Communications Laboratory Lecture Series Digital television broadcasting Presentation by: Neil Pickford

Digital Television Broadcasting DTB What is digital TV How was it developed What are the systems Enabling technologies Transmission technology Compression technology Content & services What is happening in australia The future This lecture will cover the following areas

Broad Objectives of DTB Overcome limitations of the existing analog television systems Improved picture High quality (no interference) Resolution (HDTV) Format (16:9) Enhanced service related features Additional data capacity available for other value added services Aspect ratio will change from 4:3 to 16:9 4

Digital Media First media systems were analog Most media are converting to digital Computer storage Music (LP-CD) Telecommunications Multimedia Radio (DAB) Television No-one is talkingabout or developing analog systems any more.

Standard Definition Television SDTV The current television display system 4:3 aspect ratio picture, interlace scan Australia/Europe 625 lines - 704 pixels x 576 lines displayed 50 frames/sec 25 pictures/sec 405504 pixels total USA/Japan 525 lines - 704 pixels x 480 lines displayed 60 frames/sec 30 pictures/sec 337920 pixels total SDTV - The television system we have at the moment

Enhanced Definition Television EDTV Intermediate step to HDTV Doubled scan rate - reduce flicker Double lines on picture - calculated Image processing - ghost cancelling Wider aspect ratio - 16:9 Multi-channel sound Next Step up towards HDTV Line doubling is done by interpolating the lines inbetween the transmitted lines. Ghost Cancelling was one of the last advances in analog television technology to be incorporated in Australia

High Definition Television HDTV Not exactly defined - number of systems System with a higher picture resolution Greater than 1000 lines resolution Picture with less artefacts or distortions Bigger picture to give a viewing experience Wider aspect ratio to use peripheral vision Progressive instead of interlaced pictures HDTV Many people are talking about it but it is not exactly defined. Wider aspect ratio so it starts to engrosse your peripheral vision, unlike normal TV which primarily occupies the central vision.

HDTV - Have We Heard This Before? The first TV system had just 32 lines When the 405 line system was introduced it was called HDTV! When 625 line black & white came along it was called HDTV! When the PAL colour system was introduced it was called HDTV by some people. Now we have 1000+ line systems and digital television - guess what? Its called HDTV! HDTV - This term has been used over and over. Some people are saying we are not going to make any money out of HDTV, however in the press clipping of 1930s & 1950s the same type of people were saying the same things about the HDTV improvements then. Just talk to the TV companies and see if they are making any money?

Interlaced Vs Progressive Scan Interlaced pictures. - 1/2 the lines presented each scan 1,3,5,7,9,11,13...............623,625 field 1 2,4,6,8,10,12,14.............622,624 field 2 Because the fields are recorded at separate times this leads to picture twitter & judder Progressive pictures - all the lines sent in the one scan. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8................623,624,625 picture No twitter or judder. But twice the information rate. The current interlace system uses 2 interleaved fields of lines to make up every picture. Differences between the temporal sampling of the two fields lead to effects such as twitter and judder on moving objects. With progressive scanning adjacent lines come from adjacent temporal moments and so do not exhibit these effects.

Have you seen HDTV pictures? Question - HDTV Have you seen HDTV pictures? I think more people may have seen HDTV than they think.

All Current Generation PCs use Progressive Do You Use A PC? All Current Generation PCs use Progressive Scan and display Pictures which match or exceed HDTV resolutions although the pixel pitch, aspect ratio and colorimetry are not correct. HDTV Some PC monitors have RGB bandwidths exceeding 120 MHz. HDTV only requires 30 MHz.

Digital Television Why digital? Noise free pictures Higher resolution images Widescreen / HDTV No ghosting Multi-channel sound Other services. The average domestic TV in Australia has all sorts of distortions. Digital TV will remove those distortions. Just like a CD, you never hear a scratched CD. It’s either perfect or it’s nothing.

Digital Television - Types Satellite (DBS) DVB-S Program interchange Direct view / pay TV SMATV Downlink What are the type of Digital Television? Satellite uses a central uplink to provide regional or national coverage. You need to have a satellite dish and down converter. Because accuracy in pointing is required this is a fixed service. Uplink

Digital Television - Types Cable HFC - pay TV MATV DVB-C / 16-VSB Fibre Main Coax Tethered cable systems coaxial or fibre. You need to be connected to a permanent cable. Again this is a relatively fixed system. Spur Tee Tap

Digital Television - Types Terrestrial (DTTB) DVB-T / 8-VSB Free to air TV (broadcasting) Narrowcasting/value added services Untethered - portable reception DTTB allows both fixed or portable operation.

Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting - DTTB Regional free to air television Replacement of current analog PAL broadcast television services Operating in adjacent unused “taboo” channels to analog PAL service Carries a range of services HDTV, SDTV, audio, teletext, data Providing portable service What is DTTB?

