WASHINGTON, D.C.—Tegna’s WUSA9 CBS affiliate serving the Washington D.C., Virginia and Maryland region, has debuted ECO9, a new low-emission live truck that the station is billing as a first for the U.S. broadcasting industry. 

ECO9 was conceived by WUSA and built by engineers at Frontline Communications as part of a larger effort by WUSA9 and Tegna to deploy more eco-friendly technologies.  

“Our environment matters, and we’ve committed to making a positive impact through our work, which includes today’s introduction of ECO9,” explained Richard Dyer, president and general manager, WUSA.  “ECO9 might be the first of its kind, but we hope it will be a standard setter as we begin testing its capabilities here in the DMV.”

Working to reduce greenhouse emissions that create climate change, “is a big, big undertaking for each of us individually but also from the business community,” added Dyer. “We use live trucks in our business and those vehicles have an impact on our environment.…So we started asking ourselves how we can use the tradition of innovation we have here at Tegna to innovate in a way that would have a positive impact on the environment.” 

One example of that innovation was the design and development of Washington D.C. first storm-chaser truck about six years ago, a project that provided valuable experience for the new ECO9.  

Rob Gibson, WUSA9’s director of technology and operations said that they began thinking about how to design a new eco-friendly live truck last year.   

Traditionally live trucks have had to leave the engine running to power the broadcast equipment with special alternators or work from generators, which makes live trucks an obvious starting point for deploying environmentally sustainable technologies. 

To reduce that carbon footprint, Gibson initially started talking to the engineers at Frontline Communications about an all-electric truck. “We fairly quickly figured out that an all-electric platform just wasn't going to work,” Gibson said, adding that crews on deadline for a story might have to find a charging station and wait an hour for everything to get charged up before they could get back to work. “We really didn't want them to run out of power in situations like that, so we pivoted to a hybrid platform.” 

“I asked Frontline [Communications] if they could build a hybrid platform and they said `yeah’ we’ve been using the technology in other applications for government agencies, fire trucks, etc.," Gibson added. "They just hadn't done it for a broadcast truck."

The resulting ECO9 is built around a 2022 Toyota Highlander XLE Hybrid.  

In terms of the broadcast technology, the design builds on WUSA9’s experience with launching their live weather truck, Gibson said. “We took the lessons that we learned on that vehicle which is now six years old. We dropped what we didn't like and improved upon it so the reporter sitting in the backseat has more room.” 

The new ECO9 truck is equipped with three cameras. There are two fixed internal cameras from Marshall and a 360-degree external camera from Rugged CCTV. 

To deliver video back to the station, the truck uses Dejero EnGo and a 5G wireless router from Inseego, which gives them very low latency. 

“What is groundbreaking. Is to have the opportunity to make another vehicle kind of in the mold of the one that we built six years ago, but improve on it from both a user standpoint and to make things much more eco-friendly,” Gibson said. “In this case, what really makes the truck different is its battery. It's the power solution. That's where we took a step forward. Maybe 10 or 12 years ago, specialized alternators started replacing the generators [to power the equipment] and I don't really think there's been much of a change since.” 

The hybrid Eco9 truck runs on a state-of-the-art rechargeable lithium-ion battery system (Li-ION batteries) with supplemental charging from solar panels on the roof. 

That allows ECO9’s broadcasting technologies to operate continually with the truck’s engine turned off for six hours.

More specifically, the truck uses an lithium-ion battery called a LiFePO4 battery, which consists of a chemical compound that makes it one of the safest batteries on the market. Commonly used in mobile phones, RVs, boats and golf carts, this battery is also the ideal choice for ECO9 as it is expected to handle more than 5,000 cycles and can discharge close to zero and recharge. The batteries were supplied by Battleborn Batteries.

With solar supplemental charging, ECO9 allows for trickle charging during the day while it is out in natural light.

The power management system is from Victron Energy. It regulates the shore power charging, integrates the trickle charge from the solar panels and vehicle alternator, and converts the DC to AC to supply the power to the rack.  

“When we first gave Frontline [Communications] the list of equipment for the truck, we're able to calculate that at full load, just on battery, you'd be able to do six hours without the engine on,” Gibson said. “The average live shot in local news is maybe at the most, two and a half hours, so you have the power to fire up the truck, edit the story and send it back without having to have the truck running. The engine does not have to sit there idling for hours.”

ECO9 was also made possible by Washington Area Toyota Dealers who are serving as launch partner and exclusive sponsor.

A video of the launch can be viewed here. 

