The FLO Forum announced ratification of the FLO (Forward Link Only) Air Interface Specification (AIS). The AIS includes a complete description of the Physical Layer (based on OFDM), error correction techniques and the Stream/Control and MAC layers. The Stream Control and MAC layers allow multiplexing many simultaneous media services into logical units that can be distinguished at the physical interface layer.

The FLO Forum news release said, "The specification enables the delivery of multiple, multimedia streams over the standard TV channel allocation bandwidths while ensuring fast service acquisition, robust performance in mobile fading links and low receiver power consumption."

Dr. Kamil Grajski, president of the FLO Forum, commented, "The Air Interface Specification forms the foundation for future advances in FLO technology. Our member companies collaborated to produce a technical specification that is ready for submission to global standardization bodies."

More information is available on the FLO Forum Web site. Also see the article FLO Forum ratifies mobile multimedia spec by Kevin Fitchard, which compares the FLO specification with the DVB-H standard. I compared these two standards in my Sept. 9, 2005 RF Technology Column Broadcasting to Cell Phones.