Status on Satellite Mobile TV Air Interface Issues

C. Bazile, B. Martin, G. Scot, O. Courseille, F. Lacoste, C. Loisel

Abstract The air interface design for future mobile broadcasting satellite systems is a key issue both for system dimensioning and terminal cost depending on technology reuse from terrestrial developments. We present in this article a status on the SDMB air interface following a CNES study phase A with Alcatel finished in January 2006, and prior to the beginning of a CNES-Alcatel study phase B. During this period, the air interface definition evolved from a UMTS CDM baseline to an OFDM baseline adapted from the DVB-H standard. We propose here to discuss these air interface choices and to give the preliminary corresponding system dimensioning as obtained in the CNES study phase A.

AIR interface design for future mobile broadcasting satellite systems is a key issue both for system dimensioning and terminal cost depending on technology reuse from terrestrial developments. We present in this article a status on the SDMB (Satellite Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) air interface following a CNES study phase A with Alcatel finished in January 2006, and prior to the beginning of a CNES-Alcatel study phase B. Study phase A main objective was to demonstrate feasibility of the SDMB concept through preliminary system dimensioning with several candidate air interfaces. All satellite broadcasting systems in S band already launched or under study are based on a hybrid architecture combining satellite for rural and low-density environments and repeaters for urban environment. In these systems, multipath effects in repeater environment induce the use of adapted air interfaces, which vary from CDM (Code Division Multiplexing) for Korean MBSAT to OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) in combination with a TDM (Time Division Multiplexing) satellite link for Sirius or XM radio. In the SDMB context, the reuse or adaptation of existing terrestrial standards remains a key feature in air interface design contrary to previous proprietary solutions. Historically, SDMB had a strong involvement in CDM solutions derived from 3G technology, through S-UMTS standardization process. More recently, digital TV HE
C. Bazile is Telecommunication Air Interface research engineer at Centre National dEtudes Spatiales, av. Ed. Belin, 31401 Toulouse Cedex 9, France (+33 5 61 28 33 68, caroline.bazile@cnes.fr) B. Martin is System Engineer at Alcatel Alenia Space, 32 avenue Klever, 92 707 Colombes, France (+33 1 55 66 13 25, beatrice.martin@alcatelaleniaspace.com) G. Scot is Telecommunication System engineer at CNES (gael.scot@cnes.fr) O. Courseille is Senior System Engineer at Alcatel Alenia Space, Toulouse France (olivier.courseille@alcatelaleniaspace.com ) F. Lacoste is Propagation research engineer at CNES (frederic.lacoste@cnes.fr) C. Loisel is System engineer at CNES (celine.loisel@cnes.fr)

I. INTRODUCTION

terrestrial broadcasting development and its adaptation to mobile through DVB-H has given to SDMB an alternative air interface candidate, based on OFDM. As a consequence, its adaptation to satellite context is today clearly at issue. This article presents an overview of air interfaces tradeoffs analyzed through the CNES SDMB study phase A. After a short recall of the system architecture and transmission channel characteristics, we discuss the candidate air interface architectures and propose for the different air interfaces solutions system dimensioning evaluations for both rural and repeaters environments. The retained favorite solution and the motivation for it are exposed. The methodology for future dimensioning consolidation is finally presented. II.SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE AND TRANSMISSION CHANNEL
CHARACTERISTICS

A. Hybrid broadcasting architecture To simultaneously deserve large areas and offer good service availability in urban environment, SDMB system is based on a hybrid architecture combining a satellite with a ground repeater segment. The system baseline uses 15 MHz within the frequency band attributed to the downlink of satellite mobile services in S band. For the system baseline, a European coverage with 6 linguistic spot beams is considered, ensured by 3 satellites, with 2 spots per satellite. The frequency pattern has 3 colors, with 5 MHz band attributed to each beam.

Figure 1 : System hybrid architecture For the baseline of the system, we consider that to optimize the bandwidth occupancy, satellite and repeaters use the same band and the same signal. But we will see later in the article that in specific cases, the use of a different frequency band for satellite signal and repeater signal can be discussed.

