CellTV - on the Benefit of TV Distribution over Cellular Networks A Case Study

As mobile IP-access is becoming the dominant technology for providing wireless services, the demand for more spectrum for this type of access is increasing rapidly. Since IP-access can be used for all types of services, instead of a plethora of dedicated, single-service systems, there is a significant potential to make spectrum use more efficient. In this paper, the feasibility and potential benefit of replacing the current terrestrial UHF TV broadcasting system with a mobile, cellular data (IP-) network is analyzed. In the cellular network, TV content would be provided as {one} of the services, here referred to as CellTV. In the investigation we consider typical Swedish rural and urban environments. We use different models for TV viewing patterns and cellular technologies as expected in the year 2020. Results of the quantitative analysis indicate that CellTV distribution can be beneficial if the TV consumption trend goes towards more specialized programming, more local contents, and more on-demand requests. Mobile cellular systems, with their flexible unicast capabilities, will be an ideal platform to provide these services. However, the results also demonstrate that CellTV is not a spectrum-efficient replacement for terrestrial TV broadcasting with current viewing patterns (i.e. a moderate number of channels with each a high numbers of viewers). In this case, it is doubtful whether the expected spectrum savings can motivate the necessary investments in upgrading cellular sites and developing advanced TV receiver required for the success of CellTV distribution.Comment: To appear on Trans. Broadcasting 201

Field Measurements in Determining Incumbent Spectrum Utilization and Protection Criteria in Wireless Co-existence Studies

Studies of spectrum sharing and co-existence between different wireless communication systems are important, as the current aim is to optimize their spectrum utilization and shift from static exclusive spectrum allocation to more dynamic co-existence of different systems within same frequency bands. The main goal of this thesis is to provide measurement methodologies for obtaining realistic results in modeling incumbent spectrum utilization and in determining incumbent protection criteria. The following research questions are considered in this thesis: Q1) How should field measurements be conducted and used to model incumbent spectrum utilization? Q2) How should field measurements be conducted and used to determine protection criteria for incumbents in a co-existence scenario with mobile broadband? and Q3) Which licensing methods and technological solutions are feasible to enable spectrum sharing in frequency bands with incumbents? To answer to Q1, this thesis describes the development of a spectrum observatory network concept created through international collaboration and presents measurement methodologies, which allow to obtain realistic spectrum occupancy data over geographical areas using interference map concept. A cautious approach should be taken in making strong conclusions from previous single fixed location spectrum occupancy studies, and measurements covering larger geographical areas might be needed if the measurement results are to be used in making spectrum management decisions. The field interference measurements considered in Q2 are not covered well in the current research literature. The measurements are expensive to conduct as they require substantial human resources, test network infrastructure, professional level measurement devices and radio licenses. However, field measurements are needed to study and verify hypotheses from computer simulations or theoretical analyses in realistic operating conditions, as field measurement conditions can not or are not practical to be adequately modeled in simulations. This thesis proposes measurement methodologies to obtain realistic results from field interference measurements, taking into account the propagation environments and external sources of interference. Less expensive simulations and laboratory measurements should be used both to aid in the planning of field measurements and to complement the results obtained from field measurements. Q3 is investigated through several field interference measurement campaigns to determine incumbent protection criteria and by analyzing the spectrum observatory data to determine the occupancy and trends in incumbent spectrum utilization. The field interference measurement campaigns have been conducted in real TV White Space, LTE Supplemental Downlink and Licensed Shared Access test network environments, and the obtained measurement results have been contributed to the development of the European spectrum regulation. In addition, field measurements have been conducted to contribute to the development and technical validation of the spectrum sharing frameworks. This thesis also presents an overview of the current status and possible directions in spectrum sharing. In conclusion, no single spectrum sharing method can provide universally optimal efficiency in spectrum utilization. Thus, an appropriate spectrum sharing framework should be chosen taking into account both the spectrum utilization of the current incumbents and the future needs in wireless communications.Siirretty Doriast

Hybrid Satellite-Terrestrial Communication Networks for the Maritime Internet of Things: Key Technologies, Opportunities, and Challenges

With the rapid development of marine activities, there has been an increasing number of maritime mobile terminals, as well as a growing demand for high-speed and ultra-reliable maritime communications to keep them connected. Traditionally, the maritime Internet of Things (IoT) is enabled by maritime satellites. However, satellites are seriously restricted by their high latency and relatively low data rate. As an alternative, shore & island-based base stations (BSs) can be built to extend the coverage of terrestrial networks using fourth-generation (4G), fifth-generation (5G), and beyond 5G services. Unmanned aerial vehicles can also be exploited to serve as aerial maritime BSs. Despite of all these approaches, there are still open issues for an efficient maritime communication network (MCN). For example, due to the complicated electromagnetic propagation environment, the limited geometrically available BS sites, and rigorous service demands from mission-critical applications, conventional communication and networking theories and methods should be tailored for maritime scenarios. Towards this end, we provide a survey on the demand for maritime communications, the state-of-the-art MCNs, and key technologies for enhancing transmission efficiency, extending network coverage, and provisioning maritime-specific services. Future challenges in developing an environment-aware, service-driven, and integrated satellite-air-ground MCN to be smart enough to utilize external auxiliary information, e.g., sea state and atmosphere conditions, are also discussed

