Interest in over-the-air reception of TV within the U.S. continues to develop as evidenced by gross sales of antennas, with CTA estimating that the full antenna market within the U.S. will exceed 53 million properties by 2025. While the ATSC 3.0 construct out continues, a brand new idea, “5G Broadcast” is now being thought-about as another choice for high-power, high-tower “subsequent technology” TV broadcasting. There is already one experimental 5G Broadcast station on the air (WWOO-LD in Westmoreland, NH, introduced in July), and broadcasters in different elements of the world are testing 5G Broadcast deployment. Will it exchange ATSC 3.0 because the “subsequent technology” broadcast expertise? The main issue, in my view, will probably be whether or not or not customers and broadcasters drop over-the-air TV in favor of streaming programming over the web. 5G Broadcast is focused primarily at cellular units, the place knowledge capability for video distribution is nonetheless a priority. Consumer adoption of ATSC 3.0, to this point, has been restricted to fastened TV units. While extra individuals are slicing the wire and discovering (or rediscovering) over the air broadcasts, much more of those units are linked to the web alone than to antennas. Will wi-fi operators, who largely management distribution of cellular units within the U.S., permit reception of 5G Broadcasting with no authorities mandate? If there is a authorities mandate, maybe that mandate may require ATSC 3.0 units as an alternative. That raises some questions: Which expertise is higher? Which is simpler to implement? I’ll present some info and hyperlinks to assets that will help you reply these questions. A 3GPP Standard5G Broadcast right now is outlined in 3GPP Release 17 (for an summary on the evolution of 5G Broadcast inside 3GPP, test “Broadcast, multicast applied sciences,” by Dongwook Kim, 3GPP MCC. The present commonplace has options that help high-power, high-tower broadcasting. These embrace Receive-Only-Mode (no SIM card required) and a cyclic prefix of as much as 200 microseconds, permitting bigger distances between websites in a single frequency community (SFN). The main parts of the 5G Broadcast sign are the CAS (cell acquisition subframe) which accommodates the PBCH (bodily broadcast channel); PDCCH (bodily downlink management channel), and the PDSCH (bodily downlink shared channel) essential to decode the PMCH (bodily multicast channel). In order to obtain a 5G Broadcast sign, a receiver should be capable of decode the PBCH, the PDCCH, the PDSCH, and the PMCH. The PBCH, PDCCH and PDSCH are management channels that may be in comparison with the bootstrap, L1-basic and L1-detailed in ATSC 3.0, whereas the PMCH is just like the PLP subframe in ATSC 3.0. The coding and modulation of these parts determines the robustness and capability of the system. More info on the 5G Broadcast bodily layer is accessible in “ETSI TS 103 720 Technical Specification” and within the IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting paper “Evaluation of ATSC 3.0 and 3GPP Rel-17 5G Broadcasting Systems for Mobile Handheld Applications.”5G Broadcast Hardware/Software programRohde and Schwarz has developed a 5G Broadcast platform that has been used for exams world wide. Fig. 1, taken from the corporate’s “5G Broadcast for Automotive” presentation by Dr. Nik Dimitrakopoulos, reveals a R&S BSCC2.0 (broadcast service and management middle) feeding a R&S SDE900 (the identical mannequin quantity unit used for ATSC 3.0 sign technology) right into a TCE901 exciter and THU9evo transmitter. Fig. 1: This diagram reveals a R&S BSCC2.0 (broadcast service and management middle) feeding a R&S SDE900 (the identical mannequin quantity unit used for ATSC 3.0 sign technology) right into a TCE901 exciter and THU9evo transmitter. (Image credit score: Rohde & Schwarz)With the exception of the BSCC2.0, this configuration will probably be acquainted to U.S. broadcasters. Fig. 2, from the BSCC2.0 product brochure, reveals the interior structure of that unit. Fig. 2: The inside structure of the R&S BSCC2.0 (broadcast service and management middle). (Image credit score: Rohde & Schwarz)The OpenAirInterface5g initiative has developed software program that may run on a UHD/USRP primarily based SDR. The final info I’ve on this is from 2019 for a configuration primarily based on 3GPP Release 14. Details can be found within the “FeMBMS/eMBMS E2E Prototyping utilizing OpenAirInterface5G” presentation by Javier Morgade at Vicomtech. Fig. 3 reveals a system utilizing two Ettus B210 SDRs, the identical mannequin used within the GNU Radio ATSC 3.0 transmitter I described in a earlier article. Fig. 3: An OpenAirInterface5g system utilizing two Ettus B210 SDRs (Image credit score: Vicomtech)Comparing 5G Broadcast and ATSC 3.0 PerformanceAs within the 5G Broadcast system described earlier, ATSC 3.0 has components that permit receivers to lock to the channel, get info on the way to tune the channel, and decode the info. How these components are applied impacts efficiency underneath totally different situations. Table XI within the IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting paper Evaluation of ATSC 3.0 and 3GPP Rel-17 5G Broadcasting Systems for Mobile Handheld Application reveals ATSC 3.0 efficiency positive aspects for TU-6, India-Urban, India-Rural, and Seoul-SFN-3 channels for very best estimation and linear estimation at speeds of three, 40, and 120 km/hr. Performance acquire of the ATSC 3.0 bootstrap versus 5G PBCH diverse from a worst case -4.1 dB for linear estimation of a TU-6 channel at 120 km/hr to a finest case +10.5 dB for linear estimation of the Seoul-SFN-3 channel at 3 km/hr. Bootstrap efficiency was higher than PBCH in 20 of the 24 eventualities.A comparability of PDSCH versus L1-Detail confirmed