La Cátedra RTVE-UPM abre nuevas puertas a la TDT con el primer piloto DVB-I

The team of the RTVE-UPM Chair, and several representatives of the technological team of RTVE, have detailed the possibilities and opportunities that DVB-I technology could offer Spanish viewers through a pilot test.

The RTVE-UPM Chair continues to offer innovative experiences that seek to offer new possibilities to the global industry. At an event held in the degree hall of the YOU ARE LOOKING FOR UPM de Madrid, the last of these initiatives has been presented: the first pilot DVB-I (Digital Broadcasting – Interactive).

The event, which was attended by important representation from the Spanish broadcast industry, included the introduction of Manuel Sierra Castañer, director of the ETSIT of Telecommunications UPM, who has considered the presence of those present “extremely important” since it serves as an example of “how the university can collaborate with the business sector, and how to collaborate for continuous advancement of technology to the society".

Immediately after, Urbano García Alonso, director of innovation and digital at RTVE, has highlighted the The Corporation's determined commitment to innovation: “Our innovation is existential. (…) We have no choice but to be disruptive,” he stressed, underlining that these types of experiences are fundamental for “the future transmedia and omnichannel vision of Spanish public television.” His colleague at RTVE, the director of the broadcast area Adolfo Muñoz Berrón, has completed his words by highlighting some of the milestones of the RTVE-UPM Chair (UHD broadcasts, use of 5G networks for contribution, signal transport via IP, use of cloud) and has expressed gratitude to the companies that are part of the initiative: Cellnex, Dolby, Televés or Sapec, among other.

Why DVB-I?

The professor José Manuel Menéndez and the researcher Alvaro Llorente have started the presentation of the DVB-I pilot experience reviewing the history of broadcast transmission over the Internet; A process that began in 2004 was consolidated in 2015 with the arrival of players like Netflix or HBO and is currently in a particularly effervescent moment. Some of the ways to access the Internet are the applications themselves. SmartTVs, HbbTV, Dongles y DVB-I.

DVB-I technology is based on several public standards to allow additional content to be disseminated via the Internet with the most common mechanisms: terrestrial and satellite. By using a DTT signal and modifications in the NIT table signaling, the user could receive a series of new canales to complement an emission, without the need to expand the multiplex capacity: It all depends on a series of pointers that direct to a URL with all kinds of content.

Pilot operation

To conduct the test, a Github public that provides a part of backend to edit the service listsas well as solutions frontend to test viewing in HbbTV environments, mobile devices and computers. The signal received via DTT at the UPM has been modified through this system, and has been broadcast through a radiant element which already includes both the TDT flow and the modified NIT. This, when tuned to various televisions provided by Vestel, have made it possible to see this DTT signal enriched by the possibilities of the Internet on two televisions compatible with DVB-I and another with an additional receiver.

In relation to the content broadcast, the signal was radiated from the TV head of the E.T.S. of Telecommunications Engineers of the UPM, located in the University City of Madrid, on channel 44 of the UHF, temporarily assigned to the RTVE Chair at the UPM by the Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructures –SETID– for its broadcasts evidence. The multiplex configuration was identical to that used by the rest of the DTT broadcasts in Spain: 8 MHz of bandwidth, 64-QAM modulation, 8K, IG 1/4, FEC 2/3, with an effective bit rate of 19.91 Mbs . Until May 31, anyone who wishes will be able to see the screen with the signal broadcast in situ, in the RTVE Chair laboratory at the UPM.

Future possibilities for this pilot, although it still has challenges to overcome for standardization or versatility, could offer possibilities for broadcasters may include channels pop-up transparently to users without the need for retuning, or channels that expand the limitations of the land route as elements interactive, gaming, virtual reality or UHD.

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