A brief history of COFDM - 1

COFDM A brief history COFDM principles DVB-T framing structure COFDM transmission sequence Countering against echoes and reflections DVB-T variable parameters

A brief history of COFDM - 1 OFDM grew out of Multi Carrier Modulation (MCM) Military HF radio (late 1950 s) Divides stream into several parallel bit streams Bit streams used to modulate several carriers OFDM - A special form of MCM Patent issued in the US in 1970 (number 3,488445) submitted by R.W. Chang in 1966 Time domain signals used to ensure subcarrier orthogonality Major contribution by Shannon in defining waveforms in Euclidean space, allowing definitions of orthogonality No need for steep band pass filters Sub-carrier spectra allowed to overlap Need for real time FFT s Popular in the 1980 s and used for digital audio broadcasting (DAB) OFDM + QPSK modulation

A brief history of COFDM - 2 Various associated bodies 1992 DVB (Digital Video Broadcast - voluntary group of 200 companies) 9 DVB-S, DVB-C in 1994 and DVB-T in early 1997 dttb (digtial Terrestrial Television broadcast project) 9 Demonstrator to show the feasibility of a commercial receiver DVBird (Digital Video Broadcast integrated receiver decoder) 9 Technical specifications needed and partitioning of electronic functions DTG (UK based Digital Terrestrial Group, set up in 1995 to make a working broadcast solution for the UK to meet Government plans) 9 First commercial broadcasts in late 1998 with simulcast and later OnDigital services.

What is COFDM? C - Coded O - Orthogonal F - Frequency D - Division M - Multiplex

FDM (Frequency Division Multiplex) Data signals s1(t) Carrier modulation fc1 S1(f) Output signal s2(t) Carrier modulation fc2 S2(f) Σ Transimitter G(t) : Sn(f) sn(t) Carrier modulation fcn Transmitter architecture

FDM (Frequency Division Multiplex) - Modulation Code 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 NRZ ASK FSK PSK Quadrature (QAM) phase shift uses a π/2 phase shift. π phase shift is shown here

FDM (Frequency Division Multiplex) FCn Frequency 6817 or 1705 frequencies FC5 FC4 FC3 Continuous frequency transmissions G(t) FC2 Tu FC1 Tu α 1/(Fc1 - Fc2) Useful data Guard interval Time

FDM (Frequency Division Multiplex) G(t) time n data symbols over time period T

FDM (Frequency Division Multiplex) BPFc1 Carrier demod s1(t) G(t) BPFc2 Carrier demod s2(t) : BPFcn Carrier demod sn(t) Receiver architecture BPF = Band pass filter

FDM (Frequency Division Multiplex) s1(t) Carrier modulation fc1 S1(f) s2(t) sn(t) Carrier modulation fc2 : Carrier modulation fcn S2(f) Sn(f) Σ Output signal Transimitter G(t) Transmitter architecture IDFT s(t i )= 2W N N fk =1 S(f k )e j2f kt i /N BPFc1 Carrier demod s1(t) G(t) BPFc2 : BPFcn Carrier demod Carrier demod s2(t) sn(t) Receiver architecture DFT N S(f k )= T N ti =1 s(t i )e j2f kt i /N BPF = Band pass filter

DVB-T framing structure Fixed number of carriers used 9 Allows receiver to lock onto signal 9 Keeps constant power levels 9 '2K' system in UK (1705 carriers) 9 '8K' also an option (6817 carriers) Carrier types 9 Data carriers - 2,4 or 6 bits per symbol, per carrier 9 TPS carriers - Transmission information 9 Pilot carriers -Channel estimation at receiver, Tx at boosted power levels ¾ Continual - 177 in '8K' mode, 45 in '2K' always in same position within symbol ¾ Scattered - 524 in '8K' mode, 121 in '2K' pseudo random within symbol Modulation used 9 Increases number of bits that can be transmitted 9 Eg each carrier transports 4 bits for QAM-16

DVB-T framing structure Single frequency carrier. One of 6817 (8k) or 1705 (2k) discrete modulation carriers. Either: Data (6048 or 1 512) Continual pilot (177 or 45) Scattered pilot (524 0r 131) TPS carrier (68 or 17) f OFDM symbol (frequency domain)... 6817 carriers (8K) 1705 carriers (2K) f

