As we start a new year, I thought it would be interesting to look back at 2023 and offer some comments on what I expect lies ahead for 2024 and beyond.  

A Quiet 2023
After the activity surrounding the FCC incentive auction channel repack and the post-repack antenna and transmitter upgrades, the past year was quiet when it came to spectrum issues. The RF spectrum scene, however, is changing.  

When the FCC lifted its freeze on channel changes, many TV stations, (31 at last count), filed channel change petitions to move from VHF channels to UHF TV channels. While VHF channels can work well to cover large areas if viewers are using outdoor antennas, reception of VHF with indoor antennas has been problematic for reasons I’ve discussed before. As of Nov. 24, 2023, 481 stations were still transmitting on VHF channels, 51 of them on low-VHF Channels 2–6. 

After rushing to get red and blue C-band interference filters installed on satellite dishes, wireless operators started using the 3.7 GHz to 3.98 GHz band that used to be devoted to C-band satellite down-links. From what I’ve seen, there have only been a few problems with interference­—which may be due to program distribution moving from satellite to terrestrial distribution via fiber and even the internet. 

As the year ended, broadcasters faced a Nov. 29 deadline to certify that their microwave links in the 12.7 GHz band were operating as licensed; file an application to modify the license to correct any errors or omissions; or cancel the license. The FCC is looking to allocate this spectrum for wireless broadband use, but it isn’t clear exactly how this will be used. One possibility is fixed wireless internet.

Transition to NextGen TV
The slow rollout of ATSC 3.0 continued in 2023. Available spectrum to allow simultaneous transmission of primary programming in both 3.0 and 1.0 is still a problem, although stations continue to learn how to trade capacity to make it work. One potential solution is to move from MPEG-2 to AVC (MPEG-4) encoding, but incompatibility with older TV sets has frustrated that effort (viewers hear the audio but get a black screen from MPEG-4 on older TVs). 

More stations switched on content protection in 2023. While this caused few problems for large-screen ATSC 3.0 TV sets, viewers with early set-top boxes like SiliconDust’s HDHomerun lost reception of protected channels. 

Fortunately, as the year ended, set-top boxes that support content protection became available—the ZapperBox and the ADTH box, for example. Except for ATSC 1.0, almost all video delivery today is content protected, whether streamed or over fiber or cable TV. The challenge for the ATSC 3.0 roll out will be making that content protection as easy for viewers and device manufacturers as it is for cable and streaming services.  

Unfortunately, LG, a major supplier of ATSC 3.0 TV sets, has stopped selling sets with ATSC 3.0 tuners after losing a patent battle with Constellation Designs over non-uniform constellations. 

Fig. 1 shows a non-uniform 64-QAM constellation generated by my software-defined ATSC 3.0 transmitter. Non-uniform constellations are more efficient than the uniform (rectangular) constellations used in other digital TV COFDM systems. 

Constellation’s patent would appear to apply to equipment that generates ATSC 3.0 RF signals as well as receivers. Readers may remember that similar patent battles erupted during the rollout of the original ATSC (1.0) DTV and affected both receiver and transmitter manufacturers. In the end it had very little impact on the rollout of DTV in the United States. I don’t expect it to be a major issue for ATSC 3.0. 

For more information on non-uniform constellations, see the complaint filed by Constellation Designs LLC at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1I5-nhg3MMcR8peqIEei8XVM5kNpwVHOc/view 

Non-TV uses of ATSC 3.0 received more attention. The Broadcast Position Standard (BPS) that would provide a backup for GPS, which many services depend on for accurate timing was tested, as well as radio over ATSC 3.0. I covered both topics in detail in my 2023 NAB Show coverage in TV Tech. 

I’m often asked, “When will broadcasters complete the transition to ATSC 3.0?” My usual answer is I don’t see it happening for at least 5-7 years. The key factor will be the widespread availability of ATSC 3.0 tuners in TV sets, set-top boxes or other devices.

It's usually followed up by “What can broadcasters do to speed the adoption of ATSC 3.0?” Almost all 3.0 programming is a duplicate of what stations are airing in ATSC 1.0. Better encoding and the addition of HDR provide a better picture, but is that enough? Broadcast applications and “virtual channels” delivered over the internet are attractive, but support varies among devices.  

While the focus has been on the benefits that ATSC 3.0 provides consumers, don’t ignore the benefit it provides broadcasters. More bandwidth (about 20% more for similar coverage) and encoding that’s 4x more efficient is equivalent to getting additional ATSC 1.0 channels! It gets better—a broadcaster can use LDM to add a very robust signal for mobile TV, data or other applications like radio with little impact on the main channel coverage. 

Perhaps rather than relying on consumer pull, we need a stronger broadcaster push. This push could be funding an ATSC 3.0 set-top box program, either by building and distributing converters or providing discount coupons. 

Financial incentives for device manufacturers (not only TV sets but streaming devices and set-top boxes) to include ATSC 3.0 capability, just as streaming services do now, could drive adoption. Since smart TVs know what the consumer is watching, offering manufacturers a bonus when the set tunes to an ATSC 3.0 service would help ensure over-the-TV wasn’t buried deep in the menus. 

We’ve seen stations move away from using two-way radio systems and microwave ENG systems in favor of cell phones and bonded cellular. Will the same transition happen to broadcasting? 

We can’t ignore the possibility that TV “broadcasting” will eventually move to the internet and 5G wireless. I don’t see this happening in the next five years, but if the ATSC 3.0 transition fails and as transmitters bought during the repack need replacement, the idea of relying on internet delivery, perhaps supplemented with 5G broadcast, might look attractive, especially if it allows broadcasters to avoid the regulatory burdens associated with an FCC license. More likely, we’ll see multiple broadcast platforms, with over-the-air continuing to exist in some form. 

Viewers are discovering free over-the-air TV to avoid the cost of cable TV and streaming subscriptions. Antenna sales are strong. For broadcasters to take full advantage of this trend, we need to push the transition to ATSC 3.0 technology to be able to both complement and compete with other platforms like internet streaming (wired and wireless) and 5G broadcast for both viewers and content.

IEEE BTS Returns
Finally, I was happy to see that IEEE Broadcast Technology Symposium was back in 2023. The last Symposium was in 2019 and I wondered if it would return after the 2022 Symposium was canceled. 

Thanks to the efforts of Jim Stenberg, Paul Shulins and the presenters and volunteers supporting it, the symposium was a success, with approximately 90 people attending the two-day session at NAB headquarters in Washington, D.C. Visit https://bts.ieee.org/ for more information on the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society. I’ll be covering the 2023 Symposium’s papers in a future column. 

As always, your questions and comments are welcome. Email me at dlung@transmitter.com.

PISCATAWAY, NJ—The IEEE Broadcast Technology Society (BTS) will hold its Annual Broadcast Symposium (ABS), Nov. 8-10 at the Kennedy Space Center, Astronaut Memorial Foundation in Titusville Fla., marking the first time the symposium has been held in-person since 2019.

In addition to the symposium’s tech agenda covering both TV and radio, the event will also include a tour of the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center and the Space Shuttle Atlantis exhibit. 

“As we all get ready to see each other in person again, IEEE BTS continues to provide a unique and fun opportunity to learn about the latest trends in broadcast technology from some of the brightest and most influential leaders in the broadcast technology industry,” IEEE-BTS said in a statement. “Our global perspective and worldwide membership allow attendees to benefit from research and industry trends from all corners of the globe. In addition, our intimate setting affords you the ability to speak directly to the presenters and technology leaders to maximize your learning experience. For more than eight decades this symposium has been one of the most valuable events available in our industry, and the tradition continues in 2022.

NextGen TV/ATSC 3.0 will be top of the agenda with updates from a number of companies and consultants involved in the transition. Other topics will include HD Radio, IP/SMPTE 2110, tower safety and virtualization. The BTS & AFCCE Joint Awards Lunch will be held on Nov. 9.

Click here to register for the event.   

Part One 

The IEEE Broadcast Technology Society (BTS) focused its attention on ATSC 3.0 Single Frequency Networks and virtualization during four sessions that kicked off its IEEE BTS Pulse online conference.

The session block examined the basics of ATSC 3.0 SFNs, virtualization of 3.0 broadcast gateways, extending the function of 3.0 SFNs by leveraging stream multiplexing to reach transmitter sites and the broadcast core network.

“ATSC 3 Single Frequency Networks and Virtualization,” chaired by Merrill Weiss, consultant and owner of Merrill Weiss Group, also included Benoit Bui Do, technical leader for terrestrial solutions at ENENSYS Technologies; Mark Corl, Triveni Digital senior vice president of Emergent Technology Development; and Ali Dernaika, solution architect at HPE America, addresses gateways, stream multiplexing and the core network, respectively. The session block was moderated by Joel Walsh, director of Education at SMPTE.

THE FUNDAMENTALS 

Weiss kicked off the event by examining the fundamentals of ATSC 3.0 and how SFNs can be used, including an explanation of the 3.0 physical layer, framing and the bootstrap, as well as several 3.0 SFN-related technologies and techniques.

Weiss then explained how the transmission characteristics of 3.0 are “about the best there are in the world in terms of the range and the proximity” to the Shannon limit—the theoretical maximum error-free data throughput for a given amount of noise on a channel.

Next he reviewed 3.0 Physical Layer Pipes, which are “essentially combinations of a number of carriers,” and times in a 3.0 subframe. “So, every one of these intersections of frequency and time, you can think of as a cell … [that] carries a certain amount of information,” he said.

The cells can be organized in different ways, enabling frequency division multiplexing, time division multiplexing, a combination of frequency and time division multiplexing and layered division multiplexing (LDM). Putting different levels of power into different layers makes it possible for LDM layers to have their own modulation encoding.

