Planning Large Single Frequency Networks for DVB-T2

[EN] The final coverage and associated performance of an SFN is a joint result of the properties of all transmitters in the SFN. Due to the large number of parameters involved in the process, finding the right configuration is quite complex. The purpose of the paper is to find optimal SFN network configurations for DVB-T2. Offering more options of system parameters than its predecessor DVB-T, DVB-T2 allows large SFN networks. However, self-interference in SFNs gives rise to restrictions on the maximum inter-transmitter distance and the network size. In order to make optimum use of the spectrum, the same frequency can be reused over different geographical areas - beyond the reuse distance to avoid co-channel interference. In this paper, a methodology based on theoretical network models is proposed. A number of network architectures and network reference models are considered here for different reception modes in order to study the effects of key planning factors on the maximum SFN size and minimum reuse distance. The results show that maximum bitrate, network size and reuse distance are closely related. In addition, it has been found that the guard interval is not the only limiting parameter and that its impact strongly depends on the rest of DVB-T2 mode parameters as well as on the network characteristics (Equivalent Radiated Power, effective height, inter-transmitter distance). Assuming that the C/N requirements are in the vicinity of 20 dB and bitrates over 30 Mbps, it has been found that the network can be as large as 360 x 360 km (delivering 39.2 Mbps) or even 720 x 720 km (delivering 37.5 Mbps). The reuse distance will also have a complex dependency on the DVB-T2 mode and especially the network parameters, ranging from below 100 to 300 km.This work has been financially supported by the Beihang University, IRT, the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU (UFI 11/30 and program for the specialization of the postdoctoral researcher staff) and by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under the project HEDYT-GBB (TEC2012-33302)

Performance of an Echo Canceller and Channel Estimator for On-Channel Repeaters in DVB-T/H Networks

This paper investigates the design and performance of an FIR echo canceller for on-channel repeaters in DVB-T/H network within the framework of the PLUTO project. The possible approaches for echo cancellation are briefly reviewed and the main guidelines for the design of such systems are presented. The main system parameters are discussed. The performance of an FIR echo canceller based on an open loop feedforward approach for channel estimation is tested for different radio channel conditions and for different number of taps of the FIR filter. It is shown that a minimum number of taps is recommended to achieve a certain mean rejection ratio or isolation depending on the type of channel. The expected degradation in performance due to the use of fixed point rather than floating point arithmetic in hardware implementation is presented for different number of bits. Channel estimation based on training sequences is investigated. The performance of Maximum Length Sequences and Constant Amplitude Zero Autocorrelation (CAZAC) Sequences is compared for different channels. Recommendations are given for training sequence type, length and level for DVB-T/H on-channel repeater deployment

Improved Spectrum Usage with Multi-RF Channel Aggregation Technologies for the Next-Generation Terrestrial Broadcasting