Besides, we consider SFN (Single Frequency Network) architecture for the repeater segment. B. Propagation channel characteristics Propagation channel characteristics have both an impact on system and margins dimensioning, and on waveform design, which must be adapted in order to take into account delay spread and Doppler spread values. During CNESAlcatel phase A study it has been considered that coverage in rural areas is provided by satellite and coverage in urban areas is provided by terrestrial repeaters. For both environments and both types of emitters, the mobile propagation channel is classically divided into three additive effects depending on the considered scale: at large scale: path loss at medium scale: shadowing effects at small scale : multipath effects. 1) Rural environment In rural environment, for a GEO satellite in S-band and European typical elevation angles, path loss can be modelled using free space law. The vegetation shadowing modelling considered relies on ITU-R Rec. P. 681-6 that recommends using the Extended Empirical RoadSide (EERS) model. This model has been developed from extensive measurement campaigns on roadside trees roads at elevation angles between 7 and 60. It gives the vegetation shadowing loss exceeded for given percentages of travelled distance between 1% and 80%. The percentage of exceedence given by the EERS model can be thus considered as conditioned to the fact that the system user is in roadside tree environment. Consequently, in phase A, the statistics provided by EERS model have been coupled with vegetation maps over the French national territory VI to get the system availability that can be reached for a given shadowing margin: P(LShadowing) = PEERS(LShadowing) p(vegetation) From this analysis it has been found that a 10 dB margin ensures a 96.5% availability over the French territory (average elevation angle equal to 35) that is close to the 95% target value. Concerning multipath effects, ITU-R M. 1225 satellite models provide a Power Delay Profile (PDP) for the satellite channel in rural area. The first tap follows a Rice distribution with K=10 dB. This PDP shows that compared with the urban environment, the rural case can be considered as narrowband. Besides, experimental measurements carried out on XM radio system has leaded to Rice factor K mostly higher than 15 dB. 2) Urban environment In urban environment, the choice of path loss and shadowing models relies on Rec. ITU-R M. 1225 terrestrial models that give the selection procedure to assess radio transmission technologies candidates to the IMT-2000 bands. For path loss effects in urban and suburban areas, Rec. ITU-R M. 1225 recommends to use the Xia-Bertoni model. In the SDMB system, coverage in urban areas is mainly provided by the repeater segment giving rise to extended macrocell coverage. Consequently, path loss in urban areas

has been modelled using the vehicular Xia-Bertoni model which assumes an IMR antenna height of 15 meters above the average rooftop. Concerning shadowing effects, Rec. ITU-R M. 1225 recommends to use a lognormal model with a 10 dB standard deviation in both urban and suburban areas. From this location variability value, the shadowing margin to consider has been extracted: 10 dB that ensures a coverage equal to 84% at edge of cells and greater inside the cells. This hypothesis can be a bit pessimistic in urban areas at these frequency bands where other models give about a 8.5 dB location variability VI. Besides, this value doesnt integrate SFN diversity than is expected to reduce this shadowing effect. Finally, multipath effect has an impact both on waveform design and on associated performances assumptions. The knowledge of typical delay spread values is necessary for preliminary system dimensioning since it has a major impact on waveform parameters (Guard Interval (GI) for OFDM, Rake window for CDM). Even if a more precise methodology for multipath channel profiles definition is proposed in C, a simplified approach has been first used to have typical values for delay spread depending on the cell radius. We consider the SFN geometry of Figure 2.
r5 r3 r3 r5 r2 r4 r2 r5 r3 r3 r5 r1 r2 r4 r r r2 r5 r1 r r1 r3 r2 r2 r3 r4 r5

Figure 2: SFN network considered For a terminal at the intersection of 3 cells, and with a 1/r3.5 path loss hypothesis, we can evaluate the power contribution of each SFN emitter. The power contributions about 10 dB / 20 dB under main contribution are spread in a time interval respectively noted DS_10dB and DS_20dB. The corresponding results for a varying cell radius are given in Figure 3.
60 Delay Spread (s) 50 40 30 20 10 0 0 1 2 3 Cell Radius (km) 4 5

