R&D at IBC: Presentations in Conference

Every September the broadcasting industry of Europe, and the rest of the world, convenes in Amsterdam at the RAI conference center for one of the most important technical conferences and exhibitions of the year.  Running from the 9th to the 14th of September the International Broadcasting Convention (IBC) will have about 1300 exhibiting companies, and roughly 45,000 attendees.  For the BBC and especially a department like us, it's a critical event, where we show some of our latest work and just as importantly, get to see the developments of our peers across the world in lectures, presentations, and in the flesh on trade stands.

This year our engineers will be presenting a number of sessions in the conference, which we've listed below:


Thursday 9th September

Conference Session - When broadband and TV become one: The technical, commercial and content implications of an impending merger.
 14:30-16:00 in E105 - 107
Mike Armstrong Senior Engineer BBC R&D presents a technical paper titled Enabling and Enriching Broadcast Services by combining IP and broadcast delivery"


Conference Session - International perspectives on network topology
16:30-18:00 in room E105 - 107
BBC Research & Development technologist Yang Xiao taking part in a conference session designed to provide delegates with both a tutorial overview of how the latest network technologies are being implemented in both wireless and fibre/cable systems This is based on work from the EBU-IP Measurement working group which provides new tools for broadcasters utilising IP for their infrastructure. It is also the place to gather up to date information on how important considerations like efficient network planning and service monitoring of media streams are achieved in practice.
 
Friday 10 September

Conference Session - Cutting edge technologies (2)
15:00-16:30 in room E105 - 107
Bruce Weir BBC R&D takes part in the second of a two-part forum session where the latest innovations emerging from the world's most prestigious media laboratories are laid bare.
Dr Weir wil be demonstrating the latest developments in the VSAR project

Saturday 11th September

Conference Session - Taking production & post to another level (1)
09:30-11:00 in E105 - 107
Phil Tudor lead research engineer, BBC R&D helps visitors get closer to the sharp end of content creation in part one of two sessions which cover the gamut of blue-sky production and post developments from mobile to Ultra HDTV.  Phil will be outlining a number of key recent developments in the Ingex platform, and showcasing some recent implementations.

Sunday 12th September

IBC Awards 
18:30 in The Auditorium
This year BBC Research & Development have been shortlisted for the IBC Innovation Award for its work on DVB-T2 for terrestrial HD / BBC.


These days the BBC is very sensitive to the perception of value to license fee payers, and rightly so.  To this end attendance at IBC is very tightly limited, and you can be certain that every single BBC staff member at the event this year is there with a crucial job to do.  The engineering behind television, radio and online broadcasting is based on a fast moving global industry, and attendance at these events is essential for the BBC staff responsible for developing the infrastructure for the corporation.