Product category:
Communications ICs (Wireless)
News Release from: Qualcomm | Subject: MediaFLO
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 07 December 2006
Successful trial affirms mobile TV
claims
Qualcomm and BSkyB have announced the successful completion of a joint technical trial of Qualcomm's MediaFLO System in the United Kingdom.
Qualcomm, a developer and innovator of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) and other advanced wireless technologies, and British Sky Broadcasting Limited (BSkyB), the leading provider of multi-channel entertainment in the UK, have announced the successful completion of a joint technical trial of Qualcomm's MediaFLO System in the United Kingdom The technical trial, conducted over two months in Cambridge, featured 11 channels from the BSkyB content menu delivered to non-commercial devices from Qualcomm and aimed to demonstrate the performance of the MediaFLO System in both labouratory and mixed field test environments
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 5 Sep 2006 at 8.00am (UK)
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Factors such as total throughput, single frequency network (SFN), network acquisition, channel switching times, layered modulation and video codec performance were evaluated.
BSkyB and Qualcomm conducted the trial, along with infrastructure provider Arqiva, to explore new opportunities to deliver video services to mobile devices.
* MediaFLO in general either met or exceeded Qualcomm's previous performance claims.
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* Testing demonstrated that MediaFLO is capable of supporting 20 channels of QVGA video and stereo audio in a single 5MHz spectrum allocation.
This performance represents a 20 percent increase in channels relative to prior performance claims of 20 video channels per 6 MHz channel.
* Testers of the 25 fps trial video services noted, "the picture quality is very good, small text is clear and movement is smooth," while operating at an average of 240 kb/sec throughput per video/audio channel.
* In tests measuring network acquisition, the MediaFLO device acquired the MediaFLO channel guide in an average of 2 seconds.
* Measurements of channel switching time yielded an average physical layer channel change time of <1.5 second and an average video to video channel change time of 2.1 seconds.
* The measured physical layer performance was better than previously published performance claims by 0.5 to 1.2 dB.
* The MediaFLO system allows the flexibility to trade off approximately half of the channel count for twice the coverage area per transmitter.
"We're very pleased with the results of this trial of MediaFLO technology in the U.K," commented Robin Crossley, strategy adviser, technology for BSkyB.
"This was a thorough test of the technology's capabilities, yielding encouraging results, and confirms Qualcomm's performance claims about the MediaFLO system".
"Completion of our trial with BSkyB in Cambridge is a major milestone in the development and deployment of the MediaFLO system, and we're quite proud of the results realised in our testing," said Peggy Johnson, president for Qualcomm MediaFLO Technologies and Qualcomm Internet Services.
"In a very competitive mobile broadcast market, we feel the results of this technical trial underscore the inherent benefits of MediaFLO technology, a global mobile broadcasting standard built specifically for the mobile environment".
In addition to the technical trial with BSkyB, Qualcomm is working with service providers around the world to explore MediaFLO services.
In Japan, both KDDI and Softbank have announced their consideration of the nationwide deployment of MediaFLO services.
Additionally, MediaFLO USA, a subsidiary of Qualcomm, is poised for a commercial deployment with Verizon Wireless based on the MediaFLO System in the United States.
The MediaFLO System is an end-to-end solution that enables broadcasting of high-quality video streams, audio-only streams, Clipcast media and IP datacasting to mobile handsets.
The MediaFLO System is designed to optimise coverage, capacity and user experience.
FLO technology, a key component of the MediaFLO System, is specified in TIA standards TIA-1099, TIA 1102, TIA 1103, and TIA 1104.
The MediaFLO System comprises a manageable, scalable, subscription-based distribution system and an efficient over-the-air network solution that provides wireless operators a way to cost-effectively deliver the high-quality audio and video content their subscribers desire.
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