DVB Digital Video Broadcasting

DVB systems distribute data using a variety approaches, including by satellite (DVB-S, DVB-S2), cable (DVB-C), terrestrial television (DVB-T) and terrestrial television for handhelds (DVB-H). These standards define the physical layer and data link layer of the distribution system. Devices interact with the physical layer via a synchronous parallel interface (SPI), synchronous serial interface (SSI), or asynchronous serial interface (ASI).

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

 DVB-T stands for Digital Video Broadcasting Terrestrial and it is the DVB European consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television. This system transmits a compressed digital audio/video stream, using OFDM modulation with concatenated channel coding (i.e. COFDM). The adopted source coding methods are MPEG-2 and, more recently, H.264. Figure 1 gives a functional block diagram of the system.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

Splitter

Source coding and MPEG-2 multiplexing

MUX adaptation, energy dispersal

External encoder

External interleaver

Internal encoder

Internal interleaver

MUX adaptation, energy dispersal

External encoder

External interleaver

Internal encoder

DAC and Front End

Guard interval insertion

OFDM

Frame adaptation

Mapper

AERIAL

Figure 1. Functional block diagram of the DVB-T system. Digital Video Broadcasting tMyn

TPS and pilot signal

Source encoding and MPEG-2 multiplexing. Compressed video, audio and data streams are multiplexed into Programme Streams (PS). One or more PSs are joined together into an MPEG-2 Transport Stream (MPEG-2 TS), this is the basic digital stream which is being transmitted and received by home Set Top Boxes (STB). Allowed bitrates for the transported data depend on number of coding and modulation parameters, it can range from about 5 Mbits/sec to about 32 Mbits/sec.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

Splitter Two different TSs can be transmitted at the same time, using a technique called Hierarchical Transmission. It may be used to transmit, for example, a standard definition SDTV signal and a high definition HDTV signal on the same carrier. Generally, the SDTV signal is protected better than the HDTV one. At the receiver, depending on the quality of the received signal, the STB may be able to decode the HDTV stream, or, if signal strength lacks, it can switch to the SDTV one.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

 In this way, all receivers that are in the proximity of the transmission site can lock the HDTV signal, whereas all the other ones, even the farthest, may still be able to receive and decode a SDTV signal.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

 MUX adaptation and energy dispersal The MPEG-2 TS is identified as a sequence of data packets, of fixed length (188 bytes). With a technique called energy dispersal, the byte sequence is decorrelated. This randomization ensures adequate binary transitions. The process is accomplished with the Pseudo Random Binary Sequence (PRBS) generator.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

External encoder A first level of protection is applied to the transmitted data, using a nonbinary block code, a Reed-Solomon RS(204, 188) code, allowing the correlation of up to maximum of 8 wrong bytes for each 188-byte packet.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

External interleaver Convolutional interleaving is used to rearrange the transmitted data sequence, such way it becomes more rugged to long sequences of errors, Figure 2.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

SYNC 1 byte

MPEG-2 transport MUX data 187 bytes

MPEG-2 transport MUX packet

8 Transport MUX packets PRBS period=1503 bytes

Randomized Data 187 bytes Randomized Data 187 bytes

SYNC 1

SYNC2

SYNC8

Randomized Data 187 bytes

SYNC 1

Randomized Data 187 bytes

Randomized transport packets: SYNC bytes and Randomized Data bytes Figure 2a. Steps in the process of adaptation, energy dispersal, outer coding and interleaving.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

10

204 bytes

SYNC 1 or SYNCn

187 bytes Randomized Data

16 Parity bytes

Reed-Solomon RS(204, 188, 8) error protected packets

SYNC 1 SYNCn

or

203 bytes

SYNC 1 SYNCn

or

203 bytes

SYNC 1 SYNCn

or

Data structure after outer interleaving; interleaving depth I=12 bytes

SYNC1 : Non randomized complemented sync byte

SYNCn: Non randomized sync byte, n=2, 3, , 8 Figure 2b. Steps in the process of adaptation, energy dispersal, outer coding and interleaving.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

