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Digital TV and Its Impact on Radio Astronomy

Andrew CLEGG U.S. National Science Foundation

aclegg@nsf.gov

Third Summer School on Spectrum Management for Radio Astronomy Tokyo, Japan June 3, 2010

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Analog Television Terrestrial Broadcasting Standards

Abbrev
PAL

Name
Phase Alternating Line

Main Geographic Use

Most of Europe, Australia, Parts of Asia (including India & China), Most of Africa, Eastern South America

NTSC

National Television System Committee

North & Central America, Western South America, Japan, Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan, South Korea

SECAM

Sequential Color with Memory

France, Russia & former Soviet republics, portions of Africa, Madagascar

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Analog TV Standards Worldwide

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Digital Television Worldwide

Worldwide, terrestrial TV broadcasts are switching from analog to digital modulation > Different countries have different schedules for switching over (most by 2015) > Some satellite TV broadcasting has been digital for more than 15 years Japan is deploying ISDB-T technology, replacing NTSC and analog HDTV MUSE standards > ISDB-T also being widely deployed in South America North America is deploying ATSC digital TV to replace NTSC analog standard > U.S. digital transition is completed for full-service broadcasts; legacy NTSC remains for low-power stations Australia and Europe are deploying DVB-T

China is rolling its own (DMB-T)

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Digital TV Terrestrial Broadcasting Standards

Abbrev
DVB-T

Name
Digital Video Broadcasting Terrestrial

Over-the-Air Modulation Type

Coded Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (COFDM) (QPSK, 16QAM, and 64QAM) Coded Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (COFDM) (DQPSK, QPSK, 16QAM, and 64QAM) 8-level Vestigial Sideband (8VSB)

Main Geographic Use

Europe, Russia, Australia, Parts of Asia

ISDB-T

Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting Terrestrial

Advanced Television Systems Committee Digital Multimedia Broadcast Terrestrial/ Handheld

Japan, South America (ISDB-T International)

ATSC

North America, South Korea

DMB-T/H

Time Domain Synchronous Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (TDSOFDM)

China only

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Digital TV Standards Worldwide

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Digital Transition Worldwide

Completed, no analog / Completed for full-service stations / In transition / Planned / No transition planned / No Information
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TV Spectra Analog

Digital

DVB-T (OFDM)

PAL / SECAM / NTSC Generic (All have video, chrominance, and audio carriers. Some differences in total bandwidth and frequency offset between carriers.)

ISDB-T (Yellow) (OFDM)

PAL

ATSC (8-VSB)
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Maximum Transmit Power (U.S.)

Maximum Analog EIRP (kW) Maximum Digital EIRP (kW)

Chan
26

Freq (MHz)
54 72 & 76 88

164

74

7 13

174 216

518

262

14 51

470 698

8222

1640

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DTV Unwanted Emissions Limits (U.S.) (Assumes full-power 1640 kW EIRP)

Fig. 1.14.5: Unwanted Emissions Limits for a Full-Power (1640 kW EIRP) Digital TV Signal
-40

EIRP Limit for Unwanted Emissions [dB(W/Hz)]

-50

-60

-70

-80

-90

-100

-110 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Frequency Offset from Channel Edge (MHz)

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Comparison of Analog (NTSC) and Digital (ATSC) TV Signal Spectra

Direct comparison of digital (8-VSB modulation, left) and analog (AM-VSB, PM, and FM, right) TV signals, of the same station from the same tower at the same time. The analog signal has more power because of the large video carrier, but the digital signal fills in the spectrum completely.

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Comparison of Digital (ATSC) and Analog (NTSC) Signals

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Ratio of Power Spectral Density of Digital (ATSC) to Analog (NTSC)

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Ratio of Power Spectral Density of Digital to Analog (detail)

Detail of DTV/Analog TV
10 9

(DTV PSD)/(Analog TV PSD)

6 5 4

For equivalent digital and analog TV signals, the digital power spectral density exceeds the analog PSD over 94% of the bandwidth, and by as much as 3 orders of magnitude.

