BMS Sells DTV Sky-Ground Link

During the opening phase of Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan last year, a campaign to route members of the al Qaeda and Taliban massing near the eastern city of Takur Ghar, American commanders saw everything. They saw an MH-47E hit by massive ground fire. They saw it make a hard landing. They saw a Navy Seal, PO1 Neil Roberts dumped out of the cargo bay and onto the ground as the helicopter stuggled back into the air. They saw Roberts fight a valiant, single-handed, rear-guard action to protect his comrades and their wounded chopper, which had landed again nearby. They saw the Navy seal killed in action. They saw what the enemy fighters did to his body afterwards.

They saw all of this because they were monitoring the battlefield on video. High overhead, out of sight of the combatants, a Predator drone cruised back and forth, watching everything. The pictures were relayed all the way back to CENTCOM Headquarters in Tampa (FL).

Bringing It Home To A TV Near You

Now, that technology is coming home. You could soon see it in police tactical command centers nationwide. You might even see it on your television at home.

Broadcast Microwave Services is offering both police and TV broadcasters the Carry-Coder, a digital video kit that beats traditional analog technology hands-down.

Now, helicopter-borne TV transmissions have been around for 30 years or so. Those transmissions, however, have been analog in nature, not digital. That leads to problems, like the need to track the signal, to always keep the transmitter pointed toward the ground receiver. The signal is notoriously weak and prone to "multi-pathing," ghost images created when the receiving antenna picks up signals that have bounced around in the environment.

"With digital signals, there's no loss of signal," said Jim Kubit, a broadcast engineer at BMS. "It can see through bridges and around walls. It uses omni-antennae, so both the transmitter and receiver can be moving in different directions at the same time."

The Carry-Coder, on display at HAI's Heli-Expo in Dallas (TX), sells for about $50,000. It's DTV compliant and, with an optional 10 watt transmission booster, can reach ranges of up to 100 miles. That ought to be good enough for those long Los Angeles County car chases.

Police Eye In The Sky

If BMS has its way, those police vehicles could also be watching an "eye in the sky." The same technology is being sold to law enforcement. Business is admittedly slow among law enforcement agencies, although "We've seen a bump in that market since 9/11," acknowledges Steve Yanke, BMS Sales Engineer. "Think about it. There's a compelling reason to use this new technology. Police departments often use helicopters as observation platforms. That's the reason a pilot is up there -- to describe what he sees. What fits the job better than giving the commander on the ground a look himself?"

The same technology can be used to broadcast signals from deep inside a high-rise, where it's impractical to pull long lines of TV and audio cables, said Kubit. Already, BMS has sold the Carry Coder into dozens of television stations in major markets around the country. As Homeland Security continues to muscle its way onto the nation's center stage, as combat operations turn increasingly to real-time video monitoring of the battlefield, you can bet these guys are going to get a lot of calls.

FMI: www.bms-inc.com