11

Internal encoder A second level of protection is given by a punctured convolutional code, which is often denoted in STBs menus as FEC (Forward Error Correction). There are five valid coding rates: 1/2 (unpunctured), 2/3, 3/4, 5/6, and 7/8. Puncturing is a technique used to make a m/n rate code from a basic rate 1/2 code. It is reached by deletion of some bits in the encoder output. Bits are deleted according to puncturing matrix, Figure 3.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

12

code rate puncturing matrix 1 1/2 1 10 2/3 11 101 3/4 110 10101 5/6 11010 1000101 7/8 1111010

Figure 3. A frequently used puncturing matrices.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

13

 For example, if we want to make a code with rate 2/3 using the appropriate matrix from the table, we should take a basic encoder output and transmit every second bit from the first branch and every bit from the second one. The specific order of transmission is defined by the respective standard.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

14

Internal interleaver Data sequence is rearranged again, aiming to reduce the influence of burst errors. This time, a block interleaving technique is adopted, with a pseudo-random assignment scheme (this is really done by two separate interleaving processes, one operating on bits and another one operating on groups of bits). The input (up to two bit streams) to the internal interleaver is demultiplexed into n sub-streams, where n=2 for QPSK, n=4 for 16-QAM, and n=6 for 64-QAM. In non-hierarchical mode, the single input stream is demultiplexed into n sub-streams.
tMyn 15

Digital Video Broadcasting

 Each sub-stream from the demultiplexer is processed by a separate bit interleaver. There are therefore up to six interleavers depending on n, labelled I0 to I5. I0 and I1 are used for QPSK, I0 to I3 for 16-QAM and I0 to I5 for 64-QAM. Bit interleaving is performed only on the useful data. The block size is the same for each interleaver, but the interleaving sequence is different in each case. The bit interleaving block size is 126 bits.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

16

 The block interleaving process is therefore repeated exactly twelve times per OFDM symbol of useful data in the 2K mode (12*126=1512 bits) and forty-eight times per symbol in the 8K mode (48*126=6048 bits). The outputs of the n interleavers are grouped to form the digital data symbols, such that each symbol of n bits will consist of exactly one bit from each of the n interleavers. Hence, the output from the bit-wise interleaver is a n bit word.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

17

 The purpose of the symbol interleaver is to map n bit words onto the 1512 (2K mode) or 6048 (8K mode) active carriers per OFDM symbol. The symbol interleaver acts on blocks of 1512 (2K mode) or 6048 (8K mode) data symbols.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

18

Mapper The digital bit sequence is mapped into a base band modulated sequence of complex symbols. The system uses Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex (OFDM) transmission. All data carriers in one OFDM frame are modulated using either QPSK, 16-QAM, 64-QAM, non-uniform 16QAM or non-uniform 64-QAM constellations. The exact proportions of the constellations depend on a parameter , which can take the three values 1, 2 or 4.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

19

 is the minimum distance separating two constellation points carrying different HP-bit values divided by the minimum distance separating any two constellation points, Figure 4. Non-hierarchical transmission uses the same uniform constellation as the case with =1. The exact values of the constellation points are z{n+jm} with values of n, m given below for the various constellations: QPSK n{-1, 1}, m{-1, 1}

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

20

4d

Figure 4. Non-uniform, hierarchical 64-QAM with =4. Digital Video Broadcasting tMyn 21

16-QAM (non-hierarchical and hierarchical with =1) n{-3, -1, 1, 3}, m{-3, -1, 1, 3} Non-uniform 16-QAM with =2 n{-4, -2, 2, 4}, m{-4, -2, 2, 4} Non-uniform 16-QAM with =4 n{-6, -4, 4, 6}, m{-6, -4, 4, 6}

