DVB approves specs for handheld devices

Industry consortium DVB has approved a new specification for handheld devices, DVB-NGH (Next Generation Handheld).

Based on DVB-T2, DVB said NGH is designed to aid mobile and portable reception. Additional techniques included in the standard include MIMO (Multiple-Input and Multiple-Output), Time Frequency Slicing (TFS) with a single tuner, non-uniform constellations, improved and extended LDPC codes for lower code rates, more efficient time interleaving and ultra-robust layer-1 signalling.

It also covers a hybrid profile where terrestrial and satellite transmission schemes can be combined.

The specification will be submitted to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) for formal standardisation and an NGH BlueBook is to be published.

“NGH covers the latest modulation as well as coding technologies and can be regarded as the most sophisticated terrestrial broadcast air interface. Furthermore it also offers additional operational flexibility, such as different protection for audio and video streams in one service,” said Peter Siebert, DVB’s executive director.

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