DVB-T framing structure OFDM super frame OFDM symbol (time domain) 4 x OFDM frames Ts Guard interval Useful data t Tu t OFDM frame Tf... 0 67 t

COFDM functional blocks MPEG-2 Transport stream input Randomisation* Outer coding* (R/S bytes added) RS Outer interleaving* (Forney) 188 188 188 204 204 PRBS Inner coding* Bit and symbol interleaving Amplitude/phase mapping......011001010001............ R... I Pilots and TPS addition............ Inverse FFT Time shift and combination Analogue conversion Filtering Upconversion Transmission R I...... IFFT FIR Guard interval insertion GI...... DAC F * Same as DVB-S

DVB transport stream PROGRAMS PCR_1 PCR_2 PCR_3 PCR_4 ES TELETEXT_1 VIDEO_1 TELETEXT_2 VIDEO_2 TELETEXT_3 VIDEO_3 TELETEXT_4 VIDEO_4 AUDIO_1 AUDIO_2 AUDIO_3 AUDIO_4 TP TP1_1 TP1_2 TP1_3 TP2_1 TP2_2 TP2_3 TP3_1 TP3_2 TP3_3 TP4_1 TP4_2 TP4_3 TRANSPORT MUX TRANSPORT STREAM TP1_1 TP2_1 TP1_2 TP4_1 TP3_1 TP2_2 TP2_3 TP1_3 TP4_2

Data scrambling Pseudo Random Binary Sequence (PRBS) Energy dispersal to ensure adequate binary transitions 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Initialisation sequence 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Enable (1) Randomized data output Data input

Error correction Error prone environment hence small packets (188 bytes) with additional error correction data (16 bytes) Known as Forward Error Correction (FEC) Also known as channel coding Two main parts: Outer coding for burst errors (Reed - Solomon and Forney) Inner coding (Convolution coding) QEF Channel BER < 10-10 Data Transmitter FEC Receiver FEC Data Energy dispersal Outer coding (RS) Forney Interleaving Inner coding (Convolution)

Outer coding Reed Solomon Operates over individual packets Corrects up to 8 erroneous bytes per packet Non correctable flag for > 8 byte errors Bandwidth overhead is 8% Forney convolution interleaving Increases efficiency of the RS coding Spreads errors over a greater area

Inner coding Convolution coding 2 identical streams produced from outer coded stream Output stream formed from combination of these new streams Not all simultaneous bits taken - hence rate defined (DVB-T code rates: 1/2, 2/3, 3/4, 5/6, 7/8) Puncture rate impact on data rate Puncture rate of 3/4 means 1 out of 4 bits is removed Data rate becomes: (1/2)*(4/3) = 2/3 of original (ie code rate is 2/3) No puncturing data rate is halved since convolution encoder produces two identical streams Every 4th bit removed

Bit and Symbol Interleaving Bite-wise interleaving Inner coder has two output streams Bit wise interleaver produces 2, 4 or 6 streams for QPSK, 16-QAM and 64-QAM respectively Symbol interleaving The 2, 4 or 6 bit words are mapped onto the OFDM carriers 1512 for 2k mode or 6048 for 8K mode

Amplitude and Phase Mapping (example) 12 phases / 3 amplitudes 2 amplitudes appear on 4 phases 1 amplitude appears on 8 phases I 16-QAM Q

Pilots and TPS addition Pilots Continual pilots 9 Always in the same place within the OFDM symbol 9 45 in 2k mode, 177 in 8k mode 9 Transmitted at increased power levels 9 Used to estimate the channel characteristics and therefore make corrections Scattered pilots 9 Located as a pre-defined pattern such that there is an equal number per symbol 9 131 in 2K mode, 524 in 8k mode 9 Transmitted at increased power levels 9 Used in conjunction with continual pilots to estimate the channel distortion

Pilots and TPS addition TPS (Transmission Parameter Signalling) Type of modulation used Hierarchy information Guard interval Inner code rates Transmission mode (ie 2k or 8k) Frame number within a super frame (ie 0 to 3) DPSK (Differential Phase Shift Keying) modulation used due to robustness

IFFT, time shift and combination IDFT at transmitter, DFT at receiver FFT actually used (computational algorithm) for summing operation FFT s must be powers of 2, hence 2k or 8k modes Much faster that normal DFT Eg if 8k point DFT takes 670 ms then the FFT takes.53 ms N 2 N 2 log N Complex to real conversion Q (real) and I (Imaginary) are added, sampled and output

