Automatic transmission system

An automatic transmission system (ATS) is an automated system designed to keep a broadcast radio or television station's transmitter and antenna system running without direct human oversight or attention for long periods. Such systems are occasionally referred to as automated transmission systems to avoid confusion with the automatic transmission of an automobile.

History

Traditionally, radio and television stations were required to have a licensed operator, technician or electrical engineer available to tend to a transmitter at all times it was operating or capable of operating. Any condition (such as distorted or off-frequency transmission) that could interfere with other broadcast services would require immediate manual intervention to correct the fault or take the transmitter off the air. Facilities also had to be monitored for any fault conditions which could impair the transmitted signal or cause damage to the transmitting equipment.

Because broadcast transmitters were often at a different location from the broadcast studios, attended operation required an operator to be physically located at the transmitter site. In the 1950s and 1960s, remote control systems were introduced to allow an operator at the studio to power the transmitter on or off. At the same time, an early remote control system, the Automon, was developed by RCA engineers in Montréal that included a relay system that automatically detected if the transmitter was operating outside of its allowed parameters. The Automon could send the studio an alarm if the transmitter was out of tolerance and, if contact to the studio was lost, it could automatically power down the transmitter. A similar system was developed in 1953 by Paul Schafer in California, using a rotary telephone to raise or lower transmitter parameters remotely.