Developments in Mobile Video Transmission

December 5, 2005

DEVELOPMENTS IN MOBILE VIDEO TRANSMISSION

MediaFlo™ Standardization

The October 4, 2004 edition of TV TechCheck reported on two new video broadcast systems for transmission to mobile devices: DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting–Handheld), based on the European digital TV standard, and T-DMB (Terrestrial– Digital Multimedia Broadcasting), based on the European digital radio standard (Eureka-147), with modifications developed in Korea.

A third mobile video system known as MediaFLO has been developed by Qualcomm Inc. One of the criticisms of MediaFLO, however, has been that it is a proprietary system. The FLO Forum organization has been working to enable standardized solutions for deployment in the field and this process took a step forward with the announcement on November 28 that the Forum had ratified the Forward Link-Only air interface specification (AIS).

The AIS specifies the protocols used over the air between the FLO network and a FLO device. The specification includes a complete description of the physical layer, which uses Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) and advanced forward error-correction techniques, and a complete description of the Stream/Control and Media Access Layers (MAC). It enables the delivery of multiple, multimedia streams over the standard TV channel allocation bandwidths.

The Forum announced that it would now forward the specification to standards development organizations for inclusion in new standards that address the delivery of terrestrial mobile multimedia multicast services to mobile devices.

For more information on the FLO Forum, see: http://www.floforum.org/floforum/about.html.

Verizon Wireless Selects MediaFlo™

Also last week it was announced that Verizon Wireless has agreed with Qualcomm to use MediaFLO for a high quality mobile television service. The new service will be launched towards the end of 2006 in approximately half of the markets already covered by Verizon Wireless' broadband network, complementing Verizon’s existing high speed V-Cast service, and with plans to expand throughout other markets.

Verizon Wireless will be the first U.S. wireless service provider to offer MediaFLO. The significance of MediaFLO is that it will be broadcast over a different portion of the wireless spectrum than cellular phone and data services. Consumers wishing to use the service will need MediaFLO-enabled EV-DO handsets.

MediaFLO (the FLO stands for forward link only) is designed as a complete media distribution system (MDS). Qualcomm is building out a nationwide single frequency network using a 6 MHz channel 716-722 MHz. Transmission is based on OFDM technology with hierarchical modulation, supporting multiple channels of live content and downloaded clips. It seems likely that video resolution will be QCIF (176 x120) with video encoding possibly using MPEG-4 (H.264) and audio using AAC encoding, although Verizon’s existing V-Cast uses Windows Media encoding.

For white papers related to MediaFLO, see: http://www.qualcomm.com/mediaflo/products/flo_mds.shtml. For the Qualcomm/Verizon announcement see: http://www.qualcomm.com/press/releases/2005/051201_verizon_wireless_announce.html.

Mobile Video at NAB 2006

Those wanting to learn more about mobile video services will have the opportunity at NAB 2006 in Las Vegas, April 22-27, with the following events:

NAB BROADCAST ENGINEERING CONFERENCE IEEE Tutorial: Delivering Television to Handheld Devices–April 24 Viewers on the Move–April 25, 2006 NAB MULTIMEDIA WORLD Mobile TV and Video Summit–April 25, 2006

Details available soon at: http://www.nabshow.com

You have two opportunities to attend NAB's Satellite Uplink Operators Training Seminar in 2006: May 15-18, 2006 or October 2-5, 2006. For additional details go to http://www.nab.org/Scitech/satsem2006.asp or call NAB Science & Technology at 202-429-5346.

NEW VSB MEASUREMENT SEMINAR SCETV, COLUMBIA, SC Thursday, January 19, 2006

A one-day seminar that focuses on the types of VSB measurements that are desired in the laboratory, at transmitter sites and at remote field sites will be presented by Gary Sgrignoli of Meintel, Sgrignoli & Wallace from 8:30 am-5:30 pm on Thursday, January 19, 2006 in Columbia, SC. For additional

TV TechCheck © 2005, NAB. TV TechCheck may not be reproduced or retransmitted without permission. information on this seminar, contact Gary Sgrignoli, (847) 259-3352, [email protected] or check out the Meintel, Sgrignoli and Wallace Web site at www.mswdtv.com.