Preliminary performance evaluation and verification of digital terrestrial television signal propagation

This article presents the computer simulation and field test measurement results on Channel 29 for the preliminary performance evaluation and verification of the newly-installed Lesotho digital terrestrial television network based on DVB-T2 standard following the guidelines and techniques specified by the ITU-R BT.2035-2. It evaluates, at predetermined outdoor locations for fixed and mobile reception, parameters such as received signal strength, signal quality, bit-error rate (BER) and threshold-of-visibility (ToV) together with TV signal decoding (observation of screen artefacts) for quasi error-free reception. The results indicate that at over 97% of the test sites/points at the university town of Roma, the main Berea Plateau transmitter from the capital city (Maseru) broadcasts digital television service with enough signal level and quality to be properly decoded. The measured signal strength threshold ranges above -50 dBm for good reception, -64 dBm to -50 dBm for acceptable reception and -69 dBm to -64 dBm for poor reception. With the noise floor at about -73 dBm, the minimum required C/N of around 23 dB for good reception and about 4 dB for ToV have been recorded. The relative values of minimum required respective signal strength and signal quality for ToV obtained from the set-top box are 33% and 18% for stationary reception, while they give 37% and 20% for mobile reception.

Analysis and Estimation of the Field Strength of Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting

DVB-T is the most widely used standard for digital television broadcast. With its introduction in 1997, it is used in more than 70 countries. Almost all of these countries adopted the new standard for digital terrestrial television broadcasting – DVB-T2. DVB-T2 is the best technology for digital television broadcasting, which offers better signal robustness, flexibility and more than 50% more efficiency, compared with other digital terrestrial television broadcast systems. This paper focuses on ways to deliver MPEG TS to transmitters and estimation of the field strength.

Optimizing Broadcast Spectrum through the Planning of Digital Television Network

The transition from analogue to digital television promises an enormous digital dividend that can translate to spectrum resource provision for other services. In this work, the size of the spectrum that can be released as dividend after digital switchover in some selected States of Nigeria is estimated. First, the present analogue television (ATV) network coverage is compared with predicted digital terrestrial television (DTTV) network coverage during a simulcast period, and after ATV switch-off. The predicted DTTV network is initially planned with a multi-frequency network (MFN) and analysis showed that DTTV had a 12.5% improvement in spectrum utilization compared to ATV while achieving a better coverage probability of 95.3%. This work predicted further spectrum savings with the use of a single-frequency network (SFN) design for DTTV network planning. The analysis done showed that 87.5% of the ATV spectrum could be saved for other services after the transition to DTTV using SFN. Keywords: Digital television, SFN, MFN, Spectrum, dividend

Dynamic spectrum access in terrestrial TV band: assessment of prospects in Kenya

Wireless connectivity has become a significant part of human life all over the world, both in developing and developed countries. In order to provide sufficient coverage without the densification of cellular networks, relatively low carrier frequencies should be used. This paper considers the reuse of the digital terrestrial television (DTT) band for cellular system operation in Kenya, while protecting incumbent TV signal reception according to the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance (DSAL) rules. A state of the art model for DTT coverage and allowed cellular system power calculation is tested using real data for Kenya. Suggestions regarding future DSAL rules amendments are provided. Moreover, the amount of spectrum resources available for cellular system operation in the DTT band in Kenya is estimated against varying system parameters.

Towards Indonesia’s integrated broadcast-broadband implementation policy: A comparative analysis of Singapore, Japan and Malaysia

This study aims to provide recommendations to the government on regulating licence, content and data privacy and protection for integrated broadcast-broadband (IBB) operations in Indonesia, by referencing Singapore, Japan and Malaysia as case studies, considering the need for umbrella regulations for IBB implementation. Singapore and Japan were chosen as countries that have deployed IBB since they have been using hybrid broadcast broadband television (HbbTV) and Hybridcast standards, respectively. Malaysia was chosen because it is a neighbouring country that has conducted trials of the IBB service, bundled with its digital terrestrial television (DTT) service. The qualitative data are analysed using a comparative method. The results show that Indonesia needs to immediately revise its existing Broadcasting Law to accommodate DTT implementation, which is the basis for IBB and the expansion of the broadcaster’s TV business. Learning from Singapore, Indonesia could include over-the-top (OTT) content in its ‘Broadcast Behaviour Guidelines’ and ‘Broadcast Programme Standards’. Data privacy and protection requirements for each entity involved in the IBB ecosystem are necessary due to the vulnerability of IBB service user data leakage. In light of this, the ratification of the personal data protection law, as a legal umbrella, needs to be accelerated.

Design and Applications of GLANCE: GLanceable Alarm Notification for a User Centered Experience

The trade-off between awareness and interruption is a crucial aspect in network fault notifiers: Low severity alarms should not distract operators from other primary tasks, however it might be crucial that operators promptly react to critical notifications. A notification system should hence determine when a particular interruption is appropriate and how it should be presented. In this direction, this paper presents a multistep design path beginning from the objective of designing a proof-of-concept for a glanceable alarm notification component for telecommunication network management systems based on a peripheral display approach. In particular the goal was a notifier guided by severity-based strategies and offering the information expressiveness of a one-notification-at-the-time perspective while enriching it with overview capabilities to guarantee (possibly subliminal) long-term local and global content comprehension and prompt reaction only when the interruption from the foreground task is dictated by the fault severity. A first design macro-phase led to the simple yet effective GLANCE (GLanceable Alarm Notification for a User Centered Experience) model, based on a visual coding technique oriented to comprehension and reaction, and a transition strategy oriented to interruptions and reaction. A second design macro-phase studied the application of GLANCE to a personal customizable multichannel notification tool and to a service-oriented fault monitor for digital terrestrial television broadcasting networks.