News From Mobile World Congress 2010

By Doug Lung
published


The GMSA Mobile World Congress 2010 opened in Barcelona, Spain this Monday, Feb. 15. As the event is based in Europe, I wasn't surprised when I couldn't find any information on ATSC Mobile DTV at the show. Qualcomm was there showing its FLO video service on a variety of devices. The ENSIGMA UCCP310 "Universal Communications Core" platform provides demodulation of ATSC (8VSB) and most other DTV standards, including 1-seg ISDB, DVB-H and T-DMB, but it isn't clear if ATSC Mobile DTV is supported.

Without mentioning ATSC Mobile DTV, several manufacturers showed "MIDs"--Mobile Internet Devices--that would be ideal for mobile DTV. One device, the Norton Ink Adam offers a 1080p screen in a tablet form factor. It should give Apple's iPAD and Amazon's Kindle some competition. The Adam uses Google's Android operating system and should be able to work with ATSC Mobile DTV to Wi-Fi adapters like the Tivit demonstrated at CES.

A Web site with the odd name -- Electricpig.co.uk had good coverage of the new devices at the Mobile World Congress. The Inquirer article Mobile World Congress 2010 gets underway says "every second poster, invitation, and press release seems to be about the move to LTE and beyond to proper 4G services." It has more on the technology (hardware and software) behind the devices. Also see Mobile World Congress 2010 Breaking News: Day One on Voxy.co.nz.

Doug Lung
Doug Lung

Doug Lung is one of America's foremost authorities on broadcast RF technology. As vice president of Broadcast Technology for NBCUniversal Local, H. Douglas Lung leads NBC and Telemundo-owned stations’ RF and transmission affairs, including microwave, radars, satellite uplinks, and FCC technical filings. Beginning his career in 1976 at KSCI in Los Angeles, Lung has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast television engineering. Beginning in 1985, he led the engineering department for what was to become the Telemundo network and station group, assisting in the design, construction and installation of the company’s broadcast and cable facilities. Other projects include work on the launch of Hawaii’s first UHF TV station, the rollout and testing of the ATSC mobile-handheld standard, and software development related to the incentive auction TV spectrum repack. A longtime columnist for TV Technology, Doug is also a regular contributor to IEEE Broadcast Technology. He is the recipient of the 2023 NAB Television Engineering Award. He also received a Tech Leadership Award from TV Tech publisher Future plc in 2021 and is a member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.