Performance evaluation of channel change for DVB-SH streaming services

­the Digital Video Broadcasting Satellite services to Handhelds (DVB-SH) is a hybrid satellite/terrestrial system for the broadcasting of multimedia services to mobile receivers. To mitigate deep signal fading events occurring mainly in the land-mobile satellite channel, a Multi-ProtocolEncapsulation Inter-burst Forward Error Correction (MPEIFEC) technique has been recently introduced. It is based on a clever organization of data and parities offering long interleaving. Optimal performance is reached when MPE-IFEC operates in late decoding mode i.e. when the data burst is decoded after all interleaved data and corresponding parities are received. This steady state negatively impacts the channel change delay that remains a key issue for DVB-SH systems. This paper deals with the alternative early decoding mode of MPE-IFEC, i.e. when the data burst is decoded without waiting for all the required data, during the channel change. An experimental analysis of DVB-SH channel change performance is conducted with respect to channel change delay and subjective video quality of streaming service just after TV program change request. Index Terms ­ DVB-SH, MPE-IFEC, channel change, video decoding.