Mobile TV Technologies:

Assessments & Challenges

Sami Alshuwair

Saudi Aramco Oil Company

Agenda

• What is Mobile TV?

• Mobile TV Market Demand

• Image Sizing Overview • Importance of Video Compression

• Streaming Serving Management

• Overview of Mobile TV Technologies

• The Economics of Unicast vs. Broadcast for Cellular Mobile TV

• Mobile TV Using 3G UMTS Architecture

• Challenges

• Conclusion

Some Interesting Quotes

• “The most important technical parameter of any system is cost” & “When analyzing a service be sure you understand the technology used in providing the service.” Dr. Charles Baker, SMU

• “In colder climates, people stay indoors more, which favors activities like watching television and Web browsing. …., so we can call them Telhomers. In contrast, some cultures (e.g., European) value a deep connection to nature or to other people, …..instead of watching TV or working on the computer….we can call European bandwidth users Cafeneans “ EXFO, FTTx PON Technology and Testing

• “…. virtual worlds monetizing and mobilizing, and cable companies becoming more "telco-ish" while telcos become more "IT-ish" and Internet video becomes more "TV-ish. “Frank Gens 2007 IDC Predictions Team

What is Mobile TV• Transmission of TV programs or video for

a range of wireless devices ranging

– Personal Computer

– Mobile Phone & Handheld

– Automotive

• Transmissions via:

– Broadcast

– Cellular

– Broadband

• Uses more efficient

– Video encoding/compression algorithm: H.264MPEG-4 AVC

– Audio coding: MPEG-4 HE

– COFDM

– Time Slicing

Source: Alcatel

Source: DiBcom

Single Carrier TransmissionCOFDM Multicarriers

Transmission

Source: CNN

News

Sports

Entertainment/series/comedy/reality tv

Current affairs programs

Short programs

Discussion programs

Music programs/videos

Finnish programs/programs w/o sub-titles

Weather forecast

Programs that can be listened to

Films

Children’s programs/cartoons

Documentaries

Programs made for Mobile TV

Local news

On-demand content

Program Types Best Suited for Mobile TV

Mobile TV Market Demand

Mobile TV Market Demand Cont.

Mobile TV Market Demand Cont.

Mobile TV Market Demand Cont.

Mobile TV users by 2010 out of 3G + Subscribes

Source: Pyramid Research

Mobile TV Market Demand Cont.• What happened in 2006

– Vendor merger Lucent+ Alcatel, Nokia+ Siemens ,

– Mighty AT&T is back

– Verizon and EvDo, VoIP

– AWS spectrum Auction ( top winners, TMO + Spectrumco,..)

– Sprint goes WiMAX at 2.5GHz

– MediaFLO vs, DVB-H the battle for market position. (crown castle DVB-H 30 markets by 2007)

– Continue the triple/quadruple players, Cellular, Cable, Dish..

– FCC approved for Satellite ICO, MSV, Terrestar ATC

– Erthlink + Google � municipal WiFi access in SF

Video/Image Sizing Overview• Human Eye prefers > 18 fps

“Smooth Flow”

• European (PAL) & American (NTSC):

– 50 fps (25 - 12) & 60 fps (30 -15)

• QVGA (76.8Kpixels) commonly used in Mobile TV

• Ex. TV / Motion Pictures Data Rate Calculation:– 76.8Kpixels @ 15 fps & 24-bit

(RGP)

– Uncompressed Data ≈ 277 Mbps

• 277 Mbps >> HSDPA (Max 14.4 Mbps) & 802.16D (Max 73.19 Mbps)

• 277 Mbps >> ISDN (Max 2.048 Mbps)

Mobile Screen Sizes and Resolutions

Source: Mobile DTV Alliance

Mobile TV Terminal Types

Source: Texas Instrument

DVB-H /T: Digital Video Broadcasting –Handheld /Television DMB: Digital Multimedia Broadcast ISDB: Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting DAB: Digital Audio Broadcast FLO: Forward Link Only

Source: Polytechnic University

Video Compression

• Why Compression?

– Bandwidth Not Enough

– Disk Space Not Enough

– Eliminate transmission of redundant materials

Performance Comparison for 90-Min. DVD-Quality Movie

Source: Intel

MPEG-AVC: Motion Picture Expert Group – Advance Video Coding

Video Compression Cont.

