Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

LIVE Submersible Broadcasting

22/01/2020

Live production onboard

-- --

SCREEN AFRICA EXCLUSIVE:

At last year's IBC (September 2019), Associated Press (AP) was awarded the prestigious IBC Innovation Award for their undersea reporting during the First Descent Mission in Seychelles. The technical award was for the innovative storytelling and creativity made possible thanks to the partnership between AP, Nekton, Sonardyne, LiveU and Inmarsat. What made the award extra special was the fact that this was the first full HD quality multi-camera live signal from the depths of the ocean using optical video transmission techniques, in which the pictures transmit through the ocean waves using light in the electromagnetic spectrum.

The mission's broadcasts were part of the Nekton Deep Ocean Research Institute's First Descent expedition, which is exploring some of the world's least explored areas around the Indian Ocean, as part of a project to increase understanding and aid protection of the marine life they contain. Very little research has been undertaken beneath 30metres (scuba depth) across Seychelles' vast ocean territory of 1.37 million square kilometres. The objective is to contribute to establishing a baseline of marine life and the state of the ocean in Seychelles. Research is focused from the surface into the Bathyal Zone (200m to 3000m), home to the greatest patterns of biodiversity and impact of human activities on these vital ecosystems. Supported by 13 scientists based on the mother ship, the Ocean Zephyr, Nekton's goal is to undertake at least 50 first descents into these waters to collect and generate data whilst live streaming their missions to interested parties.

Previous real-time video transmissions from the world's deep oceans were signals sent from remotely operated unmanned subsea vehicles, with video and audio fed via a fixed or tethered video or fiber optic cable, or sent over a low quality digital live stream that also requires underwater cables and a significant time delay. Tethered cables restricted the freedom of movement of the unmanned vehicle and often ended in sliced or broken cables. When planning these missions, Nekton Deep Ocean Research Institute and Associated Press contracted, amongst others, pioneering subsea communications technology company Sonardyne to help provide the ways and means to transmit live video from the depths, without restricting the free-roaming submersibles, to the research vessel, Ocean Zephyr.

Sonardyne, who specialize in acoustic and non-acoustic technologies in marine environments, had the ideal solution in a recently developed product - the Bluecomm free space optical modem. With a depth rating of 4000m and a data rate of up to 10Mbps, BlueComm modems use an array of high power light emitting diodes (LEDs) that are rapidly modulated to transmit data. It uses a separate photomultiplier tube as its receiving element. BlueComm operates using visible light, which can travel significant distances through water, making it an excellent tool for wireless transfer of video. The general rule of thumb is whatever colour the water appears, is the colour which will be least absorbed. So blue in clean water is the least absorbed electromagnetic wavelength, making it the obvious colour the lights that BlueComm uses. Because it uses visible light, the system is most effective in low ambient light conditions such as deep water or shallow water nighttime operations and because Nekton were focusing on the Bathyal Zone, this kind of technology was a perfect fit. For shallower and turbid waters, Sonardyne have developed a ultra violet (UV) version which improves transmission where there is a lot of ambient light but the maximum possible range reduces to about 80 meters. The optical data transmission is highly energy efficient, enabling more than nine gigabytes of data to be transferred using a single Lithium D sized battery cell.

Onboard the Ocean Zephyr, the decoded video was uplinked using Inmarsat's high bandwidth SAILOR 100 GX compact one-metre Ka-band terminal, with the back-up of FleetBroadband, allowing AP to send live footage from First Descent's mother ship to their production hub in London and on to hundreds of broadcasters and digital publishers across the globe. Over 70 hours of live content was transmitted during First Descent's mission in the Seychelles, including nine hours of prime-time television broadcast on Sky, and two-way interviews with the submersible crews. At one point, pictures were even beamed to the giant screens positioned above the concourses of London's major railway stations, offering commuters a live feed' to events unfolding deep beneath the waves on the other side of the world. Sky News and Sky Atlantic, as part of Sky Ocean Rescue, which have also joined the mission, plan to broadcast more live subsea programmes in the future as the project develops.

Meanwhile, the potential of the Nekton Mission continues to unfold. Nekton has teamed up with the University of Oxford to develop artificial intelligence tools, for example, to accelerate analysis and publication. Data and video will be made available through OCTOPUS - Ocean Tool for Public Understanding and Science - to provide a holistic and dynamic view of the changing state of the Indian Ocean, its biodiversity and human impacts. Better connectivity can also increase participation and improved real-time communication opens the door for experts from developing nations to join the scientific exploration of the oceans. In fact, promoting local engagement is one of the Nekton Mission's broader objectives and the project organisers made sure to create opportunities for marine scientists based in the Seychelles to participate in all aspects of the expedition.

