ATSC Symposium and Call for Papers on Next Generation Broadcast Television

At the Annual Meeting of the Advanced Television Systems Committee held last month, it was announced that the ATSC Planning Committee had completed its work on the requirements and business opportunities for the ATSC 2.0 enhancement to the existing ATSC digital television standard. ATSC 2.0 is intended for services to fixed television receivers and is a separate project from the recently-introduced Mobile DTV standard.

Features will include:

• Non-Real-Time (NRT) Services (including support for 3D TV)
  
• Advanced Codecs
  
• Internet Connectivity
  
• Program-Related Interactivity
• Access Control
• Digital Rights Management
• Service Usage Measurement

The ATSC 2.0 work has now passed to the ATSC Technology and Standards Group to begin development of the required new standards and revisions to existing documents.

As part of a much longer-term planning activity, looking beyond ATSC 2.0, the ATSC is exploring potential technologies to be used to define a future terrestrial broadcast digital television system that would not be constrained by considerations of backwards-compatibility for existing receivers. This exploration will include an assessment of the range of services that could be delivered with a new standard and a consideration of potential timeframes. As part of this activity, the ATSC plans to hold symposiums on new technologies that may have application for such next generation broadcast content delivery systems.

The first Symposium will be held on October 19, 2010 at the Westin Hotel in Alexandria, Va. (one day before the IEEE BTS Symposium at the same location) and the ATSC has issued the following call for papers.

"The ATSC is seeking information on a variety of topics related to new broadcast content delivery systems. Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Transmission
  
• Reception
• Modulation
  
• Software-defined radio technologies
• Video codecs
• Audio codecs
• Transport methods
• Service Usage Measurement

Written abstracts will be considered by a subcommittee of the ATSC Planning Team on Next Generation Broadcast Television. Abstracts of less than 500 words should be submitted to Jerry Whitaker, Vice President for Standards Development at the ATSC (jwhitaker@atsc.org), by close of business on August 6, 2010. The ATSC Planning Team will review the abstracts and will notify submitters of their acceptance for presentation at the first symposium by August 27, 2010. Submitters are advised that final written papers and oral presentations at the symposiums may be made available to the public and, as such, rights to do so will be requested by the ATSC. Depending upon the results of the first symposium the ATSC plans to hold one or two additional symposiums at a later date."

Planning for this symposium follows the announcement from the ATSC last month on the formation of a new Planning Team structure to explore opportunities in three areas: terrestrial broadcast delivery of 3D TV, next-generation television broadcasting systems, and Internet-connected TV technologies. The intention is to lay the foundation for future technologies and standards that will enable new capabilities and services for the broadcast television industry. The focus of the three teams is as follows:

• The 3D TV Team (PT-1) will analyze and report on the likely benefits and limitations of a standard for terrestrial broadcast delivery of 3D TV. The team will be chaired by Craig Todd, Chief Technology Officer of Dolby Laboratories.
• The Next Generation Broadcast Television Team (PT-2) will explore potential technologies to be used to define a future terrestrial broadcast digital television standard. The team will be chaired by Jim Kutzner, Chief Engineer of PBS.
• The Internet Enhanced Television Team (PT-3) will consider the opportunities brought about by Internet-connected broadcast receivers. The team will be chaired by Rajan Mehta, Director, Digital Television Standards, Policy & Strategy, NBC Universal.
  

Those interested in participating in these Planning Teams should contact ATSC president, Mark Richer at mricher@atsc.org.

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