Several companies showed transmitters for new DTV to cell phone services at NAB. As reported in previous issues of RF Report, in addition to DVB-H there are other formats for these services. In the United States, these transmitters will operate on UHF channels 52-59, or, as the case for the Crown Castle mobile TV service, on L-band frequencies.
Thales offered an end-to-end solution in its SmartCast Mobility and SmartVision Mobility systems. SmartCast Mobility's head-end infrastructure includes an MPEG-4 AVC low bit-rate encoder, a DVB-H IP encapsulator, a DTV multiplexer and a DVB-H transmitter. The SmartVision Mobility system provides services management, content delivery, electronic service guides and digital rights management (DRM) following the DVB-CBMS recommendations. It can also manage FLUTE (File Delivery over Unidirectional Transport Protocol) compliant file delivery servers. For more information see Thales Introduces End-to-End Mobile TV Solution.
Rohde and Schwarz showed a transmitter designed for Qualcomm's FLO technology for multicasting multimedia to wireless users. Two complete NV7000 exciters, including an automatic switchover unit, can fit in a 19-inch frame. The transmitters are software based, allowing for easy upgrades. The transmitter is liquid cooled. According to the Rohde and Schwarz Web site, the NV7000 is capable of output powers up to 1,000 watts when transmitting DTV signals. Maximum power when using the FLO technology was not stated.
Axcera will supply turnkey DVB-H transmitter systems to Crown Castle for their initial mobile DTV build out. Crown Castle Mobile Media and Axcera worked together at toprovide DVB-H mobile video demos at NAB. The signals were transmitted from the Microsoft booth and at the Axcera booth. Axcera Innovator LX solid-state transmitters were used for the demonstration. These transmitters are capable of operating on frequencies ranging from VHF to 2.7 GHz.