[EN] Next-generation terrestrial broadcasting targets at enhancing spectral efficiency to overcome the challenges derived from the spectrum shortage as a result of the progressive allocation of frequencies - the so-called Digital Dividend - to satisfy the growing demands for wireless broadband capacity. Advances in both transmission standards and video coding are paramount to enable the progressive roll-out of high video quality services such as HDTV (High Definition Televison) or Ultra HDTV. The transition to the second generation European terrestrial standard DVB-T2 and the introduction of MPEG-4/AVC video coding already enables the transmission of 4-5 HDTV services per RF (Radio Frequency) channel. However, the impossibility to allocate higher bit-rate within the remaining spectrum could jeopardize the evolution of the DTT platforms in favour of other high-capacity systems such as the satellite or cable distribution platforms. Next steps are focused on the deployment of the recently released High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard, which provides more than 50% coding gain with respect to AVC, with the next-generation terrestrial standards. This could ensure the competitiveness of the DTT. This dissertation addresses the use of multi-RF channel aggregation technologies to increase the spectral efficiency of future DTT networks. The core of the Thesis are two technologies: Time Frequency Slicing (TFS) and Channel Bonding (CB). TFS and CB consist in the transmission of the data of a TV service across multiple RF channels instead of using a single channel. CB spreads data of a service over multiple classical RF channels (RF-Mux). TFS spreads the data by time-slicing (slot-by-slot) across multiple RF channels which are sequentially recovered at the receiver by frequency hopping. Transmissions using these features can benefit from capacity and coverage gains. The first one comes from a more efficient statistical multiplexing (StatMux) for Variable Bit Rate (VBR) services due to a StatMux pool over a higher number of services. Furthermore, CB allows increasing service data rate with the number of bonded RF channels and also advantages when combined with SVC (Scalable Video Coding). The coverage gain comes from the increased RF performance due to the reception of the data of a service from different RF channels rather that a single one that could be, eventually, degraded. Robustness against interferences is also improved since the received signal does not depend on a unique potentially interfered RF channel. TFS was firstly introduced as an informative annex in DVB-T2 (not normative) and adopted in DVB-NGH (Next Generation Handheld). TFS and CB are proposed for inclusion in ATSC 3.0. However, they have never been implemented. The investigations carried out in this dissertation employ an information-theoretical approach to obtain their upper bounds, physical layer simulations to evaluate the performance in real systems and the analysis of field measurements that approach realistic conditions of the network deployments. The analysis report coverage gains about 4-5 dB with 4 RF channels and high capacity gains already with 2 RF channels. This dissertation also focuses on implementation aspects. Channel bonding receivers require one tuner per bonded RF channel. The implementation of TFS with a single tuner demands the fulfilment of several timing requirements. However, the use of just two tuners would still allow for a good performance with a cost-effective implementation by the reuse of existing chipsets or the sharing of existing architectures with dual tuner operation such as MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output).[ES] La televisión digital terrestre (TDT) de última generación está orientada a una necesaria mejora de la eficiencia espectral con el fin de abordar los desafíos derivados de la escasez de espectro como resultado de la progresiva asignación de frecuencias - el llamado Dividendo Digital - para satisfacer la creciente demanda de capacidad para la banda ancha inalámbrica. Los avances tanto en los estándares de transmisión como de codificación de vídeo son de suma importancia para la progresiva puesta en marcha de servicios de alta calidad como la televisión de Ultra AD (Alta Definición). La transición al estándar europeo de segunda generación DVB-T2 y la introducción de la codificación de vídeo MPEG-4 / AVC ya permite la transmisión de 4-5 servicios de televisión de AD por canal RF (Radiofrecuencia). Sin embargo, la imposibilidad de asignar una mayor tasa de bit sobre el espectro restante podría poner en peligro la evolución de las plataformas de TDT en favor de otros sistemas de alta capacidad tales como el satélite o las distribuidoras de cable. El siguiente paso se centra en el despliegue del reciente estándar HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding), que ofrece un 50% de ganancia de codificación con respecto a AVC, junto con los estándares terrestres de próxima generación, lo que podría garantizar la competitividad de la TDT en un futuro cercano. Esta tesis aborda el uso de tecnologías de agregación de canales RF que permitan incrementar la eficiencia espectral de las futuras redes. La tesis se centra en torno a dos tecnologías: Time Frequency Slicing (TFS) y Channel Bonding (CB). TFS y CB consisten en la transmisión de los datos de un servicio de televisión a través de múltiples canales RF en lugar de utilizar un solo canal. CB difunde los datos de un servicio a través de varios canales RF convencionales formando un RF-Mux. TFS difunde los datos a través de ranuras temporales en diferentes canales RF. Los datos son recuperados de forma secuencial en el receptor mediante saltos en frecuencia. La implementación de estas técnicas permite obtener ganancias en capacidad y cobertura. La primera de ellas proviene de una