“Depending on how you choose to set the modulation encoding, you can have more or less robustness and more or less data capacity,” he said.

Weiss then discussed data sources entering a 3.0 system via the “Data Source Protocol,” which are packed into ATSC 3 Link Layer Packets (ALP) and transferred to the Broadcast Gateway where the Scheduler packs the ALP packets into PLPs. This ensures packets use available PLP space efficiently, he said.

Three transport protocols are used to get data to the transmitter—DSTP, ALPTP and STLTP (Studio-to-Transmitter Link Transport Protocol)—to enable data to be transferred between layers and guard against what’s known as “layer violations,” said Weiss. In the case of DSTP and ALPTP, this is accomplished with information available in an information header that precedes the packet. For the STLTP, this is done with an RTP (Real-time Transfer Protocol) header.

All of these protocols provide for tunneling, which enables a number of multiplex streams to be carried inside another stream. In the case of ATSC 3’s studio-to-transmitter link, there can be up to 67 different streams, all of which are treated as one stream as part of the common tunneling protocol (CTP), he said.

CTP provides for additional services like forward-error correction and security to prevent “man-in-the-middle” attacks, similar to the “Captain Midnight” attack on HBO’s delivery of its signal to cable headends several decades ago, he added. ATSC 3.0 provides for authentication and encryption to guard against such attacks.

Two types of time are provided for in ATSC 3.0. For upstream of the broadcast gateway, UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) is used. Atomic time also is used for synchronization of time and frequency and as a parameter in the security system, Weiss explained.

Having discussed 3.0 fundamentals, Weiss turned to SFNs, which consist of multiple transmitters delivering the same signal on the same frequency to a given service area. “In order to do that,” Weiss said, “the frequencies have to be matched and the emission times have to be precisely adjusted.”

All transmitters must have the same reference bootstrap emission time, but they may be offset to shape network signal delivery, he added.

Weis also examined one way to localize datacasting in an SFN. It involves having a “normal” SFN deliver “mostly the same data on the same frequency into the overall service area but to allow certain PLPs to carry different data.” 

These specific PLPs are the same for every transmitter to ensure they transmit during the same transmission period to specific areas. Because different data is placed on different cells during given PLP periods and on the same PLP frequency, the cells will interfere with one another where coverage from SFN sites overlaps, Weiss said. 

“Doing this becomes an exercise in carefully adjusting the properties of the transmission. … [B]y making good choices of what the parameters are, that interference can be minimized, and these smaller service areas can be enlarged to the maximum extent possible [to enable localized data delivery],” he said.

EXTENDING SFN FUNCTIONALITY

Triveni’s Corl examined the use of 3.0 SFNs as a statewide network. For the presentation, Corl looked at a hypothetical network with a broadcast studio—in some cases multiple regionalized studios across the state—connected to a set of transmitters. Some may be connected via microwave, by fiber through a switch and even an SFN at the edge.

“In the ATSC 1 world, that [the described network] wasn’t a problem, but in the ATSC 3 world there’s a lot of signing and authentication going on,” said Corl. “[S]ending the same stream to all the transmitters is somewhat problematic because all that signaling and interactive content and all the things you might want at these different transmitters has to be signed.”

Having private keys “floating around” at the transmitter sites where there may be no one to attend to them isn’t a good idea. “So, you can’t actually regionalize things unless you have multiple STLs—separated all the information out into multiple STLTP streams,” he said.

This would be necessary because at the exciter level it’s not possible to “crack open” the STLTP and “tear things apart or add things,” Corl explained.

Another consideration is that in many statewide networks, especially those of public broadcasters, most of the data is redundant. There are some primary channels and occasionally some tertiary channels, but the broadcaster might want to do region-specific, ancillary text crawls, he said.  

Bandwidth restrictions in the network can be a problem. “Sending a couple—maybe three or four—STLTPs to transmitters over fiber is no big deal … [where] they typically have a gig of bandwidth,” he said. “But when … the connections are only, say, 10BASE-T … you really have to start paying attention to the network’s capabilities.”

Before laying out the statewide SFN network solution in detail, Corl reviewed basic ATSC 3.0 transport concepts, illustrated with a diagram that started on the right with Data Source Packets and ended on the left at the exciter. 

In between was a visual representation of the Common Tunneling Protocol (CTP) and Data Source Transport Protocol packets feeding the ALP Encapsulator. The CTP uses SMPTE ST 2022, which enables use of forward error correction and a fixed packet size. “They’re all RTP, UDP IP multicast packets, but they are completely opaque to what they are carrying,” said Corl.

One important quality of the DSTP—which carries receiver-destined packets—is that the packet address space is hidden. This is important because it allows duplicate Data Source Packets to be sent without conflicting with one another or needing a receiver to understand there are differences, he explained.

The ALP Encapsulator processes the DSTP packet tunnel and strips out everything and puts the internal packets carried through the tunnel into “out packets,” which are data packets with a particular header that use the ATSC Link Layer Protocol (ALP). This allows the packets to be hidden on the receiver side and in the Scheduler. At this point, ALP Encapsulator maps Data Source Packets to PLPs—one ALPTP to one PLP. The encapsulator then sends ALP packets to the Scheduler, he said.

It, in turn, processes the ALPTP packet tunnel, inserts PLP ALP packets into baseband packets, adds the preamble, timing and management packets and turns them into STLTP packets, which carry the preamble, baseband and time and management packets to the exciter. In each phase, packets are signed, he added.

Corl emphasized that ATSC 3.0 is IP-based, which means the stream doesn’t simply need to be data intended for receivers—audio, video and closed captioning data, but it is also possible to put other data into the stream that’s not intended for regular off-the-shelf receivers, he said.

Corl laid out different scenarios supporting the hypothetical statewide SFN, beginning with in-band distribution to individual SFN transmitter sites. “Essentially what you’re doing is carrying a backhaul for the SFN,” he said. “You’re carrying the STLTP in the actual broadcast.”

The STLTP carriage can be in a separate PLP. LDM may be used, announced as a private data stream in the low level signaling (LLS). A dedicated antenna tuned to receive this signal from the source transmitter is used. This setup also provides a redundancy mechanism if the network is lost. “The exciter doesn't actually have to be connected to a network or as well, it can be connected to the network and actually see this other STLTP carriage as a backup,” he explained.

The second scenario leverages regionalized PLPs. Here ALPTP is sent over the broadcast with common AV services, such as SD and HD, and some NRT (non-real time) data carrying configuration data. There is also a regional AV service in a secondary PLP. Receivers in the broadcast coverage area won’t know what to do with the secondary streams and ignore it.

At the SFN receive site, the configuration data will be used to program two functions that “essentially are equivalent to a Broadcast Gateway,” said Corl. This approach enables ALPTP streams and NRT to be privately signaled and carried in another PLP. Another ALPTP stream could be carried to supply a PLP to remove ALP encapsulation.

A third scenario allows for regionalized PLPs, but focuses on the content. “In each stage … we’re basically taking and carrying different aspects and different control information to the point where we can fine tune it down to the point where we have different signaling for each of the transmitters,” he said, adding that the signal doesn’t need to be signed at the regional SFN transmitter because it was signed at the studio and passed to the SFN transmitters.

“We can actually have very specific transmitters and essentially build an entirely new broadcast at each stage simply by taking very selective IP streams out of the network and carrying this information,” he added.

In all three scenarios, everything coming over the air can be signed and validated to make sure a nefarious actor is not replacing content or changing any of the signaling. Additionally, with physical security in place at SFN sites—locks on transmitter buildings—there is no need for a private key for the entire network at these remote sites. “You just need it to be able to decode whatever’s coming in,” he said.

Finally, Corl laid out a backup plan to reach all SFN sites, which is already in place with the 3.0 SFN deployment. 

“Backup information could be running all of the time, and you could be sending out the information all of the time, even though your networks were there,” he said. “So failure of the network or even partial failure of the network would easily be just switching over to the other mechanisms and carriage.”

(Editor’s note: Part two will examine the Broadcast Gateway and Core Network presentations.)

PISCATAWAY, N.J.—IEEE Broadcast Technology Society has announced it will host an IEEE BTS Pulse event from February 9-11, which will discuss topics including single frequency networks, applications for drone technology and 5G content production.

The second ever IEEE BTS Pulse event, the three-day virtual event aims to answer vital broadcast industry questions with top experts, according to IEEE BTS’ website.

The first of the three days will be dedicated to SFN and virtualization cohesiveness. The session will look at the fundamentals of ATSC 3.0 SFNs as well as the virtualization of broadcast gateways and some of the challenges and uses of software-based SFN implementations. S. Merrill Weiss, Merrill Weiss Group LLC; Benoît Bui Do, Enensys; Mark Corl, Triveni Digital; and Ali Dernaika, Hewlett Packard Enterprise are slated to speak on day one.

Day two will focus on drones and thermography, specifically how thermal imaging can be used to scan broadcast transmission lines and antennas to identify possible areas of concern and how drones can help in this area. Paul Shulins, BTS vice president and president of Shulins Solutions, is tapped as the day two session chair. Session speakers will also include certified thermographers and an expert on using drones for broadcast signal measurements.

The third and final day of IEEE’s Pulse event tackles 5G content production. Organized by the European H2020 project 5G-RECORDS, the session will look at the opportunities and challenges of 5G for professional audiovisual content production. This will include presentations on the European Broadcasting Union’s 5G content production activities and 5G technology enablers from Ericsson and Nokia. David Gomez-Barquero, Universitat de Valencia, Communications Department, iTEAM Research Institute- Mobile Communications Group will lead the session.