• H.264/MPEG-4 AVC used in Mobile TV– Lossy Compression – Drawback: losing correlation between block

boundaries @ high compression ratio

Compression ratio 1:16 % of original file size

no visible image quality degradation

Compression ratio 1:96 % of original file

size image quality clearly degraded

Motion Prediction and Temporal

Compression• Predict current frame based on

previously coded frames

• Three types of coded frames: – I-frame: Intra-coded frame, coded

independently of all other frames

– P-frame: Predicatively coded frame, coded based on previously coded frame; I- or P-frame

– B-frame: Bi-directionally predicted frame, coded based on both previous and future coded frames; I- and P-frames

Motion compensated prediction: Predict the current framebased on reference frame(s) while compensating for the motion

Source: HP

I Frame P Frame B Frame

I or P I & P

Source: IP Television

Prediction Error (Residual)

Prediction of Current Frame

Effects of an Error in Frame GOP

SDH APS 50 ms > PAL @ 30 fps ( 33 ms )

SDH: Synchronous Digital Hierarchy APS: Automatic Protection Switching

Current Frame to be Predicted

Source: HP

+ =

• Benefit:– Occupy less space on a storage

– Transmitted over lower bit rate networks

• Drawbacks:– Over all quality will be less than

original signals– Introduce delay due to frames

difference calculation

• NTSC 30 fps�1f @33ms• PAL 25 fps�1f @40ms

– Compressed signals are more difficult to edit

– Compression can be difficult on signals with a lot of noise

– Video compression requires many calculations in real time

Video Compression Cont.

Video Streaming Management• Streaming process involves two separate channels:

– Data Channel: provides for the transfer of the video and audio

– The video and audio data transferred via RTP using UDP and IP

– Control Channel: provides feedback from the streaming client

– RTSP framework supports client interaction with functions such as play and pause

Physical layer

Data Link layer

IP

TCP

RTSP

Application layer

Transport layer

Informationand Control

Video and Audio

Server

Physical layer

Data Link layerIP

UDP

RTP

Application layer

Physical layer

Data Link layerIP

UDP

RTP

Application layer

Video and Audio

Physical layer

Data Link layer

IP

TCP

RTSP

Application layer

Informationand Control

Client

Data Channel

Control Channel

RTP: Real Time Protocol RTCP: Real Rime Control Protocol RTSP: Real Time Streaming Protocol

Video Streaming Management Cont.• Client provides information, e.g., number of received packets quality of the

incoming channel via the RTCP channel

• Server based on the info. received knows the network congestion and error conditions and the rate at which the client is actually receiving the packets.

• RTSP supports VCR-like control of playback in association with the client’s media player provide the user full

Streaming Server

ParsingRTP

Packetiser

RTCP RTSP

Player commands

Index

Data

Fixed Size Packets

64 K

128 K

256 K

Low Data Rate

Medium Data Rate

High

Data Rate

Overview of Mobile TV Technologies3G Network

Based

Terrestrial

Transmission

Satellite

Transmission Broadband

Multicast &

BroadcastBroadcast

Unicast &

MulticastUnicast

3GPP DMS-S Wi-Max3GPP 3GPP2 DVB-H 3GPP2

HSUPA ISDB-S WiBro3G-

UMTSEV-DO

1X DMB-TCDMA

2000

MBMS DAB UWBHSDPA BCMCS ISDB-TEV-DO

1X

DMB-IP

MediaFLO

Broadcast

Mobile Operators BroadcastersBroadband

Operators

DVB-H /T: Digital Video Broadcasting –Handheld /Television DMB: Digital Multimedia Broadcast ISDB: Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting DAB: Digital Audio Broadcast

FLO: Forward Link Only

Overview of Mobile TV

Technologies Cont.

Cingular

Verizon-Sprint

Modo (1670 MHz)

Hiwire (700 MHz)

Verizon, Qualcom

UMTS

CDMA 2000

3G

DVB-H

FLO

Content Streaming

Mobile TV Services in United States

Which Tch. supports n-play &

Open standards?

The Economics of Unicast vs.

Broadcast for Cellular Mobile TV

Revenue per Megabits for different Services

Source: Mobile DTV Alliance

Revenue and Data Rate over Air Services “Cellular Operator”

The Economics of Unicast vs.