DS_10dB DS_20dB

Figure 3 : Delay Spread as a function of the cell radius

III. CANDIDATE AIR INTERFACE ARCHITECTURES A. Overview of air interface solutions in existing systems In the USA, two hybrid systems, XM Radio and Sirius, have been in launched in 2001 and 2002 to offer digital audio radio services. They both cover CONUS with one single beam. Each of them uses a 12.5 MHz band in S band (2332.5-2345 MHz for XM Radio and 2320 2332.5 MHz for Sirius). They differ on the satellite orbits used, since XM Radio is based on 2 GEO satellites, whereas Sirius uses 3 HEO satellite. In both cases, the direct satellite link uses a TDM air interface, whereas terrestrial repeaters transmit an OFDM signal in SFN configuration. The total system capacity for each of theses system is about 4Mbps. In Korea and Japan, MBSAT, also based on hybrid architecture, deliver video, audio, and data contents on two spot beams, one on Korea, and the other on Japan. Full 25 MHz bandwidth (2630-2655 MHz) is used simultaneously in both spots, for a total capacity on each spot equal to about 7Mbps. MBSat air interface is based on CDM with a Convolutionnal Coding / Reed Solomon concatenated code. B. Candidate Air Interfaces architectures for SDMB and corresponding standards 1) Positioning of SDMB towards existing systems European system SDMB has several constraints differing from previously mentioned existing systems. At first, the total available bandwidth in S band today is 15 MHz. Secondly, these spectrum resources have to be shared between European countries at satellite antenna level where a 3 colours pattern is used. As a consequence, a 5 MHz bandwidth is available for satellite link in each spot beam. Compared to existing systems, this bandwidth is shorter, and for this reason, air interface spectral efficiency is a major concern for SDMB. Besides, the privileged approach remains the reuse or adaptation of existing terrestrial standards instead of the definition of a proprietary air interface. In that context, two natural candidates are UMTS and DVB-H technologies, respectively based on CDM and OFDM solutions. Three scenarios are analysed and compared in the following: CDM (for both satellite and terrestrial components), OFDM (for both satellite and terrestrial components) and TDM/OFDM (TDM on satellite link and OFDM on repeater link). 2) CDM and UMTS
a) Standardisation context

mapped on S-CCPCH (Secondary Common Control Physical Channel) physical channel. Table 1: Main characteristics of W-CDMA
Service band Chip rate / Channel spacing Modulation Coding Capacity at physical layer b) S band 3.84 Mcps / 5MHz QPSK / CDM 1/3 Turbo coding for data channels Up to 7 channels of 384 kbps Typically limited to 3*384 kbps for urban

Air interface architecture options for CDM

For Satellite Mobile TV, the basic W-CDMA air interface architecture is based on a satellite frequency pattern of 3 colours, and on transparent repetition of the WCDMA 5MHz signal in the terrestrial repeaters. An interesting feature of W-CDMA air interface for SDMB is the opportunity to use in different ways the scrambling / spreading (channelisation) codes for satellite spot beams discrimination, to replace frequency discrimination between the beams. Different channelisation codes can indeed be used at satellite level to discriminate the spot beams enabling a full reuse of the total bandwidth in each spot beam VI. This optional architecture can be interesting for a progressive capacity deployment scenario, in which 3 successive satellites, each dedicated to one 5MHz bandwidth, are launched. Once the first satellite is launched, the six spots can be covered with one-third capacity on each. The important associated constraints are the necessary synchronisation between the beam to maintain code synchronisation, and the associated capacity limitation per beam and per satellite since only on third of the codes can be assigned to one beam in 5 MHz. Table 2: Comparison between W-CDMA scenarios
Basic air interface architecture Progressive deployment Synchronisation constraint Geographic with full capacity No Option : Code discrimination between spots In capacity with full coverage Yes

Progressive capacity deployment has been considered less attractive than progressive geographic deployment due to the strong market requirement on the data throughput available. The preferred W-CDMA scenario is then the basic one. 3) OFDM and DVB-H
a) Standardisation context