For more information on the IEEE BTS Pulse event, visit IEEE BTS’ website. 

PISCATAWAY, N.J.—A new career center has been launched by the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society, designed to connect broadcast industry professionals across all disciplines and career stages with broadcast employers.

The new center, called the BTS Career Center, is designed to highlight the unique nature of members of this industry, said Ralph Hogan, president of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society. “Our members are highly appealing to employers because they’ve demonstrated a commitment to the highest levels integrity and training,” he said. “Providing our members with opportunities for professional development and career growth are core to our mission to serve the broadcast profession.”

The BTS Career Center is being hosted by YM Careers, a provider of job websites and career centers for organizations that serve specialized members. The career center is also unique in that it offers broadcast industry professionals and employers additional benefits such as the ability for job seekers to post anonymous resumes, options for employers to reach out to passive job-seeking broadcast industry professionals who do not visit job boards, integration of job content into social media channels and the integration of career resources, training and other benefits offered by IEEE Broadcast Technology Society to members.

The career center is in line with the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society’s mission: to enhance industry professionals’ knowledge by keeping them informed of the latest research results and industry trends, and provide enriching educational and networking opportunities.

PISCATAWAY, N.J.—Ben Dawson—whose name is associated with more than a hundred medium-wave, UHF and VHF broadcasting antenna and transmission system projects in the United States and abroad—is the recipient of a notable honor from the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society.

The BTS chose Dawson to receive its Jules Cohen Outstanding Achievement Award.

“Although we could not present Ben with the award in person, he attended the October virtual BTS Adcom meeting as an invited guest, where President Ralph Hogan virtually presented him with the award,” the society said in an announcement.

Dawson has six decades of experience in telecommunications engineering, and specializes in antenna and propagation design and analysis. (For a sampler of his many projects, see below.)

“Ben received numerous nominations from many colleagues throughout the industry,” the IEEE BTS stated. “One nominator stated ‘If Ben Dawson is associated with a project, it has instant credibility.’ Another nominator stated ‘Ben has always been a fabulous mentor.’”

Dawson taught himself calculus in high school to better understand antennas, according to a Radio World profile story in 2006.

“When I was 15, I began working an air shift during the summers for a radio station in Salem, Ore., but when the transmitter broke — an old RCA 250L — I was the only one who could fix it,” he recalled at the time. “Then my parents moved to Portland, Ore., and I started work for KUIK(AM), which was half-owned by Harold Singleton, who was a consulting engineer. Once Harold realized I could fix things I became his go-fer.”

After college, where he was chief engineer of Harvard’s student FM station WHRB for a year or so, and after stops as the chief of several West Coast radio stations, Dawson formed Hatfield & Dawson in 1973 along with Jim Hatfield Jr., and Maury Hatfield.

The Cohen award is given to “exemplify outstanding work in the field of broadcasting, focusing on Integrity, professionalism, quality, extent, reach and thoroughness of the candidates work as well as commitment to client success.” Last year’s recipient was Gary Cavell.

It is named after Jules Cohen, who among other contributions played a major role in developing the rules governing assignment of stations in the noncommercial educational portion of the FM band.

Ben Dawson received the National Association of Broadcasters Radio Engineering Achievement Award in 2006, with his longtime project partner Ron Rackley. He has produced numerous policy analyses and technical research for private clients as well as local, state, federal and foreign governments. He’s a past delegate to study groups of the International Telecommunications Union.

He’s a professional electrical engineer who is a member of several IEEE societies, as well as the Association of Federal Communications Consulting Engineers and the Society of American Military Engineers.

ARLINGTON, Va.—The IEEE Broadcast Technology Society has announced a virtual event will take the place of its annual Broadcast Symposium this fall because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The IEEE BTS conference will take place from Oct. 6-8, covering key industry topics like 5G and ATSC 3.0.

There will be an entire session dedicated to 5G broadcasting chaired by Peter Siebert, broadcast industry advisory. The sessions will strive to answer the role of 5G in the future of DTT broadcast and whether or not 5G will replace or complement DVB or ATSC broadcast.

The NextGen TV standard will also be a point of interest, with ATSC President Madeleine Noland leading another session reviewing the ATSC 3.0 implementation and rollout. Topics covered will include rollout status for ATSC 3.0, who will deliver the devices, how NextGen TV will entice end users and if the spectrum repack is an obstacle or opportunity for ATSC 3.0.

The final session will be chaired by Guy Bouchard, director of transmission systems at Tele-Quebec, and focuses on broadcast disaster preparedness. Up for discussion will be lessons learned during the pandemic, reviewing whether broadcasters were ready, how radio broadcast can be a vital emergency solution and if there can truly be a disaster resilient infrastructure.

The virtual event will enable attendees to earn multiple Continuing Education Credits or Professional Development hours, per IEEE.

For more information, visit bts.ieee.org.  

WASHINGTON—In an effort to support students that are seeking careers in telecommunications and broadcast engineering, the Association of Federal Communications Consulting Engineers, the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the National Translator Association have selected nine students across the country to receive their Spring 2020 scholarships.

Here are the nine recipients:

• Maurice Compton, University of Dallas
• Nathan Ellsworth, University of Texas at Dallas
• Andrew Heller, University of Minnesota
• Md. Tajul Islam, University of Missouri at Kansas City
• Daniel Klawson, University of Maryland at College Park
• Obagaeli Ngene-Igwe, University of Cincinnati
• Prosanta Paul, Old Dominion University
• Dylan Stewart, Old Dominion University
• Rafida Zaman, University of Missouri at Kansas City

The scholarships all range between $1,000 and $5,000, with $29,000 being awarded in total between the nine students.

Andrew Heller is the inaugural recipient of NTA’s Byron W. St. Clair Memorial Scholarship, which is given to promising students that plan to pursue a career in broadcast engineering.

“NTA congratulates Mr. Heller,” said John Terrill, president of NTA. “This scholarship is a good first step in the tradition of Byron St. Clair to enlighten young minds and encourage more interest in broadcast engineering, especially in the areas of translator and low power television.”

Ellsworth, Islam, Klawson and Stewart, meanwhile, were awarded IEEE BTS/AFCCE’s Jules Cohen Memorial Scholarships, which awards up to $10,000 to promising undergraduate or graduate students pursuing broadcast engineering.

Also of note, Zaman was the recipient of the E. Noel Luddy Scholarship, which was sponsored by Dielectric Communications.

In total, AFCCE says that these scholarships represented the groups’ largest ever award to students that they hope “will help shape the future,” said John George, AFCCE president.

AFCCE also announced dates to submit applications for its Fall 2020 scholarships, which will begin March 1 and go until April 30. More information is available through AFCCE and IEEE BTS’ websites.

HARTFORD, Conn.—Television was again center stage at this year’s IEEE Broadcast Technology Society Broadcast Symposium, with nearly two-thirds of the presentations involving video. ATSC 3.0, or as it has been recently branded by the Consumer Technology Association, NEXTGEN TV, was in the limelight, with the final day of the Oct. 1-3 conference set aside for 3.0 presentations.

Leading off was Michael E. Bouchard, vice president of technology strategy for ONE Media at Sinclair Broadcast Group, who prognosticated as to how NEXTGEN TV and 5G technologies could work together in a mutually beneficial way.

“OTT is on the rise and 82% of internet traffic will eventually be video,” said Bouchard. “The consumer’s use of video on the internet is driving this exponential growth, and there’s nothing to indicate that this will end anytime soon. More and more broadcasters are moving their broadcasting to over-the-top. We’re loading these networks as they’ve never been loaded before. But we’re also becoming more and more dependent on a network that we don’t control, and mobile networks are becoming choked. Coverage is also poor in rural areas.”

Bouchard noted that while 5G may offer a lot of advantages not present in current wireless broadband systems, it may not be the universal panacea that many are promising, as under certain high-demand content viewing conditions, its unicast delivery mode can saturate. He suggested that if 5G and broadcast joined forces this would allow traffic to be offloaded for over-the-air delivery to phones equipped with 3.0 chips.

“[Such a] 5G converged network utilizes the superior features of IP-based terrestrial transmissions [and] it utilizes the unicast mode networks that are already in place,” said Bouchard. “It delivers data seamlessly across different technologies.”

Such a converged network would also benefit wireless broadband providers by extending their reach into rural areas and cutting system buildout costs, according to Bouchard.

“With the millimeter wave technology [that’s proposed for 5G], you need a tower every 200 to 300 feet,” said Bouchard. “How are you going to do that for Interstate 90 that goes from Boston to Seattle? Or better yet, how are you going to do that where I live in Hunt Valley, Md., where it’s horse country and every house has 40 acres?”

He views a plan where broadcasters could “rent out” some of their ATSC 3.0 bits to telcos as being a “win-win” for both.

“It would reinvent, extend and reinvigorate DTT broadcast TV, better enable telcom ecosystems, increase use of DTT spectrum and increase overall throughput efficiencies,” said Bouchard, noting that experimentation on such a converged ATSC 3.0/5G system are taking place in New Jersey and South Korea.

PHOENIX CONTINUES TO RISE

Dave Folsom, consultant to Pearl TV’s Phoenix 3.0 model market project, noted that there are now 12 stations and several television station groups participating in Phoenix, as well as a number of broadcast and consumer equipment manufacturers.

“A whole host of companies are providing enabling technologies behind the scene,” said Folsom. “Part of the mission is to evangelize … to ensure that all manufacturers of transmission and receiving equipment believe that the standard is going to be implemented. We have to come up with use cases, and test those use cases to show that there is consumer receiver demand.

