From the President - IEEE Broadcast Technology...

IEEE

From the PresidentDear BTS Members:

September bringstwo major eventsfor BTS this year –both IBC2006 inAmsterdam and our56th Annual Broad-cast Symposium,

which returns to its traditional HotelWashington venue a few weeks earlierthan last year. It's always good to seemany of our returning members and tomeet new faces, and potential newmembers, at these annual conferences.

One of the headline topics at ourupcoming Broadcast Symposium isInternet Protocol Television – or IPTV.It's been called “the next big thing” inmultimedia content delivery, as IPTVservices move from experimentation to

commercial deployment, and hundredsof telephone companies gear up overthe next couple of years, vying withcable and satellite service providers forthe broadband gateway to consumers'homes. The Symposium leads off witha tutorial on IPTV Technology Deploy-ment, presented by a team from theCommunications Research Centre Cana-da. Following the tutorial on Wednes-day are presentations on IPTV, MobileTV, and Multimedia topics, including IPDatacast over DVB-H. During thelunch break, John Day, Project Managerfor IEEE.tv, will introduce and demon-strate this Internet broadcasting net-work being launched by IEEE.

One of the IPTV tutorial presenters,Hong Liu, has just returned from anITU-T Focus Group on IPTV in Gene-va. His trip report is inside this

When you receivethis issue the 56thAnnual BroadcastSymposium willbe almost upon us.This year as alwaysthe lineup of pre-sentations andluncheon speakers

is impressive. The sessions that beginon Wednesday morning September 27and run through Friday afternoon Sep-tember 29 offer something for every-one and reflect the expanding scope ofour society and the diversification ofthe broadcast industry. This event offersattendees the opportunity to hear about

cutting edge developments in their spe-cific area of interest as well as theopportunity to broaden their horizonsand learn about the latest develop-ments in other areas of the industry.Today, with the rapid changes in tech-nology as well as the business climateone never knows where the nextcareer opportunity may be so it isimportant to keep an eye on areas inrelated fields and this symposium offersa great opportunity to do that. Also, bythe way, it is also a great place to seeold friends, network and make somenew friends. Check out the preliminaryprogram in this issue and some further

The technologies to deliver information and entertainment to audiences worldwide, at home and on the go.

From the Editor

continued on page 2

ISSN 1067-490X

Volume 14, Number 3, Fall 2006

Newsletter. The ITU-T is beginning totackle the necessary and timely – per-haps overdue – issue of IPTV standard-ization. The IEEE has recently becomea Sector Member of the ITU-T, and BTS

continued on page 2

InsideIEEE 56th Annual Broadcast Symposium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3IEEE Broadcast Technology SocietyRepresentation and TutorialActivities at IBC2006 . . . . . . . . . . . . .4IEEE BTS Representative AttendsThe First ITU-T IPTV Focus GroupMeeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5ATSC Developing Transport StreamVerification Document . . . . . . . . . . .7A Numerical Millington PropagationPackage for Medium and Short WaveDRM Systems Field StrengthPredictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9Chapter Activity Reports:

Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12St. Petersburg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

IEEE St. Petersburg BTS ChapterExtends Congratulations to AlexanderArtamonov . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14Congrats to New Senior Members . . .14Call for Papers: 2007 IEEE InternationalSymposium on Broadband MultimediaSystems and Broadcasting . . . . . . . . .15Reminder - re IEEE Fellow NominatingProcess Revisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16CTIA Wireless 2007 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16IEEE BTS Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . .1756th Annual Broadcast Symposium .18IBC 2006 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

btsNL_fall06.qxd 8/28/06 4:22 PM

details in our President’s column and Ihope to see all of you at the Symposiumat the Hotel Washington in Washington,DC September 27–29, 2006.

Since our fall Symposium is a bit earli-er than usual this year we have beenrushing to get this newsletter out. As aresult our content is a bit less than inprevious issues but I believe we still havesome interesting reading. Jerry Whitakercontinues to provide us with updates onATSC activities with an article on Trans-port Stream Verification. We also have apiece from Levent Sevgi that discusses aMatlab application for Medium and ShortWave DRM Systems Field Strength Pre-dictions. In addition, Dmitry Tkachenkohas provided a report on the IEEE Inter-national Symposium on ConsumerElectronics held in St. Petersburg, Rus-sia that was co-sponsored by the localBTS chapter. Dmitry also has provided anice article commemorating the 70thbirthday and the achievements of wellknown colleague and BTS memberAlexander Artamonov. Mike Bennett,our Representative on the InternationalBroadcasting Convention (IBC) Board,has brought us up-to-date on the IBC

that will take place in Amsterdam Sep-tember 8 through 12, 2006 and the BTShosted Tutorial on Video Display Tech-nology at the IBC conference on Septem-ber 7, 2006. For those of you who arenot aware of it, the BTS is one of thepartners in the IBC and as a result a sub-stantial portion of our society income is aresult of that partnership.