W-CDMA air interface is today standardised by 3GPP for T-UMTS. In the frame of ETSI, the SES (Satellite Earth Stations and Systems) /S-UMTS (Satellite UMTS) standardisation group works on a satellite component for UMTS, and on the adaptations of W-CDMA for satellite use. W-CDMA is traditionally designed for unicast but was recently adapted for multicast/broadcast services trough MBMS (Multicast Broadcast Multimedia Services) introduced in release 6. In the SDMB system, we focus among W-CDMA options on this MBMS feature. We reuse then FACH (Forward Access Channel) transport channel

DVB-H is an extension of DVB-T standard to deliver mobile services to handheld terminals. Both are based on OFDM. DVB-H complements DVB-T with new functionalities adapted to handheld mobile transmission such as new interleavers, Time Slicing for power saving in the terminal and with MPE-FEC module for error correction. Table 3: Main characteristics of DVB-H

Service band Channel bandwidth Modulation Coding Capacity at physical layer

UHF or L band 5MHz to 8 MHz QPSK 16 QAM / OFDM Convolutionnal code concatenated to Reed Solomon code From 3,1Mbps (QPSK1/2 GI=1/4) to 19,8 Mbps (16QAM GI=1/32) in 5MHz

Direct link waveform Total bandwidth occupied Sensitivity to nonlinear effect Terminal impact c)

OFDM/OFDM Same signal as repeater link 4.76 MHz Yes One single reception chain

OFDM/TDM TDM signal 10 MHz No Two different reception chains

DVB-H proposes different modes corresponding to variable number of sub-carriers (2k, 4k, 8k) and different guard interval duration from to 1/32 of symbol duration. These parameters have to be chosen depending on Doppler spread and on delay spread values. Recently, a study mission untitled DVB-SSP for Digital Video Broadcasting Satellite Services to Portable devices has been created by the Technical Module to analyse the reuse or adaptation of DVB for satellite broadcasting systems in S band in mobile environment. In parallel, the Commercial Module of DVB decided to start a new activity on this topic. Mission and technical perimeter of these activities should then be stated with a target date for technical specification availability by end of this year. Link budgets for satellite system are more constrained than for terrestrial. Optimisations for these link budget appear very dimensioning both for capacity on the direct link and for repeater segment. The use of higher frequency indeed tends to reduce the cells radius and to increase the repeaters density, even if this is partly counterbalanced by higher antenna gain and flexibility to smartly integrate antennas in the terminal. Two major technical options could be considered to make up for that. On the one hand, the use of turbo coding could be analysed to enhance the trade-off of the waveform between power performances and spectral efficiency. On the other hand, antenna diversity in terminal is easier in S band than in lower frequency bands and can provide an additional significant gain compared with single antenna solutions. Besides, in S band, Doppler shifts are 3 to 5 times higher than in UHF band. As a consequence, a new mode with a lower number of sub-carriers might be necessary thereby leading us to consider a 1K mode.
b) Air interface architecture options for OFDM

Retained OFDM waveform parameters

To face both SDMB delay spread and Doppler spread, an adapted choice of the number of sub-carriers (choice of DVB-H mode) and of the guard interval length is necessary while optimising the resulting data rate. For a given sub-carrier spacing, the typical acceptable Doppler spread is given in VI by the following expression:

Fdmax =

Sub - carrier spacing 8

This value is in line with the typical DVB-H performances and Doppler resistance indicated in the guidelines VI. For speeds up to 170 km/h, the resulting maximum Doppler frequency error to be taken into account is 315 Hz. This corresponds to a minimum sub-carrier spacing of 2.5 kHz compatible with 2k mode in 5 MHz, for which the sub-carrier spacing is equal to 2790 Hz. For guard interval dimensioning, the approach adopted for this first preliminary system dimensioning is to chose a guard interval compatible with delay spread values obtained in 2 DS_20dB. For maximal cell radius of 3 km, the corresponding delay spread is evaluated to 35 s, and the corresponding guard interval following Table 5 is 1/8. Table 5: GI Duration for 2K mode (5MHz) Guard Interval GI duration
89,60 s