multiplexación estadística (StatMux) de servicios de tasa variable (VBR) más eficiente. Además, CB permite aumentar la tasa de pico de un servicio de forma proporcional al número de canales así como ventajas al combinarla con codificación de vídeo escalable. La ganancia en cobertura proviene de un mejor rendimiento RF debido a la recepción de los datos de un servicio desde diferentes canales en lugar uno sólo que podría estar degradado. Del mismo modo, es posible obtener una mayor robustez frente a interferencias ya que la recepción o no de un servicio no depende de si el canal que lo alberga está o no interferido. TFS fue introducido en primer lugar como un anexo informativo en DVB-T2 (no normativo) y posteriormente fue adoptado en DVB-NGH (Next Generation Handheld). TFS y CB han sido propuestos para su inclusión en ATSC 3.0. Aún así, nunca han sido implementados. Las investigaciones llevadas a cabo en esta Tesis emplean diversos enfoques basados en teoría de la información para obtener los límites de ganancia, en simulaciones de capa física para evaluar el rendimiento en sistemas reales y en el análisis de medidas de campo. Estos estudios reportan ganancias en cobertura en torno a 4-5 dB con 4 canales e importantes ganancias en capacidad aún con sólo 2 canales RF. Esta tesis también se centra en los aspectos de implementación. Los receptores para CB requieren un sintonizador por canal RF agregado. La implementación de TFS con un solo sintonizador exige el cumplimiento de varios requisito temporales. Sin embargo, el uso de dos sintonizadores permitiría un buen rendimiento con una implementación más rentable con la reutilización de los actuales chips o su introducción junto con las arquitecturas existentes que operan con un doble sintonizador tales como[CA] La televisió digital terrestre (TDT) d'última generació està orientada a una necessària millora de l'eficiència espectral a fi d'abordar els desafiaments derivats de l'escassetat d'espectre com a resultat de la progressiva assignació de freqüències - l'anomenat Dividend Digital - per a satisfer la creixent demanda de capacitat per a la banda ampla sense fil. Els avanços tant en els estàndards de transmissió com de codificació de vídeo són de la màxima importància per a la progressiva posada en marxa de serveis d'alta qualitat com la televisió d'Ultra AD (Alta Definició). La transició a l'estàndard europeu de segona generació DVB-T2 i la introducció de la codificació de vídeo MPEG-4/AVC ja permet la transmissió de 4-5 serveis de televisió d'AD per canal RF (Radiofreqüència). No obstant això, la impossibilitat d'assignar una major taxa de bit sobre l'espectre restant podria posar en perill l'evolució de les plataformes de TDT en favor d'altres sistemes d'alta capacitat com ara el satèl·lit o les distribuïdores de cable. El següent pas se centra en el desplegament del recent estàndard HEVC (High Efficiency Vídeo Coding), que oferix un 50% de guany de codificació respecte a AVC, junt amb els estàndards terrestres de pròxima generació, la qual cosa podria garantir la competitivitat de la TDT en un futur pròxim. Aquesta tesi aborda l'ús de tecnologies d'agregació de canals RF que permeten incrementar l'eficiència espectral de les futures xarxes. La tesi se centra entorn de dues tecnologies: Time Frequency Slicing (TFS) i Channel Bonding (CB). TFS i CB consistixen en la transmissió de les dades d'un servei de televisió a través de múltiples canals RF en compte d'utilitzar un sol canal. CB difon les dades d'un servei a través d'uns quants canals RF convencionals formant un RF-Mux. TFS difon les dades a través de ranures temporals en diferents canals RF. Les dades són recuperades de forma seqüencial en el receptor per mitjà de salts en freqüència. La implementació d'aquestes tècniques permet obtindre guanys en capacitat i cobertura. La primera d'elles prové d'una multiplexació estadística (StatMux) de serveis de taxa variable (VBR) més eficient. A més, CB permet augmentar la taxa de pic d'un servei de forma proporcional al nombre de canals així com avantatges al combinar-la amb codificació de vídeo escalable. El guany en cobertura prové d'un millor rendiment RF a causa de la recepció de les dades d'un servei des de diferents canals en lloc de només un que podria estar degradat. De la mateixa manera, és possible obtindre una major robustesa enfront d'interferències ja que la recepció o no d'un servei no depén de si el canal que l'allotja està o no interferit. TFS va ser introduït en primer lloc com un annex informatiu en DVB-T2 (no normatiu) i posteriorment va ser adoptat en DVB-NGH (Next Generation Handheld). TFS i CB han sigut proposades per a la seva inclusió en ATSC 3.0. Encara així, mai han sigut implementades. Les investigacions dutes a terme en esta Tesi empren diverses vessants basades en teoria de la informació per a obtindre els límits de guany, en simulacions de capa física per a avaluar el rendiment en sistemes reals i en l'anàlisi de mesures de camp. Aquestos estudis reporten guanys en cobertura entorn als 4-5 dB amb 4 canals i importants guanys en capacitat encara amb només 2 canals RF. Esta tesi també se centra en els aspectes d'implementació. Els receptors per a CB requerixen un sintonitzador per canal RF agregat. La implementació de TFS amb un sol sintonitzador exigix el compliment de diversos requisit temporals. No obstant això, l'ús de dos sintonitzadors permetria un bon rendiment amb una implementació més rendible amb la reutilització dels actuals xips o la seua introducció junt amb les arquitectures existents que operen amb un doble sintonitzador com ara MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output).Giménez Gandia, JJ. (2015). Improved Spectrum Usage with Multi-RF Channel Aggregation Technologies for the Next-Generation Terrestrial Broadcasting [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/52520TESI

