The ATSC Link-layer Protocol (ALP): Design and Efficiency Evaluation

In this paper, a novel data link layer protocol adopted in the ATSC 3.0 terrestrial broadcast standard is described. The data link layer is a protocol layer between the physical layer and the network layer. The data link layer transports data from the network layer to the physical layer at the sending side and transports data from the physical layer to the network layer at the receiving side. The data link layer protocol in ATSC 3.0 is called the ATSC link-layer protocol (ALP). The major function of ALP is to take multiple input formats, not only IP packets but also legacy broadcast formats such as MPEG-2 TS packets, and output them in a common format to the physical layer. ALP provides overhead reduction mechanisms to achieve efficient transmission, particularly the compression of IP/UDP packet headers. The protocol and operation of ALP, as well as efficiency analysis and evaluation of ALP are presented.