Mobile DTV Deployment at Fox Television Stations Lessons Learned
15 Stations High-VHF and UHF RF Channels 7-44
Why Mobile DTV? US DTV (A/53) developed in 1993 DTV had to fit 19.39 Mbps into 6 MHz Planning factors: Antenna 30 feet high, with 6-10 db gain DTV training sequences appropriate for stationary multipath not moving No concept of mobile reception on a handheld device or with a small antenna on the ground or in motion Photo Credit: Richard Elzey
Mobile DTV: ATSC A/153 Mobile data in MPEG-TS packets with an unreferenced PID Typically 0x1FF6 Ignored by legacy receivers Formatted as IP packets (encapsulated in TS) H.264 video HE AAC audio in RTP / multicast UDP Encryption possible More coding for smaller antennas About 4:1 additional coding over legacy Transmitted in specific time slots Receivers save power turning on only during slots required for service Additional training sequences For mobile reception up to ~200 MPH
Mobile IP Multicast signals
Mobile Bandwidth Use - NoG 16 time slots, 12.1ms each NoG = Number of Groups of mobile data (to fit into slots) 1 NoG costs 917 kbps of legacy signal, and 1 NoG provides ~240 kbps of Mobile payload (HQQQ coding) NoG=1: 416x240 H.264 baseline profile - Kids animated shows NoG=2: 416x240 H.264 baseline profile - Live video NoG=3: 640x368 H.264 main profile - Great live video
Cadence of Mobile Data PIDs in TS Mobile PIDs (lime)
FTS Mobile Block Diagram
FTS Larcan Mobile Equipment H.264 Encoder Mobile Exciter Mobile Mux GPS Receiver ESG Ethernet Switch
If you Standardize it, will they come? ATSC publishes A/153 in 2009 2010 2011 Only a handful of stations on the air Almost no shipping consumer products CE s: Where are the stations? Stations: Where are the CE devices?
MCV Creates the Mobile Ecosystem Solves chicken and egg problem to commercial deployment of mobile TV Legal framework for affiliate mobile content Most major networks participating Content FOX & NBC O&Os, ION 9 other major station groups Upgraded 80+ stations, 35 markets, >55% TVHH Spectrum Devices Launched Dyle Mobile TV brand Dyle creates uniform quality level & CA system Worked with partners to launch initial devices Infrastructure & Technology Dyle Mobile TV application CAS deployment & viewership data Signal monitoring
Dyle App Free-to-the consumer; requires initial registration anonymized demographics Android and ios Version Decrypts MCV stations & plays other in the clear stations Station list pre-populated based on location (full OTA scan available as well) Developed by MobiTV
Dyle App Screenshots Displays ESG: Channel Icon Bar Stoplight RF signal indicator
FOX Lab Dyle RF Testing 1. Sensitivity (how much EM field required for TOV) 2. Multipath/Echo Rejection 3. Co-channel Interference Rejection 4. Adjacent & Other Undesired Channel Interference Rejection
Mobile OTA Monitoring Monitor RF & MPEG TS Monitor A/53 & A/153 PSI Monitor Mobile IP stream validity Show available services & ESG Monitor Mobile Video and decoded Closed Captions
A/53: What Comes out Can go Back In A/53 TS recorded to disk is same TS that left the MUX
A/153: What Comes out Can t go Back In Mobile packets have non-systematic RS encoding in the exciter that A/53 receivers can t decode Requires a pro A/153 receiver doesn t exist Recordings must be made right out of the Mux, not over the air
Mobile DTV Synchronization Mobile data needs to be in the right place at the right time Mobile Mux and Mobile Exciter must be synchronized Typically by GPS Thus no add/drop any TS packets between the mux and transmitter even nulls
ASI to 310 problems ASI asynchronous serial interface, does not run precisely at ATSC data date SMPTE 310 interface data rate 19,392,658 bps +/- 54 ASI to 310 interfaces typically add/drop null TS packets to achieve 310 data rate This blows up Mobile DTV!
Problems when No One is Watching. No one notices that draft standard was implemented instead of published one Mobile signal goes off the air and no one notices Lip Sync? Loudness? No dialnorm metadata in AAC anyway
ios Preferred Loudness Five audio clips of network material 20 LKFS and 14 LKFS Listeners in office environmen ts Mix of iphones, ipads, headphones, speakers, earbuds Listeners preferred average: 9.5/16 volume for 20 LKFS 8.2/16 volume for 14 LKFS ATSC moving to -14 LKFS for mobile
Shipping Dyle Consumer Devices Samsung Galaxy Lightray 4G phone (MetroPCS) Elgato EyeTV Mobile ios 30-pin ESCORT ios 30-pin
Announced Consumer Devices Belkin ios 30-pin RCA Android Tablet Audiovox In-Car Solution
And premiering in the HPA 2013 Demo Room Elgato EyeTV Micro ATSC M/H Receiver for Android
Join us on the Air with Mobile! ~116 MDTV Stations on the air today
Special thanks United Service Source, Inc. Jim DeFilippis Yves Montane, Satoshi Suga, Denise Schnelle Robert Murch, Tim Redmond Earl Arbuckle