Planning the Migration of Digital Terrestrial Broadcasting in Croatia to DVB-T2 Standard

On 31 December 2010 analogue television in Croatia was completely switched off and was replaced by DVB-T television standard. Because of that, it became possible to provide more TV programs with higher quality and it freed up the frequency band for first digital dividend, which is now used for LTE mobile broadband services. Nowadays, newer and more advanced standard DVBT2, which is extension of DVB-T, is being implemented in many countries. In Croatia DVB-T2 is used for terrestrial pay TV platform. DVB-T2 offers significantly higher network capacity in the same frequency band which enables more television programs, easier migration to HD services and possibility to free up additional frequencies for second digital dividend. Second dividend frequencies are fitted for covering broad rural areas with wireless broadband services that can reduce the digital gap. Such benefits will have a positive impact on economic sustainability of traditional broadcasting media in a competitive digital economy. In this paper we give an overview and analysis of digitalisation process in Croatia in terms of technology and regulation, costs and benefits for the state budget and media campaign with lessons learned, in order to enumerate motivation factors for further migration to the DVB-T2 standard. With the help of simulation, a practical example of useful bit rate increase between the DVB-T and DVB-T2 systems is given. Predicted reduction of TV broadcasting costs, migration costs, need for government subsidy to buy new DVB-T2 receivers and other cost factors of the transition to DVB-T2 are discussed. This analysis is a basis for identifying key prerequisites, benefits, obstacles and stakeholders in migration to DVB-T2 and gives further areas that have to be researched in order to prepare the optimal plan for migration to DVB-T2 from technical, economic, market and social perspectives

Design of a DVB-T2 simulation platform and network optimization with Simulated Annealing

The implementation of the Digital Terrestrial Television is becoming a reality in the Spanish territory. In this context, with the satellite and cable systems, this technology is one of the possible mediums for the television signal transmission. Its development is becoming crucial for the digital transition in those countries which mainly depend on the terrestrial networks for the reception of multimedia contents. However, due to the maturity of the current standard, and also to the higher requirements of the customer needing (HDTV, new contents, etc.), a revision of the current standard becomes necessary. The DVB organisation in collaboration with other entities and organisms has developed a new standard version capable to satisfy those requirements. The main objective of the project is the design and implementation of a physical layer simulation platform for the DVB-T2 standard. This simulator allows the theoretical evaluation of the new enhanced proposals, making easier a later field measurement stage and the future network deployment. The document describes the implementation of the simulation platform as well as its subsequent validation stage, including large graphical results that allow the evaluation and quantification of the improvements introduced over the current standard version (DVB-T). On the other hand, and as future investigation lines, a solution for the future DVB-T2 network deployment is performed, enhancing the coverage capacity of the current network by the use of iterative meta-heuristic techniques. Finally it has to be mentioned that this work has been performed within the context of a project called FURIA, which is a strategic research project funded by the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce

Time Frequency Slicing for Future Digital Terrestrial Broadcasting Networks

“© © 20xx IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.”Time Frequency Slicing (TFS) is a novel transmission technique for the future of terrestrial broadcasting. TFS breaks with the traditional transmission of TV services over single RF channels.With TFS, services are distributed across several channels by frequency hopping and time-slicing. The bundling of several RF channels into a TFS multiplex provides important advantages. A capacity gain is obtained due to a more efficient statistical multiplexing of video content since more services can be encoded in parallel. Improved frequency diversity also provides a coverage gain since signal imbalances between RF channels can be smoothed. Enhanced robustness against static and time varying interferences can also be achieved. TFS was described, although not implemented, for DVB-T2 and was fully adopted in DVB-NGH. At present, it is proposed for a future evolution of DVB-T2 and will also be considered in the ongoing ATSC 3.0 standard. This paper investigates the potential advantages of TFS by means of field measurements as well as simulations and discusses practical implementation aspects and requirements regarding transmission and reception. Results demonstrate the interesting advantages of TFS to improve both coverage and spectral efficiency, which addresses the future necessity of a more efficient DTT spectrum usage.Gimenez Gandia, JJ.; Stare, E.; Bergsmark, S.; Gómez Barquero, D. (2014). Time Frequency Slicing for Future Digital Terrestrial Broadcasting Networks. IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting. 60(2):227-238. doi:10.1109/TBC.2014.2315766S22723860

Planning the Migration of Digital Terrestrial Broadcasting in Croatia to DVB-T2 Standard

