5^th ABU-AIBD Regional Workshop on Engineering Fundamentals for Broadcasters; 03-07 December 2018, Kuala Lumpur

Opening the Regional Workshop at IPPTAR Dewan Dynamik, AIBD Director Mr Chang Jin welcomed and gave a brief statistic of the participants and speakers present in the 5-days event. There were 36 participants from 14 different countries in the Asia Pacific including Africa. ABU Director of Technology, Mr Ahmed Nadeem, introduced the objectives of the training program that included broad array of topics such as Audio/Video basics, Production Distribution and Transmission Systems, Digital and Emerging Technologies including Online Delivery and Cloud Computing.

The training started with the session on Audio and Video Engineering Principles by Dr Mohieddin Moradi from IRIB. He went on to cover the details on Sound and Vision Basics, Analog to Digital Conversion with Compression Algorithms and different MPEG Video Schemes and Standards. Further concepts on Serial Digital Interface for SDTV, HDTV, UHDTV Production and Distribution systems were deliberated in separate sessions by him. On the third day, Dr Moradi briefed the participants about the latest media trends such as 360-degree video, Virtual reality(VR), Augmented Reality(AR), Mixed Reality(MR), 3D Audio Video, Ultra High Definition TV (UHD) phases and High Dynamic Range (HDR) Delivery.

A session on On-Air Chain was presented by Mr Shree Bhadra Wagle from ABU with the concept of Workflow of Audio and Video signals throughout the Broadcast Path from Microphone and Camera via Console and transmitters into The Screen and Speakers.

On the second day, some details on Analog transmission along with Digital transmission systems including prevailing standards and modulation technics were discussed about by Matt Ashe from Benchmark Broadcast Systems. Another interesting session was delivered on Immersive Sound and Audio Processing by Mr Geoffrey Low from Dolby Singapore. Before demonstrating the participants to have a feel into the Surround sounds experience, he gave the details of 5.1 surround sound understandings, its Production, Post Production and planning.

Another important topic on Radio studio and system design for the future, on the 3^rd day, included the types of Radio Consoles and Central Routers, their Features, and other source components connected into it. Mr Bala M Subramaney from Astro Radio delivered the topic with other planning considerations that must be planned by Radio Broadcasters to survive in the future. IT Basics and Computer Networking that had details like computer network and its topology, OSI Model, Network components and cable was taught by Mr Ahmed Nadeem from ABU. He introduced on the SAN and NAS technologies with their architecture and use for Broadcasters.

The fourth day began with the session on Spectrum for Broadcasting Services with few details about Frequency Bands, ITU Frequency Allocation and Radio Regulations, VHF and UHF channels for TV broadcasting.  Mr Utpal Mandal from AIBD also talked about other issues such as TV Broadcast Planning methods, Propagation mechanism, Protection ratios and Interference issues. The session was followed by Mr Nadeem on File based Workflow and Automation. He demonstrated different audio and video file conversion examples with A/V setup. He pointed the importance of File Based workflow for Media Industry and broadcasters.

In the afternoon, the participants had a chance to visit Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) facilities including Transmission Operation Centre and Production & Control facilities of several RTM FM Radio channels. They interacted with the Engineers and Production staff in the RTM to get to know about different equipment and process workflow.

On the last day, Mr Noel Teng from myIAN sdn bhd had a talk on Cloud Computing explaining its role and necessity with technical details such as Cloud Computing Stack and Components required for its management. He briefed about Microsoft Azure Cloud service and its components with few video clips. The last technical session was on New Media Platforms, Online Delivery, Cybersecurity and Big Data Taken by Mr Nadeem from ABU Technology. He explained the use of cloud for On-Demand media such as AVOD, SVOD, TVOD before highlighting media platforms like IPTV, OTT, HBB and Social Media with few Audio Visual clips. He went on to point out few Cyber-Attack incidents on media and explained the role of Cybersecurity and WBU recommendations about it. Finally, he concluded the 5-day session with the introduction of Big Data and how the big players like Netflix, Youtube, Amazon, Instagram have been dealing with huge chunks of data for attracting Internet Savvy consumers. These technical-instructions session was followed by the certificate distribution ceremony on the last day. The participants, as well, shared their views on how the workshop and demonstration impacted their workshop experience.