TABLE OF CONTENTS Charles J. Kuca
Routing switchers may differ considerably in configuration to suit a variety of applications. They range from simple, single-bus input selectors to complex, master-grid systems with many inputs and outputs. They may switch program and monitoring video and audio signals, intercommunication signals, control and data signals, or any combination thereof. Control of the switching function may be centralized or distributed, performed locally or remotely, and may follow any number of different types of operational logic.
To clarify the descriptions that follow, some basic terms are provided with their definitions:
source Any device which outputs a video/audio signal.
destination Any device which accepts a video/audio signal as an input.
switching system An assembly of hardware and associated software whose function is to establish a signal path between one of several sources and one or more destinations.
crosspoint A circuit element which acts as a switch, allowing information to pass only in the ON state.
matrix An array of crosspoints represented schematically on horizontal and vertical axes, with inputs along one axis and outputs along the other. This term is often used in reference to a complete switching system but may also be used to describe a single subsection or collection of subsections (usually on circuit cards) within a complete system.
switching bus A group of crosspoints along a common output row.
This is the simplest type of routing switcher. It may...
