Digital video broadcasting – Second generation terrestrial

DVB-T2 is an abbreviation for Digital Video Broadcasting – Second Generation Terrestrial; it is the extension of the television standard digital video broadcasting – terrestrial (DVB-T). DVB-T2 is a digital terrestrial transmission system developed by the DVB project. It introduces the latest modulation and coding techniques to enable the highly efficient use of the valuable terrestrial spectrum for the delivery of audio, video, and data services to fixed, portable, and mobile devices.

DVB-T is the Europe-based standard, used in Europe, apart from being used in Australia, India, and some other Asian and African countries.
The focus of this article is the performance analysis and efficiency estimation method applied to the technologies for fixed reception used in our region – India. The new technologies, like compression standard Moving Picture Experts Group 4 (MPEG-4) part 10, or H.264/AVC (MPEG-4) and DVB-T2, provide increased capacity and ruggedness in the terrestrial transmission environment. When considering the whole picture, it is evident that the latest technologies, besides technical benefits, increased capacity for new services, and higher quality of service, bring also a higher system cost.

The DVB-T2 specification (like DVB-T) uses orthogonal frequency division multiplex (OFDM) modulation. However, the introduction of the 256 QAM mode in the DVB-T2 specification increases the number of bits carried per data cell, and with the protection from a new powerful forward error correction (FEC) gives capacity improvement. DVB-T2 specification uses two new FEC techniques, low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes in combination with Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquengham (BCH), correcting errors that are imposed by difficult channel characteristic. When compared to DVB-T standard, which uses Reed-Solomon and convolutional coding, DVB-T2 introduces two additional code rates – at least 30 to 50 percent higher transmission capacity as compared to DVB-T.

DVB-T2 uses multiple MPEG-4 transport streams and has enhanced FEC and higher QAM (256-QAM). Tanzania switched from analog to DVB-T2 in
2013; since the official switching there has been complaints from the DVB-T2 users on the coverage and quality of service provided. It has been observed that the quality of coverage in some areas (locations) is poor, so to improve the received signal strength coverage and quality we recommend the use of enhanced Yagi-Uda antenna gain which is going to be designed.

Recently DD India website listed a public tender notification for installing DVB-T2 gateway in 23 locations all over India. DVB-T2 is advanced technology of terrestrial service. DVB-T2 reception is free. You need to buy a set-top box for TV reception or an Android dongle for mobile phone reception. At present, Android dongle is available for online purchase. If you have LED TV with integrated DVB-T2 tuner, then you need to install an antenna and you will get reception if your area is covered in DVB-T2 transmission range.

DVB-T2 channels’ frequency parameters in Delhi, India –frequency – 538MHz/8M, technology – DVB-T2, video quality – H.264/MPEG-4, audio quality – MPEG-2 and modulation – 16QAM. Channels now running on the DVB-T2 technologies are DD HD (HD), DD Urdu (SD), DD India (SD), and more.

Some basic differences between DVB-T and DVB-T2 Service:

Conclusion
The term DVB-T2 that you have been hearing and seeing frequently these days is simply the latest broadcast transmission standard for digital TV. Adopted by many European and Asian countries (including Singapore), it offers higher bit rate compared to its predecessor, DVB-T, thus making it more suitable for transporting HDTV signals.