INDIANAPLOIS—The Society of Broadcast Engineers has completed the initial round of its ATSC 3.0 Specialist Certification and currently is refining the exam after reviewing the results of beta testing to ensure the SBE has developed a well-rounded certification examination, says Ralph Hogan, chair of the SBE National Certification Committee.
“The SBE Certification Committee is still adding and reviewing questions for the ATSC 3.0 Specialist exam,” says Hogan.
The beta test of the exam revealed additional work was needed, he says. Once questions are added to the SBE database of questions, the committee will conduct a new round of beta testing.
“Depending on the results, we may need to do some additional adjusting of the question database and have another round of exams,” he adds. That phase will likely be followed by a final review of the question database and work on preview questions for those planning to take the certification exam.
SBE has worked with the Advanced Television Systems Committee as well as industry professionals and manufacturers on the ATSC 3.0 Specialist Certification exam. When completed, the examination will test proficiency in areas of 3.0 knowledge, skills and abilities.
While the numerous iterations of developing the questions for the database may seem time-consuming to outside observers, the slow steady pace is necessary to make sure SBE gets a final product that achieves the ultimate goal of the 3.0 certification.
“Since ATSC 3.0 is a new technology and there is not much practical experience yet in the field, the challenge of getting it right is of upmost importance,” says Hogan.
Adding to the challenge of creating the certification exam is the fact that ATSC 3.0 is designed to be flexible enough to accommodate new technologies as they come along—a completely new aspect of creating a test when compared to developing the certification examination for ATSC 1.0, he adds.
