Stellar Transit is a new touchscreen controller from Over the Air RF that manages coaxial transfer switches and an interlocked patch panel as a single RF plant.
“Rather than the pushbutton-and-lamp panels most engineers have inherited, it presents a live single-line diagram of the actual signal path,” the firm says.
Animated flow indicators show RF moving through the plant in the direction it is actually traveling. The animation is gated on readiness rather than on contact closure alone; a path only comes alive when it is complete and the destination is ready to accept power.
The company, which was founded by engineers Jim Stenberg and Paul Shulins says that protection is the design premise.
Every commanded move, whether initiated from the touchscreen, a remote contact closure or the network, mutes the feeding transmitter first, waits a settle interval, drives the switch and confirms the new position by feedback before releasing the interlock.
Because a patch panel requires hands on hardware, the controller walks the operator through manual reconfiguration, confirming each link by micro-switch before advancing and holding relevant transmitters muted. The engineer isn’t guessing which jumper moves next.
For routine work, six preset RF configurations can be recalled with a touch, each capturing a routing of the plant rather than the position of an individual switch.
An SNMP MIB is included, and station-specific labels for transmitters, antennas, loads and presets appear throughout the interface, so the diagram speaks the plant’s language rather than generic port numbers.
Hardware consists of a rack-mountable industrial touchscreen controller, along with a hardware interface: 1 RU breakout for connections to patch panels and motorized switches. Each system is programmed to match the plant architecture.
Those interested are encouraged to email Stenberg and Shulins at [email protected] or [email protected].
