A Comparative Study on Radio Coverage Due to DVB-T2 Multi-Frequency Network (MFN) and Single Frequency Network (SFN)

Multi-Frequency Network (MFN) in Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting (DTTB) is mainly suitable for the countries that wish to implement a high capacity broadcasting network for rooftop reception. Whereas, Single Frequency Network (SFN) in DTTB has many advantages over MFN particularly in spectrum efficiency, quality of coverage, and flexibility in network implementation. This study mainly focuses on the comparison of the quality of radio coverage due to MFN-based and SFN-based DTTB systems. The Digital Video Broadcasting-Second Generation Terrestrial (DVB-T2) implemented in Kathmandu, Nepal is taken as a reference network for simulation purposes. An MFN is contrasted with three types of SFNs in terms of area of radio coverage, population coverage, received signal strength, and the data rates so that the results can assist in the smooth deployment of a DTTB system.