“Manufacturers need a little bit of incentive that there will be a market; that broadcasters will be broadcasting in major markets,” Folsom added. “We don’t want to just replicate ATSC 1.0; otherwise there’s not a lot of incentive for viewers or receiver manufacturers.”

Other goals include demonstrating secure delivery of content and ensuring that the viewing audience served by MVPDs can access 3.0 signals.

“We’ve had a lot of discussions with MVPDs about moving forward, and hope to do testing with Phoenix MVPDs soon,” he said.

Folsom said that a professional ATSC 3.0 IRD is now available and that three television set manufacturers, and possibly more, should be making 3.0 sets available in the United States in 2020.

ATSC 3.0 FROM AN MVPD’S VIEWPOINT

As U.S. broadcasters move closer to a widespread ATSC 3.0 rollout, providers of cable and satellite systems are also laying plans to accommodate the new signals and services. Steve Watkins, executive director of Strategic Technology Policy at Cox Communications, described some of the challenges the cable industry faces by accommodating broadcasters’ ATSC 3.0 services.

“There’s a lot that has to happen when ATSC 3.0 is received by cable and satellite operators,” said Watkins, observing that 3.0 carriage will require restructuring and changes in multiple areas, including reception of program streams from broadcasters, signal processing, distribution to customers, set-top boxes and more. Watkins also foresaw difficulties arising from the many choices and possibilities inherent in the ATSC 3.0 signal itself.

“There’s apt to be customer confusion,” he said. “The AC-4 audio format provides additional language capability, music tracks, a means for providing increased separation between dialog and background audio, and immersive audio provides an increased number of audio channels that people will have to deal with.”

Watkins noted that such choices could be bewildering to some cable customers when difficulties arise, and asked “Who will be there to field questions and complaints?”

In the area of processing, Watkins said that 3.0 implementation will require new encoding and multiplexing schemes, a rework of failover/redundancy solutions to maintain continuity of operations in the event of a signal loss on primary feeds from broadcasters, and even new slate generators.

“Who converts the ATSC 3.0 service to provide ATSC 1.0?” he mused. “Where will it be done—at the broadcaster’s facility, or at the cable facility? Also, does the cable operator participate in the zoning or geotargeting that 3.0 enables? Cable systems typically are not equipped for this.”

Watkins noted that even though mandatory carriage of NEXTGEN signals will not be required “for at least another seven years, if the broadcasters come up with something that’s compelling and our customers want it, we want to be able to deliver it.”

MANUFACTURING FACILITY TOURS

Attendees to the 2019 BTS Symposium were also treated to pre-conference tours of the RFS RF component production facility in Meriden, Conn., and the Hitachi Kokusai Electric Comark operation in Southwick, Mass., where they were briefed on that company’s Comark Digital Services initiative for assisting broadcasters who wish to move to the NEXTGEN TV platform. 

For a comprehensive source of TV Technology’s ATSC 3.0 coverage, see ourATSC3 silo.

PISCATAWAY, N.J.—Class will be in session at PBS TechCon 2019 when the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society hosts its ATSC 3.0 Roadshow, a one-day course on Next Gen TV.

Gary Sgrignoli, of Meintel, Sgrignoli and Wallace, will be teaching the course that looks to provide a fundamental understanding of the ATSC 3.0 digital transmission system’s Physical Layer, give examples of practical application ideas and update attendees on the process of the spectrum repack and ATSC 3.0 deployment. The full course outline is available here.

This is one of IEEE BTS’ planned Roadshow course events, with more expected to take place across the country throughout the year. People who attend the event will be able to earn SBE credits toward recertification and can facilitate preparation for the upcoming SBE ATSC 3.0 Specialist Certification exam.

This edition of the ATSC 3.0 Roadshow will take place on April 6, from 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. at the Flamingo Las Vegas hotel in Las Vegas. Registration for the event is available here.

For a comprehensive source of TV Technology’s ATSC 3.0 coverage, see ourATSC3 silo.

LAS VEGAS--SBE announced this week that it will offer an all-day tutorial on ATSC 3.0 (aka Next Gen TV) right after the 2019 PBS TechCon, April 6 at the Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel. The tutorial is open to all, and costs $95 for SBE and PBS members, $145 for non-members.

The tutorial will cover regulations that dictate the requirements of the transition and technical compliance. These include MVPD notifications, carriage and 1.0 host requirements and agreements. It will also cover RF testing and field measurements and the importance of the scheduler feature in the standard. Additional topics will cover adoption, timing, budgeting, project planning and (looking further out), the enhanced content and services that Next Gen TV will enable.

In announcing the tutorial, the organization cautioned broadcasters to have a realistic approach to deployment of ATSC 3.0.

“Everybody in your world will want to know what NextGen is all about,” it said. “Some will have overindulged in the hype. Most will have more misunderstandings than real knowledge (we don't throw out TVs this time). For others, there will be fear, uncertainty and dread. We'll conclude with what is real and what is not, matching adoption curves with equipment life cycles. We will separate what happens today and what happens further down the road. In particular, we'll look at what changes in broadcast station architecture and workflows, including digital ad insertion and ad tech, will help move the revenue needle.

“When the hype becomes real, it is always a big deal.”

Registration is available at bit.ly/SBEatPBS.

Also on Saturday at TechCon, the the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society will host an ATSC 3.0 Roadshow, including a training seminar taught by expert Gary Sgrignoli of Meintel, Sgrignoli, and Wallace, the noted digital TV transmission consulting firm. This course will cover the ATSC 3.0 Physical Layer and prepare participants to take the SBE ATSC 3.0 certification exam.

Registration and seminar information can be found on bts.ieee.org.

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

COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS—The television broadcast technical plant is changing or has changed for many. The traditional baseband based serial digital interface (SDI) commonplace since the inception of digital television is being replaced by an IP-based infrastructure. The migration to an all-IP infrastructure brings several advantages, including:

• Cost savings by using commercial, off-the-shelf (COTS) IT hardware. Enterprise routers and switches have enormous economies of scale compared to the broadcast world’s purpose-built, industry-specific infrastructure.

• Greater system workflow flexibility. The inherent architecture flexibility provides for a change in workflow processes without a system re-wire commonly found in the baseband SDI plant. With a COTS Ethernet switch, high-capacity, non-blocking signal routing can be implemented in far less space than the traditional matrix SDI router.

• Format and resolution agnostic. Enterprises and streaming video service providers already use COTS infrastructure for a wide variety of formats and resolutions, from 720p through 1080p at 60fps and 4k. The use of IT industry standards also enables the high levels of interoperability commonly found among COTS equipment manufacturers.

• Simplified interconnection wiring. Installation costs are significantly reduced because less interconnection cabling means less labor. The SDI plant’s fixed signal path is replaced with a “star” architecture found in enterprise IT networks. System changes also are implemented by software configuration rather than facility re-cabling.

The use of an IP network in a broadcast facility has been commonplace for some time now. One example is the familiar RJ-45 Ethernet jack on many broadcast devices. Use of the IP network has been primarily for command and control, monitoring or file transfer.

But when an IP network is mentioned in the context of transporting real-time broadcast media, an instant lack of trust is often a common response. Many broadcast professionals are simply unable to accept the perceived risk involved for mission-critical content transmission. The “belt and suspenders” mindset of the broadcast engineer simply does not permit the perceived unreliable operation found in the IP environment. Reinforcement for this mindset is often obtained from one’s personal experience with the Internet.

ENABLING PROFESSIONAL MEDIA OVER MANAGED IP NETWORKS

To enable interoperability between system components from different manufacturers, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) established the ST 2110 standard. SMPTE 2110 is considered an umbrella standard, or a family of individual functional standards, that allow for the transmission of uncompressed audio and video over an IP network.

SMPTE 2110 is a suite of standards for transmission of “professional media over managed IP networks.” Audio, video and ancillary data are treated as separate, uncompressed essence data streams. Individual standards focus upon functional components of the suite, such as video (ST 2110-20) or audio (ST 2110-30). Ancillary data may include captioning data (ST 2110-40) that is associated with the media essence streams. A unique feature of ST 2110 allows essence data streams to be sent or routed over different physical paths and re-assembled at a destination end point by the incorporation of a synchronization mechanism (ST 2110-10).

Several SMPTE standards incorporate established Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Request for Comments (RFC) provisions into the standards. Examples include the ST 2110-20 standard incorporating the IETC RFC #4175 for uncompressed video transmission and the ST 2110-10 system standard incorporating the IETF RFC #3550 Real Time Protocol (RTP). The IETF RFC’s are considered the “Bible” of IP networking.

It is important to make a couple of critical distinctions regarding the SMPTE ST 2110 standard. First, what is known as the public “Internet” is not the intended physical transport platform. By definition stated in the ST 2110 title, a “managed” IP network is the transport platform. A managed IP network is a private network that is built on private physical facilities or more likely a telco common carrier provided Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) network. Performance can be specified in a Service Level Agreement (SLA) to ensure reliable delivery of real-media content such as high-definition, uncompressed video. Differentiated services are utilized to meet and maintain a contracted Quality of Service (QoS).

In contrast, the public Internet is a maze of independent interconnected networks with no end-to-end performance coordination or governance. Thus, the term “best effort” is used to describe the QoS of the public Internet. This is simply not an appropriate network choice in which to implement SMPTE ST 2110.

THE CIA TRIAD OF CYBERSECURITY

The private nature of the physical network platform also becomes a first step in mitigating cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Nevertheless, ST 2110 is an IP-based data network, so the IT industry’s accepted security practices should be deployed in any implementation.

