DVB-T SIGNAL OVER CABLE TV NETWORK AND PHASE NOISE REQUIREMENTS

ALI HAZMI, JUKKA RIMVE and MARKKU RENFORS

Tampere University of Technology

Telecommunications Laboratory

P.O. 553, FIN-33 101 Tampere, Finland Box

h161966@,cs.tut.fi Abstract--we study the quality of the terrestrial digital video broadcasting (DVB-T) transmission over the cable TV network. Generally, when terrestrial digital TV signals are distributed in the cable TV, a conversion is needed in the head-end, from DVB-T (OFDM) to DVB-C (single carrier). In order to avoid this costly conversion and to transmit DVB-T signal directly in the existent cable channel, many requirements have to be satisfied. It is known that phase noise represents the main limitation for OFDM based systems. .In this contribution we demonstrate the sensitivity of the OFDM system for the phase noise effects by using a dynamic model for CATV channel. Then, we conclude by giving the specifications that a converter in the CATV network should have to still allow the functionality of the DVB-T system. with a single frequency. The main disadvantage compared to single carrier technique is it's higher sensitivity to phase noise distortion. Several authors have studied phase noise effects in OFDM systems. In [2] a digital phase-locked loop is used to track a pilot signal. Pilot-based channel estimation has been suggested in [3] as a means of combating the channd and phase noise effects. The situation is degrading further when phase noise is present in addition to a multipath channel. In our days, a conversion from DVB-T to DVB-C is needed in the head-end to be able to transmit the terrestrial TV signals in the cable TV. This conversicln affects the quality of the transmitted signal and increases the expenses. The nonlinearity introduced by the earlier conversion, and the complexity of using adaptive time-domain equalization in the case of single carrier compared lo the simple frequency equalization in the case of OFDM systems, motivates us to study the performance of the DVB-T COFDM signal over CATV network and 1.0 derive the requirements and specifications of CATV equipments in order to guarantee sufficieiit performance. In the next section, simple model for the CATV channel is developed. In the third section we briefly recall the principle of the DVB-T COFDM. In the fourth section, the performance of the DVB-T systems with phase noise effects is carried out. Finally, some requirements and specifications for CATV equipment are concluded.

I.

INTRODUCTION

Digital video broadcasting is rapidly replacing analog communications technology and recent research has allowed the concept of digital television broadcasting to be implemented. Such systems are already operating on satellite and cable systems around the world. Single carrier techniques are used in these systems. In the cable channel, the small channel bandwidth in combination with the high signal to noise ratio and the moderate distortion effects has led to 64-QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) [l] as the basic modulation used. For the terrestrial distribution the common approach in Europe is based on Coded OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing). ,The transmission scheme is based on either 1705 carriers (usually known as '2k'), or 6817 carriers ('8k'). In these systems, concatenated error correcting is used and the guard interval is selectable. Reed-Solomon outer coding and outer convolutional interleaving are used, in common with the other DVB standards. The data carriers in the COFDM frame can use QPSK or different levels of QAh4 modulation and code rates. Used very successfully in DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting), OFDMs major advantage is that it thrives in a very strong multi-path environment. Because of the multipath immunity of OFDM, it is potentially possible to operate an overlapping network of transmitting stations

11.

THE CABLE TV CHANNEL MODEL

As shown in Fig. 1, in cable TV, the head-erid transmits the TV signals over a trunk line formed mainly by cascading a large number of trunk amplifiers connected by means of coaxial or optical cable. Theise trunk amplifiers compensate for the cable losses. The trunk part is connected at various points to the distribution parts with the help of Bridger amplifiers and feeder lines. A distribution part contains a small number of distribution amplifiers connected again hy coaxial cable. The difference with trunk part is in the length and the section of each connecting portion. Finally, the customer is connected to the distribution