In the U.S. we are heading towardcompleting the transition to terrestrialdigital television (DTV). Beginning withthe next issue we plan to have a seriesof articles that will look at how we gotto this point, the practical technical andregulatory hurdles that remain to beresolved and track the progress towardthe now mandatory shutoff of analogtelevision service in February 2009. Ifanyone would like to contribute anarticle or just share your experience orconcerns with those preparing the arti-cles please contact me as we wouldwelcome your input. I believe thesearticles will be of great interest to ourmembers in the U.S. and we hope toour colleagues around the world.

Bill [email protected]

IEEE Broadcast Technology Society Newsletter 2 Fall 2006

Newsletter Deadlines

The BTS Newsletter welcomes con-tributions from every member.Please forward materials you wouldlike included to the editor [email protected]. Here areour deadlines for upcoming issues:

Issue Due Date

Winter, 2006 October 20, 2006Spring, 2007 January 20, 2007Summer, 2007 April 20, 2007Fall, 2007 July 20, 2007

IEEE Broadcast Technology Society Newsletter (ISSN 1067-490X) is published quar-terly by the Broadcast Technology Society of the Institute of Electrical and Electron-ics Engineers, Inc. Headquarters address: 345 East 47th Street, New York, NY10017-2394. Sent at a cost of $1.00 per year to each member of the Broadcast Tech-nology Society. Printed in USA. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and atadditional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to: IEEE BroadcastTechnology Society Newsletter, IEEE, 445 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08855.

© 2006 IEEE. Information contained in this newsletter may be copied without per-mission provided that copies are not made or distributed for direct commercialadvantage, and the title of the publication and its date appear.

will continue to support its IPTV-relat-ed activities. Stay tuned for updates.

Another very timely topic we'll beaddressing is Unlicensed Devices in theTV Broadcast Bands. The Telecom Actof 2006, which would open up the"white spaces" in the TV bands to suchdevices, is moving through the U.S.Congress – and it may be enacted bythe time of the Symposium. Once itpasses, the Federal CommunicationsCommission will have 270 days to makethe rules. The IEEE 802.22 committee,of which BTS is a liaison member, hasaccelerated its work toward a standardfor cognitive Wireless Regional AreaNetworks that will operate on a non-interfering basis in the TV bands, inorder that it can help to shape the FCC'sdecision. We'll hear from the Commit-tee leadership, and from several stake-holders and observers of the process, inthis Thursday afternoon session.

The presentations in our TechnicalSessions represent the cream of thecrop, selected from an unprecedentednumber of abstracts submitted this year.They are also geographically diverse,coming from eleven countries in Northand South America, Europe, and Asia.For example, a highlight of the Thurs-day morning session on Digital TV Sys-tems and Standards will be a technicalreview of the new Chinese terrestrialDTV standard that, as of this writing, isto be finalized in August. Our Sympo-sium will be the first time the standard isdiscussed outside of China.

Our Luncheon Keynotes will com-plement the sessions on multimedia

From the Editor continued

technologies. On Thursday, we'll hearfrom David Young, Verizon’s VP forFederal Regulatory Affairs. David willtalk about Verizon’s Fiber-to-the-Premises network architecture thatpromises to bring a wide array ofbroadband multimedia services to itscustomers. Friday's Luncheon speakeris John Abel, Senior Vice President ofthe US Telecom Association, whichrepresents telecommunications serviceproviders and suppliers the localexchange, long distance, wireless,

Internet, and cable industries. John isan old friend of the broadcast industry,from his years at the NAB and in sub-sequent data broadcasting ventures.

We look forward to seeing many ofyou in Washington. But, for those ofyou who won't be with us at the Sym-posium, we'll have a recap in the nextNewsletter.

Tom GurleyPresident

IEEE Broadcast Technology [email protected]

From the President continued


Fall 2006 3 IEEE Broadcast Technology Society Newsletter

The 56th Annual Broadcast Sympo-sium offers an exciting program, withcutting-edge presentations by leadingprofessionals in the broadcast engi-neering field. On Wednesday, theprogram opens with a Tutorial onIPTV Technology Deployment, fol-lowed by presentations on IPTV,Mobile TV, and Multimedia Technolo-gies. Thursday’s sessions include Dig-ital TV Systems & Standards andUnlicensed Devices in the TV Broad-cast Bands. Friday’s sessions includeDistributed Transmission Systems andRadio Broadcast Engineering. The pro-gram also includes a top-level lunch-eon speaker each day.

