CSI's Vector Sensor Helped NBC News Transmit Especially Vivid TV Reports from War in Iraq

CSI Wireless' Vector Sensor heading system helped NBC News broadcast images from the war in Iraq that featured greater clarity and immediacy than what competing networks achieved using more conventional methods.

The Sensor was an integral part of a new mobile satellite transmission system developed by Maritime Telecommunications Network (MTN) that provides global communication systems to the maritime industry. The MTN system was developed exclusively for NBC to transmit news footage from Iraq during the war in March and April of 2003.

To send their war reports to television viewers back home, NBC and other foreign news teams in Iraq relied on special video phones and/or dish-shaped antennas that sent video signals up to satellites, which directed the signals back to the news teams' home countries.

Video phones' narrow bandwidth resulted in relatively grainy television images, while satellite dishes' much broader bandwidth resulted in much clearer images. The dishes were mounted on trucks, rooftops or towers.

Traditionally, to transmit video to a satellite from a mobile truck, a news team must bring its vehicle to a full stop, set up transmission equipment, and wait for the satellite dish to achieve an accurate "fix" on the satellite. While the vehicle is stopped, the war continues. In Iraq, where U.S. and British troops advanced across the desert at unprecedented speeds, news teams that stopped to transmit their video footage were constantly falling behind and racing to catch up.

However the Vector Sensor, in conjunction with the rest of the video transmission system developed by MTN, enabled an NBC's news vehicle to transmit crystal-clear video - while the transmission truck was still moving. In this system, the Vector Sensor reliably reported vehicle location and orientation so the satellite dish could acquire a fix on the satellite "on the fly."

"Other networks had to stop, set up their equipment and broadcast while the news was moving away from them. NBC never had to play catch-up. They were always close to the action," said Jake Kooser, an MTN technical services specialist assigned to NBC's special mobile transmission system in Iraq throughout the war. "We were glad to have a Vector Sensor on board. It really did the job for us."

Stacy Brady, NBC's Vice President, Network News Operations, said: "We were the only television network covering the war that was able to transmit 'live' from a moving vehicle, which was a coup for us. It enabled us to stay with the action all the time. We're very pleased with how our mobile satellite transmission system performed in Iraq, in very challenging conditions. We congratulate CSI Wireless for its Vector system that made 'on the run' transmissions possible."