Mobile Digital TV Onboard a Tram in Cologne - Germany A trial in Germany has DTTB on a Tram showing portable operation.

How Was Digital TV Developed Japanese & Europeans wanted to improve analog TV - bigger pictures, more resolution Japanese developed muse 1125 lines 60 Hz Europeans worked on HD-MAC 1250 lines Americans broadcasters wanted to protect spare unused TV channels from the land mobile service and told FCC they required the channels for a future analog compatible HDTV system. Americans used the term HDTV as an ambit claim to protect their broadcasting spectrum from land mobile interests. This caused a problem because they did not even know what it was, so they had to do something about developing it before the FCC started asking hard questions.

Development Race Americans embarked on a HDTV race to develop an analog HDTV system Digital television was seen as impossible. General instruments developed first digital TV system for satellite pay TV from experience with NASA deep space probes HDTV race became a digital HDTV race. Race outcome - poor performance but demonstrated digital could be done. Initial Race was analog, people agreed that digital television was impossible.

DTTB Transmission Systems 3 systems are being developed at present. USA ATSC 8-VSB Europe DVB COFDM Japan ISDB band segmented OFDM What are the Digtal Television systems?

8-VSB - USA Developed by the advance television systems committee - ATSC Developed for use in a 6 MHz channel A 7 MHz variant is possible. Uses a single carrier with pilot tone 8 level amplitude modulation system Payload data rate of 19.3 Mb/s Relies on adaptive equalisation Existing technology developed to near limit ATSC developed out of the Grand Aliance which resulted at the end of the initial digital television race in America.

COFDM - Europe Developed by the digital video broadcasting project group - DVB Uses similar technology to DRB Uses 1705 or 6817 carriers Variable carrier modulation types are defined allowing data rates of 5-27 Mb/s in 7 MHz Developed for 8 MHz channels A 7 MHz variant has been produced and tested Can use single frequency networks - SFNs New technology with scope for continued improvement & development

ISDB - Japan Japanese are developing integrated services digital broadcasting (ISDB) System integrates all forms of broadcasting services into one common data channel which can be passed by satellite, cable or terrestrial delivery systems Video services Sound services Bulk data services Interactive data services

ISDB - Concept Main TV menu Newspaper - Categories - Headlines Downloaded overnight Television Schedule Weather Preview of other stations Time,Email,Interactive services 16:9 Display. Proposed to use band segmented transmission - orthogonal frequency division multiplex (BST-OFDM)

BST-OFDM - Japan BST-OFDM is a variant of the European COFDM system which allows segmenting of the data spectrum into 100 kHz blocks. 2 receiver bandwidths proposed. 500 kHz portable / mobile for sound and data 5.6 MHz fixed / mobile for SDTV and LDTV 5.6 MHz fixed for HDTV Individual band segments can be allocated to separate services which can use different modulation systems Takes a wide band system and segmented it into 100 kHz blocks. Data can be reallocated in these blocks. Radio/portable services on small blocks of spectrum, Television services on the larger blocks of spectrum. The ruggedness of the system can be tailored to the intended use by varying the modulation parameters within each of the 100 kHz blocks.

BST-OFDM - Japan Allows separate services to be replaced for local area broadcasting Allows for variable ruggedness for fixed / mobile / portable reception Could straddle other existing services. Primarily being developed for japan as a solution to cluttered broadcasting spectrum. In early stages of development No hardware available at this stage Solely being developed within Japan for Japanese use. It is not seen as a contender for the Australian environment.

8-VSB & COFDM - Spectrum 8-VSB COFDM This is a spectrum analyser plot of the two digital systems being considered in Australia. The little hump on the left side of the 8-VSB spectrum (yellow) is the pilot carrier. These are averaged spectrums and have shoulder levels of around 35-40 dB The spectrums are basically rectangular in shape. The COFDM signal is wider since it is a 7 MHz system in a 7 MHz channel while 8-VSB is 6 MHz wide.

Traditional SCPC Modulation Minimum Carrier Spacing What is this COFDM modulation? A Traditional Single Carrier Per Channel (SCPC) digital system there is a minimum spacing that you can put two individual carriers apart. It tends to be around 3 times the bessle frequency, where the modulation sidebands dimminish sufficiently to cause minimal interference to the adjacent carrier. SCPC is a type of Frequency Division Multiplex (FDM) Frequency

COFDM - Orthogonal Carriers COFDM is Coded Orthogonal FDM If you observe the carrier spacing they are much closer together. This thing called “Orthogonality” is the key. It means that the peak of the yellow carrier (and all others) coincides with a null on every other carrier. Each peak sits directly above a null. You cannot generate these carriers by having individual oscillators mixed together. They are all generated at the same time using an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) using the same clock. Frequency