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

22

64-QAM (non-hierarchical and hierarchical with =1) n{-7, -5, -3, -1, 1, 3, 5, 7}, m{-7, -5, -3, -1, 1, 3, 5, 7} Non-uniform 64-QAM with =2 n{-8, -6, -4, -2, 2, 4, 6, 8}, m{-8, -6, -4, -2, 2, 4, 6, 8} Non-uniform 64-QAM with =4 n{-10, -8, -6, -4, 4, 6, 8, 10}, m{-10, -8, -6, -4, 4, 6, 8, 10} Some examples are in Figure 5.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

23

10 -1

1 00 1 -1

10

01

Figure 5a. The QPSK mapping and the corresponding bit patterns, Non-hierarchical, and hierarchical with =1.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

24

1000

1010

0010 3 0011 1 1 0111 -1 0110 -3

0000

1001 -3 1101

1011 -1 1111

0001 3 0101

1100

1110

0100

Figure 5b. The 16-QAM mapping and the corresponding bit patterns, Non-hierarchical, and hierarchical with =1.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

25

100000 100010

101010

101000

001000 7 001001 5 001101 3 001100 1

001010

000010

000000

100001 100011

101011

101001

001011

000011

000001

100101 100111

101111

101101

001111

000111

000101

100100 100110

101110

101100

001110

000110

000100

110100 110110

111110 111100 011100 -1

111111 111101 011101 -3 111001 011001 -5 011000 -7

011110

010110

010100

110101 110111

011111

010111

010101

110001 110011

111011

011011

010011

010001

110000 110010

111010

111000

011010

010010

010000

Figure 5c. The 64-QAM mapping and the corresponding bit patterns, Non-hierarchical, and hierarchical with =1. Digital Video Broadcasting tMyn 26

 Frame adaptation The transmitted signal is organized in frames. Each frame has a duration of TF and consists of 68 OFDM symbols. Four frames constitute one super-frame. Each symbol is constituted by a set of K=6817 carriers in the 8K mode and K=1705 carriers in the 2K mode and transmitted with a duration TS. It is composed of two parts: a useful part with duration TU and a guard interval with a duration . The guard interval consists in a cyclic continuation of the useful part TU and is inserted before it.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

27

 Four values of guard intervals may be used, Figure 6. The symbols in an OFDM frame are numbered from 0 to 67. All symbols contain data and reference information. Since the OFDM signal comprises many separatelymodulated carriers, each symbol can in turn be considered to be divided into cells, each corresponding to the modulation carried on one carrier during one symbol.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

28

Mode Guard interval /TU Duration of symbol part TU Duration of guard interval Symbol duration TS=+TU

8K mode 1/4 1/8 1/16 1/32 1/4

2K mode 1/8 1/16 1/32

2048*T 224 s 10240*T 1120 s

8192*T 896 s 1024*T 512*T 112 s 56 s 9216*T 8704*T 1008 s 952 s

256*T 28 s 8448*T 924 s

512*T 56 s 2560*T 280 s

2048*T 224 s 256*T 128*T 28 s 14 s 2304*T 2176*T 252 s 238 s

64*T 7 s 2112*T 231 s

Figure 6. Duration of symbol part for the allowed guard intervals for 8 MHz channels.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

29

Pilot and TPS signals In order to simplify the reception of the signal being transmitted on the terrestrial radio channel, additional signals are inserted in each block. Pilot signals (scattered pilot cells, continual pilot carriers) can be used for frame synchronization, frequency synchronization, time synchronization, channel estimation, transmission mode identification and also to follow the phase noise. Transmission Parameters Signalling (TPS) signals are used to send the parameters of the transmitted signal and to unequivocally identify the transmission cell.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

30

 It should be noted that the receiver must be able to synchronize, equalize and decode the signal to gain access to the information held by the TPS pilots. Thus, the receiver must know this information beforehand, and the TPS data is only used in special cases, such as changes in the parameters, resynchronizations, etc.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

31

OFDM Modulation The sequence of blocks is modulated according to the OFDM technique, using 2048, 4096, or 8192 carriers (2K, 4K, 8K mode, respectively). Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing essentially identical to Coded OFDM is a digital multi-carrier modulation scheme, which uses a large number of closely-spaced orthogonal sub-carriers. Each sub-carrier is modulated with a conventional modulation scheme (such as quadrature amplitude modulation) at a low symbol rate, maintaining data rates similar to conventional single-carrier modulation schemes in the same bandwidth.
Digital Video Broadcasting tMyn 32

