Meteo

The experience and expertise acquired throughout the years by our personnel in the collection, elaboration and management of meteorological data and its translation into images , traces its beginning way back to 1983 with the realization of Meteo for the national television network RAI 2. Meteo marks the first example of TV weather program using computer graphics. The technology employed has been constantly developed and updated over time and has also found numerous other applications:

• Meteo (Weather Report) for RAI 3
• Meteo (Weather Report) for the 20 Local Chapters of RAI (Italian national Broadcasting network)
• Meteo (Weather report) for TMC network (Tele-Montecarlo)
• Meteo (Weather report) for RAI-SAT.

Abroad:

• in Portugal for RTP, Portuguese national broadcast network)
• in Germany for RTL, one of the major private German broadcasters

Graphics

The experience garnered from Meteo was subsequently put to use in the creation of other products and, starting from 1984, other computer graphic services have been employed over the course of several years in RAI 3 programming for the video presentation of data and other information including:

• TG Economy for RAI 2
• Championship soccer results for Domenica Sprint
• Election coverage and results for RAI 2 and RAI 3

Telebeam

1985 marks the founding of Telebeam, an advanced system for the coverage and analysis of soccer , capable of graphically reproducing play-by-play action in real time, illustrating the positions of the players and ball location on the field, from every possible angle and in every instant, allowing the viewer to verify offside penalties as well providing information on ball speed and distances.

Telebeam, has been employed for several years by the state network RAI in its popular Domenica Sprint program broadcast on RAI 2, which included coverage of World Cup 1990, as well as by several foreign television broadcasters located in Brazil, Belgium, Spain and Turkey.

Sportmatic

Telebeam's resolution capability has been used in track and field coverage with its Sportmatic system, which can superimpose in real time images of a virtual athlete during an athletic event, reproducing the course of a previous competition.

Telethon

Alfio has worked together with Telecom since 1990, supplying them with graphics and numerator management services for the transmission of Telethon. A system made up of several personal computers programmed to handle all incoming calls regarding donations to the 187 hotline, and automatically sent on to CED Telecom in Bologna, feeds the numerator and elaborates the data, presenting it graphically in a variety of formats. The format known as "Scommessa" or "Betting Line", in which TV viewers competed against the clock to reach a designated number of calls to the 187 hotline in a specified time frame, was especially popular.

"Green" Hotline

Since 1986, the experience and expertise of our collaborators have been put to use on other projects in a variety of sectors: an information network was introduced on behalf of AGIP Petroli Spa, consisting of over 250 computers linked up via Tele-video to the control room at CCISS (Center for the Coordination of Information on Highway Safety). The system was created in order to inform motorists about road and weather conditions.

Telescreen

An analogous network for providing updated information has also been realized on behalf of the city of Messina.
[...to Telescreen page]

Airports

Thanks to our collaborators, information on the weather is presented in graphic format and displayed on closed-circuit screens in most major Italian airports.

In 1988 a new field was taken on, namely, synthetic voice and voice recognition which led to our creation of landmark products in the sector.

Tele-surveys

1988 - Tele-surveys, a system which allows the user to carry out up to 250 telephone calls simultaneously, which encompasses the posing of questions and automatic voice recognition of the responses. Linked up to a program of animation in real time for the graphic display of results, it is widely used by RAI for commentary on a number of popular programs, as well as for World Cup coverage.

MeteoRadio

1990 - Meteoradio, a system adapted for the automatic transmission via radio of weather bulletins, starting with the emission of recorded mini-phrases used by RAI radio broadcasts.

MeteoTel

1992 - MeteoTel, a system for the transmission of meteorological data to the public via telephone, by means of computers linked directly to a digital phone line at 2 Mbit/sec, or the equivalent of 30 analogue lines, and responding to class 144XXX.

Audio guides

1991 - Information system based on infrared technology for applications in indoor environments, adopted by the Palace of the Doges in Venice, in the Ducal Palace of Genoa, the Prado National Museum in Madrid, and by the utility company ENEL in the ex-nuclear power plant at Montalto di Castro.