Panorama

In my opionion "the responsible" to the delay in the mobile TV using DVB-H in some countries are the television and mobile phone operators which are suffering the consequences of the global economic crisis. As I read in an article, in order to develop DVB-H the mobile/TV operator, need to reinforce and adapt the current DVB-T infrastructure. But that suppose a cost to them, and the operators are experimentiing income reductions due the economic crisis, and they need to cut their investment (costs) in order to maintain their margins. Operators invest their limited resources in finishing and enhancing their current 3G/3.5G network that they need to amortize.

there are challenges aplenty across the whole mobile TV technology spectrum

I believe mobile TV is createing a new ecosystem for the mobile industry. It brings together different indsutires broadcast companies, manufacturers, cable TV and the movie industry.

I decide to check how many mobile phone are available that support this technologyes and there are a few in Europe, and not all are available in the market, so why operators are going to invest in a technology which the mass market can't access?

pd: I recommend to read the following article: "Mobile TV Future: long term planning" (Grajski K.,2008)

Conclusion

I decided to do this blog about mobile TV because I think is a hot current topic. Technology standards have been set, spectrum has been allocated in the different countries and the content is there. However, the industry is fragmented, with different markets sustaining different standards and spectrums bands. Content providers, broadcasters and handset manufacturers are working and competeing for market share. Mobile TV is an opportunity to mobile network operators, which can create differentiation and new revenue incomes to maintain a competitive position,and reap the benefits of a new service.

I can say that the mobile television market is still young. Mobile TV is a reality but is an emerging service which is still far from being a mass-market introduced mobile service.

Mobile TV is a technology which is receiving a strong worldwide interest, wireless broadcasters, handset manufacturers and standardization bodies have been developing and researching technologies to enable and improve this service.

As I discussed in this blog, in the past decade different standards have been proposed for delivering mobile TV, such as DVB-H, T-DMB, MediaFLO and so on.
Mobile TV wants to provide to end users access to their favorite TV programs, anytime and anywhere on their handset devices. They can receive multimedia content either live (broadcast) or on-demand. Mobile TV firms want solutions to offer market standards that leverages the technology to provide the best, modular, end-to-end revenue generating solutions.

Experts say that mobile TV will be a killing application in the mass mobile service market, but at least here in Europe from what I can see nowadays (at least here in Spain and in the Netherlands) is that this service is far from being a service that captures the mobile phone users. Trials have been made in different countries (Barcelona World Mobile Congress 2008 ), and there is a positive feedback from the experiences.

I devoted some entries to discuss about unicast mobile TV services which already exist as part of the 3G/3.5G services, and in most of the countries is the only available option to access to TV-on-demand content. I have considered necessary to cover which technologies and standards are behind this service which has an important limitation, is not able to cope with large audience simultaneously and to deliver live programs. A lot of money has been invested on 3G technologies (UMTS) and companies consider essential to exploit their infrastructure providing services to get funds in return of their investment, and mobile TV is an option.

Due to spectrum scarcity, the broadcast technology selected needs to satisfy operators needs which share frequencies and access networks.

But the interesting discussion is on broadcast mobile TV where the selection for a mobile TV broadcast technology is an open issue. Mobile network operators can be able to offer scalable, efficient, high-quality access to content service to unlimited number of users by leveraging mobile TV broadcast technologies, but also maintain the inband transmission over cellular (3G and 4G) to enable contextual interactive services.

Four broadcast technologies, which I described, are dominating the broadcast mobile TV market T-DMB, DAB-IP, DVB-H and FLO. As I mentioned none of these standards is really global yet, but they are all fairly the standard dominant in some areas.

Market fragmentation can be a problem, because according to the literature to a successful adoption an penetration of a technology, standards interoperability is important. Stabilization of standards is important, so could be necessary a common standard in order to reduce market fragmentation caused by different alternatives for mobile TV transmission. Currently DVB-H is the strongest standard for future It is already the most widely extended and used standard in Europe and is spreading in other non-European countries. In this case the bandwagon effect is taking place, DVB-H was one of the first market open-standards and now has an advantage over later competing standards.

DVB-H is the technology chose by the EU, as the European standard for the development of mobile TV. One of the reasons of the election is because DVB-H has its roots in the adopted and well established in Europe digital TV standard DVB-T. So DVB-H based on the DVB-T standard is to a large extend compatible, and is spectrally compatible with DVB-T networks.

In Europe, the DVB-H technology leads the way in the deployment and implementation of broadcast networks but is facing uncertainties linked to regulatory and business issues in some countries that are delaying the implementation and start up . This delay from my point of view can affect the DVB-H top standard position, because may have to compete with alternative technologies.

According to the literature the selection of an standard determines the options to configure the market. So the decisions that the EU does about the adoption of an standard will have consequences in the mobile TV industry.

There are many interest on this game, telecommunication companies, mobile handset manufacturers, service providers, etc defend their own technologies.

On the broadcast mobile TV debate the wirless industry leaders are exerting pressure to the European Commision to allow other technologies to compete in the emerging mobile TV market rather than supporting and forcing a single technological standard. Firms like the FLO group defend a standard neutrality in Europe. Industry leaders are right when they say that mobile TV is a cutting-edge service, a case where only time and a flexible market will tell which technology will provide the best service.

According to the literature in a European and also in a national level there is a tendency to link standards to legislation, and the EU goal is to satisfy the global requirements laid down in laws and recommendations, and that’s what they are doing with mobile TV and DVB-H.

I think that the EU is insisting in an early stage on a particular standard, when they do not know that maybe other available alternatives will better suite the market. From my point of view only time and a flexible market will show which technology will suite most the different actors. According to the literature the conversion to a new standard is costly, because needs to face the actual installed base influenced by the network effect, so is necessary to choose the best standard without rushing.