Broadcast for Cellular Mobile TV Cont.• 3G network/sector Capacity loading

– 3G BTS capacity around 2.4 Mbps

– Digital compressed voice12.2 kbps, Average call last 2 min– 1 Hr; 2.4Mbps x 3600sec = 9Gbps– 1 Hr; network serve = 9 Gbps/(12.2 kbps x 2 x 60) = 6,250 calls

• Scenario #1 Watching TV “Unicast” effect on Cellular:

– 128 kbps, 2 min clip, 5 % watch TV � 312 subscribers – Each consume in Hr. = 128kbps x 2 x 60 Sec. = 15.36 Mb– Total in 1 Hr. = 15.36 Mb x 312 = 4.2Gb – Remaining 4.8 Gb for voice

• Scenario #2 Watching TV “Unicast” effect on Cellular:– 128 kbps, 20 min clip, 5 % watch TV– Each consume in Hr. = 128kbps x 20 x 60 Sec. = 153 Mb– Total in 1 Hr = 153 Mb x 312 = 47.8 Gb

– 81% of subscribers can't be served

The Economics of Unicast vs.

Broadcast for Cellular Mobile TV Cont.• Unicast cellular capacity depends on # of subscribers & has to be

ahead of subscriber growth

• You can’t add 12.2kbps or 25 KHz � modifying BTS equipment “continually” just to satisfy additional customers

• Broadcast capacity depends on # of TV ch.

• In Broadcast increase # of subscriber � capacity & spectrum remain the same

Capacity Spectrum vs. Subscribers, Unicast and Broadcast

Source: Mobile DTV Alliance

The Economics of Unicast vs.

Broadcast for Cellular Mobile TV Cont.• Unicast: “Voice + TV”

– Uses the cellular network on a one-to-one basis

– Offers variety of programs VoD

– Air interface not optimized for high throughput, QoS delivery of video

• Multicast: “Voice + TV”– MBMS hybrid system; using

cellular system & allocating some BW to broadcast

– Cost structure is better & capacity impact is predictable & limited

– Air interface for multicast is like unicast

Source: Mobile DTV Alliance

Comparison of Video-to-Phone Delivery Methods

MBMS: Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Service

Mobile TV Using Terrestrial and Satellite

Broadcasting Networks• Terrestrial: VHF, UHF & L-band

– Transmit @ high power “in-door”& based on freq. reach > 30km radius� reduce repeater Bay Station ”cost”

– Support high speed mobility

– DVB-H support 5-11Mbps @ 8 MHz

– Broadcast 20 - 30 Ch @ 256 kbps

• Satellite: S-band

– V. High power beam

– Handsets antenna smaller compared to satellite dishes

– Hybrid: Satellite & Terrestrial

– Broadcast 9 Ch (Sat.) + 18 Ch. (Rep.) @ 256 kbps

Source: Mobile DTV Alliance

Source: Alcatel

Mobile TV Streaming

Architecture (3G UMTS)

Local areanetwork

Server

Router

Streaming Media Server

Corporate

Intra-PLMNbackbonenetwork(IP based)

Serving GPRSSupport Node(SGSN)

Gateway GPRSSupport Node(GGSN)

GPRS INFRASTRUCTURE

HLR/AuC

MSC

RNCNode B Packet

networkPSTN

PacketnetworkSS7Network

Packetnetwork

Datanetwork(Internet)

Packet

networkInter-PLMN

Backbone

network

Border Gateway (BG)

Iu

Gr Gd

Gi.IP

Firewall

Firewall

Uu

SMS-GMSC

Gr Gd

Gs

Gs

Gp

Gn

Gn

EIR

MAP-F

Iu

Gc

3G Mobiles with Streaming Player

Source: Jonne Soininen, “GPRS/UMTS”, IAB Workshop, Feb - Mar 2000, Nokia

Multimedia Broadcast & Multicast

Service (MBMS)

Why Focus On 3G For Mobile TV

• Average data throughput GPRS-20kpbs EDGE 40-50kpbs

– Frozen frames, interrupted video viewing

• Live video carriage requires at least 100-128 kpbs with 15fps and QCIF (Quarter Common Intermediate Format) resolution with MPEG-4 coding

• Obviously not possible with 2G and 2.5G networks hence this brought the focus on 3G networks which were designed to provide higher data rates

• 3G UMTS provides circuit switched 384 kpbs and packet switched rate of 2Mbps

• Achieved by 5MHZ carriers, improved radio interfaces (WCDMA) andradio access network architectures.

