Digital audio/video broadcasting and digital implementation of analog TV

Abstract

After nearly a century of deployment, analog radio and television are being replaced by digital broadcasting systems. In digital systems, the amplitude and frequency modulation characteristics inherent in analog systems are replaced by digital modulation techniques resulting in more robust communication systems, reduced power consumption, significantly improved sound and picture quality, and much better spectrum efficiency. Historically, digital communication systems were designed using Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) technology. In this technology multiple hardware blocks specific to certain functions are integrated together on the same silicon chip. As the size of the transistors shrink, Digital Signal Processors (DSPs) are becoming a more attractive solution for implementing digital communication systems. In this technology the communications functions are implemented in software. This is sometimes also referred to as Software Defined Radio (SDR). In contrast to ASIC technology, DSP technology allows multiple broadcasting systems to coexist on the same device. Multiple digital audio and TV standards can also coexist with traditional analog standards. In this chapter we briefly present a software defined platform capable of executing multiple digital radio and television standards as well as analog radio and television standards in software only. The chapter is structured as follows: Sect. 3.2 describes digital audio broadcasting followed by Sect. 3.3 dedicated to the terrestrial video broadcasting. A software implementation of DVB-H is described in Sect. 3.4. Analog television is briefly described in Sect. 3.5 followed by the NTSC standard software implementation in Sect. 3.6. A brief summary section ends the chapter. © 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.