OVERVIEW OF THE DVB-SH SPECIFICATIONS

This article provides an overview of the DVB-SH specifications, and the context within which they have been developed. The main DVB-SH configurations are introduced, with explanations of both the technical and frequency planning considerations that drive choices. Regulatory aspects in the European Union and United States of America are summarized. Then specific DVB-SH issues are being addressed, involving reception conditions and channel characteristics, combining techniques for satellite and terrestrial signals, and synchronization and local content insertion. Some attention is paid to the reuse of DVB link and application layer features. Finally, a couple of likely service introduction scenarios are suggested. It is claimed that DVB-SH fulfills the initial requirements of extending the present UHF-based service offer to other frequencies below 3 GHz with a large area coverage, a reduced total network infrastructure cost and an expansion of the offer in terms of number of TV channels or multimedia services.