Part I

This month I conclude my coverage of the centennial NAB Show with a look at the impact of content protection on ATSC 3.0 test equipment, transmission system innovations, the disappearance of RFS, and compatible MIMO for ATSC 3.0.

ATSC 3.0 Equipment and Content Protection
Broadcasters introducing ATSC 3.0 content protection noticed their test gear stopped displaying audio and video. The good news at the NAB Show was that Sencore is working with A3SA, the ATSC 3.0 security authority, and will add the ability to decrypt protected signals to their ARD3000 series ATSC 3.0 receiver/decoders. Triveni will also support display of content protected video and audio in its ATSC 3.0 Streamscope XM products. 

At its booth in the West Hall, Tolka showed its new ATSC 3.0 set-top box and dongle being sold by ADTH with support for content protection. It wasn’t clear if the dongle would work on a laptop, but with the right application it should work on Android devices using the Stagefright media playback engine that supports Widevine L1. 

The ADTH set-top box uses Android and is the NextGen TV-certified to support ATSC 3.0 with content protection o the U.S. market. Widevine is also supported in the Chrome and Firefox browsers. I haven’t seen any ATSC 3.0 devices using browsers to display protected content and wouldn’t expect to until there is more support for Dolby AC-4 audio. 

Airwavz is working on support for content protection on its Redzone ATSC 3.0 tuner and associated TVXplorer software but was not ready to say when it would be available. 

Last year I reported on the Promax ATSC 3.0 and ATSC 1.0 analyzer and 6 GHz spectrum analyzer. The “Atlas” is now available for $10,800 and was on display at the show. While there are less expensive options for ATSC 3.0 signal analysis, the unit’s spectrum analyzer capability and features could be useful in some applications. I was able to use the spectrum analyzer in the unit on display to find one of the ATSC 3.0 signals in the West Hall and tune to it to see what it contained. Content protection was not available but video and audio demodulation isn’t the main use of this unit.  

Transmission Innovations
Although I spent little time with transmitters, Anywave’s “all-in-one” DTV exciter caught my attention. It can generate ATSC 1.0 or 3.0 signals and seems ideal for broadcasters looking for a simple way to deploy ATSC 3.0. The exciter is available with ATSC 3.0 gateway as well as GPS reference options. It pairs with Anywave’s new ATSC 3.0 H265 route encoder. It was hard to believe Anywave had squeezed that much capability into a one rack unit enclosure.

At mountain-top transmission sites and where interference is an issue, optimizing coverage can require different beam tilt in different directions. One way to achieve this is through an array of panel antennas. However, as Dielectric’s John Schadler described in his paper “Broadcast Travelling Wave Antenna with Azimuthal Beam Tilt,” Dielectric’s solution using four pylon cylinders, each of which can be designed with different amounts of electric beam tilt, allows a much simpler feed system. 

This antenna would be ideal for locations like Farnsworth Peak in Utah where less tilt is needed north and south to cover Ogden and Provo and more tilt is needed to reach the populations in metro Salt Lake City to the east and Tooele to the west. The white paper provides more detail than was what was presented at the Dielectric NAB breakfast and is available at www.dielectric.com/technical-resources/.

Dielectric demonstrated its Apollo monitoring service for RFHAWKEYE, which provides an in-service TDR (time domain reflectometry) sweep of a station’s antenna and transmission line. Resolution is sufficient to see individual line flanges. While the RFHAWKEYE has been available for a few years, the new Apollo service remotely monitors a station’s antenna and transmission line for small changes and is capable of alerting the station. 

I saw an example of this in Los Angeles on Mount Wilson after heavy snow and ice bent a rigid transmission line but did not break it. Dielectric’s remote monitoring detected the small change and the location of the change and alerted the station so that the snow and ice could be removed from the line. Because the RF sweep takes place in the high-VHF TV band I was concerned it wouldn’t work in a high RF environment like the Los Angeles Mount Wilson site where there is a full power station on every high-VHF channel except 8 and 10. So far that hasn’t been a problem. 