In other areas the EU position was to defend a neutral regulation, letting market actors decide upon the rollout of an standard, in all this cases the different actors benefit from that situation of “freedom”.

According to the literature variety-reducing standards have positive and negative effects to the industry. So I can understand EU position , Europe took a big lead over the US in mobile services by establishing a single GSM standard so mobile phone users can roam across the different countries of the continent (literature case), so they want to ensure that mobile TV actors will not face different rules in each state. I think that this position will contribute to innovation, because with a single standard, companies will invest with confidence in new innovative technologies supported by the selected standard (reduce risk). That will benefit international trade.

But has negative effect, is too early to determine which is the better standard, this is the reason why different tests and studies have been done in different countries. And also the EU position will exclude other firms (lock-in effect) that are applying other technologies. This situation is an anticompetitive-effect of the standards.

To sump up, mobile TV is a complex issue with many different actors and technologies, ut From my point of view mobile actors require integration capabilities in demanding multi-vendor, multi-technology environments, in order to quickly cope with the different Mobile TV solutions.

MediaFLO

MediaFLO Media Forward Link Only, is a technology proposed by QualComm and uses a netwotk that uses a limit number of high-power transmission towers to deliver high-quality streaming multimedia. This technology was first owned by QulaComm and now further enhanced by QualComm jointly with the FLO Forum (a multy-company initiative) that works for the efficient transmission of multiple multimedia streams to mobile devices. FLO technology was designed specifically for the economical and efficient distribution of multimedia content to millions of wireless users. (MediaFLO)

MediaFLO uses OFDM transmission (like DVB-H) with approximately 4K carriers with QPSK or 16-QAM modulation of the carriers. It also uses division multiplexing, that is similar to what DVB-H refers to as a time slicing (check last entree), to transmit specific
content at specific time intervals.

MediaFLO can be technically characterized as follows (Yeun, 2007):
- Turbo code algorithms: that allow more effective aggressive error correction than is
possible using the traditional Viterbi coding present in other systems.
- Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC): If the packet is received perfectly, then the receiver does not have to calculate the Reed Solomon outer code, allowing additional receiver power savings.
- Time interleaving data: contribute to reduce the impact of impulse noise and changing multi-path, but can affect negatively increasing channel acquisition time, making surfing difficult (change channels).

The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) has ratified four other FLO-standard TIA-1099, 1102, 1103 and 1004 - that meet the interface specification for FLO satellite, with the minimum performance standards for devices with performance standards less transmitter, and the application protocol for testing devices and transmitters, respectively (Qualcomm, 2007).


MediaFLO is an ITU-R recommended mobile broadcast technology. Recently (MediaFLO Forum, 2009) MediaFLO Technologies received the approval of ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards), they publish ETSI TS 1 02 589, “Forward Link Only Air Interface; Specification for Terrestrial Mobile; Multimedia Multicast.”
According to the literature of the lecture, is important for a technology, critical in wireless environment, to ensure a global standard. This fact is important to the industry stakeholders, because operators have the freedom to use the technology in their business model, regulators gain the ability to use and provide a technology which use neutral spectrum policy using an open standard, and also benefits the semiconductors and electronic component manufacturers that have access to a new market based on FLO mobile broadcast solutions.
MediaFLO is a technology that according the corporative web site is actually working in USA (2007) and trials have been completed in Japan, UK, Taiwan, Malaysia, etc.

In U.S. the two largest wireless carriers, AT&T and Verizon Wireless, are adopting MediaFlo. Samsung and LG are two phone makers whose equipment is compatible with the MediaFLO network. I think is interesting to mention that QualComm announced that is going to expand their services to 39 new markets in USA, the reason is the liberation of the spectrum that is generating the transition to digital TV. USA is the country which MediaFLO have more presence according the following article, one reason is because in Europe the standard choosen by the European Comission (EC) is DVB-H, so the MediaFLO standard has a uphill battle trying to provide mobile TV in Europe.


But does is mean that the EC’s decision will cut off MediaFlo from Europe? I do not hink so, as I read in an article on the online newspaper “moconews”, MediaFLO will apply a different strategy in Europe where MediaFLO USA in the U.S. purchased spectrum, aggregated content (programming), and built a mobile broadcast network., in Europe will only supply the technology to the operators.

Technically MediaFLO is better, because started later and was able to cope and improve some aspects that other technologies like DVB-H lack, has significant cost and frequency advantages. (Medford, 2008)

I decide to include the following video, that provides a interview to Omar Javaid, the Senior Director of Busines Development for Qualcomm MediaFLO Technologies, discusses the MediaFLO technology, the future of mobile TV and consumer experience in the U.S. market.

References:

Medford, C. (2008, 02 06). RED Herring. Retrieved 07 25, 2009, from Qualcomm to Spin Off MediaFLO?: http://www.redherring.com/Home/23690

Yeun, C. Y. (2007). IEEE Xplore. Retrieved 5 19, 2009, from Mobile TV Technologies: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/login.jsp?url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fiel5%2F4459487%2F4475588%2F04475607.pdf%3Farnumber%3D4475607&authDecision=-203

DVB-H: Technology

I read some papers that provide specific information about the technical characteristics of the DVB-H technology but I consider more appropriate to provide a general view of the technical aspects, although for those readers that want to know more about that approach I recommend them to read the following article (link1) or the chapter 7 of the book “Mobile TV: DVB-H, DMB, 3G Systems and Rich Media Applications” by Amitabh Kumar (2007). As I mentioned before

DVB-H is built upon the principles of the DVB-T standard, the DVB-H standard adds functional elements that are necessary to fulfill the requirements of the mobile handheld devices reception case. DVB-T and DVB-H use the same physical layer and what is interesting is that DVB-H can be backward compatible with DVB-T. DVB-H like DVB-T can carry the same MPEG-2 transport stream and use the same transmitter and OFDM modulators for its signal. Another positive fact is that DVB-H system is compatible with DVB-T networks, that allows to share the use of the DVB frequency bands without jamming the performance of the cellular bands. (DigiTag, 2008) DVB-H uses IP datacasting. So the system requires a process that involves packaging of digital data into IP packets and then delivering these packets in a reliable manner. The use of IP has the advantage that the data including content is compatible with Internet technology, in other words the content can be managed by the same protocols and devices that are used extensively on the Internet (Kumar, A., 2007). So the DVB-H payload are IP-datagrams.