Almost Rectangular Shape Spectrum of COFDM DTTB Carrier Spacing 2k Mode 3.91 kHz 8k Mode 0.98 kHz Almost Rectangular Shape These 1000s of carriers form the observed rectangular spectrum. There are two modes for the system 2K & 8K. This referes to the size of the FFT used to generate and demodulate them. The 2k system has 1705 carriers and the 8k system uses 6817 carriers. The extra locations in the FFT are used to ensure that the signals have a sharp roll-off and good out of channel performance. 1705 or 6817 Carriers 6.67 MHz in 7 MHz Channel

Digital Modulation - 8-AM 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 What are the modulation types used. These are 8-VSB 8-AM eye diagrams taken of an analog CRO. Both diagrams are a direct coaxial feed with no path impairments. The left diagram is the waveform which comes out of the Tuner IF, while the right diagram is the same signal after equalisation.The left diagram has almost no data eye. The section in the middle is the segment sync which uses 2 level data for robust clock timing recovery. Before Equaliser After Equaliser 8-VSB - Coaxial Direct Feed through Tuner on Channel 8 VHF 3 Bits/Symbol

QPSK Q I The European System uses QPSK & QAM on the thousands of carriers within the COFDM signal. QPSK modulation uses 4 different phase angles 90 degrees apart, all at the same amplitude. The decoder only has to decide which quadrant the data point lies in. Each QPSK symbol carries 2 data bits. 2 Bits/Symbol

16-QAM Q I The next modulation level is 16-QAM. Note that the original quadrant point for QPSK is in the middle of the four points in each quadrant. The insert constellation shows what a real modulated 16-QAM system looks like. The points are more fuzzy than the concept diagram, this is due to phase and amplitude noise which is encoutered in any communication system. Close examination reveals that there are a few extra points out in nowhere land between the points which may be interpreted as incorrect data values. To decode this signal the system has to set a boundry around around each point as a decision threshold. 4 Bits/Symbol

64-QAM Q I The more points you have in the modulation constellation the less robust the system is. 64-QAM has 4 times as many points as 16-QAM. This is the modulation which is applied to each carrier in the COFDM Digital TV system we have been testing. 6 Bits/Symbol

64-QAM - Perfect & Failure These figures are real 64-QAM system constelations for both a no noise “perfect” condition and at the failure threshold due to white noise. In the system on the right the data eye is no longer visible but the system is still just working. Again notice in the perfect case that there are some errant points inbetween the main constellation points.

64-QAM and QPSK Q I Here is the 64-QAM diagram again. I have drawn in the positions of the QPSK points if this was only a QPSK system. They occupy the centre of each of the 4 quadrants. The QPSK system can take a noise hit which can move the amplitude and phase half a quadrant to anywhere else in the same quadrant, and still be decoded correctly. Thus it is much more robust than 64-QAM. QPSK however only allows 2 data bits per symbol to be transmitted. What if we could combine these two modes? 6 or 2 Bits/Symbol

Non Uniform 64-QAM Q I If we modify the system and make it non uniform, we can encode 6 bits of data per symbol with two levels of robustness in the data. 2 bits encoded as QPSK and a further 4 bits at the normal 64-QAM spacing. The data can then be allocated to these data bits on the basis of service type, with a Robust low data rate mobile service using the QPSK data and the normal higher rate Fixed service using the remaining delicate 64-QAM data mode. 2 + 4 Bits/Symbol

Non Uniform 16-QAM Q I The same technique can be applied to 16-QAM however you end up with two services each having 2 bits per symbol at different protection levels. This is known generally as Non-Uniform or Heirachial QAM and is covered within the COFDM system specification. 2 + 2 Bits/Symbol

8-VSB - DTV - Development 1987 FCC inquiry into future TV systems and advisory committee on ATV service was established - ACATS 1990 digital TV systems developed Competitive testing race undertaken 1993 poor results announced - grand alliance (GA) formed by the contestants. - Extra development 1994 re-testing of GA system How was the development of 8-VSB handled? Grand alliance took the best components of each of the condending digital systems and carried out extra development to come up with a single combined system.

8-VSB - DTV - Development 1996 FCC adopted ATSC standard 1997 each full-power broadcaster loaned a second 6 MHz TV channel for simalcasting DTV. 1997 FCC announced DTV service and mandated 8 year transition schedule 1997 demonstration, laboratory testing and field trials of 8-VSB in Australia

8-VSB - Transition Schedule 1/5/99 coverage of 10 largest markets 1/11/99 coverage top 30 markets 1/5/02 all other commercials on air 1/5/03 all non commercial stations 2006 switch off analog service and recover 138 MHz of spectrum An aggressive transition schedule has been laid out by the FCC.

What does this 8-VSB equipment look like? This is the 8-VSB receiver we had here in Australia during the Laboratory testing. The equipment is commonly refered to as the “Blue racks”. It is a half height 19 inch rack and would be better described as a set bottom decoder rather than a set top, since it takes at least 2 people to lift it. This prototype equipment from Zenith, operates on 110 volts and the right hand photos show a close up of the card rack and the technology used on an average card, of which there are 14. This particular card is a phase equaliser.

