Unitecnic custom designs the final mobile unit for Canal Sur

Channel On entrusts the integration of its latest mobile unit to Unitecnic, company of MEDIAPRO GROUP, whose know-how has made it possible to design a versatile, adaptable and multi-purpose vehicle.

The integration of a mobile unit is quite a puzzle in which each piece has to fit in order for the technology be at the service of vehicle usability. Unitecnic, an engineering company of GRUP MEDIAPRO, has been responsible for the creation of the last great bet for the outdoor productions of Channel On: a project 360 degrees, designed to measure, in which bodywork, interior architecture and technology form part of a whole that allows new alternatives to be provided to the dairy produce Andalusian television. Versatility, adaptability and customization are the keywords that define this project.

Francisco Javier Periáñez, responsible of Unitecnic for this Canal Sur project, and Rafael Muñoz Moyano, director of engineering of Channel On, reveal the keys to this tailor-made vehicle.

Adapted to the needs

The design of a mobile unit has to respond, above all, to the particular needs of the external television broadcasting team. That's how he understands it Rafael Muñoz from Canal Sur: “The personalization of the mobile unit is essential. The experience that has given us years and years of broadcasting outdoors has led us to design a mobile unit with unique characteristics and adapted to our coverage”. The team of Unitecnic For this integration project, led by Francisco José Periáñez, he shares a philosophy with the engineering director of Andalusian radio and television: “Each vehicle that we integrate is different and allows us to look for new formulas to continue finding the best solution: the one that adapts to the client.”.

"The personalization of the mobile unit is fundamental” – Rafael Muñoz Moyano, engineering director of Canal Sur.

It is accompaniment process to optimize the project is a maxim that is repeated in all the mobile units integrated by Unitecnic. This was done with RTVE, a company for which a connectivity solution was designed that allows their PEL to be linked, so that today they can scale their capacities to adapt to large productions; and is currently running on EITB, radio and television from the Basque Country, which required a stainless steel chassis to adapt to the weather conditions of the autonomous community: "This material brings a lot of weight and adds complexity to the design, but we have been able to adapt without any problem to this very particular need”, explains Periáñez.

In the case of Canal Sur, the objective, emphasizes Muñoz, went through “have a mobile unit completely in high definition” to adapt both to the type of Andalusian television broadcasts (election nights, bullfights, holy weeks, fairs, sporting events...), as well as to the operational peculiarities accompanying coverage in southern Spain.

A mobile unit with unique characteristics

Unitecnic prepared up three different interior designs to respond to all the requirements of the tender. The southern weather conditions of Spain and the architecture of the southern cities also played a determining role.

One of Canal Sur's requests was, for example, that the vehicle not exceed nine meters to favor the maneuverability in the historic center of Andalusian cities and towns. Likewise, to face the high southern temperatures, it was decided to integrate a system of internal air filtering what keeps the thermometer at bay and the air clean inside the vehicle. These small adjustments, designs and redesigns allow the vehicle to fulfill its mission: “A custom-made and purpose-designed mobile unit always brings small issues to refine, but UNITECNIC has resolved all of them without any problem. It is currently operating at full capacity and is the mobile unit that has the most use of Canal Sur”, confirm Muñoz.

South Channel - Unitecnic - Mobile Unit - Mediapro

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Another of the peculiarities of this vehicle is its tailgate: instead of opening in the middle, it unfolds vertically. The top serves as awning for protect the technicians and to the equipment when making any type of interconnection or modification of the wiring, while the lower one is a structure that technicians can climb to operate comfortably. The ladder, unlike that of other mobile units, is rotates 90º to unfold on the bodywork itself: an original design work for optimize deployment space y avoid the usual step in its removable flask.

