Guided by Dr. K.R. Rao

Irfan Kerawalla

irfan.kerawalla@mavs.uta.edu

ID: 1000719155

DVB-SH System for Broadcasting to

Handheld Devices

Introduction

Mobile TV is expected to become one of the largest markets

for mass media.

Growing number of mobile phone users around the globe has

triggered excessive demand for multimedia content.

People are constantly on the move and want all the latest

news and social life updates on their fingertips.

Users want high quality multimedia content delivered at fast

speed.

Requirements of a mobile TV service

Low power consumption technology.

Stable reception with mobility.

High speeds and clear picture quality.

Minimal loss of signal due to fading and multipath effects.

What is DVB-SH?

Digital Video Broadcast - Satellite Services to Handheld

Devices (DVB-SH) [1] is the name of a transmission system

standard designed to deliver video, audio and data services to

vehicles and handheld devices

It is designed to use frequencies below 3GHz, typically

around 2.2GHz.

The system and waveform specifications have been published

as ETSI standards. (TS 102 584, TS 102 585 and EN 302

583). [1]

Applications of DVB-SH

Broadcasting of radio and TV content.

Broadcasting of audio or video content customized for

mobile TV (e.g. virtual TV channels, podcasts,).

Data delivery (“push”), e.g. for ring tones, logos.

Video-on-demand services.

Informative services (e.g. news) including location-based

services.

Interactive services via an external communications channel

e.g. Universal Mobile Telecommunications System(UMTS).

System architecture of DVB-SH

Figure 1. DVB-SH network architecture [8]

Band used for DVB-SH transmission

DVB-SH seeks to exploit the less congested, higher

frequency, S-band where there are opportunities for mobile

satellite services (MSS) systems, operating in conjunction

with complementary ground components (CGC). S-band

enables small omnidirectional antennas to be used in mobile

devices.

Figure 2: S-Band used in DVB-SH transmission [7]

Compression in DVB-SH

DVB-SH uses H.264/AVC [19] compression standard.

Figure 3. H.264 encoder block diagram [10]

Figure 4. H.264 decoder block diagram [10]

Orthogonal frequency division

multiplexing (OFDM) It is a frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) scheme used as a

digital multi-carrier modulation method.

Signal is split into a number of streams, each with a low bit rate.

OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) [8] is the

natural choice for terrestrial modulation and is the basis of both

the DVB-H and DVB-T systems. DVB-SH introduces a second

scheme, a time division multiplex (TDM), leading to two

reference architectures termed SH-A and SH-B: [8]

• SH-A uses OFDM both on the satellite and the terrestrial link

• SH-B uses TDM on the satellite link and OFDM for the

terrestrial link.

Time Slicing

The objective of time-slicing is to reduce the average power

consumption of the terminal and enable smooth and seamless

service handover. [8]

Time-slicing enables a receiver to stay active only a fraction

of the time, while receiving bursts of a requested service.

Time-slicing also supports the possibility to use the receiver

to monitor neighboring cells during the off-times.

By accomplishing the switching of the reception from one

transport stream to another during an off period it is possible

to accomplish a handover decision.

Block diagram of the DVB-SH system

Figure 5. Conceptual description of a DVB-SH system [11]

(MPE: multiprotocol encapsulation – forward error correction,

TPS: transmission parameters signaling)

Figure 6. Conceptual description of a DVB-SH receiver [11]

Basic parameters in DVB physical layer

Table 1. Physical layer parameters and data rates of DVB-SH system [11]

Table 1. Physical layer parameter and data rates of DVB-SH system [14]

Table 2. Framing and typical data rates in an S-band DVB-SH-A system in 5 MHz spectrum slot [14]

Figure 7. Transmission mode influence in 16QAM 2/3 [11].

Testing DVB streams:

DVB streams can be obtained from the website www.dvb-h.org

In this project, a tool called „TS reader lite‟ version 2.8.46g [15]

has been used to analyze the DVB test streams.

TS reader is a transport stream analyzer, decoder, recorder and

stream manipulator for MPEG-2 systems. It supports DVB, ATSC,

ISDB, and Digicipher® II extensions to the base MPEG-2

specification. TS reader gives the user the big picture overview of

what is being carried inside MPEG-2 transport streams and can be

very useful for finding errors or inefficiencies.

TS reader does not necessarily need hardware to operate and

analyze DVB streams. It can run a virtual simulation by taking the

transport stream file as an input.

