Digital Video Broadcasting-handheld Research Articles

Characterisation and measurement of signals generated by DVB-H 'GAP-filler' repeaters

DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting Handheld) is the standard developed by DVB Project and approved by ETSI with the aim of providing the reception of DVB signals even in mobility but also data transfers and multimedia services. The introduction and development of the DVB-H system is still ongoing. In this context, this work focuses on the temporal trend of electromagnetic impact of an urban DVB-H repeater (called 'gap-filler') for exposure assessment purposes; it also describes a method for its measurement by means of narrow band instrumental chains.

Avoiding Data Loss With Hard and Soft DVB-H Handovers

Digital Video Broadcasting-Handheld (DVB-H) allows the efficient transmission of rich multimedia services to small, handheld terminals. Such portable terminals pose specific requirements on the transmission technology, such as the need for seamless cell handover. This paper first presents mechanisms which allow loss-free hard handovers with DVB-H using only a single receiver front-end. It is then shown how even 3G-like soft handovers are possible with DVB-H, still using only a single receiver front-end. The proposed schemes are evaluated using simulations and field measurements.

A scattered pilot synchronization scheme by partial correlation for DVB-H systems

This paper presents an improved, scattered pilot synchronization (SPS) scheme in digital video broadcasting-handheld (DVB-H) systems, which detect the pilot pattern of the currently received orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol. To reduce the SPS time, and to mitigate the influence of the sampling frequency offset (SFO), the proposed SPS method is based on the conventional correlation-based SPS, and adopts a partial correlation. By using computer simulations, the synchronization performances of the traditional SPS and the new proposed SPS algorithms are evaluated in terms of their probabilities of synchronization failure.

Performance evaluation of 'WBC over DVB-H' system

Wireless billboard channels (WBCs) are fundamental to the consumer-centric business model (CBM) of the new emerging ubiquitous consumer wireless world (UCWW). They were introduced as instruments to facilitate service advertisement, discovery and association (ADA). A WBC three-layer model, a set of efficient algorithms and a software testbed for WBC over digital video broadcast - handheld (DVB-H), is set out in this paper. With the proposed end-to-end novel solution, the service advertisements can be broadcast on WBC in an efficient and intelligent way.

Watermark in the digital video broadcasting handheld transmission signal

Transmitter identification (TxID) technique is used to diagnose the operation status of radio transmitters in DTV distributed transmission network. A new TxID method for digital video broadcasting-handheld (DVB-H) system is proposed. Watermark is embedded in the DVB-H signal to form the composite signal. According to watermarking theory we demonstrate the required signal level for watermarking signal to achieve given bit error probability under different circumstance. By selecting the reference pattern to generate watermarking signal, peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) of the transmitted signal can be improved. Simulation results show that even in wireless situation the receiver can distinguish the watermarking signal with low embedding strength, and distortion to the host signal can also be ignored.

Low profile wideband antenna with shaped beams for indoor DVB-H applications

A novel low profile wideband antenna for digital video broadcasting-handheld (DVB-H) indoor applications is presented. The antenna can operate in two modes (circular patch antenna mode and microstrip mode), which leads to down-tilted beams when the antenna is mounted on a wall. An antenna prototype with a height of 46 mm has been constructed and tested. The simulated and measured results show that the antenna has VSWRs less than 2.0:1 and shaped radiation beams in the DVB-H band (470–706 MHz).

DVB-H Antenna Design Using Folder-Type Chassis and Coupling Element on a Ferrite

This letter presents a new design concept of the digital video broadcast-handheld (DVB-H) antenna using the folder-type chassis and coupling element on a ferrite. By utilizing the chassis as a radiator in conjunction with a compact coupling element on a ferrite, the antenna achieves DVB-H operation without an additional matching circuit. The measured result shows the wide bandwidth of 250 MHz (VSWR< 6) with sufficient peak gains over -5 dBi in the DVB-H band.

Ultrawideband Dielectric Resonator Antenna for DVB-H and GSM Applications

This letter presents a novel design of compact dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) that is dedicated to ultrawideband applications such as digital video broadcasting-handheld (DVB-H). The dimensions of the radiation element are lambda <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0</sub> /7 times lambda <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0</sub> /13 times lambda <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0</sub> /28 at 466 MHz. A miniaturization technique has been used in order to reduce the antenna size, and a parametric analysis of the antenna is performed. The measured results agree well with the simulated ones. The proposed antenna offers a bandwidth of 70% around 700 MHz for -8 dB impedance matching bandwidth definition and covers the Ultra High Frequency (UHF) IV, V and Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) bands.

