8-VSB channel coding analysis for DTV broadcast

This article analyzes channel coding and equalization stages in the 8-level vestigial sideband transmission for the digital television broadcast system developed by ATSC, the Advanced Television Systems Committee. We present bit error rate versus C/N performance for a simulator developed by the authors for the purpose of assessing the robustness of the ATSC 8-VSB coding and equalization stages in the presence of multipath propagation, additive Gaussian noise and of channel impulsive noise surges. Implementation aspects for the developed simulator are discussed.