Nationwide Radio Coverage Prediction and Optimization for DVB-T2 in Nepal

An approach optimizing the radio coverage of Multi-Frequency Network (MFN) with Digital Video Broadcasting-Second Generation Terrestrial (DVB-T2) system is proposed in this paper. The MFN in digital TV system mainly consists of transmission sites that use currently deployed analogue broadcasting infrastructures. The propagation prediction method referred in the ITU-R P.1812 with Digital Elevation Model (DEM) has been used to predict signal strength at each receiving point. Based on the received signal strength and standard Quality of Service(QoS) values, the overall national radio coverage of DVB-T2, using optimum values of transmission power levels and efficient assignment of frequency channels at UHF band, is maximized using Genetic Algorithm (GA). The results show that the optimized allocation of power levels and frequencies to the group of transmitters significantly increases both the geographical coverage and population coverage. Hence, the overall results imply the effectiveness of the method to be used for optimizing the broadcasting network for a smooth transition from analogue to digital.