AL-FEC for Improved Mobile Reception of MPEG-2 DVB-T Transport Streams

We investigate the use of application layer FEC protection in DVB-T (Digital Video Broadcasting-Terrestrial) networks for the provision of mobile services. Mobile reception is characterized by variations of the received signal caused by fast fading and shadowing. DVB-T was originally designed for fixed and portable reception, and generally does not provide enough quality in mobile environments. The link layer protection mechanism MPE-FEC (Multi Protocol Encapsulation-Forward Error Correction) was standardized in DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting-Handheld) for the protection of mobile TV services. Although DVB-T itself does not incorporate any link or application layer protection mechanism, AL-FEC (Application layer Forward Error Correction) protection can be introduced in DVB-T in a backwards compatible way. By means of AL-FEC, it is possible to improve the robustness of DVB-T services for the provision of mobile TV. In this paper, we explain the concept of AL-FEC protection in DVB-T and evaluate its performance by means of laboratory measurements and dynamic simulations with shadowing. We study different configurations of AL-FEC and compare its performance with MPE-FEC. In this paper, we discuss some implementation aspects of AL-FEC in real scenarios and propose an implementation based on Raptor codes and hash sequences. We also present results obtained by a first AL-FEC prototype for DVB-T that demonstrates the feasibility of the approach.

Aggregated Renewal Markov Processes With Applications in Simulating Mobile Broadcast Systems

For purposes of simulating contemporary communication systems, it is, in many cases, useful to apply error models for specific levels of abstraction. Such models should approximate the packet error behavior of a given system at a specific protocol layer, thus incorporating the possible detrimental effects of lower protocol layers. Packet error models can efficiently be realized using finite-state models; for example, there exists a wide range of studies on using Markov models to simulate communication channels. In this paper, we consider aggregated Markov processes, which are a subclass of hidden Markov models (HMMs). Artificial limitations are set on the state transition probabilities of the models to find efficient methods of parameter estimation. We apply these models to the simulation of the performance of digital video broadcasting-handheld (DVB-H). The parameters of the packet error models are approximated as functions of the time-variant received signal strength and speed of a mobile vehicular DVB-H receiver, and it is shown that useful results may be achieved with the described packet error models, particularly when simulating mobile reception in field conditions.

A Novel SFBC-OFDM Scheme for Doubly Selective Channels

Effective intercarrier interference (ICI) mitigation for multiple-input-multiple-output orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM) requires accurate channel estimation, which is very challenging due to the large number and fast time-varying nature of the channel parameters to be estimated using scattered pilots. We present a novel space-frequency block coding OFDM (SFBC-OFDM) scheme for doubly selective channels and a reduced-complexity channel-estimation algorithm, which exploits the banded and sparse structure of the channel in the frequency and time domains, respectively. Furthermore, we design a finite-impulse-response minimum-mean-square-error (FIR-MMSE) ICI cancellation algorithm for mobile SFBC-OFDM and demonstrate its effectiveness for digital video broadcasting-handheld (DVB-H) systems.

A Comparative Study of Coverage Estimation and Quality of Service for DVB-H Urban Networks Using a Specialized RF Planning Software

The Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld (DVB-H) standard is the ETSI standard for delivering broadcasting services of high data rates to handheld devices, under high mobility conditions. This paper will compare the different modulation techniques used by the DVB-H standard from the coverage point of view. The coverage estimation simulations have been made with a specialized RF planning tool using real Geographic Data for the metropolitan region of Athens. Thus, we will present a comparative study, of various planning factors like coverage percentage and location probability and compare them for the different modulation schemes used.

Electrically Tunable Antenna Design Procedure for Mobile Applications

Using a high-efficiency tunable antenna to cover a large bandwidth with low return loss is an interesting topic, especially in the case when the physical sizes of the mobile phone and antenna are too small to allow for the coverage of the full band. The limitations of tunable antennas are their losses and the nonlinearity introduced by the tuning devices. A design procedure for the tunable mobile antennas is presented, which accounts for the nonlinearity suppression. Following this procedure, a low-loss tunable digital video broadcasting-handheld (DVB-H) antenna has been designed and fabricated to cover the DVB-H band (470-702 MHz) with a return loss below 7 dB. This antenna exhibits a small volume of only 6 cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sup> . Despite the high-power signal from the extended global system for mobile communication transmitter on the same printed circuit board and the nonlinear tuning devices, this antenna is highly linear.

