Global Mobile TV Standards

Sept. 9, 2011

A brief summary of the worldwide mobile TV wireless standards.

Multiple mobile TV standards are used throughout the world. The ATSC-M/H standard is used primarily by the U.S., although other countries are considering its adoption including Canada, Mexico, and a mix of Central American countries. The rest of the world uses alternaive standards that employ coded orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) with some form of quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) modulation.

China Multimedia Mobile Broadcasting (CCMB): CCMB uses 8-MHz channels in the 470- to 854-MHz range.
Digital Video Broadcast (DVB): Both terrestrial (DVB-T) and mobile handheld (DVB-H) versions are in use. The fixed DVB-T version uses a more aggressive 64-state quadrature amplitude modulation (64QAM) scheme. The DVB-H version operates in the 470- to 854-MHz range in 6-, 7-, or 8-MHz channels. It is primarily a European standard, although it has been adopted in Russia, Scandinavia, Australia, and several other areas.
Integrated Service Digital Broadcast – Terrestrial (ISDB-T): Primarily a Japanese standard, ISDB-T also has been adopted in Brazil and most of South America. It uses 0.43-MHz channels in the 470- to 770-MHz band.
Terrestrial – Digital Multimedia Broadcast (T-DMB): This South Korean standard also is used in Germany. A satellite version (S-DMB) is available as well. It uses 6-MHz channels in the 174- to 230-MHz and 470- to 854-MHz ranges.

About the Author

Lou Frenzel | Technical Contributing Editor

Lou Frenzel is a Contributing Technology Editor for Electronic Design Magazine where he writes articles and the blog Communique and other online material on the wireless, networking, and communications sectors. Lou interviews executives and engineers, attends conferences, and researches multiple areas. Lou has been writing in some capacity for ED since 2000.

Lou has 25+ years experience in the electronics industry as an engineer and manager. He has held VP level positions with Heathkit, McGraw Hill, and has 9 years of college teaching experience. Lou holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Houston and a master’s degree from the University of Maryland. He is author of 28 books on computer and electronic subjects and lives in Bulverde, TX with his wife Joan. His website is www.loufrenzel.com.