8-VSB Equipment Still at the prototype stage First chips are being tested now This year domestic receiver They have now compressed all of the logic in the “Blue Racks” into three VLSI chips which are being tested and integrated into receivers at present..

European Development - DVB 1991 European launching group (ELG) 1992 ELG developed MoU for cooperation 1993 ELG became digital video broadcasting (DVB) project - a forum for all interested in digital TV to participate in research and development as a unified group. DVB is a consortium of over 200 network operators, broadcasters, manufacturers and regulators in 30 countries working together. How did the Europeans do it? Until late 1990, DTB to the home was thought to be impractical and costly During 1991, broadcasters, consumer equipment manufacturers and regulatory bodies formed a group that would oversee the development of digital television in Europe - the European Launching Group (ELG). The ELG expanded and drafted a MoU establishing the rules by which this new and challenging game of collective action would be played. This meant that commercial competitors needed to appreciate their common requirements and agendas. In September 1993, and the Launching Group became DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting). Development work in digital television, already underway in Europe, moved into top gear. Around this time, the Working Group on Digital Television prepared a study of the prospects and possibilities for digital terrestrial television in Europe and introduced concepts, such as allowing several different consumer markets to be served at the same time (eg. Portable television and HDTV).

DVB Project The DVB philosophy - open, interoperable, flexible, market-led, global standards for digital TV 1980s MAC systems under development gave way to all digital technology Based on common MPEG-2 coding system Integrated set of standards allowing flexible operation across cable, microwave, satellite and terrestrial distribution The DVB project want everyone to participate, and everything to be open, and not heavilly locked up in restrictive patents. In the 1980s it was becoming clear that the once state-of-the-art MAC systems would have to give way to all-digital technology. DVB provided the forum for gathering all the major European television interests into one group. It promised to develop a complete digital television system based on a unified approach.

DVB - COFDM - Development Easier satellite (DVB-S) & cable (DVB-C) systems were developed first. DVB-T is the terrestrial member of the DVB family of standards. OFDM transmission originally developed for cable systems, adapted to digital radio broadcasting, extended by DVB to digital TV DVB-T based on COFDM technology Satellite and cable were developed and delivered the first broadcast digital television services. Fewer technical problems and a simpler regulatory climate meant that they could develop more rapidly than terrestrial systems. Market priorities meant that digital satellite and cable broadcasting systems would have to be developed rapidly. DVB-T Terrestrial broadcasting followed since it has more interference problems than satellite or cable. By 1997 the development of the DVB Project had successfully followed the initial plans, and the project had entered its next phase, promoting its open standards globally, and making digital television a reality.

COFDM - Transition Schedule DTTB test transmission programs are currently occurring in Denmark, Holland, Finland, France, Germany & Italy 1998 Britain & Sweden on air with SDTV DTTB system using UHF band. 2001 Spain plans DTTB to be operational, achieving 100% coverage by 2010. Simulcasting is expected to be around 20 years in Europe. Focus is SDTV to EDTV What is the transition schedule in Europe? The European way is not as aggressive as the US FCC system with an anticipated 20 year change-over period for simualcasting Analog and Digital TV. Europeans are focusing on SDTV at this stage as they had their fingers burnt with HD-MAC. They are looking to improve normal trelevision.

COFDM - Commercial Receiver News data systems - system 3000 What does the European equipment we tested look like? It is a 2 rack unit, 19 inch wide rack box as shown in the picture above with two receivers on top of each other showing the front and back panels. It is a commercial receiver with an infr-red remote control utilising on screen menus. It has a single RF input, comonent & composite video outputs along with a digital tansport stream output. It has RS232 interfaces to allow remote control and diagnostics.

COFDM DTTB Equipment System 3000 - NDS Project mummy bear - NDS zenith Dvbird - Thomson SGS Philips 3 chip receiver - Philips Test receiver - ITIS Harris Chip set - Hokia Siemens Over 20 manufacturers showing hardware Other equipment that is available or under construction. Quite a few different companies are involved in producing hardware for the COFDM system.

COFDM - Current Hardware What is inside the box? There are three main boards in this receiver. On the far right is the tuner mixer A/D converter and synthesizer, in the cenre is the COFDM demodulator, and the final board is the MPEG decoder which is normally located at the front on top of the COFDM demodulator. In fact the MPEG decoder is a standard PACE decoder with some parts unused. This is the same board which is in the Galaxy pay TV satellite set top decoders. This is because the components of Digital TV are modular with common interface points.