In addition, the cabin has two peculiar characteristics: it exceeds the 195 centimeters tall, so that all Canal Sur technicians can work comfortably, and have installed tieline panels for each job position in order to favor the exchange of positions in the different productions and thus gain flexibility. Similarly, they have arranged four stalls of operation in the flask, separated two by two, in order to optimize the entry and exit of personnel to this work area. This intelligent distribution of space allows the mobile unit to add 9 stalls, a remarkable amount for a vehicle of these dimensions.

top notch technology

The design is important and the selected technology is even more so. In a live broadcast nothing can go wrong.

The mobile unit, which is structured on a vehicle IvecoIt is made up of eight chambers. HD Sony HXC-FB80L. The philosophy 12G-SDI extends to the rest of the vehicle's technical pillars: the video matrix Ross Video Ultrix 64×64, with four multiscreen outputs, double audio input / output via MADI with capacity for up to 16 audios for each SDI channel (with the consequent saving of equipment glue), and redundant controller and PSU; the video mixer Carbonite Ultra de Ross, with 24 3G inputs (18 UHD), 14 3G outputs (10 UHD), 3 ME (2 UHD) and up to 4 Mini ME; a control panel Ross TouchDrive TD2 15 direct buttons; the replay server XT-GO six-channel reversible UHD and two remote control panels LSM of EVS, or the three UHD recorders AJA Ki Pro Ultra 12G.

Unitecnic has created a vehicle for Canal Sur that is committed to top notch technology, always at the service of production.

The chosen intercom system has been the digital matrix RTS Odin of 1RU with 128 ports, of which 64 are licensed and can be assigned to technologies such as DANTE, RVON, RTS or analog, while for audio the DSP-RX engine of Yamaha with the surface CS-R3 of 38 faders. The system has the card HY144-D, to provide it with 144 audio channels Dante, and the card HY128-MD 128 channel via MADI, which interfaces with Ross' Ultrix video matrix. Other brands arranged throughout the facility have been Phabrix, better, Orban, albalá y Prodys.

He know-how, clave

Beyond the "irons", the design and configuration of a mobile unit requires taking into account some functional keys that Unitecnic has translated into this vehicle. General precepts, such as that the bodywork must comply with all traffic regulations or the need to balance the interior design to facilitate mobility and versatility of the workstations, coexist with other more specific ones, such as what electrical design must be implemented. to adapt the vehicle to the requirements of sports entities such as UEFA.

"The south channel unit is ready to work daily” – Francisco Javier Periáñez, project manager at Unitecnic

Everything will add up to maximize the usability of the vehicle: “Sometimes, customers have a type of use intended for their mobile unit. Even so, the safest thing is that the vehicle can be used for all kinds of situations. The Canal Sur unit, like many others designed by the Unitecnic team, is prepared to be in daily operation”, Periáñez points out.

This multipurpose is the direct consequence of a scalable design that allows you to work one day with five operators and, the next day, with eight users inside the mobile unit; that makes possible join two mobile units in parallel to create more complex productions; or the one that has all the necessary tools to adapt to the 100% remote productions.

Overcoming unprecedented challenges

The integration of the mobile unit of Canal Sur experienced a complex context especially marked by the semiconductor crisis caused by the Covid. Some of the equipment initially chosen for the vehicle They stopped be available Worldwide. Fortunately, the Unitecnic and Canal Sur team, in close collaboration, were able to find the most appropriate solution to these challenges.

Case by case, and with the collaboration of the legal teams from both parties (since the modification of public contracts requires a detailed study) it was defined which equipment could be replaced by another, and which one would have to wait because it was the solution that was adapted 100% to the needs of the project. All these processes were done keeping the starting price.

A mobile unit for today and tomorrow

for months, Channel On deploys its new mobile unit daily. The care in your design and conceptualization they have ended up shaping a vehicle capable of responding to all the needs of the autonomous entity.

The Canal Sur unit, supported by the experience of Unitecnic, has become a solution prepared for the gift, but ready to evolve as the technology, los operator profiles o to nature and philosophy of the means of communication par excellence of Andalusia.