DVB-H systems have been made the following enhancements that distinguish it from DVB-T:

- Time slicing: DVB-H uses time slicing to reduce the power consumption. Time slicing means that the data from a particular services is delivered to the handheld device in bursts at given intervals of time. When the receiver is not receiving the wanted burst (tv content), the tuner contained in the handheld devices remains “inactive” that contributes to use less power. Time-slicing contribures with a 95% reduction in power consumption compared to continuously operating DVB-T tuners. Because in DVB-T the cannels follow sequentially, so the receiver for each channel needs to be active all the time because the data is continuously arriving (DigiTag, 2008). In the case of DVB-H the IP encapsulator gives the full capacity of the multiplex for a limited time to only one channel, is necessary to mention that power is consumed continually by other parts of the receiver notably the video and audio decoders and the display. (Kumar, A., 2007). Time slicing also contributes enabling smooth and seamless frequency handover. (GERARD FARIA, 2006)

- OFDM: The use of multiple carriers, OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex) systems excel at handling multi-path interference (EBU-EUR / DVB-H, 2004) In addition to the 2k and 8k modes available in DVB-T, a new 4k mode ortogongal frequency division multiplexing is adopterd giving increased flexibility for network design, is an option complementing the 8K and28K modes that also available. (GERARD FARIA, 2006). This 4K mode is also used for a trading off mobility and single-frequency network (SFN) cell size, allowing a single antenna reception in medium SFNs at high speeds. (EBU-EUR / DVB-H, 2004)

- MPE-FEC(Multi Protocol Encapsulation-Forward Error Correction): the reception in handheld devices have small antennas and have low gain and require reception from different location (mobile environment), so is necessary a strong transmission system able to cope with transmission errors, improve C/N performance and Doppler effects in mobile channels (Kumar, A., 2007) . So the MPE-FEC module offers in addition to the physical layer transmission a complementary forward error function that offers improved transmission robustness. The MPE-FEC processing is takes place on the link layer process the IP input streams before they are encapsulated by means of the MPE. MPE-FEC is not mandatory for DVB-H. (EBU-EUR / DVB-H, 2004)

The following diagram provides a general view of the DVB-H protocol stack:

Figure 1: DVB-H Protocol Stack (Kmar, 2007)

I have found interesting the following diagram that show the system architecture for collaboration between mobile and broadcast operators:

Figure 2 (DigiTag,2008)

With this entry I tried to explain the most important technic features of DVB-H standard by using the ETSI Digital Video Broadcasting standards, for more information consult the standard specification.

References:

DigiTag. (2008). Television on ahandheld receiver - broadcaster with DVB-H. Retrieved 07 20, 2009, from http://www.digitag.org/DTTResources/DVBHandbook.pdf

DVB. (2009). What is the DVB Project? Retrieved 7 2009, 15, from http://www.dvb.org/
EBU-EUR / DVB-H. (2004). DVB-H Standard Specification: ETSI EN 302 304 V1.1.1. Retrieved 07 2009, 19, from http://www.dvb-h.org/PDF/DVB-H%20Specification%20-%20En302304.V1.1.1.pdf

Faria, G., Henriksson, J., Stare, E., & Talmola, P. (2006). IEEE Xplore. Retrieved 06 2009, 13, from DVB-H: Digital Broadcast Services to Handheld Devices: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/login.jsp?url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fiel5%2F5%2F33232%2F01566629.pdf%3Farnumber%3D1566629&authDecision=-203

GERARD FARIA, J. A. (Genuary de 2006). DVB-H. Recuperado el 20 de 07 de 2009, de DVB-H: Digital Broadcast Services to Handheld Devices: http://www.dvb-h.org/PDF/01566629_DVB-H.pdf

Kumar, A. (2007). Mobile TV: DVB-H, DMB, 3G Systems and Rich Media Applications . Fucal Press Media Technoly Professional.

UE. (2008, 3 17). Mobile TV across Europe: Commission endorses addition of DVB-H to EU List of Official Standards. Retrieved 7 15, 2009, from http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/451

DVB-H: Indroduction

DVB-H technology is designed to use the digital terrestrial TV broadcast infrastructure to deliver multimedia services to mobiles. This technology is promoted by the EU as the mobile TV standard for Europe (UE, 2008). Nokia the most important mobile phones manufacturer have invested a big amount of resources on this techno, that is a fact that shows the importance of this technology. Nokia is integrating it in the latest released devices, for example the Nokia N96 and N77. For this reasons I will provide a detailed description of this technology in the next entrie.

The Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) Project is an industry consortium of over 270 companies (broadcasters, manufacturer, network operators, regulatory bodies and other) in over 35 countries commited to define and design technical standards for the global delivery of digital television and data services. (DVB, 2009)

The DVB Project started research investigation related to mobile reception of DVB-Terrestrial (DVB-T) signals in 1998, when commercial terrestrial digital TV was starting to be introduced in Europe. (Faria, Henriksson, Stare, & Talmola, 2006)

They realized that DVB-T services do not suit mobile devices special needs, because DVB-T standards have been defined for fixed receivers with large TV antennas and no limitations about the receiver battery power. (Kumar, A., 2007)

In the beginning of 2002 they started to work defining a system, they started by defining a set of commercial and technical requirements in order to design a system supporting handheld devices. The work led to a system called Digital Video Broadcasting-Handheld (DVB-H), which was published by ETSI the Standard EN 302 304 in November 2004. . (Faria, Henriksson, Stare, & Talmola, 2006)

DVB-H is a modification of the DVB-T standard that is currently a widely used technology with over 50 countries already having terrestrial transmissions in digital mode, and in some countries DVB-T is replacing the analog terrestrial transmissions. (DVB, 2009)

The DVB-H standard is an ideal medium for mobile TV delivery to handheld devices, improves robustness in difficult reception environments of indoor and outdoor and lowers battery power consumption. (Kumar, A., 2007)

The DVB Project developed a second standard, Digital Video Broadcasting Satellite Services to Handhelds devices (DVB-SH), for the broadcast delivery of audio, video and data services (for more information link)

According to the lecture literature some standards are divided and composed of several standards, the DVB-H system is an example which consist in a group of several standard documents. The DVB-H system standard represents the main central document specification of the technology, defining the mandatory and the optional elements of the architecture and referencing all other required standards documents:

- DVB-T: defines the physical transmission layer.
- DVB SI (Service Information): defines how to access the DVB-H services, defining how are they signaled.
- DVB Data Broadcast standard: includes the new tool on the link layer.
- The DVB Single Frequency Network Megaframe standard: defines the synchronization of terrestrial single frequency networks that use several transmitters.

According to the DVB Project official website DVB-H mobile TV services are on air in Italy, Finland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Finland, Malaysia, Vietnam, Albania, the Philippines, Nigeria, Nambia and Kenia. In more than fifty countries DVB-H technical and commercial trials have taken place all over the world. Nowasays is taking place the analogue switch-off across Europre, the spectrum released in the UHF bands will contribute to the widespread deployment of DVB-H networks.

References:

DVB. (2009). What is the DVB Project? Retrieved 7 2009, 15, from http://www.dvb.org/

Faria, G., Henriksson, J., Stare, E., & Talmola, P. (2006). IEEE Xplore. Retrieved 06 2009, 13, from DVB-H: Digital Broadcast Services to Handheld Devices: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/login.jsp?url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fiel5%2F5%2F33232%2F01566629.pdf%3Farnumber%3D1566629&authDecision=-203

Kumar, A. (2007). Mobile TV: DVB-H, DMB, 3G Systems and Rich Media Applications . Fucal Press Media Technoly Professional.

UE. (2008, 3 17). Mobile TV across Europe: Commission endorses addition of DVB-H to EU List of Official Standards. Retrieved 7 15, 2009, from http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/451

DAB-IP and T-DMB

DAB (digital audio broadcasting) is a method for the digital transmission of digital radio signals for mobile reception through direct broadcasts from the satellite or terrestrial transmitters to DAB receivers, was developed by EUREKA project 147. Was initially designed for the transimssion of audio, but currently supports also multimedia broadcasting, video, text, image, and other application. (TNO-ICT, 2007)

There are many DAB variants, each with specific transport protocols for the specific services. In our context of Mobile TV the important standard is T-DMB and DAB-IP. This standards are recongnized by ETSI, IEC and CENELEC. (WorldDMB, 2009)

The Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) is a video and multimedia technology based on DAB. It offers a wide range of services, such as mobile TV (T-DMB), traffic and safety information (security), interactive programs, data information and many other applications. DMB is one of the world's most successful mobile TV standard, with over 8 million devices sold. Countries in Europe and Asia have implemented commercial services. (WorldDMB, 2009)

According to corporative information, on 1st December 2005 Korea became the first country to ever launch a consumer facing Mobile TV service. This was done using DMB.

The following video is interesting because shows how DMB works, the functionalities and applications and the benefits:

It says that in Europe, Germany starts using DMB mobile TV services coinciding with the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The technology has since proven popular on a worldwide scale: 14 European countries and 9 further countries have carried out test or trials. These include: Australia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Ghana, Indonesia, Italy, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. More information of the geographic distribution can bee seen in this link. (WorldDMB, 2009)

DAB-IP is another extension of the DAB technology to provide TV broadcasting over DAB. The following is the definition of DAB-IP provided on WorldDMB official web site: “DAB-IP is an alternative possibility for digital multimedia and video broadcasting. It was used in the UK on a trial basis over a period of about 18 months which finished end of 2007. Unlike DMB, this variant is not fully standardised by ETSI, but makes use of a hook that was designed exactly for that purpose - DAB IP Tunnelling. Based on this transport system for IP datagrams via DAB, the provider BT Movio applied protocols and source coding algorithms designed by Microsoft. It should be noted that in the meantime all of these specifications (ASF and VC-1) are in public domain apart from one - WMA.”

References

WorldDMB. (2009). DMB - Mobile Television . Retrieved 07 1, 2009, from DMB - Mobile Television : http://www.worlddab.org/introduction_to_digital_broadcasting/dmb_-_mobile_television WorldDMB. (2009).

WorldDMB: Standards and Technical Specifications . Retrieved 07 2009, 1, from WorldDMB: Standards and Technical Specifications : http://www.worlddab.org/introduction_to_digital_broadcasting/standards_specs

Mobile TV broadcast

Introduction

In this second part of the blog I will focus on the discussion of Mobile TV broadcast standards in Europe, trying to cover the following issues: technologies, markets, and regulatory action. The reason I decide to focus on the broadcast issue is because broadcast remains the foreseeable future the most efficient way for the large-scale provision of TV service, and is still an “open” issue.

The broadcast technologies that have allowed us to watch TV in our homes, have been modified and adapted to allow mobile handsets to receive the same programs. Broadcast standards are poised to enable mobile TV for the mass market, in the same way to what high definition (digital TV) is doing for the home TV market.