Network cybersecurity mitigation involves a number of individual steps or practices rather than one single step. Overall, the goal of network security is to meet the attributes defined by the “CIA Triad” as illustrated by Fig. 2. The triad is based upon the three attributes of: Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability. It should be noted that the phrase “AIC Triad” may also be used to avoid confusion with a US government agency of the same acronym.

Confidentiality refers to the ability of the network infrastructure to not allow disclosure of the data or information traversing the network infrastructure to any unauthorized user or host. Integrity refers to the ability of the network to ensure that the data has not been altered by an unauthorized user or host. And availability refers to the ability of the network infrastructure to ensure that resources are available only to authorized users or hosts.

[Read: Need To Know: Cybersecurity]

Cybersecurity events such as a Denial of Service (DoS) attack or a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack target the availability attribute by impacting access to the network resources by legitimate users. A Man in the Middle (MITM) attack seeks to destroy the integrity attribute by altering the data or information traversing the network.

Industry best practices begin with network design as the first step in cyber-security threat mitigation. The network is segmented or layered into functional areas as dictated by the business case use, regulatory policy or organizational policy. Each layer or segment has unique use or purpose with an established security access policy. Inner layers are considered the core network segments and are the most secure.

The characteristics of an MPLS network provide an economical platform for ST 2110 implementation.

Other security attributes involve physical network infrastructure equipment protection from tampering through locked enclosures, cabinets or cages. Implementation of Ethernet switch port security is another capability that a managed switch offers to control what host device can be attached to a switch port. Packet filtering can be implemented by an Access Control List (ACL) to allow select host interoperability between network segments. The ACL filtering can be based upon several IP header fields such as addresses, protocol and port number.

Infrastructure equipment management should be implemented in an out-of-band manner. Out-of-band management also allows the use of the public Internet for accessibility implemented in a secure manner such as an encrypted Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection to the management network. This approach provides an air-gap between content transport network segments and the management network.

All of these outlined practices come together to define a secure network rather than complying with a single attribute. Cybersecurity can’t be ignored or left as an afterthought. At the end of the day, the broadcast engineer should have trust and confidence in a SMPTE ST 2110 network that is implemented as intended by the published standard utilizing established industry security practices.

Wayne M. Pecena is a IEEE BTS Distinguished Lecturer and Director of Engineering, Texas A&M University, KAMU FM & TV.

ARLINGTON, VA.--Broadcast engineers from around the globe converged here for three days last week to exchange information about the industry and broadcast technology developments at the annual IEEE Broadcast Technology Society Fall Symposium.

In spite of the demands of the ongoing television spectrum repack, some 160 engineering consultants, equipment manufacturers, and broadcast group personnel took time away from their duties to join academics and others from as far away as Russia, Brazil and South Korea at the Oct. 9-11 tech con.

Next-Gen TV was the hot topic this year, with nearly half of the presentations falling into this category and nine directly focused on ATSC 3.0’s potential, field testing, deployment, business models, and evaluation metrics. Presentations even included some “one step beyond” views into the future television experiences. One described methodology for transmitting information to provide sensory stimulation beyond sight and sound, and a lunchtime keynote presenter described taking virtual reality out to the ball game.

BRINGING BACK THE ACTION WITH VR

In her presentation, Uma Jayaram, engineering director for Intel Sports True VR division, described why her company decided to launch a virtual reality TV sports production element, and discussed some of the technical issues that had to be resolved to make it possible.

“The timeline for [introduction and acceptance] of new use cases is dramatically shortening,” Jayaram said. “The telephone took 75 years to reach the 50 million user mark; ‘Angry Birds’ took just over a month to reach this mark.

“Companies such as Intel realize that you cannot afford to join the party after it’s well underway and things are moving really fast," she continued. "So, you place some bets, you get into the ecosystem, you play with it, you try to move it, and essentially see what’s going on in a more involved manner.

“When you think of Intel, you ordinarily think of the more traditional segments—CPUs, graphics and so on, but some of the big bets we are making have to do with artificial intelligence, VR, hygiene, and automated driving” observing that all of these emerging technologies involved moving and processing massive amounts of data, an Intel specialty.

“These areas are moving so fast that you want to be in that ecosystem,” said Jayram in explaining Intel’s decision to launch the sports business unit two years ago.

“On ‘game day’ we show up with our cameras, we set up alongside the networks and stream VR experiences in near real time,” she said. “We provide [feeds] to about 10 right’s-holding broadcasters.”

In her presentation, Jayaram did flag some VR limitations, noting that perhaps the biggest centers on the cumbersome headgear that consumers must don.

“I can’t watch with a headset for more than a few hours,” she said.

As one solution, her unit is creating shorter duration or “snackable content” sports highlights packages. “We’re also working to provide a better user interface…something that would allow a person to do VR viewing while still interacting with friends,” she said.

She also described some technical considerations in VR that don’t really exist in ordinary television coverage.

“Time synchronization is very important when you have six separate cameras that all have to be synched together along with the audio," she said. "Seamless ‘stitching’ of the multiple views is also very important.”

Branding of the viewing apps for consumers is also something of a challenge as Intel's Sports unit is dealing with multiple broadcast entities operating in several countries. “In the U.S., NBC has the rights, so we have to have an NBC app with the 'NBC look and feel' and colors. We now have to put out about 33 of these apps [to accommodate the various broadcast entities and viewing devices].”

Jayaram also noted that a business model has to be established before widespread deployment of VR sports coverage can take place.

“We’re looking at subscription models,” she said. “In the end you have to make money. This is still being worked out.”

WHAT’S HAPPENING OUT IN THE [3.0] FIELD?

Status reports on ATSC 3.0 rollouts in three U.S. markets were part of the conference program, with WRAL-TV’s Transmitter Supervisor Matt Brandes describing activities at his company’s Raleigh-Durham, N.C. test facility. Fred Baumgartner, director of Next Gen TV implementation for Sinclair Broadcast Group, provided an update on the station group's Dallas-Ft. Worth ATSC 3.0 single-frequency network initiative, and Pearl TV’s Dave Folsom described goings-on in connection with the "Phoenix Model Market project.

All offered some lessons learned and dos and don’ts takeaways.

“If you’re a person blessed with the privilege of setting up a brand new ATSC 3.0, please download and read the ATSC recommended practices on the Physical Layer, go play with your toys, and then come back and read the recommended practices again,” said Brandes. “Also, buying a new encoder might do more for your coverage than putting in two transmitters. If you can get three dB improvement [in encoding], this is equivalent to doubling your power.

Speaking for Pearl TV, Folsom noted that early equipment implementations are still not complete and software versioning is a big issue

“Anytime someone makes a software upgrade, everything downstream quits working, including the receivers," he said. 

Folsom added that the ability to interchange encoding, packaging and encapsulation units isn’t fully developed yet. “You should be able to connect up the unit and it should work, but it doesn’t," he said. "The standards are clear, [but] there’s a lot of misunderstanding among manufacturers about what needs to be there.”

Baumgartner observed that monitoring and control in connection with SFN transmitter sites is a potentially big issue. “We’re just starting to put our toes in that water and we can run [the Dallas-Ft. Worth installations] from our handheld devices, but at some point, it’s going to start to look like MediaFLO and then you’re got 300 transmitters out there and you have to start thinking about trucks, spare parts, and support infrastructure," he said. "You have to figure out how to make it all run economically.”

‘HACKING’ NEXT-GENERATION TELEVISION

Although the ATSC 3.0 racehorse is barely out of the stable, due to its hybrid broadcast/internet delivery, concerns are already surfacing about vulnerability of signals to manipulation by pranksters or others with darker agendas. Broadcast cybersecurity expert Wayne Pecena examined this in his presentation, “Hacking ATSC 3.0.”

He noted that the broadcast community was not exactly a stranger to nefarious intercepts of program streams, citing the 1986 takeover of HBO’s satellite transponder by “Captain Midnight,” and the “Max Headroom” incident the following year in which the studio-to-transmitter feeds of Chicago stations WGN-TV and WTTW were breached and third-party content aired.

Pecena observed that those incidents had required a lot of technical savvy and large equipment costing many thousands of dollars. “Now someone with a tablet computer sitting in a coffee shop can wreak a lot more havoc,” he said.

He cited the potential risks to broadcasters of ATSC 3.0 stream hijacking, including dead air, loss of revenue, public embarrassment, data breaches, potential legal liability, loss of public trust, and impact on station resources.

Pecena urged station operators to gain a thorough understanding of their IP systems and think about ways in which they might be compromised, observing that “the Internet of Things really provides only minimal, if any, safeguards against hacks, with security often being an afterthought or a ‘neverthought.’”

He said that even with the security components inherent in ATSC 3.0 and a tightening of security at broadcast facilities, there still could be breaches occurring within the home environment.

“The consumer industry must adopt stronger IoT security features,” he said. “The weakest link determines the overall security of any system.”

During the gathering the society also recognized Merrill Weiss with its highest honor, the Jules Cohen award for excellence in broadcast engineering. 

The BTS Symposium moves to Hartford, Conn. in 2019. Conference dates are Oct. 1-3.

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

The first day of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society’s 68th three-day Broadcast Symposium drilled deeply down into emerging “disruptive” technologies as they affect the broadcast platform.

INVASION OF THE SMART SPEAKERS

Heading the list was the rapid rise of “smart speaker” technology and their deployment in the consumer environment. In his presentation “The Broadcaster’s Place in the Smart Speaker Ecosystem,” the NAB’s Senior Director of Technology, Education and Outreach Brian Savoie noted that even though smart speakers were launched only about three years ago, their acceptance and popularity is really unprecedented.

