminal adapters,service multiplexers, edge switches, and Quality of Service monitoringequipment. The flexibility of the UNAE will aid Internet architects indesigning and testing new protocols that are better optimized foroptical networks.

HDTV signals in SMPTE-292M format were chosen to represent the manytypes of demanding broadband content that will be sent over IP-enabledwide area optical networks. While the data rate of the transportedvideo payload and encapsulation was greater than 1.5 Gb/s, the currentUNAS architecture can support rates up to 2.5 Gb/s.