Broadcast Microwave Services, Inc. (BMS) starts 2012 by announcing its next generation airborne transmitter, the Heli-Coder 4 (HC4). The product is designed for fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft, and is small enough that it can also be used in watercraft, land, unmanned air or ground vehicle applications. Among the new technological features in the HC4 are:

1. Transmits HD (high definition) or SD (standard definition) video;
2. Offers choice of video compression using H.264 or MPEG-2 to be compatible with existing receive site equipment;
3. Configurable Ethernet port for transmitting streaming IP (Internet protocol) data;
4. GPS (global positioning system) receiver and data interface for tracking and mapping purposes;
5. 10 W RF output power in a compact case, only 5” W x 9” D x 6” H (127 x 229 x 153 mm);
6. Geo-Point™ capable: Geo-Point is BMS’ proprietary receive site software that uses metadata from the aircraft video camera to display at the receiver, the bearing and distance of the target video location from the compatible BMS receiver.

BMS President and General Manager, Graham Bunney, commented on the announcement, saying, “With the HC4, BMS once again advances the state of the art for the airborne transmitter market for law enforcement, surveillance and broadcast applications. With more and more customers demanding HD transmission, the HC4 provides the latest in H.264 compression technology with an option to include MPEG-2 compression to maintain backwards compatibility and investment protection to existing legacy products. In addition, the HC4’s Ethernet port can be configured to transmit high data rate IP, or to multiplex the IP data in with the compressed video. This is important in today’s multi-sensor environment.”

About BMS:
BMS, a Cohu company (NASDAQ listed) and a leader in COFDM microwave transmission, designs, develops, manufactures, and sells microwave transmission systems. BMS has a broad range of microwave communication products and systems developed for news and entertainment, law enforcement, unmanned aerial vehicles, and military surveillance applications. For more information on all of BMS’ products, visit our website at www.bms-inc.com