[Read: IEEE BTS Fall Broadcast Symposium Gets Down to Business]

“The adoption rate has been very rapid,” said Savoie. “It’s likely to be faster than that of any other consumer device in history.”

He noted that the smart speaker is becoming a gateway for connecting with many services that consumers routinely use, and advised broadcasters that “Alexa is coming to the car” and they needed to make plans to get on that platform. “A hybrid voice-controlled radio was demonstrated at the Orlando Radio Show a couple of weeks ago. It’s coming.” He added some broadcasters could already be ready without knowing it. “If you’re streaming, you may already be on the platform.”

SPECTRUM SHARING, 5G, PIRATE BROADCASTERS, AND MORE

First-day “disruptive” presentations ran the gamut from methodology for sharing of 2025–2110 MHz spectrum between the U.S. Department of Defense and television ENG crews to 5G wireless broadband technology and its possible impact on conventional over-the-air broadcasting. Hybrid over-the-air/internet broadcasting was also on the radar, with one presenter providing information on initial testing of methodology for transmitting not only sight and sound, but also smell, taste, and touch content to provide a completely immersive experience.

Even the first-day luncheon keynote address followed through on the theme with a slightly different aspect of disruptive technology — the concept of storytelling — with Dolby Laboratories’ Chief Scientist Poppy Crum, describing how new and changing media technologies have the potential to change the way storytellers interact with their audiences, and even the storytelling methodology itself.

Activities wrapped up with a presentation on “Pirate Radio and FCC Enforcement” from Charles Cooper, director of the FCC’s Field Division of the Enforcement Bureau. Cooper stated that enforcement of pirate operations has a very high priority at the FCC, and noted that during the past year, 242 notices of unlicensed operation had been issued, and that the highest possible monetary penalty had been issued in the case of a Florida pirate operation.

“We also referred several cases to the federal courts for equipment seizure,” he said.

The conference continues on Wednesday with sessions on AM/FM digital-only broadcasting, ATSC 3.0 and UHD television, and connected car radio.

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ARLINGTON, VA. — For more than 60 years, the Institute of Electrical Engineering and its precursor, the Institute of Radio Engineers, have brought top broadcast engineering industry figures together to share information about cutting-edge technologies. The tradition continues this autumn, with the 2018 IEEE Broadcast Technology Society’s Fall Broadcast Symposium Oct. 9–11 in Arlington, Va.

The annual event, which began in the early 1950s, features presentations from some of the most knowledgeable engineers in the broadcast sector, including consulting firms, station groups, academia, regulatory bodies and equipment manufacturers who share their knowledge on cutting-edge technologies, industry trends, policies affecting broadcasting and more.

In the years following its inception, symposium attendees have been kept up to date on such emerging trends and issues as NTSC color, FM and AM stereo broadcasting, the arrival of solid-state technology, UHF broadcasting, satellite communications, the advent of digital technologies in the broadcasting plant, digital transmission of signals, spectrum conservation, safety in the broadcast plant, the “repacking” of television channels, antenna technology, energy conservation and other relevant topics.

Historically, the BTS conference has emphasized the RF side of broadcasting, but in recent years, has broadened its scope to include broadcasting workflows, sonic watermarking of content for ratings purposes, hybrid broadcasting via the internet, cybersecurity, emergency alerting, audio coding and distribution protocols, IP-technology in the broadcasting plant, and even the safe and legal use of drones in broadcasting.

“THINGS DISRUPTIVE”

The 2018 conference program will be no different, according to Co-chair Robert Weller, vice president for spectrum policy for the National Association of Broadcasters.

“This year, we’re dedicating an entire day to ‘disruptive technologies,’” said Weller. “These are new and emerging technologies that could impact on the traditional radio and television broadcasting model.

“We have speakers — experts in their fields — lined up to discuss 5G, big data, trends in consumer electronics, pirate radio and the FCC enforcement, smart speakers and broadcasting, implementation of a multi-sensorial television experience; you name it, if it has the potential to disrupt the broadcasters’ status quo it’s probably going to be covered in this all-day session.”

More conventional technical areas are on the conference agenda, including reports on all-digital AM and FM broadcasting, updates on the ATSC 3.0 market deployments, new service modes for HD Radio, the design of a high-power multi-station FM master antenna system, 4K UHD television workflows, planning for the NextGen DTV standard, radio in the connected car, field testing of layered-division multiplex (LDM) and time domain multiples (TDM) transmissions, “hacking” ATSC 3.0, reliable transport of FM and HD signals via IP-based studio-to-transmitter linkage, innovations in remote control and monitoring of transmission facilities, and more.

“In all, there are more than 30 presentations on this year’s program,” said broadcast consultant Glynn Walden, the other co-chair. “And this doesn’t include the luncheon keynote presentations. This year, we’re going to get to hear addresses from the FCC’s new Media Bureau chief, Al Shuldiner; Intel’s virtual reality program director, Uma Jayaram; and Dolby’s chief scientist, Poppy Crum.”

TECH CON LIKE NO OTHER

Asked what sets the IEEE BTS Symposium apart from other engineering conferences, Weller credited its size.

“You’ve got all of the presentations and events in a single venue with nothing to distract attendees as is often the case with larger technical conferences and conventions, where the main focus is on exhibits, and there are multiple presentation tracks running which make it difficult to organize one’s time as an attendee,” he said.

“All of the broadcast engineering thought leaders are here, and the event is small and informal enough to lend itself to lots of interaction between speakers and attendees. I’ve been attending these symposia for 25 years now, and due to its relatively small size and the various social events that are part of the symposium, I’ve noticed bonding among the participants — a sort of camaraderie that develops. You always learn something new and invariably make new friends with other folks in the business. Actually, I’ve made some of my closest business relationships through the symposium.”

Walden added that anyone involved in the engineering side of broadcasting should find the content relevant.

“The world of technology is changing faster than anyone can keep up with it on their own,” said Walden. “The symposium offers broadcast engineers the opportunity to learn about these changes first-hand. It provides continuing education as to what these changes are all about. This is really important to function well in one’s job and to keeping yourself employable.”

He said the symposium affords an opportunity for networking with other broadcast professionals during the breaks, evening receptions and lunches and breakfasts.

“In addition, we always have a number of broadcast equipment manufacturers — our sponsors — at the conference who are there to provide information on their products and discuss particular applications or problems on a one-to-one informal basis. I don’t know of any other industry event that’s quite like it.”

GLOBAL GATHERING

The symposium has traditionally had a wide reach, attracting presenters and attendees from across the United States and abroad. This year’s program includes speakers from Finland, Cameroon, Romania, Italy, Uruguay, Brazil and Korea, who will be there to provide information not only on broadcast technologies being utilized outside of the United States, but also studies and research work they have been conducting of emerging technologies of a universal nature such as ultra-high definition television and digital transmission standards and optimization of nationwide radio coverage.

The three-day IEEE BTS Symposium will be held at the Key Bridge Marriott hotel in Arlington, Va., across the Potomac River from downtown Washington and within easy reach of public transportation and airports serving the area. Information about the conference including hotel accommodations is available at https://bts.ieee.org/broadcastsymposium.

The author is editor in chief of IEEE Broadcast Technology Magazine and a BTS Life Member, in addition to being a longtime contributor to Radio World and TV Technology.

WASHINGTON–The IEEE Broadcast Technology Society (BTS) and the Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE) are partnering with the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) to help educate the industry on the implementation and benefits of Next Gen TV powered by the new ATSC 3.0 standard.

SBE and ATSC announced the development of a new SBE ATSC 3.0 Specialist certification at the 2018 ATSC Next Gen TV Conference. The new certification will benchmark an individual's ATSC 3.0 standards proficiency. Now, together with BTS, SBE and ATSC are announcing new opportunities for industry professionals to prepare for ATSC 3.0 certification.

BTS will host ATSC 3.0 training classes to be taught by expert Gary Sgrignoli of Meintel, Sgrignoli, and Wallace, the noted digital TV transmission consulting firm. The ATSC 3.0 one-day courses will be hosted at sites throughout the United States and will cover the ATSC 3.0 transmission subsystem and prepare participants to take the ATSC 3.0 certification exam. Course dates, locations and registration can be found on the Broadcast Technology Society web site.

SBE will begin a multipart ATSC 3.0 webinar series this month starting with Module One, “Introduction to ATSC 3.0,” Sept. 12, presented by ATSC Technology Group 3 chair, Madeleine Noland, Senior Advisor, Technology and Standards, at LG Electronics. Module Two, “Overview of the Physical Layer,” will be held on Oct. 17, presented by Luke Fay, Senior Manager Technical Standards, Sony Electronics. SBE will present additional ATSC 3.0 webinar modules throughout 2019. For dates and registration visit the SBE website.

SBE has identified that the Certified Broadcast Networking Engineer (CBNE) certification will be a recommended prerequisite for the ATSC 3.0 specialist certification. 

[Read: ATSC, SBE Developing ATSC 3.0 Certification]

ATSC 3.0 provides a flexible and more efficient physical layer, mobility, ultra-high definition and high dynamic range images, new solutions for immersive and personalized audio, an all IP-based transport system, hybrid broadcast/broadband services, advanced emergency advisories and incorporation of new user technologies such as interactivity.

The ATSC 3.0 suite of standards has been released, and the FCC has approved the voluntary implementation of Next Gen TV broadcasting using ATSC 3.0. A number of initial deployments are underway to explore system performance and new opportunities for broadcasters, manufacturers and viewers.

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

ARLINGTON, VA.—IEEE is giving students the chance to take part in its annual Broadcast Symposium with the Student Poster Competition. Full-time students enrolled in undergraduate, graduate or doctoral degree programs can submit one paper for consideration prior to the deadline of Sept. 1.