What Happened to RFS?
One name familiar to TV transmitter engineers was absent from this year’s show, RFS which announced that it would shut down its broadcast division at the end of 2022 and put its intellectual property up for sale. As of the show, no one had purchased it. Fortunately RFS developed a very good step-by-step procedure for tuning its filters and engineers who have learned the procedure are available to re-tune filters if needed. Most of the full UHF power stations in New York are transmitting on an RFS antenna fed from an RFS combiner at One World Trade Center. Fortunately the filters are rugged passive devices that will likely outlast the transmitters. 

When I asked some of the companies I thought might be interested in the RFS IP why they hadn’t purchased it, I was asked how many high-power filters and combiners I expected to buy in the next few years. The repack and subsequent upgrade of non-repacked stations in the last five years has resulted in most stations being set for the next decade or so, which means far fewer sales of high-power equipment. Low- and medium-power sales may increase if the ATSC 3.0 roll out leads to more construction of distributed transmission systems to increase coverage and data capacity. 

RFS also made microwave dishes, semi-rigid coaxial cable and waveguide at its plant in Meriden, Conn. The cable manufacturing business was sold to Amphenol, which sells the products under the RFS Technologies name. Alive Telecom bought some of the dish manufacturing equipment, but not the intellectual property, and is now selling microwave dishes as well as broadcast antennas. 

ETRI's DEMO of ATSC 3.0
One item that I did not mention in my previous article was ETRI’s demonstration of compatible ATSC 3.0 MIMO. Last year they showed a system using dual polarized transmit and receive antennas that was capable of delivering data rates near 100 Mbps. However, it could not deliver content to non-MIMO receivers. This year, ETRI in cooperation with KBS, Cleverlogic, and Televes showed how LDM could be used to provide a low data-rate, very robust signal in addition to the high data-rate MIMO enhanced layer. 

The parameters demonstrated would only provide enough capacity for one 720p program stream, 1.3 Mbps, in the non-MIMO core layer but it was using QPSK and a 2/15 code rate which resulted in a less than 0 dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) threshold.  A robust layer with less error correction would allow more program streams. The MIMO enhanced layer required an SNR of 30 dB and provided 64.7 Mbps data capacity. 

Broadcasters and engineers are still discovering what’s possible with the ATSC 3.0 standard. Look for more on the technology and products in future columns. 

MELVILLE, N.Y.—Chyron has introduced PAINT 9.3, the first AI-enhanced release of the company’s renowned illustrated analysis and replay tool for live sports. New automatic pitch calibration (soccer) and automatic player tracking tools (soccer and American football) represent the first AI-driven tools within PAINT. Reducing two essential but complex tasks to quick button pushes, these AI algorithms save operators valuable time in generating top-notch telestrated sports clips, allowing them to focus on creating dynamic narratives around a match.

“PAINT 9.3 represents an industry-first application of AI algorithms to sport replay and telestration, and we’re building great new features and capabilities on the power of these new enhancements,” said Chyron CEO Ariel Garcia. “Our internal AI development team has been exploring the practical and beneficial applications of AI in the live video production space, and it’s so rewarding to see evidence of the team’s amazing work in this latest PAINT release. The AI-enabled tools and features in 9.3 are the first of much more to come!” 

With PAINT 9.3’s AI-enabled calibration algorithm, an operator with a clip loaded for telestration can now automatically calibrate the dimensions of the soccer pitch, then begin creating perspective-accurate 3D telestration effects right away. PAINT’s new AI-enabled player tracking algorithm can automatically track and determine the path of players in a clip, so operators can quickly bind tracked effects such as spotlights and cursors to any and all players. Users can trigger these features with a single button push in the UI, or set them to be performed automatically as clips are imported into the system. 

Together these new AI algorithms support a brand-new functionality: accurate live measurement of the speed and distance of player movement entirely within the PAINT software, without external tracking data. As a result, operators can create labels above any and all players to show their speed/distance in real time.