On 31 December 2010 analogue television in Croatia was completely switched off and was replaced by DVB-T television standard. Because of that, it became possible to provide more TV programs with higher quality and it freed up the frequency band for first digital dividend, which is now used for LTE mobile broadband services. Nowadays, newer and more advanced standard DVBT2, which is extension of DVB-T, is being implemented in many countries. In Croatia DVB-T2 is used for terrestrial pay TV platform. DVB-T2 offers significantly higher network capacity in the same frequency band which enables more television programs, easier migration to HD services and possibility to free up additional frequencies for second digital dividend. Second dividend frequencies are fitted for covering broad rural areas with wireless broadband services that can reduce the digital gap. Such benefits will have a positive impact on economic sustainability of traditional broadcasting media in a competitive digital economy. In this paper we give an overview and analysis of digitalisation process in Croatia in terms of technology and regulation, costs and benefits for the state budget and media campaign with lessons learned, in order to enumerate motivation factors for further migration to the DVB-T2 standard. With the help of simulation, a practical example of useful bit rate increase between the DVB-T and DVB-T2 systems is given. Predicted reduction of TV broadcasting costs, migration costs, need for government subsidy to buy new DVB-T2 receivers and other cost factors of the transition to DVB-T2 are discussed. This analysis is a basis for identifying key prerequisites, benefits, obstacles and stakeholders in migration to DVB-T2 and gives further areas that have to be researched in order to prepare the optimal plan for migration to DVB-T2 from technical, economic, market and social perspectives

A survey of digital television broadcast transmission techniques

This paper is a survey of the transmission techniques used in digital television (TV) standards worldwide. With the increase in the demand for High-Definition (HD) TV, video-on-demand and mobile TV services, there was a real need for more bandwidth-efficient, flawless and crisp video quality, which motivated the migration from analogue to digital broadcasting. In this paper we present a brief history of the development of TV and then we survey the transmission technology used in different digital terrestrial, satellite, cable and mobile TV standards in different parts of the world. First, we present the Digital Video Broadcasting standards developed in Europe for terrestrial (DVB-T/T2), for satellite (DVB-S/S2), for cable (DVB-C) and for hand-held transmission (DVB-H). We then describe the Advanced Television System Committee standards developed in the USA both for terrestrial (ATSC) and for hand-held transmission (ATSC-M/H). We continue by describing the Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting standards developed in Japan for Terrestrial (ISDB-T) and Satellite (ISDB-S) transmission and then present the International System for Digital Television (ISDTV), which was developed in Brazil by adopteding the ISDB-T physical layer architecture. Following the ISDTV, we describe the Digital Terrestrial television Multimedia Broadcast (DTMB) standard developed in China. Finally, as a design example, we highlight the physical layer implementation of the DVB-T2 standar

Combined Time, Frecuency and Space Diversity in Multimedia Mobile Broadcasting Systems

El uso combinado de diversidad en el dominio temporal, frecuencial y espacial constituye una valiosa herramienta para mejorar la recepción de servicios de difusión móviles. Gracias a la mejora conseguida por las técnicas de diversidad es posible extender la cobertura de los servicios móviles además de reducir la infraestructura de red. La presente tesis investiga el uso de técnicas de diversidad para la provisión de servicios móviles en la familia europea de sistemas de difusión terrestres estandarizada por el prpoyecto DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting). Esto incluye la primera y segunda generación de sistemas DVB-T (Terrestrial), DVB-NGH (Handheld), y DVB-T2 (Terrestrial 2nd generation), así como el sistema de siguiente generación DVB-NGH. No obstante, el estudio llevado a cabo en la tesis es genérico y puede aplicarse a futuras evoluciones de estándares como el japonés ISDB-T o el americano ATSC. Las investigaciones realizadas dentro del contexto de DVB-T, DVB-H y DVBT2 tienen como objetivo la transmisión simultánea de servicios fijos y móviles en redes terrestres. Esta Convergencia puede facilitar la introducción de servicios móviles de TB debido a la reutilización de espectro, contenido e infraestructura. De acuerdo a los resultados, la incorporación de entrelazado temporal en la capa física para diversidad temporal, y de single-input multiple-output (SIMO) para diversidad espacial, son esenciales para el rendimiento de sistemas móviles de difusión. A pesar de que las técnicas upper later FEC (UL-FEC) pueden propocionar diversidad temporal en sistemas de primera generación como DVB-T y DVB-H, requieren la transmisión de paridad adicional y no son útiles para la recepción estática. El análisis en t�ñerminos de link budjget revela que las técnicas de diversidad noson suficientes para facilitar la provision de servicios móviles en redes DVB-T y DVB-T2 planificadas para recepción fija. Sin embargo, el uso de diversidad en redes planificadas para recepción portableGozálvez Serrano, D. (2012). Combined Time, Frecuency and Space Diversity in Multimedia Mobile Broadcasting Systems [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/16273Palanci