Home // International Journal On Advances in Internet Technology, volume 2, number 1, 2009 // View article

SFN Gain Simulations in Non-Interfered and Interfered SFN Network

Authors:
Jyrki T.J. Penttinen

Keywords: Mobile broadcast, single frequency network, radio planning, performance evaluation.

Abstract:
The DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting, Handheld) coverage area depends mainly on the area type, i.e. on the radio path attenuation, as well as on the transmitter power level, antenna height and radio parameters. The latter set has effect also on the audio / video capacity. In the detailed network planning, not only the coverage itself is important but the quality of service level should be dimensioned accordingly. This paper describes the SFN gain related items as a part of the detailed radio DVB-H network planning. The emphasis is put to the effect of DVB-H parameter settings on the error levels caused by the over-sized Single Frequency Network (SFN) area. In this case, part of the transmitting sites converts to interfering sources if the safety distance margin of the radio path is exceeded. A respective method is presented for the estimation of the SFN interference levels. The functionality of the method was tested by programming a simulator and analyzing the variations of carrier per interference distribution. The results show that the theoretical SFN limits can be exceeded e.g. by selecting the antenna height in optimal way and accepting certain increase of the error level that is called SFN error rate (SER) in this paper. Furthermore, by selecting the relevant parameters in correct way, the balance between SFN gain and SER can be planned in controlled way.

Pages: 115 to 134

Copyright: Copyright (c) to authors, 2009. Used with permission.

Publication date: June 7, 2009

Published in: journal

ISSN: 1942-2652