di Roberto Landini

The 2022 WorldSBK season, which started in April and ended in October, involved Spain, the Netherlands, Portugal, Italy, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, France, Spain, Argentina, Indonesia, Australia. The last three rounds of the WorldSBK have been held outside the European continent.

A very short distance from the end of the 2022 championship with the Australian round won by Ducati, we meet Luca Manfredi, EMG Italy technical manager for the non-European trips of the Superbike World Championship, which has been held since 1988. The Superbike class is the most important championship for motorcycles derived from mass production, i.e. from motorcycles normally made for road use. Luca Manfredi describes the technical set up put on the track by EMG Italy this year.

EMG Italy has been following SuperBike (SBK) and its exciting international competitions for 12 years. What technological innovations have been involved for this edition?

Luca Manfredi: "In the just concluded 2022 season, at least two significant innovations have been introduced: the first, a television production system which, according to the most widespread and recent technical dictates, has abandoned filming in interlaced video to embrace progressive, in HD 1080p SDR, more suitable also in a possible distribution not only traditional television but also OTT. The second novelty involves even more massive use of onboard micro cameras on Dorna's proprietary bikes".

The SBK season takes place with tests in Europe and other overseas. Has EMG Italy faced all the races with the same technical structures and configurations?

“EMG Italy generally follows the entire Superbike championship for Dorna with the NOVA 126 ob-truck for the European rounds, while for the overseas ones, such as Argentina and Indonesia, the same technologies on board the mobile unit are inserted in flight cases in a sort of mirroring configuration. In general, the SBK standard includes 20 Sony HDC4300 cameras, two of which work in 8x for HFR slow motion, 5 EVS XT3 systems, 3 XFile3 systems for ingest and playout toward Barcelona tech facilities that handle server streams, and an onboard system that manages up to seven groups of three RF micro cameras on motorcycles, Dorna proprietary cameras. Each bike has three remotely controlled micro cameras on board, the images of which are switched, usually on the straightway of the track, by Dorna operators dedicated to telemetry".

The fibre cabling of the circuits and all the RF management is usually complex in SBK?

“In all circuits, both European and overseas, EMG Italy carries out all the cabling with fibre backbones of the circuit and also lays an optical fibre ring that covers the entire route with 5 antennas, dedicated to receiving the signals from the onboard micro cameras. Each bike has three cameras on board, a transmitter that multiplexes the signals, and up to seven bikes are controlled by radio. The whole system uses Vislink Gigawave connection devices. The cameras on board the motorbikes are installed exclusively by a special Dorna mechanic, the only one to be authorised, given that there are weights to guarantee and safety in the wiring to be respected. In addition to this, three RF cameras are also set up in the pit lane. Two cameras shoot from the pits with Vislink radio link while a third radio link connects a Fullframe camera mounted on Ronin support for unique stabilized shots”.

Are there more galleries? How are the flight cases and the TV compound organised?

The entire television production system travels protected in seven flight case modules which interconnect, at the destination, to form the main gallery. The central gallery is based on a Kahuna 9600 video mixer and is set up inside the TV compound and IBC of each circuit. The director, the video mixer, the person in charge of switching the onboard cameras and the assistant director work here. The only difference in technical setup is in the matrix: Vega Grass Valley in the flight case gallery, while the one aboard the NOVA 126 truck is by Imagine Communication. Behind the gallery are the marketing and content management departments, as well as the editorial staff with journalists. A second separate gallery is set up in a second container to host EVS operators. This separate solution, created to comply with the anti-covid regulations, is a procedure that has remained operational even afterwards because it is considered convenient and effective. All the telemetry control, which follows the radio frequency connected to the onboard cameras on the bikes, is managed in a special space, in a dedicated container.Also located in the TV compound is the main office, set up to allow for the control and management of streaming to Barcelona and the delivery of signals to the uplinks that deal with the delivery of the main signals. Transmission backup is done via fiber.

I imagine a good team of specialists from EMG Italy is needed, given the complexity and the very high number of circuits. What improvements have been introduced at the technical setup level?

“Fabio Merulla takes care of the technical management of the European SBK competitions, while I take care of the overseas races, with a team of the 18 people of EMG Italy. EMG Italy manages all the techniques, the technical setup, the on-venue cabling, the assembly of all the cameras on the circuit and the certification of the system. Compared to the editions of previous years, architectures with progressive signals have been implemented with EVS and Sony cameras, and all connections are in optical fibre. The rather complex setup includes 20 cameras scattered along the course in the overseas tests and 22 in the European ones. The positioning follows all the way for the continuity of the race from close points of view in the most interesting corners; 8x Supermotion cameras have been installed in the more technical chicanes, which allow for slow motion. All cameras are equipped with Canon 80x long optics and the one installed on the Ronin allows obtaining "portrait" style shots with a more visible subject and a more evident detachment between the frontal image and the background, which appears deliberately more blurred.

The entire communication and signal transport setup is created with fibre optic backbones, including the HF ring dedicated to the radio cameras, and each circuit is wired by interposing six hubs where all the signals converge for sorting. Then, from these locations, the connection to the cameras takes place on SMPTE cables. For a similar commitment, EMG Italy moves the staff on-site starting on Saturday and, after the trip that takes up the whole of Sunday, the setup starts on Monday. The complete system is delivered on Thursday, given that free practice starts on a Friday and the two races take place on Saturday and Sunday. The NOVA 126 mobile unit used for SBK Europe was one of the first to be built with three expansions in Italy and set the pace in terms of the best ratio between performance and size. It is highly appreciated for its qualities of habitability and reliability, for the separate areas, for the presence of the double gallery, the double entrances: excellent in the case of simultaneous double use as host broadcaster and unilateral customization. All communications are handled by Riedel systems with 11 beltpacks via Bolero radios and audio is controlled by a Digico SD7 Broadcast series console. All audio is recorded in stereo with Audio-Tecnica and Sennheiser audio-follow-video microphones, positioned in a double configuration for each camera, and some placed along the straightaways. Each onboard camera has its own internal microphone which picks up very effective sound”.

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