 In practice, OFDM signals are generated using the Fast Fourier transform algorithm. The primary advantage of OFDM over single-carrier schemes is its ability to cope with severe channel conditions for example, multipath and narrowband interference without complex equalization filters. Channel equalization is simplified because OFDM may be viewed as using many slowly-modulated narrowband signals rather than one rapidly-modulated wideband signal. The orthogonality of the sub-carriers results in zero cross-talk, even though they are so close that their spectra overlap.
Digital Video Broadcasting tMyn 33

 Low symbol rate helps manage time-domain spreading of the signal (such as multipath propagation) by allowing the use of a guard interval between symbols. The guard interval also eliminates the need for a pulseshaping filter. The carriers are indexed by k[Kmin; Kmax] and determined by Kmin=0 and Kmax=1704 in 2K mode and Kmax=6816 in 8K mode respectively. The spacing between adjacent carriers is 1/TU while the spacing between carriers Kmin and Kmax are determined by (K-1)/TU. The numerical values for the OFDM parameters are given in Figure 7.
Digital Video Broadcasting tMyn 34

Parameter Number of carriers K Value of carrier number Kmin Value of carrier number Kmax Duration TU Carrier spacing 1/TU Spacing between carriers Kmin and Kmax

8K mode 2K mode 6817 1705 0 0 6816 896 s 1116 Hz 1704 224 s 4464 Hz

7.61 MHz 7.61 MHz

Figure 7. Numerical values for the OFDM parameters for the 8K and 2K modes for 8 MHz channels.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

35

 The values for the various time-related parameters are given in multiples of the elementary period T and in microseconds. The elementary period T is 7/64 s for 8 MHz channels.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

36

Guard interval insertion To decrease receiver complexity, every OFDM block is extended, copying in front of it its own end (cyclic prefix). The width of such guard interval can be 1/32, 1/16, 1/8, or 1/4 that of the original block length, Figure 6.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

37

 DAC and front-end The digital signal is transformed into an analog signal, with a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), and then modulated to radio frequency (UHF) by the RF front-end. The occupied bandwidth is designed to accommodate each single DVB-T signal into 8 MHz wide channels. Available bitrates for DVB-T system in 8 MHz channels are presented in Figure 8. All decimal values are in Mbit/s.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

38

Modulation Coding rate 1/2 2/3 3/4 5/6 7/8 1/2 2/3 3/4 5/6 7/8 1/2 2/3 3/4 5/6 7/8

QPSK

16-QAM

64-QAM

1/4 4.98 6.64 7.46 8.29 8.71 9.95 13.27 14.93 16.59 17.42 14.93 19.91 22.39 24.88 26.13

Guard interval 1/8 1/16 5.53 5.85 7.37 7.81 8.29 8.78 9.22 9.76 9.68 10.25 11.06 11.71 14.75 15.61 16.59 17.56 18.43 19.52 19.35 20.49 16.59 17.56 22.12 23.42 24.88 26.35 27.65 29.27 29.03 30.74

1/32 6.03 8.04 9.05 10.05 10.56 12.06 16.09 18.10 20.11 21.11 18.10 24.13 27.14 30.16 31.67

Figure 8. Available bitrates for a DVB-T system in 8 MHz channels.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

39

 DVB-C stands for Digital Video Broadcasting Cable and it is the DVB European consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital television over cable. This system transmits an MPEG-2 family digital audio/video stream, using a QAM modulation with channel coding. Figure 9 gives a functional block diagram of the system.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

40

Source coding and MPEG-2 multiplexing

MUX adaptation, energy dispersal

Channel encoder

Interleaver

Byte/m-tuple conversion

DAC and Front End

Base-band shaping

QAM mapper

Differential encoding

RF Cable Channel

Figure 9. Functional block diagram of the DVB-C system.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

