The iTeAM Institute participates in a key project for the transition of analogue to digital television in Colombia: the development of the Technical TV Plan (TTVP)

The TTVP consists on the
planning of the use of the spectrum assigned to the broadcast services which
use the standards NTSC-M for analogue signals (existing networks) and DVB-T2
for digital signals (deploying networks). In particular, the frequency range in
which future Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) networks in Colombia will
work is 470MHz to 700 MHz. This planning should consider all the territorial
levels at which it is authorised the broadcast services, the different existing
television networks in the country, the various technical configurations of the
DVB-T2 standard, the needs and projections of the operators, ensuring at any
time the continuity of the broadcast services to the users. In addition, this
planning should take into account the special conditions of the Colombian
scenario like the using of bandwidth of 6 MHz, the coexistence in the frontier
with the digital standard ISDB-Tb adopted by the rest of countries in South
America and the particular propagation features in the Andean zone.  

The process of television
frequency planning in Colombia has been addressed following the general
methodology described in the figure 1, in which there is a comparison between
different combination of frequency assignment to the public, private, national,
regional and local TV operators, and evaluating the results in terms of
coverage, interferences, number of required frequencies, migration costs,
execution time, processes of liberation and migration of frequencies, among
others. This methodology has allowed to identify the best frequency planning
scheme during the different stages of the analogue switch-off and subsequent
rearrangement after that. A planning spectrum platform, formed by optimization
computational algorithms for the frequency assignment and professional
estimators of coverage levels, has been the basic tool for the development of
this project.    

The TTVP planning includes
the elaboration of the analogue switch-off plan that allows the liberation of
frequency bands gradually. These frequencies can be reused in the process of
transition to de DTT or can be available for other technologies (e.g. 4G
networks). The dynamic feature of the use of the spectrum during the analogue switch-off
and subsequent rearrangement after that has create the need to use different
frequency planning schemes progressively adjustable at the same time that the analogue
switch-off and the development of the DTT in Colombia are going on.  

The activities carried out
in this project also take into account economic estimations of the different
frequency migration processes, which will be used as a reference point to
minimize the transition costs to the DTT and the analogue switch-off. Besides,
a database for the DTT spectrum management is being developed following the ITU
(International Communication Union) international recommendations, which allows
managing in an efficient way the use of the spectrum, as well as the
identification of available frequencies in the different zones of the
country.  

The TTVP consists on the
planning of the use of the spectrum assigned to the broadcast services which
use the standards NTSC-M for analogue signals (existing networks) and DVB-T2
for digital signals (deploying networks). In particular, the frequency range in
which future Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) networks in Colombia will
work is 470MHz to 700 MHz. This planning should consider all the territorial
levels at which it is authorised the broadcast services, the different existing
television networks in the country, the various technical configurations of the
DVB-T2 standard, the needs and projections of the operators, ensuring at any
time the continuity of the broadcast services to the users. In addition, this
planning should take into account the special conditions of the Colombian
scenario like the using of bandwidth of 6 MHz, the coexistence in the frontier
with the digital standard ISDB-Tb adopted by the rest of countries in South
America and the particular propagation features in the Andean zone.  

The process of television
frequency planning in Colombia has been addressed following the general
methodology described in the figure 1, in which there is a comparison between
different combination of frequency assignment to the public, private, national,
regional and local TV operators, and evaluating the results in terms of
coverage, interferences, number of required frequencies, migration costs,
execution time, processes of liberation and migration of frequencies, among
others. This methodology has allowed to identify the best frequency planning
scheme during the different stages of the analogue switch-off and subsequent
rearrangement after that. A planning spectrum platform, formed by optimization
computational algorithms for the frequency assignment and professional
estimators of coverage levels, has been the basic tool for the development of
this project.    

The TTVP planning includes
the elaboration of the analogue switch-off plan that allows the liberation of
frequency bands gradually. These frequencies can be reused in the process of
transition to de DTT or can be available for other technologies (e.g. 4G
networks). The dynamic feature of the use of the spectrum during the analogue switch-off
and subsequent rearrangement after that has create the need to use different
frequency planning schemes progressively adjustable at the same time that the analogue
switch-off and the development of the DTT in Colombia are going on.  

The activities carried out
in this project also take into account economic estimations of the different
frequency migration processes, which will be used as a reference point to
minimize the transition costs to the DTT and the analogue switch-off. Besides,
a database for the DTT spectrum management is being developed following the ITU
(International Communication Union) international recommendations, which allows
managing in an efficient way the use of the spectrum, as well as the
identification of available frequencies in the different zones of the
country.