Dvbird - Receiver 4 VLSI COFDM receiver Implements an 8K FFT (2K/8K mode) QPSK, 16QAM & 64QAM 1/4,1/8 & 1/32 guard intervals Onboard tuner The Tuner and COFDM Demodulator in the previous photo will be replaced by this board which utilises 4 VLSI chips. Originally it was thought that the first integrated boards would only do 2048 point (2k) FFTs because of the complexity, however this is one of the first and it includes the full 8096 point (8k) FFT. It allows all the various QAM modulation modes

Enabling Technologies Source digitisation (Rec 601 digital studio) Compression technology (MPEG, AC-3) Data multiplexing (MPEG) Transmission technology (modulation) Display technology (large wide screens) Digital TV has Key Technologies that make it possible. Most production within the current TV stations already happens in the digital domain using standards such as Rec 601 digital video. It only becomes analog when it is transmitted over the air to the viewer. Display technology has not reached the level needed for HDTV to be fully implementable at present.

Digital Terrestrial TV - Layers . . . provide clean interface points. . . . Picture Layer 1920 x 1080 1280 x 720 60,30, 24 Hz Multiple Picture Formats and Frame Rates MPEG-2 compression syntax ML@MP or HL@MP Video Compression Layer Data Headers Motion Vectors Chroma and Luma DCT Coefficients Variable Length Codes Packet Headers Flexible delivery of data Transport Layer DTTB is about layers. Picture Compression Transport/Multiplexing Transmission Video packet Audio packet Video packet Aux data MPEG-2 packets VHF/UHF TV Channel COFDM / 8-VSB Transmission Layer 7 MHz

Digital Television Encode Layers Video Data Sound Control Data Picture Coding Data Coding Audio Coding MPEG-2 or AC-3 MPEG-2 MPEG Transport Stream Mux Program 1 Multiplexer Control Data Program 2 Program 3 Other Data Service Mux Bouquet Multiplexer Control Data What are the inputs to these layers? MPEG Transport Data Stream 188 byte packets Error Protection Modulator & Transmitter Control Data Delivery System

Digital Television Decode Layers Speakers Data Mon Picture Decoder Data Decoder Audio Decoder MPEG or AC-3 MPEG-2 MPEG Transport Stream De-Multiplexer MPEG DeMux At the receiver we simply select the portions of the existing data stream we wish to decode and throw away the rest. Demodulator & Receiver Error Control Delivery System

Transmission Technology The transmission system is used to transport the information to the consumer. The system protects the information being carried from the transmission environment Current Australian analog television uses the PAL-B AM modulation system The transmission technology protects the data from the communications environment. In something like the satellite environment it is very easy since there are not many variable sources of transmission impairment, A terrestrial system has to cope with obstructions, reflections, multipath, and various types of man made interference

Digital TV Transmission Technology The transmission system is a “data pipe” Transports data rates of around 20 Mb/s Transports data in individual containers called packets Being Digital, it is just like any computer data. You put a byte of data into the pipe, you must receive the same byte out the end of the pipe. If it is different at the other end it simply does not work. The testing of these systems had primarilly been done (95%) looking at Bit Error Rates (BER), not the displayed pictures. The data is transported in 188 byte groups called packets.

Terrestrial Transmission Problems Multipath interference - ghosts Noise interference - snow Variable path attenuation - fading Interference to existing services Interference from other services Channel frequency assignment - where to place the signal The current Analog TV system has lots of problems which can arise in the transmission path and are reflected in a poor quality picture. We also have problems with planning where to place these services, because we have to avoid known interference mechanisms.

Digital Modulation - Functions Spreads the data evenly across the channel Distributes the data in time Maintains synchronisation well below data threshold Employs sophisticated error correction. Equalises the channel for best performance Digital modulation distributes the information across the channel bandwidth so the rectangular spectrum shown earlier is produced. This makes more efficient use of the spectrum. Highly rugged transmission techniques are used for the system synchronisation data such as QPSK and 2 level data. This is because if the system clock is lost, the whole system immediately stops working and may take some time to reaquire lock. Error correction techniques such as Reed Solomon and Viterbi Coding are used to correct errors in the data.

Digital Has to Fit In With PAL We need a digital system that can co-exist with the existing analog broadcast TV currently in use in Australia We use the PAL-B with sound system G Australian TV channels are 7 MHz wide on both VHF & UHF Australia uses: VHF bands I, II & III UHF bands IV & IV We have an existing service in the television brodcasting spectrum. To introduce a Digital TV service in Australia it must be able to co-exist with the current system for a simualcast period. Unlike most of the rest of the world we use 7 MHz TV channels for both the VHF and UHF TV bands.

Digital Has to Fit In With PAL World TV channel bandwidths vary USA / japan 6 MHz Australian 7 MHz Europeans 8 MHz Affects:- tuning, filtering, interference & system performance 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 Why would the channel spacing matter? It means that we need a special 7 MHz channel varient for us. The diagram shows 6,7 & 8 MHz channel spacings at UHF starting at channel 28. You can see that by the time we get to channel 35 we are over a channel out. If nothing else this means that Digital TV receivers for Australia will need a flexible tuning system which allows for 7 MHz spacings instead of 6 or 8 MHz. This would mean a software change. 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35

Digital Has to Fit In With PAL Digital television system development is focused in Europe & USA The systems standards are designed to meet the needs of the developers They focus on their countries needs first Australian input is through standards organisations such as the ITU-R Digital TV development has Focused on the needs of the countries that have developed it.