Together with datasets and research findings emerging from the expedition, this inclusive ap
LINK: https://www.screenafrica.com/2020/01/22/technology/film-tv-video-broad...
See more stories from screenafrica

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

07/10/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Media Operations from Ingest to Distribution

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

30/07/2026

TVNZ Works with Evergent to Successfully Debut New Stream...

TVNZ and Evergent are celebrating a major TVNZ milestone - the evolution from a free-to-view, ad-supported business into a hybrid model, offering premium sport...

30/07/2026

WebMiere Adds Native VP9/AV1 WebM/MKV Import to Adobe Premiere Pro

WebMiere Adds Native VP9/AV1 WebM/MKV Import to Adobe Premiere Pro Brie Clayton July 29, 2026 0 Comments Brought to you by KawaiiEngine, WebMiere is a...

30/07/2026

Comments on FCC License Renewals for ABC Stations Top 150,000

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/07/2026

CW Sports Live Streaming to Launch Aug. 4 on the ESPN App

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/07/2026

Fox Advertising, iSpot Expand Measurement Deal

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/07/2026

GlobalM Expands Software-Defined Media Platform for Cloud...

At IBC2026, GlobalM will showcase the latest evolution of its software-defined media platform, enabling broadcasters, telecom operators and media organisations ...

30/07/2026

Digital Alert Systems at 2026 TAB Show

At the 2026 TAB Show, Digital Alert Systems will highlight and demo the new DAS-Link AIR, an over-the-air common alert protocol (CAP) dissemination system for ...

30/07/2026

OpenDrives Named to the 2026 CRN Storage 100 List

OpenDrives Named to the 2026 CRN Storage 100 List Company Recognized Among the 50 Coolest Software-Defined Storage Vendors for Unlimited Capacity, S3 Hybrid M...

30/07/2026

VIDA Brings AI Scene-Level Search to Media Archives Endin...

New Scene Search capability in VIDA Content OS makes video content itself searchable, letting broadcasters and streamers find key moments across millions of ass...

30/07/2026

Creedon's Musical Atlas of Ireland returns for another season of stories and songs

Broadcaster John Creedon explores Ireland's rich musical heritage Sunday 2 A...

30/07/2026

Best in Class: Stream PC Games and Study on the Same Laptop With GeForce NOW

Back to school means balancing assignments, deadlines and downtime. GeForce NOW makes it easy to have it all. With cloud gaming, everyday laptops used for clas...

29/07/2026

Grass Valley Op-Ed Series: Seven Paradoxes Shaping the Next Era of Media Production

In this series, Grass Valley explores the seven paradoxes shaping the next era o...

29/07/2026

SVG Students to Watch: A Look Back at a Year of Spotlighting the Emerging Talent in Live Sports Production

Thats a wrap on Season 1 of SVG Students to Watch! Across the country, these stu...

29/07/2026

DAZN to Become Exclusive DTC In-Market Streaming Home of YES Network, MSG Networks; Gotham App to Shut Down

The agreement will move Gotham Sports App subscribers to DAZN during the 2026-27...

29/07/2026

Big South Promotes Emily Dassel to Associate Commissioner for Brand and Creative Strategy

Longtime digital-media leader expands role overseeing conference branding, video...

29/07/2026

Give Me the Backstory: Get to Know Gregg Araki, the Director of I Want Your Sex

By Bailey Pennick One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festival is having a front-row seat for the bright future of independent filmmaking. ...

29/07/2026

TiME UK announce transatlantic partnership

Organisation team up with TI:ME USA Founded in 2019 with the aim of helping educators to embrace new music technology, Technology in Music Education (TiME U...

29/07/2026

Multiply 2: Free plug-in from Acon Digital

Doubling & chorus processor gets an overhaul Acon Digital have just launched the latest version of their free voice-doubling and chorus plug-in. Multiply 2 ...

29/07/2026

Origin Effects launch the EQDeluxe

New Pultec-inspired pedal revealed The latest addition to the Origin Effects line-up brings the legendary Pultec EQ into pedal format. Based on the EQP-1A, ...

29/07/2026

SBS Appoints Chief Commercial Officer and Director of Marketing and Audiences

SBS Appoints Chief Commercial Officer and Director of Marketing and Audiences 29 July, 2026 Media releases SBS is pleased to announce the appointment of Ni...

29/07/2026

Rohde & Schwarz showcases unified next-generation broadcasting ecosystem at SET Expo 2026 in Brazil

Rohde & Schwarz showcases unified next-generation broadcasting ecosystem at SET ...

29/07/2026

Central Christian Church Connects Remote Production Teams with Clear-Com's Gen-IC...

eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...