1/8
44,80 s

1/16
22,40s

1/32
11,20s

Further optimisations of this guard interval length are foreseen to find the best trade-off between guard interval overhead and inter-symbol interference term, here equal to zero, taking into account the specificity of hybrid reception. C. First synthetic qualitative comparison between these solutions W-CDMA has been originally designed for unicast services in cellular network. As a consequence, it is not optimised in terms of capacity for SFN broadcasting networks due to highly selective multipath channel. Besides the natural capacity limitation to 7 simultaneous 384 kbps channels in Gaussian environment, the intrasystem interference in multi-path channels typically limits the number of code to 3 codes of 384 kbps in urban environments. OFDM solutions are from this point of view more efficient, besides enabling future capacity increase since it OFDM is optimised for high level magnitude multi-path environment. W-CDMA offers more flexibility both in terms of capacity versus margin or in terms of architecture (possible spot discrimination with codes), but cannot match today for the capacity levels requirements for SDMB.

If OFDM is very adapted for the terrestrial repeater link due to propagation channel selectivity, this waveform is very sensitive to non-linear effect on the direct satellite link. Thus, two different air interface architecture may be considered for the satellite direct link: TDM, or OFDM. XM Radio and Sirius use a TDM waveform on the direct link, less sensitive to non-linear effects, but not adapted to frequency selectivity and OFDM on the repeater link. The major advantage of this approach is that each link can be optimised separately. This has to be balanced with the fact that it implies the use of two frequency bands instead of one for OFDM/OFDM case, and with higher design costs in the terminal. Table 4: Comparison between OFDM/OFDM and TDM/OFDM scenarios

For mobility in S band, we can quote the natural adaptation of W-CDMA designed specifically for this frequency band and for mobile applications, contrarily to DVB-T, initially designed for fixed terminals and adapted trough DVB-H to mobiles in UHF-VHF bands or L band. The preliminary calculations done here on Doppler spread have indicated that DVB-H parameters could be compatible with S band mobile operation, but these assumptions have to be consolidated. For multi-path effect, depending on the cell radius different delay spread values can be derived. These values impact the choice of Rake window for W-CDMA, and affect the capacity through guard interval dimensioning for the case of OFDM. These different elements are more precisely evaluated and compared in the following chapter. IV. SYSTEM DIMENSIONING COMPARISON FOR THE DIFFERENT AIR
INTERFACES

The dimensioning aspects of margin choice motivate a representation of the results in terms of capacity as a function of margin for the different modulation and coding schemes or for the different number of simultaneous codes in W-CDMA.
b) Hypothesis for OBO and non-linear losses for the different waveforms

A. Link budget evaluation methodology 1) Satellite environment

a) Margin dimensioning

For rural environment, we consider only satellite contribution. As a consequence, this environment is very dimensioning for spatial segment and for minimum capacity achievable in the system. Margin dimensioning has then an important impact on system capacity. The classical margin calculation expressed by margin = (C/(N+I)) - (C/(N+I))requis is substituted by an expression integrating the fact that interference from same satellite or co-localised satellite is also attenuated when shadowing occurs :

The approach to fix Output Back Off (OBO) values and corresponding non-linear losses at satellite level aims at minimizing the resulting power penalty aggregating the useful OBOu (simulated OBO of the useful signal with NPR subtraction with respect to single CW carrier output power at saturation), and the non-linear (NL) losses on Eb/Nt. This non-linear effect optimization deeply depends on the payload architecture considered (one single 5 MHz channel amplification or multiple channels amplification). The following values stand for an individual amplification of each 5MHz channel. These evaluations have been done for W-CDMA trough simulations on a realistic W-CDMA signal superposing 6 simultaneous 384 kbps channels (most pessimistic case). For OFDM, the simulations are based on a simplified Gaussian noise signal model expected to be representative of OFDM behaviour in terms of envelop fluctuations. Finally, for TDM, typical values are taken into account. These different values will be consolidated later, as discussed in V. Table 6: OBO and non-linear losses
OBOu NL losses W-CDMA 2,9 dB 0 dB OFDM 2,7 dB 1 dB TDM 0,3 dB 0 dB