Channel Spacing Existing analog TV channels are spaced so they do not interfere with each other. Gap between PAL TV services VHF 1 channel UHF 2 channels Digital TV can make use of these gaps Ch 6 Ch 7 Ch 8 Ch 9 Ch 9A I talked earlier about there being problems with channel spacing and taboo channels. Analog TV cannot cope with another analog service in the adjacent channel without some interference occuring. An analog service in channel 8 above would interfere with channel 7 & 9 in the same area. Digital has been designed to use these inbetween channels without interfering with the Analog service. VHF Television Spectrum

Digital Challenges Digital TV must co-exist with existing PAL services DTV operates at lower power DTV copes higher interference levels Share transmission infra-structure DTV needs different planning methods Ch 6 Ch 7 Ch 8 Ch 9 Ch 9A The digram here shows the spectrums of both 8-VSB and COFDM in the adjacent channels 6 & 8. Note that the 8-VSB has a lot more room at the edge of the channel. This is because it is a 6 MHz system operating in a 7MHz channel. The COFDM signal gets very close to the sound subcarriers of channel 7. Because it is in the same area as current transmissions the antennas & towers can be shared by combining the signals. This avoids constructing new towers but does need some complex combiners to be built. 8-VSB COFDM VHF Television Spectrum

Digital Service Area Planning Analog TV has a slow gradual failure Existing PAL service was planned for: 50 % availability at 50 % of locations Digital TV has a “cliff edge” failure Digital TV needs planning for: 90-99 % availability at 90-99 % of locations At the edge of the analog service area at 50% of the locations in that area you will have a “good” service at least 50% of the time. This is because analog TV has a slow and gradual failure mechanism. Digital has a cliff edge failure, Its either perfect or its nothing. So we have to change these planning numbers to achieve 90-99% availability at 90-99% of locations.

TV System Failure Characteristic Good Quality Edge of Service Area The cliff edge failure is demonstrated in this diagram. As soon as you transmit the analog signal it starts degrading however digital remains perfect until it suddenly fails. Rotten Close Far Distance

TV System Failure Characteristic Good Quality Edge of Service Area The real problem arises in the shaded area where people outside the analog service area have been receiving “fortuitos” reception of analog, usually with a poor picture, but will receive no digital service. This will be a difficult problem to deal with, as some of the people in these areas have gone to great lengths to get capital city reception. Rotten Close Far Distance

Digital Provides New Concepts Single frequency networks (SFNs) can help solve difficult coverage situations SFNs allow the reuse of a transmission frequency many times in the same area so long as exactly the same program is carried Allows lower power operation Better shaping of coverage Improved service availability Better spectrum efficiency I mentioned SFNs earlier. This is a feature of the COFDM modulation technology which allows reuse of the same spectrum in the same coverage area, and thus greater spectrum efficiency. The circles represent the coverage in Canberra, Green being the main transmitter and the other circles being existing or future translators which all use separate channels with Analog TV. Using a SFN all these fill in transmitters could be on the same frequency. Unfortunately we cannot use the digital SFN technique in channels adjacent to existing analog services, so this will be a restriction on the use of this technique, until the analog services can be switched off at the end of the simualcast period. SFNs must have exactly the same data on each transmitter.

Compression Technology When low bandwidth analog information is digitised the result is high amounts of digital information. 5 MHz bandwidth analog TV picture º 170 - 270 Mb/s digital data stream. 270 Mb/s would require a bandwidth of at least 140 MHz to transport Compression of the information is required Compression technology is also an enabling thechnology. When you digitise video you end up with massive amounts of real time data. In the above example you would need 20 channels to transmit one digital video signal. We have to compress the television signal so there is less data, allowing it to fit in a normal channel

Compression - Types Two types of compression available Loss-less compression 2 to 5 times Lossy compression 5 to 250 times Loss-Less compression produces exactly the same data out as went into the process, like over a telephone modem. Lossy Compression allows changes to occur in the data such that subtle approximations are made to the images or sounds that the viewer will not be able to notice.

Compression - Loss-less Types Picture differences - temporal Run length data coding - GIF 101000100010001001101 = 1 + 4x0100 + 1101 21 bits source = 12 bits compressed Huffman coding - PKZIP Short codes for common blocks Longer codes for uncommon blocks Lookup tables Temporal Picture Differences rely on the premise that most of the background in pictures does not change from picture to picture, so why transmit it more than once. A difference is calculated by subtraction and only the information that has changed is transmitted. Run Length encoding exploits repeating sequences or data patterns

Compression - Lossy Types Quantisation - rounding Motion vectors Prediction & interpolation Fractal coding Discrete cosine transform (DCT) Quantisation - A 8 or 16 bit signal may not need that level of resolution, 4 or 6 bits may suffice. It might, however make things a bit more fuzzy. Motion Vectors - is a technique where common pixel blocks are identified from picture to picture and their movement transmitted, instead or retransmitting all the information for the blocks. Eg a hand moving, the pixel blocks displaying the hand are identified and the information transmitted that it they moved X pixels in direction Y. The main problem with this technique is the high level of processor power needed to carry out a pixel block search and match. Prediction & Interpolation use averaging to determine data between known points without having to transmit it. DCT is used by MPEG-2 along with Differencing, Motion Vectors, Prediction and Interpolation.

