Performance and Coverage Area of Digital

Terrestrial TV
Teferi Lemma

School of Electrical Engineering and Computing, Adama science and Technology University

Adama, Ethiopia

Email: tlemma@yahoo.com

AbstractDigital Video Broadcasting (DVB) is being adopted as
the standard for digital television in many countries. The DVB
standard offers many advantages over the previous analogue
standards and has enabled television to make a major step
forwards in terms of its technology. The DVB-T transmission is
capable of carrying a very significant level of data. Normally
several television broadcasts may be carried on a single
transmission and in addition to this several audio-video channels
may be carried as well. The study of the DVB-T coverage aspects
presented in this paper has been based on the use of a single
frequency network. This is because there is great interest in the
use of Single Frequency Networks for reasons of frequency and
power economy. The coverage prediction maps were produced
by different simulation tools. Finally the simulated results were
validated with field measurements.
within a standard (7 or 8 MHz) television channel. As far as
coverage planning is concerned, there are important
advantages in the design of the transmitter net-work structure
and the energy balance [2].
DVB-T is a digital TV broadcasting standard which enables
the delivery of terrestrial digital TV programs and other
multimedia streaming. With all the advantages offered, until
now many countries have continued migrating from the use of
analog TV to digital TV.
This paper will discuss about the performance of DVB-T on
channel with areas that are still able to receive DVB-T with
tolerance values specified BER [3].
II. RELATED WORKS

The switch-over from analogue to digital systems for TV

KeywordsDigital video broadcasting, Coverage, Performance, broadcasting, accompanied by an exponential growth in
Field measurement, Frequency. broadcasting data consumption has raised interest in allowing
multi program operations in the TV bands[1].
I. INTRODUCTION The developments in standardization of digital radio
broadcasting systems have introduced new possibilities
DVB-T or Digital Video Broadcast Terrestrial is the most
regarding the methodology of planning terrestrial broadcasting
widely used digital television standard in use around the globe
networks. The introduction of single frequency networks
for terrestrial television transmissions. It provides many
(SFNs), allows the synchronization of the transmitters of a
facilities and enables a far more efficient use of the available
confined geographic area, so that they may operate at the
radio frequency spectrum than the previous analogue
same frequency channel without any destructive interference
transmissions. DVB-T makes use of many modern
occurring at the receiver [2].
technologies to enable it to deliver high quality video in a
With the emergence of the digital broad casting standards,
broadcast environment [1].
new design induced constraints of single frequency networks
The DVB-T transmission is capable of carrying a very
have started to be of practical concern. Fitting measurement
significant level of data. Normally several television broad
data to assumptions on RF propagation has been conducted
casts may be carried on a single transmission and in addition
for many different terrains, climates and environments and
to this several audio channels may be carried as well. A
had led to the derivation of such widely used models as the
further plus point for digital systems is the marked
Okumura-Hatamodel [3].
improvement in portable reception when ordinary antennas
Therefore, the planning of digital radio broadcasting
are used. It is also possible with digital systems to transmit
networks has gained a degree of flexibility, which allows
transmitter characteristics and placement calibration, as more Orthogonality concept of a signal can make the signal
than one transmitter may be used to achieve coverage over a overlapping each subcarrier without having the effect of inter-
given area without depleting spectrum resources [4]. symbol interference (ISI) and inter-carrier interference (ICI)
which in turn will lead to efficient use of bandwidth [1]
III. OVERVIEW OF DIGITAL VIDEO OFDM technique used in the DVB-T transmission, with
BROADCASTING-TERRESTRIAL the parameters specified number of subcarriers corresponding
working mode used in DVB-T transmission [3].
DVB-T is known as a digital television broadcast standard The parameters for DVB-T 2K and 4K modes are used as in
that is widely used in the world and is also being adapted in Table I.
Indonesia due to several advantages; mainly due to reliability
DVB-T is capable of delivering large amounts of data at high C. Least square channel estimation
speed point-to-multipoint.
Earth transmitter function is to transmit MPEG-2 digital Channel estimation is a technique that aims to predict or
data that has been modulated into a wave VHF / UHF antenna estimate the channel impulse response (CIR) or impulse
to be transmitted using a transmitter. response of a channel to the signal sent.
Digital modulation system used in the DVB-T system is In general, there are many methods that can be used in
modulated OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division channel estimation, the signal sent to the effects the changes
Multiplex) with a choice of modulation types QPSK, 16-QAM generated by the channel was estimated that the detection
or 64QAM. By using this system, the bandwidth used (about 6 signal becomes more accurate information.
to 8 MHz) may be efficient to allow the use of the channel for Estimates Least Square (LS) channel estimator is the
some content. simplest, the equation (1) estimator works by dividing the
received signal at the receiver after the channel through which
A. Digital Modulation the signal is transmitted through the channel before.
HLs (1)
Digital modulation is the process of laying the digital
signal to the carrier signal. There are many types of digital
Note:
modulation that can be used in digital signal transmission
HLs: Channel frequency response is obtained by least square
system; the following is a type of modulation to be used in
estimate
this study.
Y: Signal at the receiver, expressed in the frequency domain
X: Signal at the transmitter, expressed in the frequency
1) Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK): Phase shift
domain.
Keying modulation is a digital modulation technique whereby
the QPSK modulation using 90 increments in the phase which TABEL I
produces 4 kinds of logic state (symbol) in any condition. One OFDM PARAMETERS OF THE DVB T
symbol represented in two bits. QPSK modulation to increase
the data transmission rate is higher than the binary phase shift Mode 2K 8K
keying (BPSK) in the same bandwidth but requires QPSK
generation and detection systems are more complex.
The Number of subcarriers used 1705 6817
Number of Kmin 0 0
2) Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM): Digital Number of Kmax 1704 6816
Modulation Quadrature Amplitude Modulation is a Sub-carrier spacing 1/ (2048 x T) 1/ (8192 x T)
combination of ASK and PSK digital modulation which bit Spacing between carrier Bandwidth DVB
binary data expressed with different amplitude.

B. Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) IV. SYSTEM DESIGN

OFDM is a spread spectrum technique which uses
multicarrier systems that transmit data in parallel on multiple
subcarriers are mutually orthogonal [2]. OFDM is emerging as
a solution to solve the problems in the propagation of waves
in the air.
In the simulation session will be an analysis of the
performance of the DVB-T system on HAPS indicated by the
BER values obtained for Eb/No. subsequently saw an increase
in coverage is influenced by the use of channel estimation. To
facilitate the process of simulation, then some of the
assumptions made are as follows [3]:
Conditions HAPs and receivers are considered in a
static position, HAPS with a height of 20 km.
Doppler Effect of the environment has no effect.
Simulation at the physical layer baseband signal.
Simulation will be conducted at several receiver positions
angles. At each corner are observed have a different values of
K-factor. The value of K-factor at any elevation angle
contained in Table II.
Generally, the system consists of a transmitter block,
transmission channel and receiver blocks. Furthermore, from
the data obtained de-mapper block output will be calculated
bit error rate (BER), BER calculation is intended to determine
the number of bits that have errors due to noise mixed. This
calculation is done by comparing the data received by the
receiving data transmitted by the transmitter. BER is a
parameter used in the simulation to see the performance of the
system [4].
TABEL II
VALUES OF K FACTOR.
Elevation K-factor
10 1.4
20 2.0
30 2.3
40 2.7
50 4.6
60 6.4
70 9.2
80 12.2
90 16.0
V. ANALYSIS OF SIMULATION
Performance of the overall system be based on the BER
values obtained of bit energy per noise value (Eb/No) system.
Good system performance will be shown with the smaller
value of the BER. The BER results obtained from the
simulation of the DVB-T 2K with QPSK modulation on
HAPS channel without using channel estimation. The results
showed that the best BER graph is when the highest value of
K-factor, which means the receiver is at elevation angles
90.The position is appropriate under the platform so that the
maximum transmit power received. This is also indicated by
the value of K-factor on the LOS component [2].
The results obtained from the BER simulation 2K DVB-T
with QPSK modulation on HAPS systems by adding the use
of LS channel estimation on the block to improve BER can be
achieved. In the results on DVB-T 8K QPSK, which Further
simulations performed on the DVB-T 2K and 8K mode with
16 QAM modulation [1].
Based on result BER obtained still showed the same pattern
where the smallest BER is on the corner 90 the value of BER
can be achieved with a value of Eb/No is higher.
Thus indicating use QPSK modulation indicates better
performance. It can be caused by the distance between the
QPSK constellation symbols is greater than the distance
between the constellation symbols on 16- QAM symbols
errors resulting opportunities that occur on QPSK modulation
is smaller than the chance of symbol errors that occur in 16-
QAM modulation [3].
Extensive analysis of the DVB-T service coverage on
channel HAPS can be determined from the simulation results
that have been obtained. To calculate the area of coverage and
the increase will be calculated on a value Eb/No with equation
[2]. The Eb/No maximum value used is 20 dB with the result
that coverage can achieve BER values are shown in Table 2.
Based on the simulation results, the mode is used DVB-T
effect on the resulting performance. For service delivery area
coverage is more suitable 8K mode, but this mode has a
higher complexity with the use of subcarriers and FFT points
more, for the simulation also takes a longer time [4].
VI. CONCLUSION
In this paper we have studied the problem of accurate
coverage prediction for multi-transmitter TV networks as a
requirement for primary system protection against
interference. Based on measurement data i have shown the
strong fluctuation in received signal strength caused by a
complex multi-source shadowing component and interactions
of highly correlated signals. I have compared these results
against estimated signal strengths of standard propagation
models and have reported on their shortcomings.
I have furthermore studied two methods to improve
coverage prediction by means of parametric fitting of a log-
distance path loss model or exploitation of the spatial structure
of the measurement data.
Based on simulation results, showing a good performance,
where the coverage of the BER tolerance reached a diameter
of 68.7 km, the use of channel estimation DVB-T services
greatly affect increase in coverage that can be achieved with
the tolerances specified BER, the LS channel estimation
services using the DVB-T 8K mode and QPSK modulation
can increase coverage up to 34.4 miles on Eb/No 20 db.
Parametric fitting based on information regarding
transmitter locations and their configurations provides better
results and can entirely remove the mean error found in
standard models.
 Moreover, the standard deviation is lowered by 12 dB.
Through application of a Genetic Algorithm we found that
several parameter estimates locally minimize the MSE,
whereby those configurations that take parameter values close
to the values of standard models are generally not globally
optimal. Scenario specific terrain irregularities are only poorly
captured and may hence indicate limited applicability of the
approach in small areas. Prediction of signal strengths by
fitting of the spatial correlation structure performs
significantly better than the previous approach.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my sincere appreciation and deepest

gratitude to my advisor Dr. Tafesse Abera for his constant
support and invaluable guidance. I really appreciate for his
comments during the formulation of the paper review. I would
like to thank my entire classmate friends who support me
during my studies through material and idea.

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