SEATTLE—The death of the ENG van market has been predicted, by this writer and others, for at least 10 years. The thinking has been that portable bonded cellular liveshot equipment would make live trucks unnecessary.

A look around the marketplace shows several news truck builders busy as ever, though most of their vehicles are not the behemoths of the past.

STILL NEED A WORKSPACE

“The death of ENG vans hasn’t happened,” said Tom Jennings, president of Accelerated Media Technologies (AMT) in Auburn, Mass. “The ENG vans have evolved from what they were a few years ago. They’ve gotten smaller, and lighter, and they’re primarily SUV based.”

A live truck does more than just carry equipment, according to Stephen Williamson, director of sales at Frontline Communications in Clearwater, Fla. “You still need a workspace. If you’re on a story all day, you need a workspace out of the weather. There’s still quite a demand for live trucks.”

Jennings said microwave-equipped news trucks are on the decline. “Even as the IP microwave systems have started to proliferate, television stations and networks are looking at microwave and the high cost of infrastructure, high cost of maintaining that infrastructure,” he said. “Although cellular bonding costs are high, they’re not as high as maintaining an entire infrastructure of microwave.”

One of AMT’s recent news vans was built for Savannah, Ga.’s ABC affiliate, WJCL-TV. “The truck is a small format, K150 van that’s minimal,” said Jennings. “It’s got racks that are MVP Power System, and it’s got a TVU cellular bonding system in it. And that’s the entire truck. There are maybe five pieces of equipment in it, in the entire truck.”

Bonded cellular connectivity doesn’t work everywhere so KA and KU satellite systems, with small dishes can fill in those gaps.

Another new AMT truck with both cellular and satellite connectivity was built on a Ford Explorer for KECI in one of America’s smallest television markets, Billings, Mont.

“Montana is one of those areas where there is no infrastructure and there is very limited microwave,” said Jennings. “There’s almost no cellular, probably less than 50 percent of the state. So this truck combined a cellular bonding system with a KA band satellite dish and electronics. When they had the wildfires this past summer, this truck could go places that no other station in the market could go, and they’re getting unbelievable coverage up there and unbelievable connectivity.”

CALL IN THE MONSTER

As the recent hurricanes and resultant flooding have illustrated, sometimes it takes more than a standard live truck to do the job. Call in the Monster Truck.

Frontline built just that for Houston’s KTRK on an F250 crew cab pickup truck, including a three-inch lift kit and a customer modular body on the bed.

“We wanted the truck bed to serve as a mount for the IP over KU antenna system,” said Williamson. “It also serves as a storage area for a full length, 500-pound capacity slide out tray. That provides great storage for cable reels, cameras and grip gear that they need to use. We also installed a roof rack to hold the, support the bonded cell antennas and the LED lighting for exterior illumination.” A Dejero EnGo system provides cellular connectivity.

There are two cameras in the front passenger seat: one aimed out the front of the truck, and one aimed at the passenger seat, according to Jeff Steel, engineering manager for Frontline. “That allows the news crew to do reports while the truck is being driven,” he said. “There’s a handheld controller in the front seat that allows them to switch between the two cameras. So that they know which camera is on-air, there are two monitors also in the front seat.”

Steel pointed to a lesson learned by some of those covering the Las Vegas mass shooting, when truck-mounted cellular live gear was not easily removed from news trucks. “That story went very mobile and some of the trucks were locked in a parking lot. They had a need to get out of there but weren’t able to do that.” The EnGo system on KTRK’s truck can be quickly removed and deployed on the back of a portable video camera for run-and-gun coverage.

ENG vehicles can also be engineered to be more than liveshot platforms. More and more stations are adding state of the art weather equipment like WHIO-TV in Dayton Ohio, which recently launched its Storm Tracker 7.

The weather gear includes a weather station to read current conditions, live Doppler Radar access for storm tracking in the field, access to multiple forecast data models and weather display graphics. It feathers six cameras for a 360-degree view of live, real time, driving conditions, and connectivity from a satellite dish and LiveU. For an eye in the sky, the vehicle provides a drone launch pad.

“Our Storm Center 7 meteorologists have their own live Doppler Radar allowing them to give information minutes faster than others, said Cox Media Group Ohio Market Vice President Rob Rohr said. “With the launch of our new Storm Tracker 7, we can be in the field forecasting and tracking the weather to get even more information about how to keep you and your family prepared and out of harm’s way.”

Not all those who used to build live news trucks for TV station are still in the business. Fred Gerling, president of Gerling and Associates in Sunbury Ohio, said that building remote broadcast trucks for the television business laid the foundation for its current business of building vehicles for local marketing, mobile medical, and mobile command.