29/07/2026

Streaming Embarks on Annual Summer Ascent in Nielsen's May 2026 Gauge Reports

Streaming Hits 48.6% of Total TV Usage in May YouTube Leads in Media Distributo...

29/07/2026

WVIT's Joseph DiMaggio Named SBE Flanders Engineer of the Year

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/07/2026

Amagi Appoints Martin Wacker to Lead Sales for DACH -- St...

Industry veteran joins Amagi to drive growth in Europe's leading broadcast market and advance cloud-native broadcast, FAST, and AI-driven operations. LONDO...

29/07/2026

WebTransport opens new route for broadcast-quality media...

Work is ongoing to specify how to run RIST over WebTransport. This will deliver secure, stable, broadcast quality video playback and origination to any platform...

29/07/2026

Offline Files Makes the Drive Shelf Searchable on Mac

Offline Files Makes the Drive Shelf Searchable on Mac Brie Clayton July 29, 2026 0 Comments A local Mac app for finding files, photos, and footage acr...

29/07/2026

Blackmagic Design Announces New UltraStudio Mini 12G

Blackmagic Design Announces New UltraStudio Mini 12G Brie Clayton July 29, 2026 0 Comments New extremely portable Thunderbolt 4 capture and playback ...

29/07/2026

Brightline Lighting Introduces the MOD1

Brightline Lighting, a premier manufacturer of energy-efficient lighting systems for broadcast, videoconferencing, government, education and corporate applicati...

29/07/2026

Applications open for IFFI/WAVES Film Bazaar in Goa - Producer Delegation

Applications open for IFFI/WAVES Film Bazaar in Goa - Producer Delegation 28 July 2026 Image credit: Four Years Later Screen Australia has opened applications...

29/07/2026

Brightline Unveils Compact, Suspended MOD1 LED Light

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/07/2026

NAB Meets With Trusty on Ownership Caps

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/07/2026

QuickLink To Feature New StudioPro AnywhereTally At IBC 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/07/2026

HBO Max Launches Vertical Shorts to Improve Content Discovery

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/07/2026

New Tool Identifies Sources Of Fake Videos

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/07/2026

DNEG Migrates Editorial Workflows to Foundrys Hiero

Foundry today announced that Academy Award-winning creative studio DNEG has implemented Hiero to support its editorial workflows. Part of the Nuke product famil...

29/07/2026

QuickLink Unveils New StudioPro AnywhereTally Remote Tall...

The Latest Addition to the Brand's StudioPro Ecosystem Combines Simple Deployment, Cloud Control and Professional Grade Wireless Reliability QuickLink, a l...

29/07/2026

The Secret Master Adjustment Layer Hack in After Effects

The Secret Master Adjustment Layer Hack in After Effects Graham Quince July 28, 2026 0 Comments Trish Meyer (who literally beta-tested the original Af...

29/07/2026

Post Completed with Blackmagic Cloud for Shane Kosugi's Feature Film SEEK

Post Completed with Blackmagic Cloud for Shane Kosugi's Feature Film SEEK Brie Clayton July 28, 2026 0 Comments Cannes Indie International Film Fe...

29/07/2026

Isabeau Miller Named Chair of Berklee Songwriting Department

Isabeau Miller Named Chair of Berklee Songwriting Department The Berklee alumna, who previously served on the Songwriting faculty, will begin her new role on ...

29/07/2026

SES Launches Multi-Orbit Satellite Connectivity on LATAM Airbus, Embraer Fleet

Luxembourg, July 29, 2026 - SES, a leading space solutions company, was selected by LATAM Airlines to provide multi-orbit inflight connectivity service to its g...

29/07/2026

Hayu is coming to Sky, bringing fan-favourite franchises The Real Housewives, Below Deck and more to customers, at no extra cost

Wednesday 29 July 2026 Hayu is coming to Sky, bringing fan-favourite franchises...

29/07/2026

New RT true crime podcast launches today

RT launches Unsolved, a true crime podcast, presented by crime journalist Barry Cummins and presenter Katja Mia. Unsolved is a weekly podcast exploring unsol...

28/07/2026

LiveUs World Cup Record: 1,700 Units Support Wide Range of Transmission Needs

LiveU, the pioneer in IP-video transmission and cloud-based remote production, today detailed its historic performance records set during the 2026 FIFA World Cu...

28/07/2026

Case Study: How the Dallas Cowboys Removed Bottlenecks in Off-site Content Production

The NFL franchise rebuilt their off-site content operation for an era when teams...

28/07/2026

A New Way To Watch': How Formula 1 and Sky Sports Are Pushing Race Coverage Into a New Era

Longtime partners expand viewer choice, data-driven analysis, access, immersive ...