The Glensound Beatrice Lucia is a simple and cost effective way of interfacing legacy party-line (two wire) intercoms to modern audio networks.
Each party-line interface supports both single channel Clear-Com/ Tecpro and RTS standards as well as the two channel RTS unbalanced standard. Whilst its network interface utilizes the Broadway chipset from Audinate which supports Dante, AES67 and SMPTE 2110-30. As such it can also be used as a way of extending RTS Omneo intercom networks to legacy party-lines.
Lucia's 1RU subrack can house 1 or 2 independent Party-Line interfaces and can be powered by an internal mains supply or PoE. If powered by mains then it can provide 'wet' power to the party-line interfaces.
Network Interfaces
On the rear of the Lucia is a gigabit copper Ethernet interface alongside a standard SFP slot for fiber Ethernet connections.
Audio Network Protocols
Lucia utilises the Broadway chipset from Audinate for its network audio circuits. This chipset provides Dante network audio as its primary network audio standard. However it also is fully AES67 compliant and it is easy to turn on its AES67 mode if required. For broadcasters also distributing network video as well as sound it also supports SMPTE 2110-30. It is worth noting however that for setup and integration of the Broadway chipset in a 2110 network then Dante Domain Manager must be used (for which a licence fee is required).
Network Redundancy
If both the copper ethernet interface and an SFP ethernet interface are used then when using the Dante network protocol redundant network circuits can be setup to offer glitch free network audio backup.
4 Network Audio Circuits For Party-Lines
The analog party-line interfaces are fed via high quality ADCs and DACs to the audio network. In total 4 bi-directional network audio circuits are provided for these circuits derived from the 2 two channel party-lines. (assuming Lucia is fitted with 2x party-line interfaces).
4 Network Audio Mix Circuits
Glensound have spare capacity on the Broadway chipset and DSP used in the Lucia so rather than wasting these resources, 4 fixed ratio mixers have been included. In total there are 4 inputs from the network to these mixers and 4 outputs. The mixers are 'fixed' such that there are no level controls and all inputs are mixed at unity gain. Having the simple network mixer on your network can be a very useful tool. For example you could use it for mixing a programme feed into the return talkback feed from the network enabling all party-line beltpacks to hear program as well as talkback.