Test Stream 1

Figure 8. Test stream 1 [15]

Figure 9. Test stream 1 pie chart [15]

Test stream 2

Figure 10. Test stream 2 [15]

Figure 11. Test stream 2 pie chart [15]

DVB-SH systems in the United States

The United States currently follows the advanced television systems committee (ATSC) [17] standard for satellite and terrestrial transmission.

The telecom operator AT&T has agreed to buy spectrum in the lower 700 MHz frequency band licensed by Qualcomm. [12]

Alcatel Lucent has hosted successful trials of DVB-SH systems across the United States. [12]

ICO Global Communications has successfully launched a satellite named ICO G1 specifically for mobile television. [12]

Figure 12. The ICO G1 system based on DVB-SH system [14]

(ATC: ancillary terrestrial component)

Future systems using DVB-SH

technology

Development of interactive TV applications.

DVB-SH can be used in intelligent transport services to warn

drivers of traffic congestion and alternate route planning.

Statistical multiplexing can increase the number of

broadcasted TV channels.

Remote network monitoring.

List of acronnyms CAT: Conditional access table.

CGC: Complementary ground components.

DVB-SH: Digital video broadcast satellite to handheld.

EIT: Event information table.

FFT: Fast fourier transform.

ISI: Inter-symbol interference.

MPE: Multiprotocol encapsulation-forward error correction.

MSS: Mobile satellite services.

NIT: Network information table.

OFDM: Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing.

PAT: Program association table.

PMT: Program map tables.

QAM: Quadrature amplitude modulation.

QCIF: Quarter common intermediate format.

QPSK: Quadrature phase shift keying.

QVGA: Quarter video graphics array.

SDT: Service description table.

SFN: Single frequency networks.

TPS: Transmission parameters signaling.

UMTS: Universal mobile telecommunications system.

References: [1] ETSI EN 301192: Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); DVB specification for data broadcasting

(DVB-DATA).

[2] ETSI TS 102005: Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); Specification for the use of video and

audio coding in DVB services delivered directly over IP.

[3] ETSI EN 300468: Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); Specification for Service Information (SI)

in DVB systems (DVB-SI).

References [1][2]and[3] can be accessed on

http://www.dvb-h.org

[4] DVB BlueBook A079 Rev. 1: IP Datacast over DVB-H: PSI/SI.

http://broadcasting.ru/pdf-standard-specifications/internet%20protocol/a079.pdf

[5] DVB BlueBook A111: Framing structure, channel coding and modulation for Satellite Services

to Handheld devices (SH) below 3GHz.

http://www.dvb.org/(RoxenUserID=9b5031601a81d830f6f38d9ed110cb03)/technology/stan

dards/a111_DVB-SH_Specification.pdf

[6] DVB-Scene edition No. 21: A New Star in the Sky, by Prof. Dr-Ing. Ulrich Reimers.

[7] P. Kelley, C. Rigal, “DVB-SH in S-band”

References [6] and [7] can be accessed from

http://www.ebu.ch/fr/technical/trev/trev_311-dvb_sh.pdf

[8] DVB-SH fact sheet 0409, April 2009

http://www.dvb-h.org/PDF/dvb-sh-fact-sheet.0409.pdf

[9] ETSI EN 302304 V1.1.1. (2004-11): Digital Video Broadcast

www.dvb-h.org

[10]Block diagram for encoder and decoder of H.264

http://nuntius.com/technology3.html

[11] G. Faria et al. “DVB-H: Digital broadcast services to handheld devices”, Proceedings of

the IEEE, vol. 94, no. 1, January 2006, pages 195 – 197.

[12] DVB news updates

http://www.dvb.org/about_dvb/dvb_worldwide/usa/

[13] Othogonal frequency division multiplexing

http://www.wave-report.com/blog/?p=72

[14] Implementing mobile TV, second edition, 2010, Amitabh Kumar.

[15] Testing tool TS reader lite

http://www.tsreader.com/tsreader/index.html

[16] Transport stream parameters

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPEG_transport_stream

[17] ATSC standards for mobile DTV

http://www.atsc.org/cms/index.php/standards/published-standards/163-a153-atsc-mobile-

dtv- standard-parts-1-8

[18] K.R. Rao, D.N. Kim and J.J. Hwang, “Fast fourier transform algorithms and applications”,

Springer 2010.

[19] Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services

http://www-ee.uta.edu/Dip/Courses/EE5359/H.264%20Standard2007.pdf

Thank you