Standards / Technologies

In this first part of the second part of the blog I will discuss about the broadcast technologies. Mobile TV broadcast concerns the simultaneous broadcast (delivery) of multimedia content to a big number of consumer with handset devices. So it is necessary a bearer technology to allow the TV services. This bearer technology relates to the physical and transport layer aspects, including de/modularion and transmission, content formats (audio and video), security and service description. The bearer technology is responsible for the quality of service that the consumer experiences. The following diagram shows the different layers: (TNO-ICT, 2007)

The broadcasts involve multiple technologies for mobile TV, such as digital video broadcasting for handhelds (DVB-H), digital multimedia broadcasting for TV (DMB-T), DVB-T, and analog TV, in simultaneous transmissions.

According to several news I have read on Internet (News1, News2) the European Commission (EC) is attempting to settle on a single standard for mobile TV broadcast across the European Union (EU), and it looks like DVB-H may come out on top. But the industry represented by the European Mobile Broadcasting Council (EMBC), argues that EC position is favoring a technology standard over others.

According to the study “Mobile TV” (TNO-ICT, 2007), requested by the “Policy Department Economic and Scientific Policy” of the UE, the four technologies that currently dominate the Mobile TV landscape are Digital Audio Broadcasting-Internet Protocol (DAB-IP), Forward Link Only (FLO), Terrestrial Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (T-DMB) and Digital Video Broadcast- Handheld (DVB-H). All four technologies are fully capable of supporting mobile TV.

In the next 4 entries I will discuss each of this 4 technologies that are currently dominating the market (in the UE).

References:

TNO-ICT. (2007, 10). Study: Mobile TV. Retrieved 6 31, 2009, from Study: Mobile TV: http://www.dvb-h.org/PDF/M3-3_01-07_Mobile-TV-Study.pdf

3G Standardization

In the last post I tried to resume and provide a general view of the 3G technologies used to deliver Mobile TV, in this section I will try to describe how these standards have been formalized. While much has been written about the promise of 4G and the evolution to LTE, the reality is that 3G networks are still evolving and maturing with many network capabilities still untapped.

In the last chapter I describe that 3G is the result of the evolution of two branches, the standardization efforts have also followed this two branches in the 3G partnership association project.

We can find 3GPP closely associated with the developments of GSM networks to UMTS (3GPP). And the migration of CDMA networks to 3G is coordinated by the 3GPP2 (3GPP2, 2007). More information can be accessed in the official sites of these two groups. (Kumar, 2007)

3GPP and 3GPP2 have some architectural differences between the two groups, interoperability and compatibility of application was needed so they had to work on the unification of standards. So was necessary a migration process of networks from 2G, circuit-switched voice-based networks using SS7 signaling, toward 3G networks based on IP interoperable with Internet. (Kumar, 2007)

3G platforms have corrected evolved to an IP core for voice and data, that allows the use of more efficient coding for voice and migrating all signaling protocols to IP based technologies.

The process have resulted in the following IP based multimedia platform architectures for the networks:
● IP Multimedia System (IMS) 3GPP
● Ip Multi-Media Domain (IMD) 3GPP2.

It have been necessary a process of convergence of the two standards 3GPP and 3GPP2, with the scope to allow interworking of both technologies. (Kumar, 2007)

But the convergence is difficult to achieve, because the need to maintain the technologies of WCDMA frequency division duplex (FDD) and TDD, which have different propagation characteristics and therefore different network designs. In the multimedia area there are standards defined and used by 3GPP and 3GPP2 for video and audio coding that are different. So that forces handset manufacturers to use a player that is able to work with multiple standards, that is necessary to provide interoperability in multiple networks. (Kumar, 2007)

Mobile TV using 3G technologies benefits operators because they can use their own spectrum and use the same business model. It is important to say that 3G services are offered by mobile providers and mobile television is offered by television networks. In Europe alone there are currently 19 operators offering 3G mobile TV services. (ERICSSON, 2006)

This is the last point of the discussion of unicast Mobile TV using 3G technologies, next sections I will focus on the discussion of Mobile TV using broadcast technologies which is an interesting “open” issue for the players and regulatory authorities.


References

3GPP. (s.f.). 3GPP. Recuperado el 26 de 5 de 2009, de 3GPP: http://www.3gpp.org/about-3gpp
3GPP2. (2007). 3GPP2. Recuperado el 25 de 05 de 2009, de 3GPP2: http://www.3gpp2.org/Public_html/Misc/AboutHome.cfm
ERICSSON. (2006). ERICSSON. From Mobile TV: the road to mass market: http://www.ericsson.com/solutions/news/2006/q1/20060119_mobile_tv_standards.shtml
Kumar, A. (2007). Mobile TV: DVB-H, DMB, 3G Systems and Rich Media Applications . Fucal Press Media Technoly Professional.

Mobile TV using 3G technologies

3G (Third Generation) is the third generation of telecommunication standards and technology for mobile networking, represents the evolution from previous standards, it is replacing 2G and 2.5G networks (CDG, 2006).

3G networks, which were designed to have a greater capability for data. The main advantage is that it use of a wide radio spectrum resulting in a faster data transmission, which suits multimedia services (Kumar, 2007).

The Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) is one of the 3G mobile systems being developed under the ITU's IMT-2000 framework. 3G-UMTS provides circuitswitched connection up to 384 kbps and packet-switchedconnections up to 2 Mbps. Is achived by using 5 MHz carriers, improved radio interfaces, and core architectures (Kumar, 2007).

Speaking about Mobile TV services being provided over 3G networks, are possible thanks to standards like MBMS, 1xEvolution Data Optimized (1xEV-DO) and High-Speed Downlink Packet Data Access (HSDPA). These standards were driven by the need to make available Mobile TV services to serve more users within the same cellular networks and improve quality (Kumar, 2007).