A host of new features within PAINT 9.3 make it easier for operators to precisely telestrate every replay clip and then export footage to post-production for editing. PAINT’s new Path Shaping tools allow users to precisely tune, edit, or redraw player movement paths to ensure tracked effects move ultra-smoothly. Now able to bulk-export clips as individual files, operators can ensure they have the individual clip files they need to edit together a highlight package. Finally, operators can now use the PAINT Formation Tool to export overhead strategy-map illustrations as clips for use in the edit suite.

Get the full breakdown of the latest PAINT 9.3 features here.

SOUTHWICK, Mass.—Hitachi Kokusai Electric Comark has inked a reseller agreement with Airwavz.tv to integrate the company’s TvXplorer Suite into Comark’s turnkey, end-to-end NextGen TV solutions. 

The agreement appoints Comark as an authorized reseller of the Airwavz.tv TvXplorer Suite, a hardware and software test and measurement toolkit. The TvXplorer Suite includes the RedZone receiver USB stick with OTA TV tuner and demod, as well as TvXplorer companion software running on a user’s laptop computer.

The TvXplorer Suite allows broadcast engineers to dig deep into the metrics of the ATSC 3.0 signal and provides a confidence monitoring function with playback of the audio and video signal in a pop-out HD player.

Comark Digital Services, re-launched in 2018 to help broadcasters upgrade their 1.0 and 3.0 headends, will focus on the North American broadcast DTV market for ATSC 3.0 and NextGen TV solutions. CDS provides integration and system design services for TV stations.  

More information is available on the Comark website. 

EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J. and BANGALORE, India—If ATSC 3.0 is to find success, not only must U.S. broadcasters begin transmitting Next-Gen TV, but viewers must be able to receive it.

Global information technology specialist Wipro Limited has a solution addressing the reception piece of the equation–not simply for manufacturers of smart TVs, but also for pay TV service providers, OEMs, original design manufacturers (ODMs), semiconductor companies and others.

Last week it announced a partnership with Seattle-based startup Airwaz.tv to offer an integration-ready solution for Android TV, Linux and other operating systems to support OTA broadcast and broadband reception of Next-Gen TV content by TVs and other IP-enabled devices.

“Airwavz.tv is delighted to have Wipro as a strategic partner,” said Bonnie Beeman, founder and CEO of Airwavz Inc. “We plan to continue working closely together on Next Gen TV solutions for the mobile market in North America. Customers can now take advantage of Airwavz’s lightweight portable RedZone TV Receiver, and Wipro’s professional grade ATSC 3.0 stack, to extend the reach of broadcast television beyond fixed TV.”

Airwavz.tv is targeting TV engineers, software developers, RF engineers and 3.0 deployment teams as the intended users of its RedZone receiver kit, which is priced at $895. That group of users is vitally important to the ultimate rollout of 3.0 in consumer devices.

[Read: Airwavz.Tv Launches Quarterback DTV Smartphone Receiver]

The RedZone receiver is a dongle that serves as an ATSC 1.0 and 3.0 digital TV front-end tuner-demodulator. It plugs into the USB interface of computers and other devices.

Wipro’s 3.0 solution provides full support for hybrid TV viewing and enables viewing of broadcast video content on a range of devices, such as set-top-boxes, smart TVs, media gateways, mobiles, tablets, dongles and in-car entertainment units.

The solution offers features that enable 3.0, including support for broadband services, security, watermarking, file download, 4K, immersive audio, 3D TV, VoD media players and TTML closed captions, as well as primary features like Live TV, electronic service guide, parental controls, emergency warning alert and multi-language support.

“Powered by a mature DTV design and a robust partner ecosystem, the solution is well-equipped to address the challenges faced by our customers and accelerate their time-to-market for product development and deployment,” said Anita Ganti, senior vice president and Global Head, Product Engineering, Industrial and Engineer Business, at Wipro Limited. “Our early adoption of the ATSC 3.0 standards has helped us offer best-in-class Digital TV Middleware Solutions and reinforce our position as a partner of choice in the media industry.”

To learn more about the RedZone Receiver Kit, visit the Airwavz.tv website.