Coexistence of DTT and Mobile Broadband: A Survey and Guidelines for Field Measurements

This article provides a survey and a general methodology for coexistence studies between digital terrestrial television (DTT) and mobile broadband (MBB) systems in the ultra high frequency (UHF) broadcasting band. The methodology includes characterization of relevant field measurement scenarios and gives a step-by-step guideline on how to obtain reliable field measurement results to be used in conjunction with link budget analyses, laboratory measurements, and simulations. A survey of potential European coexistence scenarios and regulatory status is given to determine feasible future use scenarios for the UHF television (TV) broadcasting band. The DTT reception system behavior and performance are also described as they greatly affect the amount of spectrum potentially available for MBB use and determine the relevant coexistence field measurement scenarios. Simulation methods used in determining broadcast protection criteria and in coexistence studies are briefly described to demonstrate how the information obtained from field measurements can be used to improve their accuracy. The presented field measurement guidelines can be applied to any DTT-MBB coexistence scenarios and to a wide range of spectrum sharing and cognitive radio system coexistence measurements.</p

COST EFFICIENT PROVISIONING OF MASS MOBILE MULTIMEDIA SERVICES IN HYBRID CELLULAR AND BROADCASTING SYSTEMS

Uno de los retos a los que se enfrenta la industria de las comunicaciones móviles e inalámbricas es proporcionar servicios multimedia masivos a bajo coste, haciéndolos asequibles para los usuarios y rentables a los operadores. El servicio más representativo es el de TV móvil, el cual se espera que sea una aplicación clave en las futuras redes móviles. Actualmente las redes celulares no pueden soportar un consumo a gran escala de este tipo de servicios, y las nuevas redes de radiodifusión móvil son muy costosas de desplegar debido a la gran inversión en infraestructura de red necesaria para proporcionar niveles aceptables de cobertura. Esta tesis doctoral aborda el problema de la provisión eficiente de servicios multimedia masivos a dispositivos móviles y portables utilizando la infraestructura de radiodifusión y celular existente. La tesis contempla las tecnologías comerciales de última generación para la radiodifusión móvil (DVB-H) y para las redes celulares (redes 3G+ con HSDPA y MBMS), aunque se centra principalmente en DVB-H. El principal paradigma propuesto para proporcionar servicios multimedia masivos a bajo coste es evitar el despliegue de una red DVB-H con alta capacidad y cobertura desde el inicio. En su lugar se propone realizar un despliegue progresivo de la infraestructura DVB-H siguiendo la demanda de los usuarios. Bajo este contexto, la red celular es fundamental para evitar sobre-dimensionar la red DVB-H en capacidad y también en áreas con una baja densidad de usuarios hasta que el despliegue de un transmisor o un repetidor DVB-H sea necesario. Como principal solución tecnológica la tesis propone realizar una codificación multi-burst en DVB-H utilizando códigos Raptor. El objetivo es explotar la diversidad temporal del canal móvil para aumentar la robustez de la señal y, por tanto, el nivel de cobertura, a costa de incrementar la latencia de la red.Gómez Barquero, D. (2009). COST EFFICIENT PROVISIONING OF MASS MOBILE MULTIMEDIA SERVICES IN HYBRID CELLULAR AND BROADCASTING SYSTEMS [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/6881Palanci

A survey of handover algorithms in DVB-H

Digital Video Broadcasting for Handhelds (DVB-H) is a standard for broadcasting IP Datacast (IPDC) services to mobile handheld terminals. Based on the DVB-T standard, DVB-H adds new features such as time slicing, MPE-FEC, in-depth interleavers, mandatory cell id identifier, optional 4K-modulation mode and the use of 5 MHz bandwidth in addition to the usually used 6, 7, or 8 MHz raster. IPDC over DVB-H is proposed for ETSI to complement the DVB-H standard by combining IPDC and DVB-H in an end-to-end system. Handover in such unidirectional broadcasting networks is a novel issue. In the last few years since the birth of DVB-H technology, great attention has been given to the performance analysis of DVB-H mobile terminals. Handover is one of the main research topics for DVB-H in mobile scenarios. Better reception quality and greater power efficiency are considered to be the main targets of handover research for DVB-H. New algorithms for different handover stages in DVB-H have been the subject of recent research and are currently being studied. Further novel algorithms need to be designed to improve the mobile reception quality. This article provides a comprehensive survey of the handover algorithms in DVB-H. A systematic evaluation and categorization approach is proposed based on the problems the algorithms solve and the handover stages being focused on. Criteria are proposed and analyzed to facilitate designing better handover algorithms for DVB-H that have been identified from the research conducted by the author