Just checking my mobile phone and accessing to “Vodafone Live” service platform I can say that today video on demand through clip streaming services as well as live video are available for a broad range of content, , weather, sports, etc.

Mobile phone operators in Europe, Asia, Latin America, and specific areas of USA and Africa America offer such services (Kumar, 2007).

Multimedia (video and/or video) services including live TV over mobile networks are provided by streaming the video and audio over the networks in a manner very similar to streaming over the Internet (like Youtube), The streaming service quality is subject to sustained rates of data transfer that depends on the network technology and protocols.

Mobile TV services are possible and facilitated by the use of common standards for the file formats and video and audio codec’s as formalized by the 3G Partnership Project and the 3GPP Packet Streaming Standards (3GPP-PSS) (Kumar, 2007).

The procedures for setting up packet-switched streaming sessions have been formalized under the 3GPP-PSS for video streaming.

As I mentioned in the beginning the current 3G technology is the result from the evolution from voice-oriented networks such as 2G and 2.5G (GSM & CDMA). This evolution taken place in two branches, those involving GSM and those involving CDMA networks. The GSM network evolved to GPRS which evolver to EDGE (2-2.5G technologies), and finally evolved to the UMTS framework (3G). The UMTS uses Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) to carry the radio air transmissions. (Kumar, 2007)

The CDMA networks evolved from IS95A to IS-95B and then to CDMA2000 a 3G standard. More evolutions have taken place in order to meet new demands of real-time Mobile TV (CDG). WCDMA (UMTS) standard dominates the market is a direct spread technology, and the CDMA2000 standards have grown. According to a report from RNCOS, the total number of 3G subscribers using WCDMA and CDMA2000 grew 45% in 2007 over the previous year to cross the mark of 600 million (ITU, 2008).

Figure 1: 3G Standards

In the next post I will discuss the standardization process for multimedia delivery (Movile TV) in 3G networks, and future technologies.

References:

- CDG. (2006). Retrieved 5 26, 2009, from Market Trends: http://www.cdg.org/technology/3g/resource/Market_Trends_FINAL_12-1-06.pdf
- ITU. (2008, 9 28). ITU news. Retrieved 05 2008, 25, from Global 3G Subscribers Passed 600 Million Mark in 2007 : http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/newslog/Global+3G+Subscribers+Passed+600+Million+Mark+In+2007.aspx
- Kumar, A. (2007). Mobile TV: DVB-H, DMB, 3G Systems and Rich Media Applications . Fucal Press Media Technoly Professional

Mobile TV Standards

In this chapter I provide a general view of which standards are currenlty using Mobile TV providers. Standardisation in that area according to the literature is fundamental to obtain a critical mass (operators goal). In next chapters I will define this standards in more detail and discuss their strong/weak points and future path.

According to the literature is important to distinguish between direct users, parties that read the standard to apply it, and indirect users, parties that have a stake in the application of the standard. In the Mobile TV industry that is complex because many actors are involved in different ways but I can say that mobile phone manufacturers are both indirect and direct users, because they develop and in some casese they just apply existing standards. Mobile Phone operators in most of the cases are also both indirect, apply existing standards to their infrastructure, and direct users, collaborate in the design and testing of the standards.

Most of the standards I will discuss are going to be describtive standards that describe a detailed solution to deliver TV to mobile devices. Most of the standards are the result of the collaboration and efforts off different parties that joint efforts.

Mobile video and TV content is a reality on existing 2.5G and 3G infrastructures, in downloading and streaming modes. However to cover mass-market, 3G has an overlay access network not designed and optimized to deliver large amounts of data to multiple receivers, from a technical an cost viewpoint. A single UMTS cell supports only a small number of simultunaneous, high-bit rate unicast multimedia sessions, typically four 256 kbit/s streams (Alcatel).

This capacity was improve with the planned evolution of UMTS, namely High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), that bring exceptional capacity to unicast. HSPDA can extend the bit rates to 10 Mbps or even grater on 5-MHz 3G networks (Kumar, 2007). In January 2009 HSDPA networks are commercially operating in 105 countries (GSA).

Work is already on for even higher data rate throughputs through 3GPP initiatives such as UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Node Long Term Evolution (3G LTE) (Kumar, 2007).

An alternative approach is deliver TV services is via a broadcast network. There are three main radio technology families for delivering broadcast content to mobile handset terminals:

· In-band cellular broadcast techniques suchas as the Multicast Services and Multinedia Services designed to overcome the actual limitation of 3G networks, when delivering live channels. MBMS is an extension to UMTS, and use multicast users to broadcast content rather than using one-to-one unicast sessions, which are limited by the capacity of the mobile network. (Kumar, 2007) (Alcatel)

· Terrestrial digital broadcast networks and extensions, are an important class, because of the high power terrestrial transmitters con provide and reach small mobile devices, with small antennas and indoor areas. Those are the main technologies using terrestrial transmission:
- Digital Video Broadcast transmission (DVB-H), based on DVB-T standards (Alcatel) .
- Terrestrial Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (T-DMB), based on T-DAB standards Media Forward Link Only (MediaFlo), is a solution that improves DVB-H and is propertary of Qualcomm (US) (Kumar, 2007).
- ISDB-T is the Japanese digital television and allows HDTV as well as reception on small handsets. (Alcatel)

· Hybrid Satellite/Terrestrial systems is the combination of terrestrial and satellite systems to distribute Mobile TV. Such as S-DMB from SKT in Korea, MobaHo! From MBCO in Japan, both systems use the MBSAT satellite and the DVB-SH, satellite services to handhelds (Alcatel).

The following map (Figure 1) shows which standards are being used in each country:

Figure 1: Mobile TV standards geographical distribution (GSA)

It has been a massive job for the industry to come together and agree on standards that are being used as a common platform for delivering mobile TV services. The standards may differ slightly based on technology, but the extent of agreement that has been achieved in a time frame as short as a decade reflects a new life cycle of technology and products (Kumar, 2007).

