ATSC .0 Proposal Expands Data Delivery Options

LAS VEGAS Television broadcasters gathering here next week at the annual National Association of Broadcasters Show will see a possible future of over-the-air TV, as the LG/Zenith/GatesAir-developed Futurecast universal terrestrial broadcasting system expands to incorporate the major elements of an ATSC 3.0 next-generation broadcast stream.

Complementing enhancements to the transmission performance of its proposed system for the ATSC 3.0 physical layer, Futurecast now incorporates the applications/presentation layer and the management/protocol layer.

The NAB Show demonstrations will show how the system can deliver 4K Ultra HD, mobile TV, live emergency alerts and targeted advertising, while optimizing indoor reception in a spectrum-efficient manner. Futurecast is proposed by LG Electronics, its U.S. R&D subsidiary Zenith, and GatesAir as the foundation of next-generation terrestrial broadcasting in the United States and around the world.

Futurecast demonstrations will be showcased in the GatesAir booth in Central Hall (C3107) of the Las Vegas Convention Center next Monday through Thursday. The system's architecture also will be featured during the annual Broadcast Engineering Conference (2:30 p.m., April 12 in S219, LVCC).

Futurecast includes enhanced indoor TV signal penetration for mobile reception, thanks to flexible coding of the system's OFDM modulation. This enables the delivery of very high data rates or very robust transmission, and numerous combinations in between.

As a result of initial field tests last fall, Futurecast has been improved to feature enhanced signal re-acquisition and better multipath performance. Data throughput is increased by 36 percent for fixed reception, as compared to the current DTV standard, for fixed and portable TV reception. We're also looking forward to more Futurecast field testing in Cleveland in the months ahead, said Dr. Skott Ahn, President and chief technology officer, LG Electronics, a co-developer of Futurecast.

TARGETED ADVERTISING

In partnership with broadcast products manufacturer Triveni Digital, Futurecast will also show the capability to deliver addressable content on two LG Smart TV systems that render the advertisement slot differently, while displaying identical programmatic content. The goal is to show how broadcasters can leverage ATSC 3.0 technologies to extend their current service by efficiently distributing addressable content such as targeted ads or personalized/localized program elements to viewers utilizing an ATSC 3.0 system. The targeted advertising demonstration is in Triveni's North Hall (N5637) exhibit in the ATSC Pavilion.

EMERGENCY ALERTING

The expanded system includes emergency alerting that triggers the Advanced Warning and Response Network, the industry's next-generation alerting system announced earlier this year. Using the common alerting protocol, AWARN can wake-up a device and includes rich-media features such as video, evacuation routes and HTML pages.

Rich Redmond, chief product officer for Futurecast co-developer GatesAir, said, Visitors to the GatesAir booth at the show will see simultaneous 4K Ultra HDTV and high-definition mobile programs along with AWARN rich-media emergency alerts delivered by the Futurecast system. We've expanded the capabilities to include all the elements needed for next-generation broadcasting.

The co-developers of Futurecast anticipate that key system elements will be part of the ATSC 3.0 Candidate Standard, expected to be approved this year. Futurecast technologies are among the proposals now being evaluated by the Advanced Television Systems Committee, which has hundreds of experts working to assemble and document the next-generation broadcast standard.

The co-developers of Futurecast anticipate that key system elements will be part of the ATSC 3.0 Candidate Standard, expected to be approved this year. The system is among the proposals now being evaluated by the Advanced Television Systems Committee, which has hundreds of experts working to assemble and document the next-generation broadcast standard.

Expected to redefine TV broadcasting for decades to come, the overall ATSC 3.0 next-generation broadcast television system will require higher capacity to deliver 4K Ultra-High-Definition services, robust reception on mobile devices and improved spectrum efficiency, according to the ATSC.

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