41

Source coding and MPEG-2 multiplexing Basically the same as with DVB-T MUX adaptation and energy dispersal Basically the same as with DVB-T Channel encoder Basically the same as with DVB-T External encoder Interleaver Basically same as with DVB-T External interleaver

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

42

Byte/m-tuple conversion This unit shall perform a conversion of the bytes generated by the interleaver into QAM symbols. Depending on if there is 16-QAM, 32-QAM , or 256QAM, m=4, 5, 6, 7, or 8. Differential encoding In order to get a rotation-invariant constellation, this unit shall apply a differential encoding of the two most significant bits of each symbol.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

43

QAM Mapper The bit sequence is mapped into a base-band digital sequence of complex symbols. The modulation of the system is quadrature amplitude modulation with 16, 32, 64, 128, or 256 points in the constellation diagram. Notice! The mapping is not identical with the correspondent mapping of DVB-T.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

44

Base-band shaping The QAM signal is filtered with a raised-cosine shaped filter, in order to remove mutual signal interference at the receiving side. DAC and front-end The digital signal is transformed into an analog signal, with a digital-to-analog converter, and then modulated to radio frequency by the RF front-end.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

45

 The standard paper says: With a roll-off factor of 0.15, the theoretical maximum symbol rate in an 8 MHz channel is about 6.96 MBaud. This piece of information gives rise to the following figure, Figure 10. All decimal numbers are in Mbit/s.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

46

Modulation 16-QAM 32-QAM 64-QAM 128-QAM 256-QAM

bitrate 25.64 32.05 38.47 44.88 51.29

Figure 10. Available bitrates for DVB-C system in an 8 MHz channel.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

47

 The latest DVB-C specification is DVB-C2. Modes and features of DVB-C2 in comparison to DVB-C:

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

48

DVB-C
Input Interface Modes FEC Interleaving Modulation Pilots Single Transport Stream (TS)

DVB-C2
Multiple Transport Stream and Generic Stream Encapsulation (GSE)
[2]

Constant Coding & Variable Coding & Modulation and Adaptive The final DVB-C2 specification was approved by the DVB Steering Board in April 2009. Modulation Coding & Modulation Modes and features of DVB-C2 in comparison to DVB-C:
[2]

Reed Solomon (RS) Bit-Interleaving Single Carrier QAM Not Applicable

LDPC + BCH Bit- Time- and Frequency-Interleaving COFDM Scattered and Continual Pilots

Guard Interval
Modulation Schemes

Not Applicable
16- to 256-QAM

1/64 or 1/128
16- to 4096-QAM

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

49

 Main features of the DVB-S2: Source may be one or more MPEG-2 TS (MPEG-2 Transport Stream). Packet streams other than MPEG-2 are also valid (MPEG-4 AVC/H.264). MPEG-2 TS are supported using a compatibility mode, whereas the native stream format for DVB-S2 is called Generic Stream (GS). Adaptative mode: this block is heavily dependent on the application that generates the data. This means:

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

50

 CRC-8 encoding; used by a DVB-S2 for error correction; merging full stream and subdivisions in blocks for error correction encoding (DF, Data Fields). Backward compatibility to DVB-S, intended for end users, and DVB-DSNG (DVB-Digital Satellite News Gathering), used for backhauls and electronic news gathering. Adaptive coding and modulation to optimize the use of satellite transponders.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

51

 Four modulation modes: QPSK and 8PSK are proposed for broadcast applications and they can be used in non-linear transponders driven near to saturation 16APSK and 32APSK are used mainly for professional, semi-linear applications, they can be also used for broadcasting but they require a higher level of available C/N and an adoption of advanced pre-distortion methods in the uplink station in order to minimize the effect of transponder linearity.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

52

 For forward error correction (FEC), DVB-S2 uses a system based on the concatenation of the BCH code with an inner LDPC code. Interleaving uses 8PSK, 16APSK, or 32APSK modulation. Performance can be configured to be within 0.7 dB of the Shannon limit.

Digital Video Broadcasting

tMyn

53