To achieve this was necessary that countless group worked together. From chip manufacturers to operating systems and multimedia application software designers, handset manufacturers, software developers, the TV broadcast community, 3G mobile operators, and satellite TV broadcast operators, among the hundreds of stakeholders involver. It also involved the content generation industry, that generates audio and video content for the mobiles (Kumar, 2007).

The following Figure 2(Kumar, 2007) shows the current Mobile TV standards in the market:

Figure 2: Mobile TV technologies and standards

References:

- Alcatel. (n.d.). Alcatel White Paper. Retrieved 5 2009, 20, from Unlimited Mobile TV for the Mass Market: http://www1.alcatel-lucent.com/com/en/appcontent/apl/S0206-MOBILE_TV-EN_tcm172-641791635.pdf?sess=e52f19db7d6cca388337e9f470a228fa
- GSA. (n.d.). Retrieved 5 25, 2009, from GSA January 2009 Market Update Shows 3G Evolution Steps Confirmed by Multiple Operators for HSPA+, LTE and EDGE Evolution: http://www.gsacom.com/news/gsa_261.php4
- Kumar, A. (2007). Mobile TV: DVB-H, DMB, 3G Systems and Rich Media Applications . Fucal Press Media Technoly Professional.

General Requeriments

Mobile TV is not like conventional TV, there are some constraints that differentiate them, in first place the technical features of a mobile device are different battery consumption, screen size, signal reception, etc.
Mobile devices are battery powered, so the TV system must take that in consideration to increase battery usage duration. Other constraints like man-made and natural noise affects the TV signal emission that diminish the reception quality, users are already compromising on their screen size, so the system shall mitigate “noise” effects on the receiving capabilities. So are required a set of special requirements for the compression and transmission parameters of the TV signal. Also the system must secure the distribution and consumption of Mobile TV. (Faria, Henriksson, Stare, & Talmola, 2006)

Additionally, the system coverage should cope with two scenarios indoor & outdoor.

Other difference is the way users consume the TV service, a mobile user will watch TV occasionally and during short time, that affects the TV content that operator should provide. The user probably we will use the service when is moving (mobile user), which is a technical difficult constraint to take into account. Most of the user expects a system that allows and easy operation (like traditional TV). (Carlsson & Walden, 2007)

The following are the requirements that need to be met by a service provider networks (Kumar, 2007):
- The first requirement is to have protocols standardized and agreed on video streaming.
- The networks needs standards for encoding of video and audio defined for video streaming.
- The networks must have enough data rate available for uninterrupted video transferences.

The system should be usable in different parts of the world and should offer the flexibility to use different transmission bands and channels. So the ideal system must be compatible (interoperable) with different network and systems implementations, so must be accepted by electronics manufacturer, mobile operator, TV broadcaster, and standard organizations (ITU, ETSI, etc.). The system require a precise understanding of the technological constraints and associated costs, the needs and expectations of customers, and needs to flexible to meet new requirements and business models.

To sump up, to deliver and recieve Mobile TV is made possible by standards and technologies that define audio and video coding, transmission, broadcast, and reception.

References:

- Carlsson, C., & Walden, P. (2007). IEEE xplore. Retrieved 5 2009, 20, from Mobile TV - To Live or Die by Content: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/login.jsp?url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fiel5%2F4076361%2F4076362%2F04076476.pdf%3Farnumber%3D4076476&authDecision=-203

- Faria, G., Henriksson, J., Stare, E., & Talmola, P. (2006). IEEE xplore. Retrieved 05 2009, 22, from DVB-H: Digital Broadcast Services to Handheld Devices: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/login.jsp?url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fiel5%2F11%2F4114770%2F04114803.pdf&authDecision=-203

-Kumar, A. (2007). Mobile TV: DVB-H, DMB, 3G Systems and Rich Media Applications . Fucal Press Media Technoly Professional.

Mobile TV

A simple definition about what is Mobile TV could be: “The transmission of visual images of moving and stationary objects, generally with accompanying sound, as electromagnetic signals and the reconversion of received signals into visual images on any mobile or portable device (mobile phone, PDAs, etc.) in any location” (Mirics).

Mobile analog TV receiver have been on the market for years. They have not been a high success, which may be to the fact do not have any new additional feature over the normal television.

But digital Mobile TV is just television or this technology brings new services? This is the question that a lot of people may have. Mobile TV is a supplement to the normal television that have the capacity to support different services to the end-user handset terminal like Video-on-Demand TV (VoD), social TV platforms, interactivity (users can vote and take part in show games), etc. (Vodafone).

A mobile TV service requires significant content development and formatting to adapt offerings to the specifics of the mobile broadcast environment and market demand (Jordan & Schatz, 2006).

The objective of the industry is to develop new adding services, trying to develop the next generation of multi-media technology services in order to offer a new experience to enrich and satisfy mobile end-users. Video 1 shows the Siemens Mobile TV solutions.

Video 1

We can distinguish basically two television services, unicast and broadcast delivery.

Unicast (one-to-one) the user access personalized content (VoD), accessing it when and where he/she wants. Using a dedicated radio bearer per user allows an unlimited number of TV channels to be offered to a limited number of users. Is an interactive service, user makes a content query to the Mobile TV service provider (operator), so is necessary a bi-directional link between the end user and a video server is required to allows this interaction (Alcatel).

Broadcast (one to many) service is good to deliver the same content to lots of consumers at the same time. Using a common radio bearer for all users in the coverage area allows a limited number of TV channels to be offered to an unlimited number of users. That contributes in a most efficient use of channel capacity and a cost effective delivery method. The mass market can most optimally be achieved using this technology (Alcatel).

