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The DVB Steering Board has approved the DVB-SH (Satellite services to Handhelds) specification. Two documents were approved: a waveform specification and a description of the system. The specification was developed by the DVB Technical Module’s TM-SSP working group.
DVB-SH is defined as a system which is able to deliver IP based media content and data to handheld terminals like mobile phones and PDAs via satellite. Whenever a line of sight between terminal and satellite does not exist terrestrial gap fillers are employed to provide the missing coverage. The DVB-SH system has been designed for frequencies below 3 GHz, typically in the S-band. It complements the existing DVB-H physical layer standard and like its sister specification (DVB-H) uses the DVB IP Datacast (IPDC) set of content delivery, electronic service guide and service purchase and protection standards.
DVB-SH includes features such as turbo coding for forward error correction and a highly flexible interleaver in an advanced system designed to cope with the hybrid satellite/terrestrial network topology. Satellite transmission ensures wide area coverage, with a terrestrial component assuring coverage where the satellite signal cannot be received, as may be the case in built-up areas. DVB-SH in fact specifies two operational modes. SH-A specifies the use of COFDM on both satellite and terrestrial links with the possibility of running both links in SFN mode. SH-B uses a Time Division Multiplex (TDM) on satellite with COFDM on the terrestrial link. A comprehensive set of guidelines for the implementation of the standard will follow.
The DVB-SH specifications will now be published by the DVB Project and forwarded for formal standardisation at the European Telecommunications Standards Institute by its Joint Technical Committee Broadcast.
About The Author
Dusan Belic
Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.
