Network planning guidelines for DVB-T network rollout in Sri Lanka

Abstract

There has been a clear prospect internationally for some years that existing analogue television broadcasting will be replaced by digital transmissions. Terrestrial digital broadcasting offers a range of benefits in comparison to terrestrial analogue broadcasting such as efficient spectrum utilization, improved audio & video quality, portable & mobile reception capability etc. Sri Lanka being a developing country it is high time to make timely entry to digital broadcast era, through establishment of requisite infrastructure with a view to future dividends derivable from an advanced digital infrastructure.Therefore the first section of this research discuss the inherent technical strengths of digital terrestrial broadcasting and analyse candidate technology standards in digital video broadcasting. further it propose the most suitable technology standard for DTT rollout in Sri Lanka by analysing technical capabilities as well as degree of compatibility with existing analog broadcast technology deployed in Sri LankaThe second section discuss the methodology for network planning, by proposing a set of guidelines for efficient planning of digital video broadcast networks to achieve nationwide coverage & thereby full access to viewers without any interruption during DVB-T rollout by specifically analysing Sri Lankan deployment scenarios. Further it has discussed various propagation models suitable for DVB-T network planning & step by step guidelines for in-depth coverage estimations & network simulations by optimizing DVB-T system parameters. The final section of this research has in detail discussed DVB-T network implementation issues in practical point of view by critically analysing factors such as co-location of analog & digital transmission infrastructures, interference issues & primary distribution architectures. Finally it provides set of recommendations, wherebroadcast network operators can follow when deploying DVB-T networks in SriLanka.