Coherent and Differential ICI Cancellation for Mobile OFDM with Application to DVB-H

We develop a reduced-complexity hybrid frequency/time-domain orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) channel estimation algorithm for high-mobility scenarios where the channel varies significantly within each OFDM block, resulting in severe intercarrier interference (ICI). The algorithm exploits the banded and symmetric structure of the channel matrix in the frequency domain and its sparse structure in the time-domain to achieve significant complexity reductions, which we quantify for the Digital Video Broadcasting-Handheld (DVB-H) system. Furthermore, we compare coherent and differential mobile OFDM detection for DVB-H.

Internal Antenna for Digital Video Broadcasting-Handheld (DVB-H) Application

An internal antenna with a system ground for digital video broadcasting-handheld (DVB-H) service is proposed. The proposed antenna consists of a main patch with a two-step slit, two additional elements, and a system ground. The antenna has a small volume, 36mm×11mm×6mm, and an average gain of -2.22dBi to -0.06dBi over the DVB-H band.

The DVB-H Mobile Broadcast Standard [Standards in a Nutshell

The digital video broadcasting-handheld (DVB-H) standard is one of the latest transmission standards developed by the digital video broadcasting (DVB) Project. DVB-H, which is based on the standard for digital terrestrial television (DVB-T), offers mobile television and other broadcasting services on small portable devices such as mobile phones. This article presents an overview of the DVB-H standard with respect to structure, features, technology, performance, and resources.

Design of the Novel DVB-H Antenna for the Folder-Type Mobile Handheld Terminal

We have proposed a novel DVB-H(Digital Video Broadcast for Handheld) antenna for folder-type mobile handheld terminal by using a coupling element, a stub, and an L-type matching circuit. The L-type matching circuit consisting of two chip inductors is used for achieving an improved impedance matching over the DVB-H frequency band (<TEX>$470{\sim}702\;MHz$</TEX>). Simulated results showed the stub worked to more knot the lower and upper frequency ends of the input impedance curve. The antenna exhibits a flat gain characteristic from 2 to 2.8 dBi over the DVB-H frequency band. The radiation patterns are a stable Figure-of-eight radiation pattern in the frequency range.

An internal modified rectangular loop antenna for DVB‐H applications

AbstractAn internal modified rectangular loop antenna with two open stubs for digital video broadcasting‐handheld (DVB‐H) terminals is proposed. The antenna consists of the modified rectangular loop, the two open stubs, and a four element matching. We have used the meandering technique to increase the electrical length of the antenna and two open stubs for tuning the high frequency edge of the DVB‐H band. To more improve the impedance bandwidth of the DVB‐H frequency band (470–702 MHz), a four element matching circuit is used. All simulations are carried out by Ansoft HFSS software. Moreover, by fabricating the antenna, the simulations results are verified by experimental data. Good antenna performances such as radiations patterns and antenna gains over the operating frequency band have been observed. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 50: 1592–1595, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.23440

Planar meander sleeve monopole antenna for DVB-H/GSM mobile handsets

A novel planar meander sleeve monopole antenna for digital video broadcasting-hand held (DVB-H) and GSM mobile handsets is presented. By using the planar sleeve monopole type radiating element constructed with meander strips, the antenna provides a degree of miniaturisation while retaining a wide bandwidth covering the DVB-H and GSM-900 bands. A prototype is constructed and tested, which shows that an impedance bandwidth of 498 MHz (463-961 MHz) within 2.5:1 VSWR is achieved.

Analysis, realization, and measurement of broadband miniature antennas for digital TV receivers in handheld terminals

AbstractHandheld terminals for digital terrestrial television reception and their possible integration in GSM or 3G convergence terminals using the digital video broadcasting–handheld standard (DVB‐H) [ETSI EN 302 304, Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); Transmission System for Handheld Terminals (DVB‐H), V1.1.1, June 2004] must support the UHF band (470–702 MHz or 470–860 MHz) as specified in the EICTA radio specification. Beside the required new receiver concepts for such battery‐powered and small terminals, there is also the request for broadband integrable antennas, which cover the mentioned frequency band. This article depicts a possible antenna structure and simulation results for the antenna performance and compares these findings with measurement results. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 50: 293–297, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.23082