Compression - DCT Here is an example of DCT compression. A simple 8x8 pixel area around the “1” on the calendar has been compressed using the DCT. The original and compressed data values in an 8x8 matrix are shown. Notice the 64 original values have been reduced in this particular example to 4 non zero numbers. The numbers in the DCT matrix represent a frequency distribution of the H & V pixel information in the original picture. The quantisation level of the final numbers can also be reduced with typically half of the matrix being zero or very close to zero not requiring transmission. The reverse process produces a pixel block which is a very close approximation to the original, even when some of the elements have been quantised. 8x8 Pixels

MPEG-2 - I, P & B Frames Uncompressed SDTV Digital Video Stream - 170 Mb/s Picture 830kBytes Picture 830kBytes Picture 830kBytes Picture 830kBytes I Frame B Frame B Frame P Frame 100 kBytes 12 kBytes 12 kBytes 33 kBytes MPEG-2 Compressed SDTV Digital Video Stream - 3.9 Mb/s I - intra picture coded without reference to other pictures. Compressed using spatial redundancy only P - predictive picture coded using motion compensated prediction from past I or P frames B - bidirectionally-predictive picture using both past and future I or P frames MPEG has different types of frames which allow interpolation and prediction to be used to reduce the amount of data that needs to be sent. Three types of frames I, P & B frames. I frames have around 9 times less data, P frames 25 times less and B frames 70 times less data than the original frame. In this example the total compression is 43 times. These frames are usually sequenced in a 12 frame Group Of Pictures (GOP) sequence. Typically structured I B B P B B P B B P B B I B B P B B P B B P B B I etc

MPEG-2 Compresses source video, audio & data Segments video into I, P & B frames Generates system control data Packetises elements into data stream Multiplexes program elements - services Multiplexes services - transport stream Organises transport stream data into 188 byte packets The functions of MPEG-2 are then as shown in this table.

MPEG-2 - Formats ML & HL MPEG-2 defines profiles & levels They describe sets of compression tools DTTB uses main profile. Choice of levels Higher levels include lower levels Level resolution Low level (LL) 360 by 288 SIF Main level (ML) 720 by 576 SDTV High level (HL) 1920 by 1152 HDTV Profiles and Levels within MPEG-2 define sets of tools or syntaxes for compressing the picture information. If you have a higher level toolbox than you can handle the lower level compression modes, however if you have a middle level tool set you are unable to process images built with the high level tool set. For SDTV you need Main Level (ML) where as for HDTV you need High Level (HL). If you want to process HDTV you must have a HL decoder. During HL only transmissions a ML decoder will stop decoding and go “Black”. Although HDTV may not be ready at the start of the Digital TV era, the decoders must have a HL decoder otherwise when HDTV is available those decoders will not work. A more inefficient solution which may need to be adopted in Britain, which is installing ML only decoders, is to always transmit a ML signal along with the HDTV. Unfortunately this reduces the data rate available to HDTV by 3-4 Mb/s.

Video Formats - SDTV - 50 Hz Here are some of the SDTV video formats, with the relevant number of pixels and bitrate. All these formats are Interlaced

Video Formats - HDTV - 50 Hz HDTV formats with pixels and bitrate. Yellow are interlaced formats White are progressive formats Green can support both formats

Common Image Format CIF 1920 pixels x 1080 lines progressive scan is now being promoted as the world CIF. All HDTV systems will need to support this image format and then allow conversion to any other display formats that are supported by the equipment. Finally the International community have got together and defined a Common Image Format (CIF) for HDTV type production. This means that world wide people can produce material in the same HD format allowing easier interchange without standards conversion. All the future HDTV systems will support this format even if they are working with lower level display devices, they will be required to be able to up or down convert to the CIF.

DTTB - Content & Services DTTB was designed to carry video, audio and program data for television DTTB can carry much more than just TV Electronic program guide, teletext Best of internet service Broadband multimedia data, news, weather Interactive services Software updates, games Services can be dynamically reconfigured DTTB can carry many other things than just television. Interactive services need a back channel such as the telephone line or a cable/wireless modem. The analog television we are used to uses a very dumb device to display the pictures. Digital TV uses a smart box which can be dynamically re-configured. You can choose the change the channel/data structure mid program, upload new operating software with different funtions. No longer will the transmission be totally constrained by the dumb receiver at the other end.