C m arg in C = I Nt req N+ m arg in

In the simplified approach adopted in study phase A for satellite link budget evaluation, we consider waveform performances in Gaussian environment since these performances were available for all the envisaged air interfaces contrarily to specific Rice satellite transmission performances. As a consequence, the margin has to integrate both shadowing and fast-fading aspects. We have seen in 21 that a shadowing margin of 10 dB corresponds to a statistical propagation availability of 96%. But in practice, the availability value at user level will be enhanced by the use of interleavers and FEC. We consider in the following a targeted aggregate margin for shadowing and fast-fading of 10 dB. A more precise dimensioning methodology for rural link budget is considered in study phase B as described in A); it should integrate evaluations of physical layer performance in fast-fading satellite transmission channel, availability with different levels of interleaving and FEC and streaming quality of service.

2) Repeaters environment The repeaters environment is modeled without the contribution of satellite. A simplified SFN architecture as represented on Figure 2 is considered. Based on shadowing propagation models described in 2, we dimension the link budget so as to have a shadowing margin (with one single emitter contribution) equal to 10 dB. This is a typical value taken into account in terrestrial cellular networks dimensioning. In the SDMB case, the multiple contributions of several repeaters will provide shadowing diversity, compared with a single emitter case. This shadowing margin will as a consequence be more precisely evaluated in study phase B. Besides, we can note that these evaluations are pessimistic since they dont integrate the coverage complement provided by satellite. In urban environment, multipath effect on the waveform has also to be taken into account. We have seen that OFDM guard interval dimensioning is done so as to reduce interferences to a negligible contribution. On the contrary, in W-CDMA systems, multipath induces important intrasystem interference and capacity limitation. For a typical capacity limitation to 3 simultaneous 384 kbps channels, we consider a noise rise due to intra-system interference equal to 6 dB. The link budget is then calculated with this interference term, with the adapted path loss model (2, and the required Eb/Nt values described in C. Depending on the modulation and coding schemes considered, capacity and cell radius

vary. The results represent this trade-off between capacity and cell radius for a fixed shadowing margin. These first evaluations will be consolidated through radio planning simulations in study phase B. B. Hypothesis on system dimensioning 1) Satellite

The following values stand for an individual amplification of each 5MHz channel. For improved SDMB OFDM (S-OFDM), we assume a gain of 2 to 2.5 dB compared with DVB-H, and the addition of a new coding rate 1/3. Table 9: Req Eb/Nt hypothesis for S-OFDM1
S-OFDM air interface QPSK 1/3 QPSK QPSK 2/3 Gaussian environment 1.5 dB 2.1 dB 2.9 dB IMR environment 7 dB 7,6 dB 9,6 dB

As mentioned in A, we consider 2 spots per satellite. A circular polarisation is used for satellite emission. With a Spacebus platform and a 12 m antenna we consider effective EIRP values in the range 71-73 dBW depending on the waveform. Antenna C/I is equal to 15 dB. 2) Repeater

Finally, we consider for TDM case state-of-the-art turbo coding performances with 0.4 dB implementation margins. Table 10: Req Eb/Nt hypothesis for TDM link
TDM air interface QPSK 1/3 QPSK 1/2 QPSK 2/3 Gaussian environment 0.9 dB 1.5 dB 2.3 dB

Repeaters use linear polarization. We consider that 20W are available per sector. Combined with a 17 dB gain hypothesis, we take into account 30 dBW EIRP. 3) Terminal

The terminal receives in linear polarization. G/T values of Table 7 are taken into account in the link budgets, integrating this polarization loss. No antenna diversity has been integrated in these values at that time. Table 7: Terminals G/T (dB/K)
Handheld Portable (PDA) Rural (Satellite) -33,1 -27,4 Urban (IMR) -30,6 -28,6

The signaling amount has also to be integrated in the evaluation and comparison between air interfaces. The following table synthesized the different signaling overhead taken into account in the different cases. Table 11: Overhead synthesis
Air interface W-CDMA DVB-H TDM Overhead considered P-CPICH, P-CCPCH, SCH, PICH Guard Interval (1/8) + pilots + TPS Synchronizations pilots Overhead cost 1 dB (20%) 1.3 dB 0.1 dB (2%)

