Digital video broadcasting

A new kind of "wireless video" is currently entering consumers' homes - digital television. The term digital video broadcasting (DVB) is used as a synonym for digital television in many countries of the world. Whereas one may tend to think that digital television means just a new, digital, form of signal representation not necessarily affecting the information content of what one has always called TV, the truth is that digital television becomes multiple-channel data broadcasting. This article reviews some of the results of the work in the worldwide DVB Project and explains some of the fundamental concepts behind the work of this group. It then concentrates on the terrestrial transmission system (DVB-T) as one example of the many transmission technologies DVB has developed over the last few years. The COFDM modulation scheme which is a key ingredient of DVB-T is described in some detail. The performance of the system is presented. The use of DVB for data broadcasting and the accompanying return channel technologies are briefly explained.