A new method to generate and transmit alarm signals to alert the population in the event of natural disasters, embedded in satellite TV transmissions has been devised by Rai-CRITS and proposed to DVB. The prototype developed in the project allowed us to test in the laboratory the effectiveness of the method and the backward compatibility with existing DVB-S/S2 receivers.

The DVB is currently starting a Commercial Study Mission casting DVB’s Vision for Satellite Broadcasting, looking at the near- and long term, and going beyond classic geostationary satellite constellations, anticipating a successful bringing into use of future low earth orbiting payloads.

Rai-CRIT will participate in these activities, according to its leaderschip role and active participation in the DVB technical module dedicated to satellite transmissions, aiming at evaluating opportunities, times and methods for new standardisation activities.

Born as an extension of second generation satellite broadcast standard DVB-S2, the DVB-S2X offers new configurations that provide improved performance in S2 scenarios (DTH, broadband and interactivity, DSNG, and professional applications, contribution and distribution TV), and extends the operating modes to cover new emerging segments such as mobile reception (airplanes, trains, ships, etc.). The new system, based on the excellent technologies of DVB-S2, introduces innovative elements at the modulation, resulting in a more extensive and granular operating range in terms of  signal-to-noise ratio, as well as an increased spectral efficiency thanks to new modulation schemes and spectrum roll-off values. With the DVB-S2X the “channel bonding” is now introduced: 2 or 3 transponder can be used simultaneously, in order to transmit very high capacity streams, enabling the broadcast of UHD bouquets.

The first satellite transmission of a HEVC encoded UHD-4k bouquet, using the new broadcasting standard DVB-S2X, has been carried out on 2014 at the Centre for Research and Technological Innovation Rai in Turin.

Today, the satellite distribution of DVB-T2 multiplexes to terrestrial transmitters located throughout the territory requires dedicated transponders for the transport of the relevant T2-MI (Modulator Interface) streams, which are not directly accessible also for direct-to-home reception by standard satellite receivers. This causes duplication of the needed satellite bandwidth, with the associated costs. To overcome this problem, DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting) has activated a new ad-hoc group, named TM-T-JSI, with the purpose of defining an optimized way to transport DVB-T/T2 multiplexes from a national head-end to the terrestrial transmitters, while allowing at the same time direct reception via DVB-S/S2 commercial satellite receivers.

The integration of terrestrial and satellite telecommunication networks will allow the widespread distribution of OTT contents, offloading the CDN backbone during traffic peaks, for the benefit of the effective picture quality perceived by the users.