“The reason we’ve been so successful there is because we cut our teeth and learned how to do this industry on television trucks,” he said. “Believe me, that is the most difficult clientele that there is to take care of.”

TV news vehicles don’t necessarily end up on the scrap metal pile.

“There does seem to be a place for microwave and uplinks in certain applications, outside the news business,” said Mark Chapman, owner of used equipment dealer Allied Broadcast Group. “There are needs where the satellite frequencies and the microwave frequencies serve and work better, be it in certain weather situations, or in certain geographies, or if there is not a good cell service to tap into. We’ve got people from out of the country who call us about some of these vehicles. We have a client in the Caribbean who bought two uplink trucks from us last year.”

LEXINGTON, KY.—WLEX-TV, the NBC affiliate in Lexington, Ky., has begun using a new mobile news vehicle from Frontline Communications with connectivity provided by Dejero CellSat, Dejero announced today.

Built upon a Chevrolet Traverse SUV, the station’s new remote vehicle does not require a specialized operator or pre-arranged satellite slot to contribute stories and live shots. “You simply put up the dish in case it’s needed, and it connects on demand –and only when the cellular signal alone isn’t strong enough,” says Sam Gordon, operations manager at the Cordillera Communications-owned station.

CellSat takes advantage of Dejero’s patented network blending technology to improve reliability with the combination of cellular connectivity and a Ku-band IP satellite link provided by Intelsat, the company said. If there is a falloff in cellular bandwidth, up to 7.5 Mb/s are available via satellite.

[Read: Dejero And Intelsat Partner On Video Transmission Solution]

“We have a full remote production facility connected directly to the studio, plus anyone can jump in and drive the SUV as there is no need for special licenses,” says Gordon.

Operators back at the studio can control the vehicle’s transmitters in the field, monitor and route incoming video feeds and view detailed performance data with Dejero’s cloud-based management system, the company said.

Having satellite connectivity available for times when cellular networks are congested proved useful for the station in December when it sent a crew to Nashville to cover college bowl play from Nissan Stadium.

“Although the Nissan Stadium in downtown Nashville, which usually has solid connectivity available, with somewhere around 70,000 fans, we figured that the cell networks could get overloaded—so we needed a backup. CellSat gave us the extra confidence that we wouldn’t lose connectivity during a live shot,” says Gordon.

SARASOTA, FL.—xG Technology—the provider of IMT Vislink live video communications products for the broadcast, law enforcement and defense—has announced a partnership with mobile broadcast vehicle provider Frontline Communications to deploy a customized newsnet electronic news gathering (ENG) vehicle for conducting on-site demos at broadcast client sites.

“It’s an excellent way for us to show how newsnet empowers broadcasters to maximize their coverage while fully leveraging their studio assets,” said John Payne IV, President of IMT USA. “Having multiple ENG points of view operate at the same time, and on the same BAS channel, while enabling a high-bandwidth IP connection with studio newsroom computer systems, is a game changer for the broadcast industry.”

[Read: Driving Station Workflows In The Field]

Vislink’s newsnet establishes a high-speed, bidirectional IP-based network that can optimize ENG field workflows and transmission by leveraging secure BAS spectrum that can be used without fear of contention, congestion or blocking, according to the company. Lower OPEX costs can result from greater workflow efficiencies and the reduced need for bonded cellular transmission.

The newsnet mobile demo site will be comprised of the mobile assets, a base station site (mobile COW), and the newsnet studio control system to provide the interface and control between the remote demo vehicle and the studio/field workflows.

OTTAWA— The evolution of ENG/SNG vehicle equipment has mirrored TV production as a whole. The latest ENG/SNG units use digital cameras, recording servers, routers, and (where needed) switchers; all linked to each other and the outside world via IP-based networking. It is just the most technically efficient—and cost-effective— way to produce ENG/SNG content today.

Due to IP’s ability to combine performance with cost savings, “all broadcast vehicles will eventually become IP. It’s only a matter of time,” predicted Steve Williamson, director of sales for Frontline Communications, a Clearwater, Fla.-based manufacturer of ENG vehicles. “Satellite has already evolved from DVB to lower-cost Ka-band—which is an IP data network— and Ku-IP,” Williamson noted. “Almost all vehicles also include IP-based bonded cellular encoders for terrestrial transmission, which can be used for Ka and Ku-IP satellite transmission.”