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part by means of taps located between the distribution amplifiers. The impairments that affect the transmitted TV signal due to the CATV channel can be classified in four main parts: Linear distortion: It is caused by the frequency dependent attenuation of the cable, which is not l l l y compensated by the amplifiers. It can also be due the impedance mismatch of the taps. This linear distortion affects both the amplitude and the phase information in the transmitted signal. In general, the cable TV transmission system is invariant in time and a linear system can be used to model the linear part. Therefore, it is possible to model this part with an FIR filter where the order and the coefficients are carefully chosen taking into account the linear distortion. In our simulation model the echo profile of the NORDIG specification is considered [4]. It is suggested that 5 echoes should be present simultaneously.

c)

Phase noise: Multicamer modulation exhibits a significant sensitivity to the phase noise of the oscillator used for frequency down-conversion. For this reason it is important to include a model for the phase noise effects. To derive the characteristic of the phase noise mask that will be used in the simulation model some measurements were carried out based on a given converter MHT525 [9]. A phase noise mask for modeling is given in the Fig. 2. To tune the effects of the phase noise, a parameter for scaling the level of the phase noise introduced by the oscillator at the carrier frequency is used in the simulation model. In the Fig. 2., a scaling value of 0 dB corresponds to -30 dB. Therefore, decreasing the scaling parameters will be understood as an improvement in the performance of the converter.

TV sets T.A: trunk amplifier B.A: bridge?amplifier D.A:distribution amplifier

Fig. 1. CATV distribution system model

Nonlinear distortion: The amplifier components constitute the main source of nonlinear distortion [5]-[6]. This is illustrated as follows: the transmitted signal can be viewed as a sum of a large number of modulated carriers. The nonlinear behavior of the amplifier gives rise to a mixing of this composite. signal, and as result the useful bandwidth occupied by each signal will contain not only our desired signal but also some other unwanted signals. For the purpose of preliminary characterization, we can model the nonlinear behavior of an amplifier by third-order power series [7]:

Fig. 2. Phase noise mask for modeling

d) Additive White noise: It is mainly due to thermal noise that is inevitable in any communication systems. We end up with the following model in the Fig 3:
TX -

FIR

y ( t ) = ar ( t )+ bx

(t)2

+ cx ( t ) 3
11 1.

Where ~ ( tand y ( t )denotes the input and the ) output signal, respectively. The model illustrates the main intermodulation products that are caused by the second order and third order non-linearities. In frequency domain, the intermodulation can be viewed as interference problem where the interfering signals occur almost on the carrier frequency of the useful signal with low level. Based on [8] this can be modeled simply as an intermodulation interference, the level of which is at least 57 dB below the main carrier.

COFDM BASED DVB-T SYSTEM

The system (Fig. 4 and Fig. 5) is based on the use of COFDM. The choice of the transmissionsystem and the detailed parameters has been made after careful consideration and testing [lo]. When a modulation method for digital TV is chosen, the characteristicsof the channel are essential.

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T , is the useful symbol time, or the inverse of the carrier spacing. A is the guard interval length.
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IV.

SIMULATION RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Fig. 4. DVB-T system, transmitting side

Fig. 5 . DVB-T system, receiving signal This channel is very different from the satellite and cable channels. The characteristics of the terresrial channel will vary significantly with environment. In the stationary case, the characteristics can be described mathematically by the number, level, and phase of the echoes. COFDM is characterized by transmitting the signal on a large number of carriers (frequency division multiplexing) and allowing each carrier to transport only a moderate bit rate. The carriers are orthogonal and it is therefore possible to detect the signal even though there is some frequency overlapping of the individual carriers. Although the symbol rate of each carrier is moderate, intersymbol interference would still occur if no special measures were taken. To avoid the intersymbol interference a guard interval is inserted before each symbol. The guard interval consists of a cyclic continuation of the useful symbol. It will ensure that the orthogonality of the carriers can be retrieved for the received signal, also in the presence of echoes, as long as these are inside the guard interval. The emitted signal for DVB-T, for one OFDM symbol is specified as [lo]:

In our simulations, the parameters of the DVB-T transmission system are the following: 1- convolutional encoding + interleaving: 2/3 code rate. 2- 16-QAM and 64-QAM constellations. 3- Number of carriers: 8192. 4- Guard interval: 118 of the useful symbol duration 5- Channel filtering with a root raised cosine with 0.15 as roll off. For the receiver side, the parameters are: 1 - frequency equalization based on pilot interpolation [lo]. 2- soft decision decoding + Viterbi decoding. In the following Fig. 6 and 7, a plot of the BER (Bit Error Ratio) versus the signal to noise ratio for 16 QAM and 64QAM is given. In the plot we include for the sake of comparison the results in the case of DVBC systems in the case of the same channel parameters.

with k' = k-(K,,

+Kmi,)/2

Fig. 6 . BER versus SM: 16QAM CASE

Here

f is the center carrier of the emitted signal.

k is the carrier number.

K
K
c

is the minimum carrier number. is the maximum carrier number. is the data symbol.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT

o-*l
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The authors would like to thank for funding the RTT project, which is the joint project of Nokia Corporation, Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE), SONERA, Teleste, and Tampere University of technology.

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REFERENCES
[I] EN 300 429 Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); Framing structure, channel coding and modulation for cable system, (1997-08). [2] N.Zogakis, J. M. Cioffi, The Effect of Timing Jitter on the Performance of a Discrete Multitone System, IEEE Trans. On communications,Vol. 44, no. 7, July 1996. [3] T. Pollet, M. Van Bladel, M Moeneclaey, BER Sensitivity of OFDM Systems to Carrier Frequency Offset and Wiener phase Noise, IEEE Trans. On Communication,Vol. 43, no 21314, 1995. [4] NorDig I, Digital Integrated Receiver Decoder Specification For use in cable, satellite and terrestrial networks. Web page: httD:// www.svt. selnordiddownload.htm [5] M. Maqusi, Analysis and Modeling of Intermodulation Distortion in Wide Band cable TV channels, IEEE Trans. On Communication, vol COM 35, NO 5 May 1987. [6] V. Germanov, The Impact of CSO/CTB Distortion on Ber Characteristics By Hybrid Multichannel AnalogIQAM Transmission Systems, IEEE Trans. on Broadcasting, vol. 45 no 1, March 1999 [7] M. Moeneclaey and M.V. Bladel, Digital HDTV Broadcasting Over the CATV Distribution system, Signal Processing Image Communication 5 p.405-415, 1993. [8] EN 50083-7 Cabled Distribution Systems for Television and Sound Signals: System Performance, April 1996. [9] J. Rinne, CATV channel converter phase noise measurements, Project Report RlTiWF2 27/04/2000. [IO] ETSI, Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); Framing structure, channel coding and modulation for Terrestrial television, ETS 300 744 March 1997.
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Fig. 7. BER versus S/N: 64QAM CASE From the earlier figures one can conclude the followings points: 1. The DVB-T signal is mainly affected by the phase noise distortion. 2. Increasing the constellation deteriorates both systems performance. 3. For lowest oscillator performance (Scaling parameters=OdB)the DVB-C signal is better than DVB-T signal in cable TV. 4. Decreasing the scaling parameters to -4 dB is sufficient for DVB-T I6QAM system to overcome the performance of DVB-C 16QAh4 system.

5 . Decreasing the scaling parameters to -1 0 dB

is sufficient for DVB-T 64QAM system to overcome the performance of DVB-C 64QAM system

V.

CONCLUSIONS

In this paper, the quality of DVB-T signal over cable TV is studied .We started by giving a realistic model for the CATV channel where a parameter for the phase noise effect is chosen to be variable to tune the effect of the phase impairment on the OFDM based system. A comparison of the BERs with the DVB-C for the same channel parameters is also examined. We concluded by given the requirements that must be satisfied by the converter to guarantee a sufficient performance for the DVB-T over the cable TV network. In the future work we will study the requirements that DVB-T receiver have to satisfy in synchronization point of view in order to diminish the effect of the phase noise before the FFT operation.

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