This excerpt courtesy of Doug Lung, VP Broadcast Technologies NBC/Telemundo for TV Technology June edition 2016
Doug Lung authored an outstanding article about ATSC 3.0 for the June edition of TV Technology that starts on the cover of the magazine. It’s a must-read for anyone working on the new digital TV standards. Doug has a keen eye, and the foresight to mention Airwavz.tv new Quarterback DTV ATSC 1.0 antenna. Doug, thanks for the plug, and we are actively building our ATSC 3.0 version – so stay tuned!
…I noticed Bonnie Beeman of Airwavz. TV in the ATSC 3.0 Consumer Experience walking around with a smartphone that was receiving TV (Fig. 3). The Android smartphone’s case (called the “Quarterback”) included a battery, an ATSC receiver, and a unique fold out antenna on the back of the case. Unfortunately, it was receiving an ATSC 1 signal from KBLR, not one of the ATSC 3.0 transmissions. Seattle-based Airwavz. TV wants to create an ATSC 3.0 version and Beeman explained that it would be a valuable way to deliver information in emergencies, when cell sites are often jammed or fail. The ATSC 3.0 robust bootstrap has two bits for emergency alerting that can be used to wake up cell phones or TVs when new or updated emergency information is available.
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| Fig. 3: At the NAB Show, Airwavz.TV demonstrated the “Quarterback,” an Android smartphone case that includes a battery, ATSC receiver and a unique fold-out antenna. |
The pace of activity in the first five months of 2016 is an indication ATSC 3.0 is off to a good start. It isn’t too soon to start thinking about what changes might be needed at the transmitter site for ATSC 3.0. More on that next month.
Doug Lung is vice president of Broadcast Technology, NBC/Telemundo stations. He welcomes your comments and questions. Email him at dlung@transmitter.com.