To learn about the Wipro Limited visit the company’s website.

For a comprehensive source of TV Technology’s ATSC 3.0 coverage, see our ATSC3 silo.

SEATTLE—Bonnie Beeman and John Casey, two industry veterans with a history of developing new technology for over-the-air DTV, recently formed “airwavz.tv,” which they describe as a “full-service multimedia platform” offering solutions for web, hardware, mobile and DTV. Beeman and Casey recently debuted the company’s first hardware product, called “Quarterback,” an Android smartphone case that doubles as an ATSC receiver, at the NAB Show and last month’s annual ATSC meeting in Washington, D.C.

Airwavz.tv CEO Bonnie Beeman demonstrated the Quarterback smartphone antenna at the annual ATSC meeting in Washington D.C. in May.

TV Technology recently talked with Beeman on the development of the Quarterback and her company’s philosophy on the future of over-the-air broadcast television in the U.S.

TV TECHNOLOGY:What inspired you to develop Quarterback?

BEEMAN: Not having a wireless connection during life and death events was my inspiration for creating Quarterback. Between 2012 and 2014, I was commuting between Seattle and Cambridge to finish grad school at MIT, and there happened to be three catastrophic events that hit the Boston area while I was in town: Hurricane Sandy, Storm Nemo and the Boston Marathon bombings. During each of these disasters, local cellular service was taken out of commission for an extended period of time.

During these emergencies, television broadcast never went off-air, and I started thinking that since my smartphone still had battery, and a high-resolution screen, how could I harness the reach of broadcast television on my mobile? I came up with the idea for Quarterback during grad school, and decided to quit my job, launch a startup and build this portable TV antenna, so when critical events were unfolding, I would have a safety lifeline to live TV news coverage while I was traveling.

The name “Quarterback” was inspired from the need to prop up my smartphone on a table, so I could watch TV at an angle without holding it. In my first design, there was no room for a kickstand on the back because the battery was so big, so I cut a horizontal slot in the bottom big enough for a quarter to hold the device up at an angle. I figured most people have a quarter in their pocket, and it was my solution for a poor-man’s kickstand. Then a lightbulb went off that we would name it “Quarterback,” which was a play on words, given that NFL is the single most-watched TV programming in the US.

TVT:How long did it take to develop it?

BEEMAN:Three years. First, I had to focus on how to solve the complicated RF technical issues, and then I tackled the construction/usability of the form factor. Our first “Frankenstein” working Quarterback prototype came to life on April 5, 2016, and we are now in the process of beginning manufacturing. I filed the original utility and design patents for Quarterback in May 2013, and am delighted to share that our first design patent was granted in May 2016. We also have a utility patent-pending.

TVT:What were some of the barriers/challenges to developing it?

BEEMAN:The biggest challenge by far, was proving my theory that the Quarterback form factor solved these five major user problems: 1) How to fit and position a very large TV antenna directly next to a smartphone LTE antenna and ensure that both services will work in parallel. 2) Keep TV always on (even in sleep mode), so Advanced Warning and Response Network (AWARN) messages over broadcast TV will be received. 3) Hardware must be luxury low-profile, premium-grade and attractive to consumers. 4) Set the user expectations up front that Quarterback TV channel access and quality is“acceptable” on the ATSC 1.0 network, and retrofitted for ATSC 3.0. 5) Design Quarterback as a global digital TV accessory.

TVT:Who, among retailers and/or carriers has expressed interest?

BEEMAN:We have had discussions with Tier-1 wireless carriers, and TV broadcasters from the U.S. and different countries, but I am not at liberty to reveal names yet. Hopefully in the near future, we’ll announce one or more strategic partnerships. We envision Quarterback to be the hardware bridge between wireless carriers, cable operators, content providers and TV broadcasters. We’ve solved the hard science of how to get TV to a mobile audience, and there are an unlimited number of use-cases for Quarterback to extend TV capacity and reach all over the world.

TVT:What is the cost and when will it be available?