Guard Interval Insertion Replication of end of symbol placed at beginning Main signal t Useful symbol Copy of end of symbol Also means receiver can identify start of symbol using a correlation function

Final stages - Transmission D/A conversion Filtering Upconversion and transmission Analogue transmission Video luminance carrier FM sound carrier NICAM COFDM carrier 7.61 MHz Digital transmission Video picture information f 518 MHz 519.25 MHz 526 MHz 530 MHz +/- 1/6 Mhz (Centre) CH27 Example: UK transmission in channel 28 CH28

COFDM functional blocks MPEG-2 Transport stream input Randomisation* Outer coding* (R/S bytes added) RS Outer interleaving* (Forney) 188 188 188 204 204 PRBS Inner coding* Bit and symbol interleaving Amplitude/phase mapping......011001010001............ R... I Pilots and TPS addition............ Inverse FFT Time shift and combination Analogue conversion Filtering Upconversion Transmission R I...... IFFT FIR Guard interval insertion GI...... DAC F * Same as DVB-S

What is COFDM? C - Coded O - Orthogonal F - Frequency D - Division M - Multiplex

Orthogonality Definition possible due to signals being described as vectors Spacing between carriers is minimised Results close to theoretical maximum are achieved ( f 1/Τ) Expensive in analogue FDM due to costly band pass filters 1/T fk fk+1 fk+2 fk+3 fk+4

Countering against echoes and reflections Repetition of signal to counter echoes Echoes caused by Moving receiver Moving transmitter Reflection from moving or static objects Single Frequency Networks (SFN s) Direct signal Reflected signal Set top box Building COFDM transmitter Distant signal Direct signal Set top box COFDM transmitter 1 COFDM transmitter 2

Countering against echoes and reflections Echo length is easily calculated Assuming 2k Mode with Guard interval 1/32 1/32 of the symbol transmits in 7 us Maximum delay = 7 us Distance = 3 x 10 8 m/s x 7 us Distance = 2.1 km Guard interval Useful data Main signal Max. delay t Guard interval Useful data Delayed signal t

DVB-T variable parameters Carrier mode: 2k or 8k Type of modulation: QPSK, 16-QAM, 64-QAM Guard Interval: 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/64 Inner code rate: 1/2, 2/3, 3/4, 5/6, 7/8 Hierarchical modes Selection of transmission bandwidth (6/7/8 MHz)

DVB-T variable parameters Useful data rate (M bits / sec) Modulation QPSK 16-QAM 64-QAM Code rate 1/2 2/3 3/4 5/6 7/8 1/2 2/3 3/4 5/6 7/8 1/2 2/3 3/4 5/6 7/8 Guard interval 1/4 1/8 1/16 1/32 4.98 6.64 7.46 8.29 8.71 9.95 13.27 14.93 16.59 17.42 14.93 19.91 22.39 24.88 26.13 5.53 7.37 8.29 9.22 9.68 11.06 14.75 16.59 18.43 19.35 16.59 22.12 24.88 27.65 29.03 5.85 7.81 8.78 9.76 10.25 11.71 15.61 17.56 19.52 20.49 17.56 23.42 26.35 29.27 30.74 6.03 8.04 9.05 10.05 10.56 12.06 16.09 18.10 20.11 21.11 18.10 24.13 27.14 30.16 31.67

DVB-T variable parameters Significance of mode and guard interval 8k system allows good reception with long multi-path echoes 8k system is therefore suitable for single frequency networks (SFN s) 2k system more suited to multi frequency or single transmitter networks A larger guard interval implies a lower bit-rate efficiency The guard interval value is therefore a trade-off between bit-rate and network tolerance to echoes and reflections

DVB-T hierarchy coding I 64 QAM constellation Q Low priority carriers

DVB-T hierarchy coding I In poor S/N ratio conditions 16 64-QAM constellation points can be demodulated as one QPSK constellation point Q High priority carriers

DVB-T hierarchy coding Transmission of the same or different data for: Same or different program can be transmitted in HD and SD + greater error recovery Poor reception areas can view SD if HD not possible Transmission of different resolutions / characteristics: Reception by different cost receivers (high end, low end, mobile, portable) Other data can be transmitted related to the program