C. Hypothesis on waveform performances (required C/N and Eb/Nt) Due to very short planning of study phase A, no specific simulations have been led. We had chosen to synthesize and reuse existing reference performances available for the different waveforms. For W-CDMA, S-UMTS documents and Maestro results have been compared. They give for both Gaussian and multipath channel similar results. For Gaussian channel, we consider a margin reduced to 0.4 dB which means enhanced chipsets. Table 8: Required Eb/Nt hypothesis for W-CDMA
W-CDMA Air Interface MBMS ref channels Gaussian environment 1.5 to 2 dB IMR environment 10 dB

D. Rural environment For the four possible air interfaces analysed for satellite link, Figure 4 represents the capacity as a function of the margin for the different modulation and coding schemes, or different number of codes.

For DVB-H, different reference performances are available in the guidelines VI and in the validation task force VI. We consider as reference the required C/N and corresponding Eb/Nt values of the possible reference receiver of the guidelines. These performances are available in single emitter mode (low delay spread). The use of SFN instead of single emitter is mentioned in VI as impacting the terminal synchronization but not modifying the typical associated C/N values. These values should then be reasonably transposable to SDMB context if guard interval is well dimensioned. This non-linear effect optimization deeply depends on the payload architecture considered (one single 5 MHz channel amplification or multiple channels amplification).

6
Figure 4: Capacity versus margins in rural environment for handheld terminal
1

After subtraction of guard interval and pilot overhead

Different conclusions can be drawn from these results. We can first not that W-CDMA offers the best flexibility between margin dimensioning and corresponding capacity thanks to its variable number of codes (here 384 kbps channels), but has a maximum capacity limitation to 3 Mbps (even a bit less since 8 simultaneous channels of 384 kbps are not possible). OFDM air interfaces are more capacitive (on this figure, we represent only QPSK schemes, but 16 QAM schemes are even more capacitive), for required C/N more constrained. We can see for example that DVB-H will not ensure the 10 dB margin with the link budget hypotheses previously mentioned. This 10 dB margin is reached by S-OFDM with the hypotheses mentioned in C for a capacity of 1,7 Mbps. Finally, we can see that TDM scheme is more efficient on the satellite link, since the corresponding Output Back-Off are lower, and the signaling overheads reduced. For a margin of 9.6 dB, the achieved capacity is equal to 3.8 Mbps.

5
Figure 6: Capacity versus cell radius in repeaters environment The comparison in rural environment makes appear the poor capacity performances of W-CDMA solutions due to intra-system interference. On the contrary, DVB-H and SOFDM solutions offer good capacities and lower repeaters density. DVB-H or S-OFDM have moreover a good potential for further capacity increase, thanks to other 16QAM modes available. V. RETAINED AIR INTERFACE SOLUTION IN STUDY PHASE B AND A. Retained air interface for study phase B Air interface retained for study phase B is based on SOFDM. This choice is motivated by the good performances of OFDM to provide capacitive broadcasting services in SFN repeaters networks, and by the growth potential in terms of capacity it offers. On the satellite link, the preferred option is the OFDM one, since it only occupies one 5 MHz band for both satellite and repeaters emission. However, the alternative TDM air interface for satellite link will also be more deeply analyzed, for its very good non-linear performances and resulting expected capacity.

6
Figure 5: Capacity versus margins in rural environment for portable (PDA) terminal For portable terminal, thanks to the significant gain on G/T, we can see that the conclusions are different. The relative positioning between the different air interfaces remains the same as in handheld case, but we can note that the link budget can be achieved with DVB-H. Besides, we are in limit of W-CDMA achievable capacity. Table 12: Capacity synthesis in rural environment
Air interface W-CDMA DVB-H S-OFDM TDM Handheld terminal 1,9 Mbps X 1,7 Mbps 3,8 Mbps Portable terminal 3 Mbps 2,6 Mbps 3,5 Mbps > 5 Mbps