The submitted papers will be reviewed by a panel of BTS professionals and winning papers will be presented at the Symposium in poster form. One poster will be recognized at the conclusion of the conference, with the winning student having their original paper then published in the IEEE Broadcast Technology Newsletter.

For more information on the Student Poster Competition, click here.

The 2017 IEEE Broadcast Symposium will take place from Oct. 10-12 at the Key Bridge Marriott in Arlington, Va.

ARLINGTON, VA.—Interested parties can lock in their plans for the 2017 IEEE Broadcast Symposium as the organization has officially opened up registration.

The IEEE Broadcast Symposium is a three-day event that will bring together broadcast engineering experts for networking opportunities, equipment/technology demonstrations, technical sessions and the new addition of a poster session and exhibits.

The 2017 IEEE Broadcast Symposium will take place from Oct. 10-12 at the Key Bridge Marriott in Arlington, Va. Registration is available here.

ARLINGTON, VA.—IEEE BTS wants to hear your ideas for papers for the 2017 IEEE Broadcast Symposium. The conference is accepting abstract paper proposals of up to 500 words that focus on topics that can range from digital radio and television systems to AES interoperability, IP networking standards and broadcast spectrum issues.

Submissions must be submitted via email to bts@ieee.org and indicate that the abstract submitted is for the 2017 IEEE Broadcast Symposium, include the corresponding author’s full name and contact information, including affiliation, address, email and phone number. The deadline for submitting abstract proposals will be May 15.

Submitters will also be entered into a drawing to receive free registration to the IEEE Broadcast Symposium for them and a guest.

The 2017 IEEE Broadcast Symposium will take place from Oct. 10-12 in Arlington, Va. For more information visit bts.ieee.org.

PISCATAWAY, N.J.—Details for the 2017 IEEE Broadcast Symposium have been announced, with the annual conference scheduled from Oct. 10-12 at the Key Bridge Marriott in Arlington, Va.

The Broadcast Symposium is designed as a meeting of broadcast industry experts from around the world and offers a three-day program of tutorials and technical sessions, as well as the new addition of a poster sessions and exhibits.

For more information on this year’s IEEE Broadcast Symposium, visit bts.ieee.org/broadcastsymposium.

I first attended the IEEE Broadcast Symposium 20 years ago when it was held at the Hotel Washington and it remains the “must attend” event of the fall conference schedule. This year’s symposium in Hartford, Conn., was well attended, with many local broadcast engineers and engineering students attending the sessions; the papers were interesting and relevant; and the food, hospitality and conversations at lunches and receptions were excellent.

PRE-SYMPOSIUM TOURS

The day before the symposium, attendees had an opportunity to tour the RFS facility in Meriden, Conn. and Hitachi-Comark, in Southwick, Mass. The RFS tour gave attendees a chance to see what RFS was doing to prepare for the repack. The group saw the space RFS had reserved for building antennas for the repack (Fig. 1) and also heard about its software and technology for optimizing slot antenna patterns.

RFS room for repack antennas

At the Hitachi-Comark plant, the company had a fully loaded PARALLAX solid-state UHF TV transmitter putting 27.5 kW into a dummy load (Fig. 2). The group was able to see the transmitter’s performance on an ETL analyzer. We also had a chance to see how the transmitter was assembled. The modular design makes it easy to build transmitters for different power levels and should allow Comark to ramp up production as needed to meet demands for transmitters as part of the repack.

REPACK PRESENTATIONS

The papers covered a wide range of topics of interest to broadcast engineers, with several focusing on new technology and technical regulatory issues like the upcoming repack of TV channels. I’ll cover repack issues this month and in future columns, I’ll discuss presentations that describe application of new technologies for the repack and the transition to ATSC 3.0.

Even though two stages of the FCC’s incentive auction had been completed before the symposium ended, many questions remained about what broadcasters would have to do to move to their new channels when the auction ended and how they would be reimbursed.

Joe Davis, president and founder of Chesapeake RF Consultants LLC, presented a “TV Repack Update—Wait, and Hurry Up!” The FCC has provided a beta test of the Schedule 399, Form 2100 online for reimbursement of eligible expenses and Davis outlined the items in Schedule 399, noting that the FCC wants to see a description of the station’s plan for changing channels. If facilities are shared (tower, antenna, site), the commission wants to see the other stations sharing the site to make sure the sum of the reimbursements for the shared items doesn’t exceed 100 percent of what’s allowed. He said the FCC will be updating the reimbursement cost soon. [As of this writing, the beta test of Schedule 399 has ended, but new costs have not been released.]

Davis summarized the various filing windows opening after release of the channel assignment Public Notice. I’ve covered the filing windows in a previous column, but to summarize, they include a window ending three months after the Public Notice is released for filing construction permits for the FCC assigned facilities; a priority station filing window after that for modified facilities for stations with excessive loss of population or for stations that received a waiver of the original CP deadline; and a non-priority station window where stations can request expanded facilities and alternate channels. Digital LPTV and translator stations on the air when the Public Notice is released will have a window to file for a displacement channel and, finally, full-power stations that are not repacked will see the freeze on contour extension and channel substitution lifted.

Full power PARALLAX operating at Comark

Davis said expansion and channel change proposals will be viewed unfavorably if they impact the repack. He noted that the FCC’s phased approach seems to be in conflict with the goal of clearing wireless spectrum first—under the plan, high-channel number stations will be last in the daisy chain.

After describing how the FCC staged the transition modeling based on the time it takes to receive permit approvals, install antennas, etc., he noted, ironically, the FCC didn’t see availability of RF consultants and structural engineers as an issue. Why? Because the FCC requires them to finish in three months! Download Davis’ presentation at www.rf-consultants.com/ieee.

IMPACT OF REPACK ON FM STATIONS

FM stations have been ignored in the FCC’s repack planning, and Jim Stenberg, principle engineer, broadcast RF for American Tower Corp., sees that causing problems for TV and radio broadcasters alike. In his presentation, “TV Repack Implications for FM Station Operations,” Stenberg estimated 1,153 towers in the United States have co-located FM and TV and 2,368 FM radio stations and translators could be impacted by the repack, based on FCC and ASRN data. Very few of these have auxiliary transmitters on different towers.

Obviously, extensive tower work related to the repack will impact FM stations. Tower lease agreements with limited windows for FM power reductions or shutdowns could significantly delay repack tower. The obvious solution, Stenberg noted, is for FM stations to have an off-site auxiliary facility. He said most master FM systems can handle one or more aux stations, depending on physical space and power handling capability.

There is a problem though. Who pays for it? The incentive auction Report and Order states, “For example, where multiple stations share a tower, a reassigned station that makes changes may be required to cover certain expenses incurred by other tower occupants. In such circumstances, the Commission will consider a claim from the reassigned station for reimbursement of such costs, so long as the reassigned broadcaster has a contractual obligation to pay these expenses through a contract entered into on or before [June 2, 2014].”

Stenberg noted that most stations’ lease agreements do not have such a contractual obligation. He said ATC has asked for clarity on how this will affect FM stations on TV towers, but as of his presentation, FM stations were not directly able to submit (or have the TV station submit) expense reimbursement for temporary auxiliary facilities in most cases.

If you are interested in copies of the presentations, contact the authors or IEEE Broadcast Technology Society (BTS) to check on availability. If you are not a member of IEEE BTS, consider joining!

Doug Lung is vice president of Broadcast Technology, NBC/Telemundo stations.He welcomes your comments and questions. Email him at dlung@transmitter.com.

WASHINGTON—The Association of Federal Communications Consulting Engineers (AFCCE) and the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society (BTS) are providing 10 students interested in telecommunications across the country with scholarships for the spring 2017 semester.

The recipients are:

Shane Cyr, University of Maine

Martin Doczkat, The George Washington University

Dhantha Gunarathna, Drexel University

Mohammad Islam, University of Missouri

Elaine Khuu, Virginia Tech

Abdullah Njie, Georgia Tech

Prosanta Paul, Old Dominion University

William Shifflett, Oklahoma State University

Tyler Turcotte, University of Massachusetts

Rafida Zaman, University of Missouri

Doczkat and Shifflett were the first recipients of the IEEE BTS /AFCCE Jules Cohen Memorial Scholarships, which awards scholarships of up to $10,000 for promising undergraduate or graduate students at accredited U.S. universities that plan to pursue a career in broadcast engineering.

Cyr was the recipient of the E. Noel Luddy Scholarship, which is sponsored by Dielectric Communications.

Applications for the fall 2017 semester will be accepted starting March 1, 2017, with a cutoff date of April 30, 2017. Click on the links for more information of AFCCE scholarships and IEEE BTS scholarships.

PRINCETON, N.J.—The 2016 IEEE BTS Symposium is bringing out the big guns to address ATSC 3.0 in the form of Dr. Richard Chernock, Triveni Digitals chief science officer and chair of ATSC’s Technology and Standards Group. Dr. Chernock will be on hand to lead a tutorial session and panel on the next-gen television standard.

Dr. Richard Chernock

“The Practical Side of ATSC 3.0” will see Dr. Chernock providing a status update on ATSC 3.0, including on the implementation steps that are still required for the standard. There will be a Q&A session following the presentation.

There will be a handful of other presenters contributing to the tutorial session. Participants include Dave Siegler, senior vice president of technical operations for Cox Media Group; Mark Earnshaw, senior systems architect at Coherent Logix; and Skip Pizzi, senior director, new media technologies for NAB.

Dr. Cherncok’s ATSC 3.0 session will take place on Oct. 12 at 4:45 p.m.

The 2016 IEEE BTS Symposium will take place in Hartford, Conn., from Oct. 12-14.