Video Program Capacity For a payload of around 19 Mb/s 1 HDTV service - sport & high action 2 HDTV services - both film material 1 HDTV + 1 or 2 SDTV non action/sport 3 SDTV for high action & sport video 6 SDTV for film, news & soap operas However you do not get more for nothing. More services means less quality Digital TV will have a data capacity around 20 Mb/s. For Sport or high action we can have relatively few services. Films have high levels of temporal redundancy because both fields are scanned from the same frame. This allows the compression systems to perform higher levels of compression allowing spare data capacity and the ability to have more services. Generally News & Soapies have lower data requirements so more channels are possible. You do not ge more channels for nothing. More Services Means Less Quality.

Spare Data Capacity Spare data capacity is available even on a fully loaded channel. Opportunistic use of spare data capacity when available can provide other non real time data services. Example: 51 second BMW commercial The Commercial was shown using 1080 Lines Interlaced. 60 Mb of data was transferred during it. In the Final 3 seconds the BMW Logo was displayed allowing 3 Phone Books of data to be transmitted. An example from tests in America. Other non-real time services can use opportunistic use of the DTV data pipe to transmit data when the full bandwidth of the channel is not required for the main services. These services would be data specifically intended for broadcast application with no need for acknowledgement or a back channel. Teletext or Newspaper type information are good examples.

Navigation Systems The concept of channel numbers for networks may disappear with DTV Television becomes one of a number of services carried within the data pipe. Users will select what service or program they wish to decode. The box then finds it. Each digital transmission can carry program directories for all service providers This area is still under heavy development How will you drive this new Receiver?

Australian Activity ABA report on digital television in Australia recommended using HDTV FACTS have set up a specialists group to advise and direct commercial advanced television development Represents commercial television (7,9,10) ABA and communications lab have been assisting this group NTA, ABC and SBS are not represented NTA commenced own trials ABA ran a public enquiry. FACTS running commercial network tests on air in Sydney channels 6 & 8. NTA running their own COFDM trials on channels 12 & 29 in Canberra in mid 1998.

Laboratory Tests Tested both COFDM & 8-VSB systems Investigated operation within the existing Australian broadcasting infrastructure Systems evaluated as data pipes Both systems operate satisfactorily with only small operational differences evident Report on measurements was produced for the FACTS specialists group Laboratory tests were conducted by the Communications Lab on the equipment shown earlier in this lecture. Many of the tests had been done overseas but they had focused on the 6 & 8 MHz channel plans. We looked at the systems as data pipes, however pictures were also run on the COFDM system. Unfortunately the 8-VSB equipment did not have any source coding/decoding equipment, so we were unable to assess pictures through the system. There was not enough difference between the COFDM and 8-VSB systems, for the tests performed, to clearly eliminate either system from contention.

Laboratory Tests - Test Rig C/N Set & Attenuators EUT PAL & CW This is the main test rig which generated the wanted and unwanted signals for Digital and Analog television. Many of the tests were computer controlled. The receivers were located in a separate shielded area. Control Computer Domestic Television Receiver Modulator Control Computers Spectrum Analysers Plot & Printing

Laboratory Tests - Test Rig Power Meter PAL & CW Interference Generators RF LO COFDM Modulator MPEG Mux MPEG Mux The Digital modulators and Pal generation equipment. All digital power measurements were made with a thermal type power meter. The MPEG Encoders are the boxes which compress the video and audio data. MPEG Encoder 8-VSB Modulator MPEG Encoder

Field Tests Field tests conducted in Sydney on VHF channel 8 during oct-nov 1997 Both COFDM & 8-VSB systems evaluated at over 150 sites using an ABA field vehicle Comparison of the digital and existing PAL systems performance at each site Concentrating on difficult reception sites Report on field trials was produced for the FACTS specialists group The Field Tests used an adjacent channel combiner at TCN-9 in sydney and transmitted the channel 8 digital signal at around 400 watts next to the channel 9 signal which uses a vision sync power of 10000 watts. This configuration was also capable of transmitting channels 7 & 10 as well in an emergency standby situation.

A Future Digital System Concept MMDS Hypermedia Integrated Receiver Decoder (IRD) Satellite Terrestrial Cable Broadcast Interactivity What will the future home digital system components be? The IRD will be the central hub of the home television and information system. Interactivity will be via Cable or the Telephone line. Inputs can be from Satellite, MMDS, Cable or Terrestrial. It will primarily be controlled by a IR remote control and on screen menus. It will most likely link not only to a display device and DVD/DVC but also your home computer, allowing data applications. B-ISDN XDSL CD, DVD DVC

Future - Things to Be Done Decide on digital transmission standard Policy HDTV vs multiple SDTV Minimum data rates / quality ? Multiplex / content provider relationships Pay vs free to air Sort out service provider issues Conditional access systems Ancillary data Major issues to be thought about.

Thankyou for your attention The End Thankyou for your attention Any questions?