• Protocols need to be followed identically across mobile networks

– Video call (3G-324M)

– Video streaming (UMTS Packet Streaming Standard)

3G UMTS Unicast Streaming

& Protocol Stack

Source: 'Mobile TV Networks', Webinar hosted by Envivo and Nokia Siemens Networks, Oct 2007

Unicast Session Setup in UMTS

• Client on the mobile (eg. HTTP client) selects the location of media file with an RTSP URL.

• Media player connects to streaming server and gives an RTSP DESCRIBE command

• Server responds with a session description protocol (SDP) message giving the description of media types, number of streams and required bandwidth

• Player or Media Client analyzes the description and issues RTSP SETUP command (which is issued for each stream to be connected)

• After the streams are setup the client issues a PLAY command. On receiving the PLAY command, the streaming server starts sending the RTP packets to the client using UDP.

• The connection is cleared by the client when desired by issuing TEARDOWN command

Challenges

• Better Harmonization of Standards

• Which Bands Are Suitable For Mobile TV

• Involvement of Regulators, Government & Mobile Operators

• Spectrum for Mobile TV Services

• Quality of Experience (QoE)– Channel Change Latency (Zapping Time)– Jitter– Packet Loss

• Video streaming during Handovers and Roaming

• Mobile Handset Battery Life

• Security

Harmonization Of Standards & Bands

for Mobile TV• Better Harmonization of Standards

– Divergence in the delivery level, 3G, DVB-H, DAP-IP, T-DMB, S-DMB and ISDB-T

– Variations the encoding level and file formats– MPEG-4, H.264 and Windows media for video– AMR, AAC, MP3 or WMA being used for audio – Common standards and protocols will determine the future

growth of mobile TV industry

• Which Bands Are Suitable For Mobile TV– Difficult question to answer – There may not be much of a choice for a particular

technology

Regulations & Spectrum For Mobile TV

• Involvement of Regulators, Government &

Mobile Operators

– Mobile TV industry is new

– There are no Globally harmonized spectrum

allocation for Mobile TV by the ITU

– Networks provide services tailored to

specific networks

• Spectrum for Mobile TV Services

Quality of Experience

• Focuses on the quality perceived by the end user

• Broader approach than that oriented to Quality of Service (QoS)

• Measure of end-to-end performance

• Channel Change Latency (Zapping Time) • Tune-in time, i.e. changing from one audiovisual

service to another

• Reducing the channel zapping time is critical problem

• Fast zapping time is a method to improve the zapping time

Quality Of Experience Cont.

• Jitter • Short-term variation in the packet arrival

time caused by network congestion

• Buffering is required to help smooth out the variations

• Packet Loss• Bandwidth limitations, network

congestion, failed links, and transmission errors may cause Packet Loss

• High quality video streaming services, a (PLR) of 10-6 to 10–7 or less may be tolerated.

Source: “IPTV Testing over DSL”, Francisco Palacios, 2006

Edge Distortion Unimpaired Video Screenshots Packet Loss

Handover, Roaming &

Handset Battery Life• Video streaming during Handovers and Roaming

– The need to handover to another frequency when quality becomes low

– Switching between different networks of different capacities

• Mobile Handset Battery Life– Limited Battery Capacity

– Merging, state-of-art-technology receivers into a mobile handheld requires reduction in power consumption

– E.g. DVB-H requires reduction up to 90%

Time Slicing & Phase Shifting

Mobile TV Technologies

Roll Out Time Line

• DVB-H commercially rolled out late 2006

• Unavailability of UHF frequencies prevent going beyond multi city –limit till 2010/2012

• DVB-H in S-band expected end 2007 for terrestrial & 2009 nationwide coverage

• 2.2 GHz band for UMTS allows easy integration of DVB-H S-band

Source: Alcatel

Conclusion

• Mobile TV has been rolling out innovative services based on varied technologies such as 3G, DVB-H, DVB-T, and ISDB.

• Coming years will lead to greater standardization in the industry

• Mobile TV is clearly an interesting new service

• Mobile TV has a role as a mobile entertainment, sports and news that can be watched spontaneously, anytime and anywhere

• Fixed monthly fee is best accepted pricing model

References• World Cellular Technology Forecast 2006-2011, www.3gamericas.org/English/Statistics/17.cfm

• Nick Holland, “Rescuing 3G with Mobile TV: Business Models and Monetizing 3G”, Pyramid Research.

