ATSC 3.0 In-band Backhaul for SFN Using LDM with Full Backward Compatibility

In BMSB’2018, the authors presented a paper on using Layered-Division-Multiplexing (LDM) to deliver in-band backhaul of robust mobile services for ATSC 3.0 Single-Frequency-Netowrk (SFN) transmitters and gap-fillers [1]. Only robust mobile services are backhauled to form an SFN in indoor or isolated environments to extend and improve reception Quality of Experience (QoE) for mobile devices. This paper proposes a complete in-band backhaul approach that provides backhaul for both robust mobile and high-data-rate fixed services. The proposed solution uses LDM to carry backhaul data alongside broadcast data intended for reception by the public. The system is fully backward compatible with the ATSC 3.0 Next Gen TV service, causing no degradation on consumer service reception. The scheme can greatly reduce broadcasters’ operating costs, while improving service quality – especially for mobile, handheld and indoor reception. In comparison to On-Channel-Repeater (OCR), the proposed system can provide SFN service with flexible emission timing control. The regenerated signals at each transmitter can have high SNR to meet RF spectrum mask requirement and support multi-hop operation. A multi-hop backhaul system can form a mash network for reliability (re-route in case of one transmitter failure), and scalability to follow the population and market growth. The proposed system can deliver backhaul not only for SFN broadcast services, but also for non-broadcast data distribution, such as IoT and connected cars.