WiMAX TV
Mobile TV service for WiMAX subscribers
Digital video is the fastest-growing data application today. Mobile TV has already proved to be a very promising ARPU generator for cellular operators with several million Mobile TV subscribers worldwide. In addition to the ARPU increase, mobile TV distribution promises new business opportunities such as targeted advertising models and new and incumbent operators are investing in infrastructure to meet the consumer expectation for "content anywhere, anytime on any device".
WiMAX is one of the most promising emerging wireless networking technologies designed to meet the exploding dedand for data anywhere, anytime and video is likely to be a major component of the applications expected. However, video is a bandwidth hog. As an IP-based network, WiMAX faces the inherent scalability problems. Each new customer requires more bandwidth, connectivity sessions grow longer and applications such as video require ever more capacity. Serving thousands of such individual "unicast" streams becomes expensive with the inevitable decline in quality of service at periods of peak demand.
This is where hybrid broadcast/multicast architecture becomes a powerful way to meet consumer and operator interests.
A WiMAX TV Broadcast / multicast solution enables user demand for the most popular programming on mobile video to be channelized towards a service that can guarantee quality reception over predictable bandwidth and without any risk of congestion or contention.
In addition to nationwide or regional TV broadcasting, WiMAX TV enables local content insertion and "micro-broadcasting" – the efficient delivery of content within restricted areas during popular sports events or concerts, or within airports, campuses or hospitals.
However, as a modern hybrid service Mobile TV has to also meet the demand for individual streams and the “niche” or "long-tail" content. This requires using a mix of broadcast, multicast and unicast technologies. Typically, the most popular TV channels will be broadcast on bandwidth that is set aside and efficiently managed through dynamic multiplexing as it is in other TV broadcast systems. Other TV channels will be multicast based on the demand in each particular cell. Interactive services and niche content will be serviced over unicast links. How these various services are packaged and sold to the viewers will evolve over time as the market emerges.
WiMAX broadcast technologies
UDcast has extensive experience in leveraging the advantages of the Internet Protocol within multiple challenging environments, such as satellite transmission, terrestrial broadcast or mobile TV. It has unique and core expertise in the development of solutions that optimize IP and broadcast technologies and knowhow enabling operators in various environments to deploy attractive and cost-effective ways of delivering data services –I ncluding TV over large areas.
A Single Frequency Network (SFN) architecture brings an additional gain of several dBs in the radio channel thus improving reception quality. “Time-slicing” technology, successfully implemented in other broadcast standards, such as DVB-H, increases the lifetime of the terminal’s battery by receiving the content in short bursts, rather then continuously. The Inter-bursts Forward Error Correction (iFEC) ensures perfect video quality under difficult propagation conditions, making short reception blackouts totally invisible to end-customers (e.g. when passing under a bridge or tree).
Key benefits
WiMAX service providers
- Revenue generating and differentiating application
- Efficient use of spectrum and network resources
- Low CAPEX investment
WiMAX equipment manufacturers
- TV broadcast extension to the existing WiMAX solutions
- Modular software design portable on legacy hardware platforms
- Seamless integration with standard TV play out components
WiMAX users
- Portable broadcast-quality TV reception
- Affordable access to wide range of compelling video content
- Accessible with inexpensive WiMAX devices (PDA, Laptops, Phones...)