ATSC 3.0 efficiency acquire diverse from -3.0 dB to +5.0 dB. PDSCH was undecodable in 3 of the 24 eventualities. L1-Detail was worse than PDSCH in 8 of the 24 eventualities, though in six of those the distinction was lower than 1 dB. When evaluating ATSC 3.0 subframe with PMCH, the subframe carried out higher at 5 Mbps, 10 Mbps and 15 Mbps in each channel, with PMCH undecodable in 8 of the 24 eventualities at 15 Mbps. The efficiency acquire ranged from +15 dB linear estimation in a ten Mbps TU-6 channel at 120 km/hr to +0.6 dB very best estimation at 10 Mbps at 3 km/hr and 40 km/hr in an India-Rural channel. The examine offered within the IEEE paper explains the ATSC 3.0 efficiency acquire comes from the prevalence of its BICM (bit interleaved coded modulation) parts and, relying on the propagation channel, the time interleaver. The bootstrap performs worse than PBCH in non-line-of-sight channels with excessive mobility however in any other case bootstrap has higher efficiency. In the comparability of PDSCH, L1-Detail carried out higher over line-of-sight however PDSCH was capable of reap the benefits of the range offered by combining two PDSCH in non-line-of-site conditions. Practical Implications: 5G Broadcast vs. ATSC 3.0Broadcasters have ATSC 3.0 transmission infrastructure, however right now don’t have client tools past fastened TV units and gateway units. Qualcomm is including 5G Broadcast help to its cellular gadget chipsets however no units supporting 5G Broadcast are at present accessible to customers. Prototype units can be found for each requirements. When will customers be capable of buy these units? ATSC 3.0 broadcasts are already on the air in additional than 70 markets within the United States. Currently there is just one 5G Broadcast station within the U.S., the experimental LPTV talked about earlier. The 5G Media Action Group’s website online has particulars on 5G Broadcast trials in addition to hyperlinks to a GITHUB with 5G Broadcast reference instruments. Expect to listen to extra about 5G Broadcast deployments world wide on the 2023 IBC Show. 5G Broadcast can construct on present modems and 5G cellular gadget parts. This ought to make it comparatively simple for producers to implement in cellular units. ATSC 3.0 has an incompatible bodily layer and requires extra {hardware}, which suggests further value for cellular units. Many ATSC 3.0 efficiency benefits come from time-interleaving which requires extra reminiscence. I’m not conscious of 5G functionality in any TV set. If 5G Broadcast is required in TV units, what is going to that value? The IEEE Broadcast Transactions paper reveals ATSC 3.0 has a major value benefit for community deployment—fewer transmitters are required for equal or higher protection. Will that matter within the U.S.? 5G Broadcast & ATSC 3.0 CollectivelyWhat if we find yourself in a state of affairs the place 5G Broadcast is accessible on newer cellular units however not in TV units and ATSC 3.0 is accessible in TV units however not on cellular units? What about cars? We’ve seen curiosity in utilizing ATSC 3.0 for delivering content material to cars and as proven within the IEEE paper, ATSC 3.0 has a efficiency benefit there, but when 5G wi-fi units are already within the car, that will give 5G Broadcast a bonus. One resolution can be for a TV station to transmit each 5G Broadcast and ATSC 3.0 on the identical channel. This would require utilizing time division multiplexing (TDM) to share the channel. I described the demonstration on the 2023 NAB Show in my two-part evaluation of the present in my June and July columns. Without new spectrum, I don’t anticipate a major variety of 5G Broadcast alerts on the air in U.S. broadcast bands till sufficient ATSC 1.0 spectrum has transitioned to ATSC 3.0.”For this to work, both or each the ATSC 3.0 or 5G Broadcast requirements would require adjustments to their body construction. Given the variety of ATSC 3.0 TV units already in use, any change to that commonplace must be appropriate with present TV units. Will it Become a Reality?FCC guidelines require broadcasters to ship at the least one free channel to the general public in commonplace definition. During the transition to ATSC 3.0, the FCC has required broadcasters to make sure programming stays accessible to all viewers, together with simulcasting on ATSC 1.0. It is unlikely the FCC will permit broadcasters to close down each ATSC 1.0 and ATSC 3.0 and transfer to 5G Broadcast any time quickly. Assuming curiosity in OTA TV continues, the variety of ATSC 3.0 units will proceed to rise making a full transition to 5G Broadcast troublesome. Without new spectrum, I don’t anticipate a major variety of 5G Broadcast alerts on the air in U.S. broadcast bands till sufficient ATSC 1.0 spectrum has transitioned to ATSC 3.0 to permit 5G Broadcast to share spectrum with ATSC 3.0. At that point, some stations could possibly transfer to 5G Broadcast solely whereas different stations carry their programming on ATSC 3.0 channels, just like the best way stations are transitioning to ATSC 3.0 now. Stations can also use TDM (time division multiplex) to share their channel between ATSC 3.0 and 5G Broadcast. Both assume FCC approval. Several visions for the long run for 5G Broadcast/Multicast Rohde and Schwarz described of their shows may apply to the ATSC 3.0 system. In the tip, the selection will seemingly rely as a lot on advertising and marketing, enterprise plans and client preferences as it can on expertise. 5G Broadcasting is persevering with to evolve. 3GPP Releases 18 and 19 ought to make it simpler for high-power, high-tower broadcasters to start 5G Broadcast, both by itself or time shared with ATSC 3.0 when (and if) 5G Broadcast reception turns into accessible in cellular units.
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