4 3

5 4 3

B. Points to be consolidated in air interface dimensioning evaluations in study phase B Besides adaptation of DVB-H for satellite evaluation and analyses for both TDM/OFDM and OFDM/OFDM scenarios, several simplified assumptions taken in study phase A need complementary investigations in study phase B. At first, satellite link dimensioning has to be consolidated integrating both: - fast-fading margins evaluation through physical layer simulations - effect of shadowing on end-to-end service availability Secondly, performances of DVB-H physical layer in SFN propagation channels profiles have to be evaluated. The Guard Interval duration dimensioning is based today on a very simplified propagation channel model. Trade-off between overhead and inter-symbol interference has to be evaluated for different typical propagation channels.

ity(Mbps)

Capacity(Mbps)

METHODOLOGY FOR DIMENSIONNING CONSOLIDATION

E. Urban environment

For urban environment, we only consider three options, which are DVB-H, S-OFDM and W-CDMA.

2 DVB-

A third important point is the consolidation of non-linear effect evaluation. Moreover, the statistical availability at propagation level has to be replaced by a notion of service availability. This notion has today to be specified/evaluated in representative propagation environments.. C. Reference transmission channel definition and simulation campaign The first step in the air interface performance evaluation is the definition of specific SDMB propagation channels adapted to several propagation conditions: - rural environment with different speeds - urban repeaters only environment - several suburban configurations integrating higher relative delays between satellite and repeaters echoes Then, the simulation of physical layer but also upper layers and corresponding FEC has to be led. D. Measurements via CNES demonstrator and laboratory experimentations In parallel to study phase B, CNES is deploying an SDMB demonstration on Toulouse, with the deployment of several repeaters and a satellite emulator onboard a helicopter or an airship. The measurements done on this demonstration will also be used to consolidate hypotheses such as Doppler resistance and potential critical environment identification. In addition to this measurement campaign, OBO consolidation is programmed with laboratory measurements. VI. CONCLUSION The traditional air interface solutions dedicated to broadcasting services in S band are based on CDM or OFDM waveforms. In SDMB system, the reuse or adaptation of existing terrestrial standards and technologies remains a key feature in the air interface design. In that context, this article discusses the two major options for SDMB air interface that are W-CDMA and DVB-H. Whereas W-CDMA air interface has an intrinsic capacity limitation in multipath urban environment, OFDM solutions offer a natural resistance to frequency selectivity, resulting in higher capacities and more favorable repeater segment dimensioning. As a consequence, the analysis of the reuse and adaptation of DVB-H technology to SDMB context is a major objective of study phase B undertaken by CNES and Alcatel, and of standardization initiatives on the subject. For a repeater link in OFDM, two main options can then be distinguished and discussed depending on the satellite link. Even if a common OFDM signal for repeater and satellite is considered today as a baseline, a TDM option can also represent a promising alternative. REFERENCES [1] [2] [3]
ETSI TR 102 277 v0.1.0 (2003-12) SES; Satellite Component of UMTS/IMT-2000; Satellite Component for Multimedia Broadcast/multicast Service (MBMS); W-CDMA Radio Interface ETSI EN 300 744 v1.5.1 (2004-06) Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); Framing structure, channel coding and modulation for digital terrestrial television ETSI TR 102 377 v1.2.1 (2005-07) Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); DVB-H implementation Guidelines

[4]

ETSI TR 102 401 v1.1.1 (2005-05) DVB; Transmission to Handheld Terminals (DVB-H); Validation Task Force Report [5] J. H. A.A. Hutter, R. Hasholzner, Channel estimation for mobile OFDM systems, in Proc IEEE Veh Technology Conf, Amsterdam, Sept 1999 [6] J. Laiho, Radio Network Planning process and Methods for WCDMA, Annals of Telecommunications, Vol. 56, No. 5-6, May/June 2001, pp. 317-331, Hermes Penton Science [7] SR Saunders, Antennas and Propagation for Wireless Communication Systems, Chichester, UK: Wiley, 1999 [8] C. Bazile, X. Deplancq, W-CDMA / OFDM comparison for future mobile broadcasting services by satellite, AIAA ICSSC conference, sept 2006 [9] RomeAVHRR Continuous Fields Tree Cover Project, http://glcf.umiacs.umd.edu/index.shtml , http://glcf.umiacs.umd.edu/data/treecover