• “Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB): DVB-H Implementation Guidelines”, ETSI TR 102 377 V1.2.1 (2005-11)

• “High Quality Mobile TV -The Challenge for Operators to Deliver High-Quality TV to Mobiles”, Sprint, 2007

• Yoram Solomon, “The Economics of Mobile Broadcast TV”, Mobile DTV Alliance

• “H.264 & IPTV Over DSL”, Intel. 2004, www.intel.com/• Detlev Marpe, Thomas Wiegand, Gary J. Sulliva, “The H.264-MPEG4 Advanced Video Coding Standard and its

Applications “, IEEE, 2006

• Yao Wang, “Video Coding Standards”, Polytechnic University, Brooklyn, NY11201, yao@vision.poly.edu

• Thomas Wiegand, “MPEG MPEG-4 and H.26L for 4 and H.26L for Mobile Services”,

• Huahui Wu, Mark Claypool, and Robert Kinicki. “Guidelines for Selecting Practical MPEG Group of Pictures”, 2005

• Ken Kerpez, Dave Waring, George Lapiotis, J. Bryan Lyles, and Ravi Vaidyanathan, “IPTV Service Assurance”, IEEE Communications Magazine, September 2006

• Jun Kyun Choi, “IP TV Services and Its Business Potentials”, Information and Communications University, jkchoi@icu.ac.kr

• David Short, “The many facets of IPTV”, 2005 • M. Molteni and M. Villari ‘’ Using SCTP with Partial Reliability for MPEG-4 Multimedia Streaming “, Cisco System

Technology Center, 2002

• Dapeng Wu, Yiwei Thomas Hou, Wenwu Zhu, Member,Ya-Qin Zhan, and Jon M. Peha “ Streaming Video over the Internet: Approaches and Directions” IEEE, 2001

• “Packet Switching Streaming Service”, TeliaSonera Finland-MediaLab, November 19, 2003

• R. Wietfeldt “Handset System Architectures for Mobile DTV” Texas Instruments, IEEE, 2006

• Philippe Lainé, Alistair Urie, Philip Kelley & Christophe Nussli, “Unlimited Mobile TV for the Mass Market”, Alcatel, 2006

References Cont.• Harri Holma and Antti Toskala, “WCDMA for UMTS –III Edition”, 2004• “3G powered 3G-324M networks”, Radvision, August, 2002• Jonne Soininen, “GPRS/UMTS”, IAB Workshop, February 29 - March 2, 2000, Nokia• “Mobile TV networks”, Webinar hosted by Envivo and Nokia Siemens Networks • http://metacast.agora.com/link.asp?m=44456&s=6781175&l=0• Frank Hartung et al, “Delivery of Broadcast Services in 3G Networks”, IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting, March 2007• Markus Kampmann, “MBMS”, Ericsson Research, June 2004• MediaLab, “MBMS”, TeliaSonera, August 2004• “3GPP Head End”, Data Sheet from Maindata• MPG-4 AVC, H.264, 3GPP encoder/decoder for video streaming - Data sheet from Dicas• “The Evolution of UMTS/HSDPA 3GPP Release 6 and Beyond”, 3G Americas, December 2005• “Mobile TV-The Next Big “Killer App” in Wireless”, 3G Americas, July 2005• “3G bring TV to mobile phones today” – White paper from Nokia• “Data Capabilities GPRS to HSDPA and Beyond” 3G Americas, September 2005• M Siller and JC Woods,”QoS Arbitration for Improving the QoE in Multimedia Transmission”, University of Essex, United Kingdon, IEE 2003• Francisco Palacios, “IPTV Testing over DSL”, http://www.exfo.com/en/support/WaveReview/2006-June/WRArticle1.asp, 2006• Ken Kerpez, Dave Waring, George Lapiotis, J. Bryan Lyles, and Ravi Vaidyanathan, “IPTV Service Assurance”, IEEE Communications

Magazine, September 2006• Ling-Jyh Chen, Guang Yan, Tony Sun, M. Y. Sanadidi Mario Gerla,”Adaptive Video Streaming in Vertical Handoff: A Case Study”, The First

ACM Annual International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Systems, Boston 2004• Giuseppe Calarco, “Tune into key Mobile TV trends and success factors”, Infineon Technologies Asia Pacific Pvt. Ltd, April 2007,

http://www.eetasia.com/ART_8800478025_499488_NT_cd411e8a.HTM• Panu Mustonen, “Trends in Mobile Multimedia”, Satama Interactive, June 21, 2006 • Shumin Cao, “Wirelss Mobile Communication Trends”, China Academy of Telecom Research, December, 2006

Q & AQ & A