Testing enhancements to the ATSC VSB terrestrial digital television standard

In January of 2001, the Advanced Television System Committee (ATSC) issued a request for proposals (RFP) soliciting the development of enhancements to the ATSC VSB digital television standard (A/53). The Committee received a number of proposals, which were subsequently developed into hardware for evaluation. This paper presents results of laboratory and field test measurements of these proposed enhancements conducted over a six-month period during the winter of 2001 and the spring of 2002. The primary objective of this measurement program is to evaluate the performance of these enhancements relative to the existing ATSC Standard under controlled (laboratory) and real world (field) conditions. Data regarding the compatibility of transmitting these enhanced signals on the existing population of DTV receivers (legacy receivers) are also presented.