Telemundo affiliate WNJU-TV in the New York City DMA uses this Ka-band ENG van from AMT, built on the Ford Explorer platform. IP also offers cost savings for microwave users. For instance, the ENGenesis Bi-Directional LTE Microwave System and high-power Monsta Mesh products from Accelerated Media Technologies use both IP and LTE to connect stations and ENG/SNG trucks over broadcasters’ licensed 2 GHz broadcast microwave bands. This connectivity provides “both dedicated and proprietary network connectivity and private cellular networks to lower operating costs,” said Tom Jennings, president of AMT in Auburn, Mass. “This will eliminate the need for cable runs while allowing up to 10 news vehicles to transmit bidirectionally over the same channel—and make it easy for other IP-native resources to connect to other ENG/SNG IP-networked devices.”

DIGITAL DIVIDENDS
Even without IP factored in, digital technologies provide many beneficial changes to ENG/SNG vehicles.

The first big change is weight. Digital TV equipment is far lighter than its analog predecessors, and can thus be carried in smaller, less-heavy vans and SUVs. “This is why you are seeing new ENG/SNG vehicles being built on the Nissan NV HR and Ford Transit platforms, rather than the Ford E-350,” said John Payne, chief technology officer with Integrated Microwave Technologies in Mount Olive, N.J. “You no longer need that larger size of hauling capacity.”

The second major difference is power consumption. Compared to their electricity-devouring analog counterparts, today’s digital TV production equipment sips power. “You can have an entire ENG/SNG production system in a small SUV/Jeep or next-generation smaller van profile such as the ProMaster or Transit— including microwave and satellite transmitters— that gets up to 5–8 kilowatts of power from a custom [AMT] MVP Power Inverter/AGM Battery Pack connected directly to the engine,” Jennings said. “You don’t need a separate gas-powered generator anymore, and all the payload weight, expense and space such a device requires. The vehicles themselves have been upgraded from the factories to provide all of the HVAC you will ever need without 120V power.”

Digital’s third dividend is enhanced signal transmission capability. For terrestrial transmission, bonded cellular units that use commercial cellular networks provide ENG crews with low-cost, wide coverage twoway connectivity. So does the use of 2 GHz microwave transmission to support two-way file transfers between vehicles and stations. “We’ve seen tests where an ENG truck with its microwave mast down can still achieve distances up to 80 miles of reliable connections with data throughput speeds up to 10 Mbps,” Jennings said.

The combination of advances in digital technology and IP have enabled ENG/SNG truck manufacturers to reduce weight and fit more gear into smaller spaces. On the satellite side, the lower cost of Ka-band equipment and bandwidth compared to Ku-band—and Ka’s smaller equipment footprint—is making it the go-to choice for broadcasters.

“We have about 40 On Call Communications Ka-band satellite systems, which are compact enough to put on small SUVs,” said Jason Effinger, senior vice president of media and technology for station group Gray Television in Atlanta. “Add this to approximately 120 bonded cellular portables that we use for ENG—primarily made by TVU Networks—and you can see that Gray Television is committed to the benefits of digital ENG/SNG.”

The last big benefit is simplicity: “Today’s digital ENG/SNG trucks are so easy to set up and operate, that one vehicle can be run by a single reporter,” said Payne. “No longer do you have to pay for a dedicated truck operator and perhaps a producer as well. One person can do it all.”

All these digital advantages are of particular interest to the EW Scripps Co. and its 33 TV stations. “We are looking very seriously at IP-based newsgathering, which we think is a very exciting area to explore,” said Ray Thurber, vice president of engineering for television for the Cincinnati-based company. “It offers us the ability to do ENG/SNG better, simpler, and cheaper than the old ways of covering news in the field.”

Looking ahead, the continued evolution of ENG/ENG vehicles will “mirror the cellphone industry, if you remember the cellphones from the ’80s,” Williamson said. “Broadcast vehicles will continue to get smaller and smarter and have more features and capabilities and costs will continue to come down, both capital costs and operating costs.”

How drastic a change will this be? “What we envision looks nothing like what you see today,” Williamson replied.

CLEARWATER, FLA.—Frontline Communications has announced that its automatic Ka/Ku-band dual feed satellite antenna system has passed initial field testing and has been approved for use on the ViaSat network. It is now pending final approval from the FCC.

The satellite antenna allows dual-band capability on the ViaSat network, which allows users to swith from Ka-band to Ku-band with a single switch function on the antenna controller from inside the vehicle. Users can select either IP delivery using the ViaSat Ka-band service or legacy DVBS delivery via their existing infrastructure. The antenna system includes a 1.2m reflector and AvL’s AAQ antenna controller, which utilizes an automatic slide mechanism to position the feed.

Frontline Communications, an Oshkosh Corporation company, is a manufacturer of broadcast and communications vehicles.