Sensor Newsletter July 2011

DVB-T Monitoring Solution Offers Complete RF & TS Analysis
Delivering optimal viewer experience takes center stage among digital broadcast operators. Pixelmetrix DVStation-Mini² DVB-T, a cost-effective RF and TS analyzer and full-featured monitoring probe, assures the quality and continuity of DVB-T services for terrestrial operators.
	The DVStation-Mini² DVB-T is an extension of the DVStation-Mini² lineup. Designed with remote deployment in mind, it provides unparalleled visibility into QoS monitoring for numerous points within a DTT network. Aside from 24/7 operational monitoring of the quality and continuity of DVB-T services, the DVStation-Mini² DVB-T combines in-depth DVB-T RF measurements and comprehensive TS analysis, thus raising notifications for every deviation detected. Tracking transmitter health is the foremost step in quality assurance of terrestrial transmission. With a high MER resolution capability display and constellation visualization, the DVStation-Mini² DVB-T can detect age-related transmitter performance degradation.
Precise synchronization between transmitter towers is crucial for operating SFN networks. In case of poor synchronization, complications such as a shrinking coverage area and potential signal loss may arise. With effective SFN monitoring, the DVStation-Mini² DVB-T reduces the complexity of managing the synchronization. Through “impulse response masks”, it identifies and triggers alarms on any change in timing or amplitude of the impulse response. By defining a rectangular zone around each transmitter signal, the impulse response masks help detect any change in transmitter sync, antenna performance or even environmental changes, and prompt a system alert before issues arise.
In addition to RF measurements, the DVStation-Mini² DVB-T offers rigorous transport stream analysis and monitoring. As regional content insertion is deployed across geographically diverse DTT networks, the DVStation-Mini² DVB-T ensures TS integrity with its comprehensive TR 101 290 and SI table checks. Moreover, the DVStation-Mini² DVB-T supports SLA assurance by keeping track of bandwidth allocation, which is one of the critical data points that form the basis of most Service Level Agreements (SLA) between content providers and DTT network operators. Other features include video thumbnails for MPEG-2 and H.264 video streams in SD and HD for confidence monitoring, On-air Content Validation (OCV) and DVB-H options.