BEEMAN: We are planning to ship our first “Limited Edition” Quarterback in Q1 2017. Our website http://quarterback.airwavz.tv will have pre-sales available for purchase online in Q3 2016. First-come buyers will get a great 25 percent discount, and we’ll have lots of options for deeper discounts if people buy higher quantity, refer friends and share on social media. The early adopter price of Quarterback will be revealed in Q3 on our website, so we encourage people to sign up on http://airwavz.tv so we can let you know when Quarterback goes on sale.

The Quarterback smartphone case includes a battery, ATSC receiver, and a unique fold out antenna.

TVT:Will this be able to pick up other signals beyond ATSC 1 and ATSC 3?

BEEMAN:Yes, Quarterback is designed for both ATSC 1.0 and ATSC 3.0 but the real value-add is that Quarterback is designed to support all global TV technologies: ISDB, DVB, DVB-T2, DMB-T, ADTB-T, TiMi 3 and DTMB, and we are preparing to take pre-orders for international clients. Like any TV antenna, coverage varies depending on location and terrain, but we are encouraged that our early field and laboratory testing shows Quarterback has TV channel access to the full UHF band, and some VHF.

TVT:Have you done any market surveys on this type of product?

BEEMAN: Yes, I’ve done peer surveys and market research on Quarterback at MIT, and within the angel investing community I’m actively involved with in Seattle. Early user feedback is that people see the immediate value in being able to view high-definition, exceptionally clear, live over-the-air free digital TV on their smartphones without any subscription fees. There is “pent-up demand” for Quarterback, because it does not impact a user’s wireless data plan, and the auxiliary battery, on-board DVR, front facing hard key are an added bonus.

Broadcasters recognize that Airwavz.tv has been able to solve the deep technical issues of retrofitting very large TV antennas to fit premium grade smartphones and extend the reach of TV to a mobile audience. Wireless carriers understand the value in bundling smartphones with a luxury accessory that offloads their congested networks, and delivers the same high quality digital TV service to millions of subscribers simultaneously within net neutrality rules.

TVT: How much weight does it add to the device?

BEEMAN:Quarterback weighs approximately 6 ounces, mostly attributed to our auxiliary battery.

TVT: In terms of percentage, how much more of a “footprint” (overall size) does this add to the smartphone?

BEEMAN:We’ve designed Quarterback as a luxury smartphone accessory that is low profile, and fits the same premium look and feel as the beautiful smartphones they protect. Quarterback adds roughly the same dimensions as other premium smartphone covers. Exact dimensions will be posted on our online store, so we encourage people to sign up in advance to get notified: http://airwavz.tv

TVT: Will you make a tablet version?

BEEMAN: Yes, absolutely.

TVT: Is this available for both iOS and Android phones?

BEEMAN:Yes. We’ll release an Android version first, and then iOS.

TVT:On your website, airwavz.tv, you take very clear positions on spectrum and other broadcast issues. Please explain how this forms your company’s philosophy and way of doing business.

BEEMAN:What citizens around the world don’t know is that television is an unparalleled, ultra-broadband wireless network that is capable of delivering high-definition digital TV hundreds of miles away, and serves millions of subscribers simultaneously. Television is the epitome of the most influential social network in the world, because it can reach millions of people tuned in at the same time, with the same message, and serve as a life-line to mission-critical information.

Citizens also need to know that wireless data service is increasingly more expensive, because it is overloaded with click-bait advertising, malware, tracking bots, web crawlers and widgets. Conversely, television is a closed, controlled, protected and trusted wireless downlink that provides grade-A digital video quality, with a straight-forward advertising based revenue model.

TV is free clear-to-air, broadcast every day, all day, around the world, and all you need to pick up the TV signal is an antenna–like Quarterback.

Airwavz.tv philosophy is simple: We create instant, easy access to mission-critical headline and breaking news that is simulcast over digital media, web, mobile and live television broadcast networks. We hold television broadcasters and wireless carriers in high regard, and see Quarterback as a bridge for citizens around the world to have an “always on” TV lifeline on their smartphones.