Planning a Mobile DVB-T Network for Colombia

The TV evolution and the need of better quality and new services for the users have accelerated the migration from analogue to digital TV, forcing a renovation process in all fields of this communication system. Most of the DVB-T networks deployed in the world have been designed for fixed rooftop reception. The countries where it has not yet deployed the DTT network can introduce technological advances to planning DVB-T network for fixed and mobile reception and use the MPEG-4 video compression to provide high definition TV. This paper describes the technical solutions proposed in order to provide mobile DVB-T services to public transportation systems: antenna diversity, hierarchical modulation, and Application Layer Forward Error Correction (AL-FEC). These solutions compensate the negative effects caused by the mobility of the receivers, such as fading in the signal due to Doppler shift and the poor coverage at ground level. Furthermore, this paper describes the methodology carried out to evaluate the improvements in mobile reception of the DVB-T network in Colombia by using these techniques.