Doug Lung on ATSC .0, Two-Way ENG, New Mic RFs

As we start a new year, I thought it would be a good time to take a look at new technology trends. Three areas that attracted my attention are ATSC 3.0 (no surprise), two-way ENG and new technology for wireless microphones. After this year's spectrum auctions, it's expected that the number of vacant VHF and UHF channels available for wireless microphones will shrink as TV stations are tightly packed into a limited number of UHF channels and some stations move from UHF to VHF.

ATSC 3.0 ARRIVES

I've been writing about ATSC 3.0 for a while, but 2016 should be the year the standard finally arrives. As I'm writing this in late December, there are now six ATSC candidate standards available at www.atsc.org/candidate-standards. Last month the ATSC announced that it was conducting demonstrations of ATSC 3.0 over-the-air technology from multiple companies at CES and I'm also sure the standard will be rigorously tested in the lab and the field this year.

Some of the things I hope will happen in 2016, or soon thereafter, are the start of an FCC process to allow broadcasters to transition to ATSC 3.0; agreements among broadcasters on how to transition to ATSC 3.0 while preserving ATSC 1.0 signals for existing over-the-air viewers; and commitments by transmitter companies to make the equipment to transmit ATSC 3.0 and by consumer electronics manufacturers to include ATSC 3.0 in a range of products. ATSC 3.0 won't be available to consumers in 2016, but we should see one or more model stations on the air to give broadcasters and device manufacturers a chance to demonstrate its capability.

TWO-WAY ENG

ENG crews have gotten used to the convenience of using 4G wireless networks to send stories, live and recorded, from the field to the studio. It isn't surprising that companies are looking to make newsgathering using broadcasters' own 2 GHz spectrum just as easy. This will require two-way communication, which could complicate deployment in markets where 2 GHz spectrum is heavily used. Even if the system can work on one channel-perhaps by using time domain multiplexing-other broadcasters are not likely to appreciate having a transmitter on an adjacent channel at popular ENG receive sites.

Silvus Technologies' MIMO radio

LINK:	http://www.tvtechnology.com/expertise/0003/a-new-year-brings-new-techn...
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