For more on ATSC 3.0, see our coverage silo.

PISCATAWAY, N.J.—Mark Aitken, Sinclair Broadcast Group’s vice president of advanced technology, is joining the roster of keynote speakers for the upcoming 2016 IEEE Broadcast Symposium. On Oct. 13, Aitken will headline the “So You Think You’re a ‘Televisioner’” session that will look to challenge assumptions about OET69, offering insight into broadcaster’s opportunities to maintain relevance with services that extend beyond conventional TV broadcasting.

“Spectrum… reverse auction… forward auction… channel of allocations… repack. These are all familiar terms for many of us, but there’s a resounding question that we should all be asking our company leadership, right now: ‘So what are we doing when we restart broadcasting with NextGen?’” said Aitken. “In this session, we will explore the new tools and assumptions that begin to shape an understanding of the QoS realities for NextGen broadcasting, the impact that has on business assumptions, and the humorous perspectives I’ve gained after enjoying a career of 40-plus years.”

The IEEE BTS previously announced Pilot Executive Director John Clark to serve as a keynote speaker during its conference.

IEEE BTS is set to take place from Oct. 12-14 in Hartford, Conn. More information is available here.

PISCATAWAY, N.J.—As the executive director of NAB’s Pilot, which focuses on industry innovation, John Clark has been tapped to speak during the upcoming IEEE Broadcast Technology Symposium in a keynote titled “Inspiration for Innovation.”

Prior to joining Pilot, Clark worked for 18 years in the digital media space as the general manager of the local news website WRAL.com and as the executive director of the Reese News Lab in the School of Media and Journalism at the University of North Carolina.

Clark says that he will focus on “the powerful inspirations for innovation regardless of industry, specific technology, or even our own expertise.”

The keynote address will take place on Friday, Oct. 14, during the BTS Awards Lunch. IEEE BTS will run from Oct. 12-14 in Hartford, Conn. Online registration and more information is available here.

PISCATAWAY, N.J.—The IEEE Broadcast Technology Society is seeking a host for an upcoming session for its one-day course, “IP Video for Broadcast Engineers” taught by Wes Simpson, owner of Telecom Product Consulting.

The description of the course from IEEE BTS says it offers a look at technologies used to transmit video signals over IP networks to viewers, for contribution and distribution, and within production facilities. Students are given the practical applications of the underlying technologies, are introduced to terminology and industry standards, and learn how IP video technologies impact current and future plans for video networking and delivery. Modules that will be covered in the session include IP basics, IP video, consumer video delivery, IP contribution/distribution networks, private and in studio IP video, and system-level considerations.

Potential sponsors of the class can host a private event or open it to the public. The class can accommodate up to 30 attendees at a price of $150 per. Host organizations receive a discount on the tuition fee; IEEE BTS members receive a 5 percent discount.

The class was previously hosted by PBS on two occasions in 2015 and 2016 at the PBS TechCon in Las Vegas.

PISCATAWAY, N.J.—IEEE Broadcast Technology Society is looking for host organizations for upcoming sessions of its two-day technical training program, “Bridging the Gap.” The sessions are open to the general public and look to provide information on the gap between IT technologists and video specialists. Organizations that offer to sponsor the sessions will receive discounted pricing for employees, per IEEE BTS.

Telecom Product Consulting owner Wes Simpson teaches the program along with media technology consultant John Luff. The program offers hands-on instruction on more than 30 current and emerging broadcast technologies. Attendees receive printed copies of course materials and are able to earn IEEE Continuing Education Credits.

Each seminar takes 30 or more students at a cost of $395/per attendee. In addition to host organization employees receiving a discount, IEEE BTS members also receive a 5 percent discount.

For more information, contact Jennifer Barbato at atj.barbato@ieee.org.

PISCATAWAY, N.J.—IEEE BTS is preparing another session of its “IP Video for Broadcast Engineers” course. The one-day course will take place on July 14 at the PBS headquarters in Crystal City, Va., and will be taught by Wes Simpson, owner of Telcom Product Consulting. IEEE BTS is only offering 30 seats for the session.

The “IP Video for Broadcast Engineers” session offers a look at the key technologies used to transmit video signals over IP networks to viewers, for contribution and distribution, and within production facilities. The course is organized into six modules: IP basics, IP video, consumer video delivery, IP contribution/distribution networks, private and in-studio IP video, and system-level considerations.

Registration is now available online for IEEE BTS members for $150; $175 for non-members. For more information, click here.

MELVILLE, N.Y.—The IEEE Broadcast Technology Society has announced that it will be sponsoring the new Young Professionals Program (YOPRO) at the 2016 NAB Show. The program is designed to help young broadcast professionals build a network at the NAB Show. As sponsor, IEEE BTS will provide primary support for the program.

The YOPRO program offers exclusive access to speakers, YOPRO-focused sessions, networking opportunities, private meetings with exhibitors and special giveaways. The program starts on April 19 with an exhibit floor briefing and free professional headshots.

Participants of the YOPTO program must be between 21-35, a recent graduate or full-time worker and a registered NAB Show attendee. For more information, including the full agenda and registration information, click here.

MELVILLE, N.Y.—The IEEE Broadcast Technology Society wants your papers, as the organization is now accepting paper proposals for its 2016 IEEE Broadcast Symposium. The deadline for submitting abstracts is April 30.

Authors can submit abstracts up to 1,000 words on technical papers relating to broadcasting technology. The organization is also accepting proposals for session panels. Some topics IEEE recommends include digital radio and television systems; AES interoperability; streaming delivery of broadcast content; “second screen” technology and services; and transmission, propagation, reception, and redistribution of broadcast signals.

Submissions should be sent to bts@ieee.org and indicate that the abstract is for the 2016 IEEE Broadcast Symposium. The email should also include the author’s full name and contact information, including affiliation, address, email and phone number.

The 2016 IEEE Broadcast Symposium will run from Oct. 12-14 in Hartford, Conn. For more information, visit bts.ieee.org.

MELVILLE, N.Y.—Class will be in session at PBS headquarters in Crystal City, Va., as the IEE Broadcast Technology Society has announced it will hold its one-day “IP Video for Broadcast Engineers” course on March 3. Wes Simpson, owner of Telecom Product Consulting, will teach the class that focuses on the key technologies used to transmit video signals over IP networks to viewers, for contribution and distribution, and within production facilities.

The course plans to cover topics like IP basics, IP video, consumer video delivery, IP contribution/distribution networks, private and in-studio IP video, and system-level considerations.

“In this course, we will explain the underlying technologies and show practical applications for them,” said Simpson. “Students will become familiar with a range of terminology and industry standards and gain an understanding of how IP video technologies will impact their current and future plans for video networking and delivery.”

Online registration for “IP Video for Broadcast Engineers” is available for IEEE BTS members for $150; nonmembers can register for $175. Class size is limited to 60 people. For more information, click here.

MELVILLE, N.Y.—Following the 2015 IEEE Broadcast Symposium that took place in Orlando, Fla. in October, IEEE BTS has announced the date and time for the 2016 edition. The 2016 IEEE Broadcast Symposium will take place Oct. 12-14 in Hartford, Conn. The Hartford Marriott will host broadcast engineers from around the world for a program of technical sessions and networking.

IEEE BTS will open the call for papers and sponsors in the coming weeks. For additional information, visit bts.ieee.org.

SPRINGFIELD, VA.—Next Tuesday, Oct. 13, will mark the start of the 2015 IEEE Broadcast Symposium down in Orlando, Fla., a three-day conference set to cover some of the industry’s hottest topics. Here’s a quick look at some of the things that will be talked about during the conference and planned sessions.

5. Alternate Delivery
To stream or not to stream? That is one of the big questions facing broadcasters in this day and age of Netflix, Amazon and the like. IEEE BTS will touch on the topic with a session that will include presentations on second screen interactive applications, IP video delivery costs for live and non-live stream events, and a special look at one of the latest OTT services, CBS All Access with CBS’ Bob Siedel.

4. EAS
As part of a larger session on ATSC 3.0, Peter Sockett, Capital Broadcasting Co., will make a presentation on how the new standard will affect and advance Emergency Alerting Systems. With hurricane Joaquin having recently passed by the East Coast, the new standard to alert viewers about weather and other emergencies is timely.

3. Cyber Security
As the digital transition continues to move forward, being able to protect yourself against cyber threats is becoming even more important. That’s why there will be a tutorial session on cybersecurity on the symposium’s first full day. James O’Neal is heading the session that will see George Waters from Gwanda leading a presentation on cybersecurity risk management and best practices, and ERI’s Tom Sillimann talking about grounding concepts and techniques for broadcast.

2. TV Repack
The FCC’s TV spectrum incentive auction is less than six months away, and IEEE is dedicating a session to help people get ready. While people prepare themselves for just how the auction will go down, Joseph Davis from Chesapeake RF Consultants will give advice on what things could be like after the bidding with his presentation, “TV Repack: Post-Auction Transition Procedures.” Presentations from Sid Shumate of Givens and Bell Inc., and Benedikt Scheid from RFS World will also touch on TV repacking.

1. ATSC 3.0
The big news recently was ATSC's announcement that the physical layer standard of ATSC 3.0 had been moved to the candidate standard process, moving it one step closer to final approval. With ATSC 3.0 being such a huge potential development for the entire broadcast industry, IEEE BTS is spending plenty of time on the topic, with a full morning dedicated to ATSC Standard on Thursday, and then closing out the conference with a look at ATSC implementation on Friday, including Zenith’s Tim Laud presenting on the first field testing of the proposed ATSC 3.0 physical layer technologies.