Modulo Pi previewed the new features coming to the  and Modulo Kinetic media server solutions at ISE 2018.

The Modulo Player is a user-friendly media server ideal for everyday projects. It offers an intuitive UI and simple-to-use workflow, and is designed to process media at the best possible quality while running on a streamlined hardware configuration. Further features include unique XMAP for advanced 2D warping, playlist management and embedded show control capabilities.

Meanwhile the Modulo Kinetic is a high-end media server featuring a state-of-the-art 3D engine, powerful non-linear real-time compositing, nodal programming and show control and tracking capability. It is usable across the complete workflow, including study, simulation, media creation, encoding and playback. With a Media Server, a 3d tracking system, interactive solutions, real time effects and a 3d engine – all integrated into one solution – Modulo Kinetic is much more than a Media Server.

Both are used in videomapping applications. You can see examples here.

The updates on the two servers include an "unprecedented" live management capabilities via a all-in-one approach, as well as a new rugged suspended chassis and professional connectivity.

The Kinetic also gets 3D tracking, real-time 3D features and higher interactivity. These features will be shown off through a demo experience created by Pixel n'Pepper, a specialist in video scenography, interactivity and 3D mapping.

Go Modulo Pi

In a world of 5G, the vision for future wireless network architectures is built on centralized baseband processing and virtualized network functions for more efficient and flexible operation.

At Mobile World Congress 2018, CommScope will make that future vision a reality for in-building wireless by introducing a next generation platform, CommScope Era™.

CommScope Era is an all-digital C-RAN antenna system that leverages wireless operators’ initiatives to centralize and virtualize baseband radio assets, a foundational design concept for 5G networks.

Era enables operators to deploy a centralized headend that serves multiple buildings, or even to tap capacity from the operator’s existing centralized radio access network (C-RAN) hubs.

“We have invested heavily to create an all-digital platform architecture that upends the economics of in-building wireless and ushers in a new era and standard for distributed antenna systems,” notes Matt Melester, Senior VP, Distributed Coverage and Capacity Solutions, CommScope.

Era’s Wide-area Integration Node (WIN) resides in the C-RAN hub and routes baseband capacity to a distribution point within the served building or campus. Era allocates baseband capacity where it is needed while reducing the amount of onsite head-end equipment and the amount of fiber needed for signal transport by up to 90 percent.

Era features a new family of access points that are available in a range of power levels, with copper and fiber connectivity and outdoor and plenum ratings, to serve a wide variety of venue types. It supports interleaved MIMO (multiple input/multiple output) using patented technology that can offer up to 80% of collocated MIMO speeds over a SISO (single input/single output) infrastructure.

Era uses IT-standard copper and fiber-optic infrastructure-- and allows for the sharing of existing fiber networks, significantly reducing fiber costs.

CommScope holds 164 patent families for the technological innovations incorporated in Era:

• CommScope Era’s all-digital architecture enables capabilities that analog DAS simply cannot.
• Capacity re-allocation, soft re-sectorization, system setup and diagnostics are all software functions in Era, capable of being changed with a few clicks of a mouse.
• Era also transports Gigabit Ethernet backhaul to each remote node, which can be used for separate Wi-Fi networks, IP security systems or to support a small cell overlay needed for future network expansion.

Go CommScope Era, In-Building Wireless

Guest Editorial by Szymon Slupik, CTO, Silvair

Every couple of days I'm asked about the future of wireless standards. How is the landscape going to look like  a couple of years from now? Companies are placing their bets. The conventional wisdom has been the number of wireless standards would never be reduced. I strongly disagree with this view.

Actually within a few years we may be down to just four. While there are always niche applications requiring some specific radio features, the majority of applications will converge around these radio families:

1. LTE / 5G for anything outdoor. Mobile telephony, mobile wide area data (high speed and low speed).
2. WiFi for generic purpose indoor Internet access for high power devices (such as phones or personal computers).
3. WiGig for ultra high bandwidth applications such as wireless displays and wireless storage (this may include digital cameras if the industry gets together and defines application profiles, which it should have done 15 years ago).
4. Bluetooth for anything that is defined as low power (including portable audio, hearing aids, accessories and the galaxy of small or even smaller devices collectively know as the IoT, which will fill the buildings).

Now I'm not saying that LoRa and Sigfox will cease to exist. Nor will 802.15.4, Z-Wave, ANT, UWB and a bunch of others. But they will have a hard time growing or even maintaining their market share and will be pushed to serve niche applications.

The reason is simple. Every wireless device at some point benefits from being able to connect to a mobile phone. For commissioning, diagnostics, proximity interaction... plenty of reasons. And there is only so much space on the phone motherboard that vendors are fighting for every tiny piece of it removing (considered valuable) components like 3.5mm headphone jacks. Also there is very little, if anything. not covered by the four.

A phone already has LTE and WiFi and Bluetooth. It will have WiGig in future, because WiFi is too slow for the upcoming mainstream use cases like virtual reality displays. This combo of four radios can today do everything any other radio can do. There is absolutely no reason to add anything else. Especially after Bluetooth has matched (and surpassed) the mesh networking skills of ANT and 802.15.4. And there is no way to convince Apple or Samsung or Qualcomm or Intel to stick anything else into their devices and chipsets either.

If there is anything missing, companies will rather get together and spin an improved variant of one of the four than propose something else. This was exactly the case with Bluetooth mesh: we could either pray to, say, Samsung, to build a 15.4 chip into a phone or define a mesh standard that works on any Bluetooth chip that is out there already. Solving a couple of other fundamental mesh-related problems on the way.

Szymon Slupik is CTO at Silvair, developers of an end-to-end smart lighting platform for commissioning and managing large-scale connected lighting systems in commercial spaces. He also serves as Chair of the Mesh Working Group at Bluetooth SIG, where his Working Group was recently awarded 2017 Working Group of the Year . 

Slupik was also awarded 2017 Committee Chair of the Year and 2017 Outstanding Technical Contributor of the Year. In giving the award for Outstanding Technical Contributor, the Bluetooth SIG noted in its announcement, “Szymon has been the leading contributor and author of the mesh model specification, delivering extremely deep and well thought architecture that has been fundamental to the success of mesh. He has been a co-author of the ground-breaking concept of Mesh Device Properties. On other fronts Szymon has contributed to upcoming significant performance improvements of Bluetooth mesh networking via enhancement proposals to the Bluetooth Core Specification. Szymon has also authored the Beacons for Channel indication and beacon management FRDs. Finally, Szymon led the effort to create the Mesh Professional Lighting Subgroup and has been the co-author and contributor to the IEC 62386 (DALI) Model FRD.”

Go Silvair

Vision, investing heavily in wireless DisplayPort and HDMI technology, will show their TC-HDMIWM Wireless Matrix product at ISE 2018 in Amsterdam.

The product uses 10 user-selectable 5GHz wi-fi channels. You just set a transmitter and receiver to the same channel and they connect automatically.

The new product wirelessly matrixes, distributes, switches, or a combination of those.

Vision say their two key rules for this system design are: 1) each transmitter must be on different channels (so there is a limitation of ten transmitters per wi-fi area), and 2) a maximum of two receivers can connect to a transmitter.

For switching applications, a “present” button on the transmitters sends a command to the receiver saying “switch to my channel.”

It comes with a remote control, or can be controlled by RS-232.

Supports IR pass-through. Tx and Rx sold separately. Lifetime warranty.

Go Vision’s TC-HDMIWM Wireless Matrix