Advanced television systems for terrestrial broadcasting: Some problems and some proposed solutions

The first part of this paper discusses the requirements that must be met by a new television broadcasting system to maximize its acceptability to the various stakeholders, including broadcasters, equipment manufacturers, program producers, regulatory authorities, and viewers. The most important performance factors are efficient use of over-the-air spectrum, coverage versus quality, cost, interoperability, and the existence of a practical transition scenario. It is concluded that all receivers need not have the same peformance, and that low-cost receivers must be available for noncritical locations in the home. If this variation in price and performance is made possible by appropriate system design, then interoperability is facilitated and nondisruptive improvement over time is made possible, as desired by the Federal Communications Commission. In the second part of the paper, techniques that may permit meeting these requirements are discussed. These include joint multiresolution source and channel coding, multicarrier modulation, and hybrid analog/digital coding and transmission. The analog transform coefficients are subjected to spread-spectrum processing, and coded orthogonal frequency-division multiplex (COFDM) is applied to the complex hybrid symbols to be transmitted through the channel. Various methods of equalization and of improving noise, interference, and multipath rejection are compared. Finally, an example is given of a system that meets the various requirements by making use of a number of the techniques discussed. The system provides extended coverage, albeit at lower quality than currently proposed all-digital systems, and equal or higher quality than such systems in much of their service area. It also features self-optimization at each receiver depending on signal quality and receiver characteristics, and facilitates the design of receivers of lower cost and performance for less-critical applications