| Summary: | Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) was formulated in 1993 with a memorandum of
understanding signed between consortiums of more than 270 organisations. Since then
DVB took a majority of the markets with currently Digital Video Broadcasting -2nd
Generation Terrestrial (DVB-T2) as the latest standard offering various new features.
The new Forward Error Correction (FEC) features included using Low Density Parity
Check (LDPC) and Bose-Chaudhuri Hocquengham (BCH) as the error correction
technique making it more resilience and robust as compared to convolution and Reed
Solomon (RS) in the earlier generation, DVB-T. In addition, DVB-T2 is more efficient
and helps to overcome the spectrum scarcity issues. Singapore’s television (TV) station,
Mediacorp, has started migration to DVB-T2 since December 2013. Although currently
DVB-T and analog TV are still allow to broadcast, progressively, Singapore is expected
to fully operates on DVB-T2 only within the next few years when the switch over is
completed.
DVB-T2’s outdoor coverage was available since December 2013. Mediacorp is in the
midst of rolling out indoor coverage to the residential area which is expected to
complete by end of 2016. However, it is noted that the indoor coverage roadmap does
not address the educational institutes, commercial or industrial building.
Hence, the intent of this project is to investigate on how the outdoor signal penetration
into in-building compound of building and especially building with irregular structure
walls layout. Then understand if such layout will contributes to significant loss to the
signal strength. The case study for this project is the latest unique building in NTU
called the Learning Hub (The Hive). The Hive was selected due to the unique
characteristic of internal greenery and the non-traditional inverted building shape. The
PROMAX TV EXPLORER HD+ is used in the project to measure DVB-T2 parameters
like the signal strength, Carrier-to-Noise Ratio (CNR) and the Bit Error Rate (BER). Firstly, measurement was done at the outdoor area with Line Of Sight (LOS) to the
transmitter. This is to create a baseline reference for comparison with the in-building
measurement. Then within the in-building measurement, all the test points were repeated
in every storey. The conclusion of the measurement shows that DVB-T2 reception
within this unique building is still largely depending on the distance of the test point to
the transmitter and its surrounding. In places like the lift lobbies and staircase where the
LOS to the transmitter was blocked by multiple walls partition, the signal strength
degraded to below the acceptable range. Thus, it is concluded that for these areas, signal
enhancing or repeating solutions need to be sought for in order to provide decent DVBT2
coverage within the building.
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