NOMA based resource allocation and mobility enhancement framework for IoT in next generation cellular networks

With the unprecedented technological advances witnessed in the last two decades, more devices are connected to the internet, forming what is called internet of things (IoT). IoT devices with heterogeneous characteristics and quality of experience (QoE) requirements may engage in dynamic spectrum market due to scarcity of radio resources. We propose a framework to efficiently quantify and supply radio resources to the IoT devices by developing intelligent systems. The primary goal of the paper is to study the characteristics of the next generation of cellular networks with non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) to enable connectivity to clustered IoT devices. First, we demonstrate how the distribution and QoE requirements of IoT devices impact the required number of radio resources in real time. Second, we prove that using an extended auction algorithm by implementing a series of complementary functions, enhance the radio resource utilization efficiency. The results show substantial reduction in the number of sub-carriers required when compared to conventional orthogonal multiple access (OMA) and the intelligent clustering is scalable and adaptable to the cellular environment. Ability to move spectrum usages from one cluster to other clusters after borrowing when a cluster has less user or move out of the boundary is another soft feature that contributes to the reported radio resource utilization efficiency. Moreover, the proposed framework provides IoT service providers cost estimation to control their spectrum acquisition to achieve required quality of service (QoS) with guaranteed bit rate (GBR) and non-guaranteed bit rate (Non-GBR)

Τεχνοοικονομική μελέτη των ευκαιριών σύγκλισης της επίγειας ψηφιακής ραδιοτηλεοπτικής ευρυεκπομπής και των κινητών ευρυζωνικών δικτύων

Το κύριο μέσο διανομής του τηλεοπτικού προϊόντος στην Ευρώπη εξακολουθεί στις μέρες μας να είναι το επίγειο ψηφιακό δίκτυο ευρυεκπομπής (DTT), ενώ έπονται η δορυφορική και καλωδιακή πλατφόρμα με σημαντικά ποσοστά διείσδυσης. Αλλά αν ρωτηθεί κάποιος και δη ένας νέος πως προτιμά να παρακολουθεί τηλεόραση και να καταναλώνει βίντεο, πιθανότατα θα απαντήσει: «δεν ανοίγω καν την τηλεόραση αλλά θα το σκεφτόμουν να αγοράσω μια συνδρομητική υπηρεσία IPTV», «την αγαπημένη μου σειρά την είδα χθες στο tablet» (VoD, TV anytime), «όσο περίμενα στη στάση του λεωφορείου έριξα μια ματιά σε κάτι τρέιλερ στο Youtube από το κινητό μου» (ΟΤΤ, TV anywhere). Οι τάσεις τηλεθεάσεις αλλάζουν, οι δυνατότητες των δικτύων βελτιώνονται και η ζήτηση για ραδιοφάσμα διογκώνεται. Η συζήτηση περί συγκλινουσών τεχνολογιών που θα εξυπηρετούν αυτές τις απαιτήσεις υπό το πρίσμα της αποδοτικής διαχείρισης του ραδιοφάσματος και τη διαμόρφωση μιας ενιαίας ψηφιακής στρατηγικής σε επίπεδο Ε.Ε. είναι πιο επίκαιρη από ποτέ. Στόχος της διπλωματικής εργασίας είναι να αναδείξει και εξειδικεύσει τις νέες ανάγκες κατανάλωσης περιεχομένου βίντεο, να παρουσιάσει τις τεχνολογικές λύσεις που μπορούν να προσφέρουν τα δίκτυα με έμφαση κυρίως σε αυτά των κινητών επικοινωνιών και παράλληλα να αποτιμήσει το οικονομικό όφελος της μετάβασης σε ένα νέο οπτικοακουστικό μοντέλο όπου τα ενδιαφερόμενα μέρη (ραδιοτηλεοπτικοί φορείς, πάροχοι κινητών επικοινωνιών) θα έχουν σαφή επιχειρηματικά κίνητρα.The main means of distribution of the television product in Europe is still in our days the DTT network, followed by the satellite and cable platform with significant penetration rates. But if someone is asked, especially a younger person, how he prefers to watch television and consume video, in all likelihood, he will answer: “I don’t even watch television but I will consider purchase an IPTV subscription service”, “I watched my favorite series yesterday on my tablet” (VoD, TV anytime), “While I was waiting at the bus stop I took a look at some trailers on Youtube from my smartphone” (OTT, TV anywhere). Viewing trends are changing, the capabilities of the networks are improving and the demand for more spectrum is growing. The discussion about converging technologies which will serve these requirements in the light of efficient spectrum management and the development of a single digital strategy at EU level is more timely than ever. The aim of the Master’s thesis is to highlight and specify the new needs for video content consumption, to present the technological solutions that networks can offer with a focus on mobile communications, while at the same time to assess the economic benefit of switching to a new audiovisual model where the stakeholders (broadcasters, mobile operators) will have clear business incentives