The following diagram (Blondeau O., 2007) shows the strength/weakness of five factors of both delivery services:

Diagram 1 (Blondeau, 2007)

There is a dilemma “Unicast VS Broadcast”, and this question appeals to mobile operators. Operators want to exploit their existing mobile network as much as possible, so they are interested in services, like unicast TV that can work in their current infrastructure (3G). But one of the important reasons why operators need to implement broadcast systems is to increase capacity and quality to cope with mass access to TV services, due the network limitations. The 3G network when must support more than a “few” users in a cell area the service rapidly breaks down because a lack of bandwidth (Broadcast Engineering, 2008). However, from a user-social point of view, broadcast is going in the wrong direction. Nowadays we live in the era of personalization, users want on-demand services. Clear examples of that demand are the success of Youtube and multimedia podcasts. Currently unicast services, typically in the form of streaming video and data delivered over a 3G network, are the most predominant type of mobile TV (Broadcast Engineering, 2008). But from a scalability point of view, switching to a broadcast technology makes sense.

So the solution to this dilemma is to merge the two approaches into a unified system such that the limitations of each are overcome by the primary advantage of the other. Unicast being used for interactive services on-demand content, and the broadcast service to support popular forms of content (sports, news, life events, etc) (Alcatel). In such a combined system, radio resources are not wasted.

References:

- Alcatel. (n.d.). Alcatel White Paper. Retrieved 5 2009, 20, from Unlimited Mobile TV for the Mass Market: http://www1.alcatel-lucent.com/com/en/appcontent/apl/S0206-MOBILE_TV-EN_tcm172-641791635.pdf?sess=e52f19db7d6cca388337e9f470a228fa
- Blondeau, O. (2007, 7 19). ANACOM & DigiTAG Mobile TV. Retrieved 5 2009, 20, from Broadcast/unicast complementarity for mobile TV and technology/spectrum issues: http://www.anacom.pt/streaming/olivieblondeau_apre.pdf?categoryId=247362&contentId=500329&field=ATTACHED_FILE
- Broadcast Engineering. (19 de 2 de 2008). Retrieved 5 2009,23 from Unicast versus broadcast mobile TV key dilemma for 2008 Mobile World Congress attendees: http://broadcastengineering.com/RF/unicast_versus_broadcast_mobile_0219/
- Jordan, N., & Schatz, R. (2006). IEEE Xplore. Retrieved 5 2009,13 from Broadcast Television Services Suited for Mobile Handheld Devices: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/login.jsp?url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fiel5%2F11153%2F35811%2F01698502.pdf&authDecision=-203

Introduction

Emerging new technology applications in the mobile industry are revolutioning the way we live in this world. The mobile phones industry has evolved in a fast way in the last 15 years (Video 1). Mobile phones are getting more and more sophisticated and complex and new features and applications for mobile phones are created continuously. New technology allows more applications and services for users.

Video 1: Mobile Phone evolution

Portability is the evolution for consumer electronics. Mobile TV is the next step as mobile phones evolve and get more multimedia features. Mobile TV is a new service concept “Mobile TV on the go” that has the potential to change the present market for mobile handset services. Mobile TV combines the two bestselling consumer products in history, TVs and mobile phones (Jordan & Schatz, 2006).

The Mobile TV service is defined as real-time broadcast transmissions of multimedia (video & audio) content to mobile devices (Yeun, 2007), represents an emerging potential platform for multimedia applications because it bring traditional TV services and on-demand multimedia content to mobile devices (Jiehan Zhou, 2009).

Telecommunication infrastructures, ICT technology and media content service are converging in a way that mobile TV is feasible and a current reality. Mobile TV has become feasible as television signals are receivable on a mobile device. Is nowadays a reality, in the US mobile phone users have been accessing live broadcast TV since late 2003. And in China, due to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, the population using mobile TV in the Beijing area increased. (Jiehan Zhou, 2009)

During the last 5 years a high number of technological and commercial trials in Europe and USA confirmed the feasibility and real applicability and potential of Mobile TV.

Mobile TV is multimedia service which has considerable technical and commercial attention. TV services offer a high potential revenue generator for all the players in the value chain, mobile operators and manufacturers, broadcasters and content providers.

There are multiple technologies for delivering Mobile TV services. Different transmission standards are adopted in different world areas such as EU, Asia, and America. Presently there are some uncertainties concerning the future market positions and strategies of: mobiles operators, TV broadcasters, content providers, standardization bodies and others, so they are researching and working on defining a interoperable and compatible technological scenario that enables the development of new innovative features and functionalities (Jiehan Zhou, 2009).

The past decade has seen many proposed standards for delivering Mobile TV service, such as Digital Video Broadcast-Handheld (DVB-H), Terrestrial Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (T-DMB), Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (MBMS), MIMO, MediaFLO and so on (Jiehan Zhou, 2009).

The objectives of this Blog are:

- 1st Explain which technologies are behind Mobile TV services (emission).
- 2nd What is going on in the Mobile TV market discuss about the current standards situation and trend which are expected to dominate the sector according the country.
- 3rd Discuss about the new challenges in the broadcasting TV industry (Europe).

Refrerences:

- Jiehan Zhou, Z. O. (2009). ACM Portal. Retrieved 5 2009, 19, from Digital TV on mobile devices: http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1515650

- Jordan, N., & Schatz, R. (2006). IEEE Xplore. Retrieved el 19 de 5 de 2009, de Broadcast Television Services Suited for Mobile Handheld Devices: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/login.jsp?url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fiel5%2F11153%2F35811%2F01698502.pdf&authDecision=-203

- Yeun, C. Y. (2007). IEEE Xplore. Retrieved 5 19, 2009, from Mobile TV Technologies: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/login.jsp?url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fiel5%2F4459487%2F4475588%2F04475607.pdf%3Farnumber%3D4475607&authDecision=-203