3 2

1 0 0.000

1.000

2.000

3.000

4.000

5.000

6.000

Frequency Offset from Bottom of Channel (MHz)

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How to Identify TV Signal

Technology Bandwidth Most dominant spectral characteristic Secondary spectral characteristic Strong video carrier peaked at 1.25 MHz above bottom channel edge. When tuned in AM mode on an appropriate receiver, sounds like a buzzing sound that changes with changes in the TV picture. Strong video carrier peaked at 1.25 MHz above bottom channel edge. When tuned in AM mode on an appropriate receiver, sounds like a buzzing sound that changes with changes in the TV picture. Strong video carrier peaked at 1.25 MHz above bottom channel edge. When tuned in AM mode on an appropriate receiver, sounds like a buzzing sound that changes with changes in the TV picture. Flat spectrum except very narrow pilot tone carrier approximately 309.4 kHz above bottom edge of channel. Pilot tone can be heard in CW mode of an appropriate radio receiver, otherwise rest of signal just sounds like gaussian noise. Flat spectrum, OFDM. No significant spectral features. Identified by frequency and bandwidth. Other spectral characteristic(s) FM audio carrier 5.75 MHz above bottom edge of channel (250 kHz Chrominance carrier (phase and below top edge). Audio can be clearly amplitude modulated) 4.829545 MHz monitored in wideband FM mode with above bottom of channel. appropriate radio receiver. FM audio carrier 7.2496 MHz above bottom edge of channel (250 kHz Chrominance carrier 5.68361875 MHz below top edge). Audio can be clearly above bottom-edge of channel. monitored in wideband FM mode with appropriate radio receiver. FM audio carrier 6.75 MHz above bottom edge of channel (250 kHz Chrominance carrier 5.68361875 MHz below top edge). Audio can be clearly above bottom-edge of channel. monitored in wideband FM mode with appropriate radio receiver.

NTSC (analog; System M)

6 MHz

PAL (analog; Southern Africa; System I)

8 MHz

PAL (analog; Australia; System B)

7 MHz

ATSC (digital)

6 MHz

ISDB-T, DVB-T (digital)

6, 7, & 8 MHz

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Video carrier (103.25 MHz)

Digital and Analog TV in Mitaka

Color carrier (106.78 MHz) Audio carrier (107.75 MHz) Channel 25 (542 548 MHz) Channel 26 (548 554 MHz) Channel 27 (554 560 MHz)

Japanese NTSC TV broadcast on channel 3 (102 108 MHz).

Japanese ISDB-T broadcasts on channels 25, 26, & 27 (542 560 MHz)

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Observational Comparison of Digital and Analog TV Interference

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Television Interference Caused by Anomalous Propagation at the Murchison Widefield Array Site

Digital TV signal in Australian channel 7 (181 188 MHz), and narrowband interference from analog (PAL) luminance, chrominance, and audio carriers of channels 6 (174 181 MHz), 8 (188 195 MHz), and (partially) 9 (195-202 MHz). The digital TV signal is believed to be arising from a distance of 290 km during a period of anomalous propagation. Data obtained in March 2010.

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TV Broadcasts and Rec. 769

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Digital TV and Redshifted HI

Fig. 1.14.2: U.S. Television Channels After Feb 17, 2009 Digital TV Transition
VHF

2 54
25.3

3 60
22.7

4 66
20.5

5 72 76 82
16.3 18.7 17.7

6 88
15.1

~
174
7.2

7 180
6.9

8 186
6.6

9 192
6.4

10 198
6.2

11 204
6.0

12 210
5.8

13 216 MHz
5.6 z(HI)

