Ericsson/Qualcomm Demonstrate LTE Broadcast at Mobile World Congress

By Doug Lung
published


I wrote about the potential for the use of LTE in broadcasting exactly a year ago in my March 1, 2011 RF Technology Column. This technology is now being demonstrated at the World Mobile Congress 2012 in Barcelona this week by Ericsson and Qualcomm. Content is "broadcast" to many users simultaneously with one multicast stream using "evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services" (eMBMS) over LTE networks.

Johan Wibergh, executive VP of Business Unit Networks at Ericsson, said, "Video will be the driver of traffic increases in mobile broadband networks. Driving the LTE broadcast ecosystem is a way to ensure a quality user experience."

Peggy Johnson, Qualcomm's Executive VP and President of Global Market Development said, "We believe that eMBMS will become a key component in addressing the exponential growth in mobile multimedia and application download traffic. Our focus is now on integrating the full eMBMS capability and service enablers in our LTE chipset product portfolio, paving the way for upcoming commercial eMBMS deployments."

A method of transforming the U.S. TV broadcast system to a form of eMBMS over LTE has already been proposed by The Coalition for Free TV and Broadband Some modification of LTE/3GPP transmission standards will be required to make it work what has been called a "broadcast overlay" consisting of a high power transmitter and multiple lower power sites to fill in coverage. The current LTE technology's guard bands limit its use to fairly short spaced transmitter sites.


Doug Lung
Doug Lung

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