LAS VEGAS – “Nothing is quite as exciting as mobile broadcast television,” Harris Corporation VP technology Jay Aldrick told clients and reporters at the company’s NAB 2010 press conference Sunday night at the Mandalay Bay Hotel.
Having been a key player in helping develop the new ATSC mobile digital television standard, Aldrick wants to see as many broadcasters as possible see the opportunities in television which can be easily delievered to smartphones.
Aldrick said he believes there is more opportunity in mobile than there is in HD. “The key component is local content and local ads,” he said. “That’s what’s changing with mobile digital ATSC.”
With that, Aldrick took the wraps off “Scalable Full-Channel Mobile Mode”, which it has developed with LG Electronics and Zenith. The demonstration features functioning hardware for both transmission and reception of mobile DTV signals using enhanced technology.
The new system enables as many as 16 different video programs to be sent in the same 6 MHz of bandwidth TV broadcasters use. It has been proposed for standardization to the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) and is being unveiled this week at the 2010 National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention.
Current TV broadcasters are required by the Federal Communications Commission to offer at least one standard-definition digital TV program in their 19.4 Mbps broadcast bitstream. Owners of other 700 MHz spectrum, however, have more flexibility. The Harris/LG demonstration will show spectrum owners and all terrestrial broadcasters how to maximize spectrum use with a greater variety of TV programs to reach mobile viewers “on the go” as viewing habits change.
This demonstration can be seen in the ATSC-OMVC Mobile Digital TV Pavilion (Booth SU5217A, South Hall, Las Vegas Convention Center) during the entire 2010 NAB Show.
To achieve its robust approach to Scalable Full-Channel Mobile Mode, LG and Harris engineers have trimmed the main digital program to enable a mere trickle of data — enough to advertise available mobile programs on the service to in-home viewers, reads the release. Most of the 19.4 Mbps bitstream in the 6 MHz TV channel is then cleared for transmission of various mobile programs, which can all be beamed from the same broadcast infrastructure.
“We realize there are applications for digital broadcasting that go far beyond the services transmitted by TV stations,” said Dr. Jong Kim, president of LG Electronics’ U.S. R&D lab. “Companies that own 700 MHz spectrum are beginning to ask how they might put the power of ATSC mobile digital broadcasting to use, and we’re responding by creating a new method of utilizing digital transmission to transmit even more programs. With our Scalable Full-Channel Mobile Mode system, we can offer multiple programs for mobile devices and a ‘barker program’ that can be seen by in-home viewers.”
The LG-Harris Scalable Full-Channel Mobile Mode is designed to be compatible with the ATSC A/153 Mobile DTV Standard adopted by the ATSC last October. It will offer non-traditional broadcasters an effective way to reach millions of mobile, portable and handheld devices.
While the demonstration is a prototype, “the finished product will require nothing more than a software upgrade” for Harris Mobile DTV equipment owners, added Adrick. “We believe that Scalable Full-Channel Mobile Mode transmission will come to market rather quickly, once it is standardized. These are changing times for broadcasters, and they need every tool that they can get to be competitive and to move toward the types of services that people want in the future.”
The company also announced that Cox Media has installed the Harris MPH ATSC Mobile DTV system at five of its largest TV stations: Atlanta (WSB-TV); Charlotte, N.C. (WAXM-TV); Orlando, Fla. (WRDG-TV); San Jose, Calif. (KICU-TV); and Seattle (KIRO-TV). Harris engineers worked with local Cox Media engineers to install the systems – typically in four hours or less for each site.
The Harris MPH systems were installed within existing Harris DTV transmitters at each station. Each system includes the Harris NetVX video networking system, Synchrony mobile networking adapter and Apex M2X exciter, as well as the Roundbox Server — which generates service signaling and transmits a rich Electronic Service Guide (ESG) – from Roundbox, Inc.
Sterling Davis, vice president of technical operations for Cox Media Group, said in a release the company identified the five stations as ideal markets based on the potential for early receiver availability. “The Apex M2X exciter was interesting to us because it is software-based, which means we can update and modify the exciter as ATSC mobile DTV technology matures instead of continually switching out boxes,” he said.
Davis, who also serves as chairman of the Open Mobile Video Coalition Technical Advisory Group, said the five stations are taking advantage of learning opportunities in the testing phase through set-up and operation of the systems, as well as evaluating how much bandwidth to devote to each ATSC Mobile DTV channel.
“Like many broadcasters, we are looking to slice off more pieces of our bandwidth to serve a different clientele and a larger audience,” said Davis.
– Greg O’Brien
