Introduction

Established in colloboration with the computing science department of Università di Torino, DTVLab
is the laboratory which studies and prototypes digital terrestrial television technologies.

What it does

The activities carried out by the laboratory include:

• Analysis and study of technological scenarios
• Applied research projects regarding innovative technologies
• Design, validation and testing of systems and services
• Support for the delivery of services to fixed and mobile terminals
• Development of technological demos
• Presentation of results nationally and internationally
• Technology transfer to the local area with particular attention to the business world.

Research Themes

The work of the laboratory focuses mainly on:

• INTERACTIVE TV: MHP and advanced STB services. Starting from the experience gained over the years in designing and developing interactive applications based on the DVB-MHP platform, DTVLab’s research focuses on prototyping next-generation MHP services:
  •  MHP - PVR: “personal video recording” services
  • Integration on set-top box of IP services distributed via broadcast channels
  • Caching and permanent storage of data and applications on set-top box
  • Services based on smartcard via a SATSA framework
  • Microweb browser (for access to XHTML contents)
  • Aggregators for RSS feed/podcast/vodcast
  • Applicative signalling in audio/video coding.
• Mobile TV: DVB-H. The laboratory boasts a complete indoor DVB-H testbed for research and prototyping services for mobile TV:
  
  • Content tagging for the delivery of VODcast services
  • Discovery of services and study of solutions for delivering a complex range of services (multimedia services, data and applications) on DVB-H platforms
  • Creation of models for the deployment of DVB-H services
  • Simulcast of television channels in H.264 coding
  • Experimentation with ESG (Electronic Service Guide) services, with the generation of metadata for various different types of user terminal
  • Assessment of the interoperability of the services used
  • Benchmarking of user terminals and relative SDK
  • Experimentation of IPDC data services towards DVB-H terminals (multicast files, delivery of interactive applications on DVB-H platforms, podcasting)
  • Interactive applications
  • Testing and trialling of user terminals.
• HDTV. High definition television technologies aim to make direct access to internet contents via television set both possible and natural, in terms of usability and interaction. DTVLab has created a research and development area for integrated services to demonstrate the potential for converging the two media on an HD base. The main activities in this area are:
  
  • Study of encoding techniques and application interaction
  • Study of multi-function terminals for transparent access to services and contents regardless of the context of origin (TV - Internet)
  • Production of demonstration prototypes.
• IPTV. Since 2007 DTVLab has been engaged in designing and creating IPTV services, in collaboration with the RAI Research Centre, such as:
  
  • Creation of production services/content aggregation
  • Content delivery (multicast, IPoDVB, podcasting, streaming video).
• P2P Broadcasting. Prototyping systems based on Peer-to-Peer architecture for the announcement and use of services on an IP network:
  
  • Study of MDC technologies (multiple description coding)
  • Prototyping automatic service announcement/discovery systems
  • Peer-to-Peer broadcasting of live signals.
• DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale). The technology involved in digitalizing radio broadcasting poses similar problems to those encountered when implementing digital technology in television. For this purpose the laboratory has created an indoor demo testbed to support the production of demonstration service prototypes and the experimental “on-air” use of the system. Activities include:
  
  • Creation of a production and broadcasting process for radio contents
  • Analysis of the potential of the new system
  • Prototyping of demo services
  • Design and creation of prototype receivers for PC and stand alone terminals.
• Evolution of systems of TS monitoring and analysis. With the introduction of systems for digital TV it has become necessary to identify and classify all the digital TV services receivable in a certain area, and monitor their evolution over time. DTVLab has created a distributed system for DTT signal monitoring which supplies the broadestpossible range of information regarding the digital signal detected on the ground, and in particular:
  
  • physical information for monitoring receivability status
  • logical information for the complete identification of the content associated with the signal
  • access, download and emulation of interactive MHP applications in order to identify them andverify their integrity.