14 470
2.02

15 476
1.98

16 482
1.95

17 488
1.91

18 494
1.88

19 500
1.84

20 506
1.81

21 512
1.77

22 518
1.74

23 524
1.71

24 530
1.68

25 536
1.65

26 542
1.62

27 548
1.59

554 MHz
1.56 z(HI)

28 554
UHF
1.56

29 560
1.54

30 566
1.51

31 572
1.48

32 578
1.46

33 584
1.43

34 590
1.41

35 596
1.38

36 602
1.36

38 608
1.34

39 620
1.29

40 626
1.27

41 632
1.25

614
1.31

638 MHz
1.23 z(HI)

42 638
1.23

43 644
1.21

44 650
1.19

45 656
1.17

46 662
1.15

47 668
1.13

48 674
1.11

49 680
1.09

50 686
1.07

51 692
1.05

52 698
1.03

53 704
1.02

54 710
1.00

55 716
0.98

722 MHz
0.97 z(HI)

56 722
0.97

57 728
0.95

58 734
0.94

59 740
0.92

60 746
0.90

61 752
0.89

62 758
0.87

63 764
0.86

64 770
0.84

65 776
0.83

66 782
0.82

67 788
0.80

68 794
0.79

69 800
0.78

806 MHz
0.76 z(HI)

Allocated to radio astronomy. Not used for TV. Reallocated to mobile and fixed use. Used for land mobile instead of TV in some major cities.

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Worldwide Lower VHF Channel Plans

Figure from Wikipedia, based on data from World Analogue Television Standards and Waveforms (http://www.pembers.freeserve.co.uk/World-TV-Standards/Transmission-Systems.html)

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Worldwide Upper VHF Channel Plans

See color key on previous slide

Figure from Wikipedia, based on data from World Analogue Television Standards and Waveforms (http://www.pembers.freeserve.co.uk/World-TV-Standards/Transmission-Systems.html)

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Comparison of Analog and DTV Channel Allotments

Allotments specify which channels are available for use in each city or market area
> Allotments are based on market size, co- and adjacentchannel interference criteria, geography, frequency, and other considerations

Given the lucrative nature of a TV license, virtually all allotted channels are spoken for There are significant differences between the DTV allotments after the transition and the analog allotments prior to the transition A comparison of the allotment tables provides a quick snapshot of the imminent changes in the spectrum landscape.

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Analog TV Allotments Before DTV Transition

Number of Analog TV Allotments Per Channel Prior to DTV Transition
80

Number of Analog TV Station Allotments

70
64 61 6161 58 56 56 5757 58

68

= 1756

60

58

50

40
32 30 30 30 27 2727 28 26 26 33 34 31 27 25 22 22 18 17 25 21 22 20 17 14 16 16 24 22 19 18 19 16 15 13 12 10 21 18 18 16 13 12 13 9 7 10 7 12 9 6 13 11 9 6

30

20

10
0

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58 60 62 64 66 68

TV Channel

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Digital TV Allotments After DTV Transition

Number of Digital TV Allotments Per Channel After DTV Transition
80
76

Number of Digital TV Station Allotments

70

68 63 61

68

= 1811
5757

60

50
40

48 44

40
36 34

39 37

40

414141

41

40 38 35 36 32

41

42 39 37 33 33 3434 35 35 33 31 29 30 31 32 30 27

31

30
24

20
13

10

7 7 2

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58 60 62 64 66 68

TV Channel

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Difference between Digital and Analog TV Allotments

Change in TV Allotments Per Channel After DTV Transition
200% UHF Chs 14 - 51 (470 ~ 698 MHz) 150% Upper VHF, Chs 7 - 13 (174 - 216 MHz) 100%

% Change (N DTV - N Analog)/N Analog

N = +55

50%

0% 2 -50% Ch 37 (608 - 614 MHz) (not used for TV) -100% 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58 60 62 64 66 68

-150%

Lower VHF, Chs 2 - 6 (54 - 72 & 76 - 88 MHz) No longer used, Chs 52 - 69 (698 - 806 MHz)

-200%

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Summary
The world is switching to digital terrestrial TV broadcasting Digital TV produces more apparent interference than analog TV Both digital TV and (in some countries) the refarming of TV broadcast spectrum will make observations using TV band frequencies more challenging TV interference is most disruptive to the search for highly redshifted HI, such as the search for the Epoch of Reionization (EOR) TV interference in general, and digital TV interference in particular, have been shown to impact radio observatories hundreds of km from the transmitting source Radio astronomers can generally not expect any regulatory protections when using TV spectrum for observing Future instruments such as the SKA must take TV 27 interference into account