Terrestrial transmission of DTVB signals-the European specification

Considering the developments of the collaborative R&D projects dTTb, HD-DIVINE and ^HDTV_T this paper describes the specification for a European, terrestrial DTVB system, which has been drafted under the umbrella of the European DVB project. This system has been designed to meet the user requirements established by the terrestrial commercial module (TCM) of DVB concerning flexibility, concerning suitability for fixed and portable reception and concerning SFN operation. An OFDM system with concatenated error correcting coding and an optional two level hierarchy for channel coding/modulation has been specified. This system is suitable for digital multi-programme transmission in existing UHF spectrum allocation while providing sufficient protection against co-channel and adjacent-channel interferences emanating from existing PAL/SECAM services. It shows a high degree of commonality with the DVB-systems for satellite and cable by using the same standards for audio and video coding as well as for transport multiplex according to the MPEG-2, an identical outer coding (RS) scheme and a similar inner coding scheme