LS telcom Announces Integrated Support ATSC 3.0 Broadcast Planning

LS telcom, Inc., a global player in Spectrum Management and Spectrum Monitoring solutions, has unveiled integrated support for the recently approved Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) 3.0 standard into its CHIRplus_BC Broadcast Planning Tool.

The integrated solution provides comprehensive capabilities for planning OFDM based broadcast networks including coverage propagation analysis, interference mitigation, best server determination, and Single Frequency Network (SFN) planning.

A critical step in the evolution to the Next Generation TV digital broadcast technology, the deployment of ATSC 3.0 delivers broadband throughput enabling the delivery of custom content, improved streaming capabilities and support for a wide array of on demand options.

As the Over-the-Air (OTA) broadcast industry faces the reality of a post-Incentive Auction repack into a compressed allocation of spectrum, as well as increasing competition from Over-the-Top (OTT) streaming applications, the spectral efficiency and broadband throughput provided by the ATSC 3.0 standard is necessary for network viability.

“OTA Broadcasters are facing increasing competition in the next two to five years. Their deployment of ATCS 3.0 is critical to maintain the throughput required to offer a competitive service,” said Casey Joseph, Vice President of Sales and Business Development.

“These broadcasters represent a vital component of the communications fabric in the United States. With LS telcom’s CHIRplus_BC support of ATSC 3.0, broadcasters can be assured that they are maximizing the network throughput while maintaining a consistent footprint as they move through the transition to the next generation of technology.”

The CHIRplus_BC planning tool is currently used by OTA broadcasters and spectrum regulators around the world for accurately planning their broadcast network capabilities.

Already supporting a global footprint of users for DVB-T2, the addition of the ATSC 3.0 support expands the reach of CHIRplus_BC to the Next Generation TV market in the United States as OTA broadcasters evolve to the next generation of digital broadcast capabilities.

With integrated support for the requisite FCC database information, integrated maps, population coverage, and a comprehensive list of supported propagation algorithms including OET-69 Longley-Rice, CHIRplus_BC delivers a compliant planning capability with comprehensive configuration options that allow network engineers to maximize the operation of the ATSC 3.0 standard to deliver the highest throughput possible.

Additionally, to further improve the accuracy of the projected coverage mapping, the CHIRplus_BC toolset supports the incorporation of custom antenna broadcast patterns captured by Colibrex (www.colibrex.com) UAS (Unmanned Aircraft System) based measurements. This custom input collected from the installed antenna array delivers the most accurate antenna input for the broadcast propagation analysis.

To best serve the range of broadcaster needs, LS telcom is offering CHIRplus_BC for purchase as well as a cloud based service.