In addition, the Symposium servesas an opportunity for you to network,meet with old friends and make newfriends. Plan to attend the WelcomeReception on Wednesday evening.

For details and on-line registration,please visit the Symposium website at:www.ieee.org/btsymposium

Preliminary TechnicalProgramSubject to Change

Wednesday, September 27IPTVSession Chair – James Fang, Consultant

IPTV: Technology Deployment – ATutorial Wei Li, Hong Liu, & Yiyan Wu, Com-munications Research Centre - Ottawa,Ontario, Canada

Video over IP – A Case StudyJohn Delay, Harris Corporation –Mason, OH USA

Stream Quality Assurance for IPTVRalph Bachofen, Triveni Digital -Princeton Junction, NJ USA

Box Lunch Introduction to IEEE.tv

John Day, Senior Manager of Member-ship Business Development, IEEE

Mobile TV & Multimedia TechnologiesSession Chair – Greg Best, GB Con-sulting

Application Management MethodBased on GEM for InteroperabilityGuarantee of Applications AmongData Broadcasting PlatformsGyoung Ho Cha, Electronics andTelecommunications Research Institute(ETRI) – Yuseong-gu, Korea

The Convergence of Diverse NetworkTechnologies in Only One Set Top Box(For the Future Brazilian Scene) Rodrigo Admir Vaz, University of SanPaulo - Sao Paulo, Brazil

A Mobility Support Architecture forDVB-H / IP Datacast Terminals basedon IEEE 802.21Gunther May, Braunschweig Tech-nical University - Germany

Optimization of PSI/SI Transmission inIPDC over DVB-H NetworksJani Vare, Nokia - Turku, Finland

Approaches for Smooth Buffering inMobile TV over DVB-H Imed Bouazizi, Nokia - Turku, Finland

Evening Welcome Reception

Thursday, September 28Digital TV Systems & StandardsChair – Brett Jenkins, Thomson Broadcast

ATSC Recommended Practice on Bit-stream VerificationRich Chernock, Triveni Digital -Princeton Junction, NJ USA

Advanced VSB - A Proposed Enhance-ment for ATSC DTVJungpil Yu, Samsung & Mike Simon,Rohde & Schwarz - Korea/USA

Objective Evaluation of Audio Com-

pression Standards and Tools for Digi-tal TV ApplicationsRegis Rossi A. Faria, University of SaoPaulo – Sao Paulo, Brazil

Technical Review of the Chinese Digi-tal Terrestrial Television Broadcasting StandardJian Song, Tsinghua University – Bei-jing, China

Broadband Antenna Systems Engi-neering and OperationsJohn Figura, Richland Towers –Tampa, FL USA

Joint BTS/AFCCE Luncheon

Fiber to the Premises: Lighting the Wayto Cable CompetitionDavid E. Young, Vice President, Fed-eral Regulatory Affairs, Verizon Com-munications

Unlicensed Devices in the TVBroadcast BandsSession Chair – Eric Wandel, ResearchAssociates of Syracuse

Legislative and Regulatory Landscapefor Unlicensed Device Operation in theTV Broadcast BandsBill Meintel, Meintel, Sgrignoli & Wal-lace – Washington, DC USA

An Update on the IEEE 802.22 Stan-dards Process for Cognitive Wireless Regional Area Networks (WRAN)Gerald Chouinard, Vice Chair, IEEE802.22, Communications ResearchCentre – Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Interference to UHF-DTTV Chan-nels by Unlicensed DevicesOded Bendov, TV TransmissionAntenna Group – Cherry Hill, NJ USA

ATSC-DTV Receiver Adjacent Chan-nel Per formance with UnlicensedDevicesDouglas Prendergast, CommunicationsResearch Centre – Ottawa, Ontario,

IEEE 56th ANNUAL BROADCAST SYMPOSIUM27-29 September 2006Hotel WashingtonWashington, DC


Canada

Practical Rules for Use of Cognitive RadiosWithin Existing Spectrum AllocationsAlan Waltho, Intel – USA

The Broadcasters’ Perspective andTechnical Issues for BroadcastersVictor Tawil, Association for MaximumService Television – Washington, DCUSA

Panel Discussion on UnlicensedDevices in the TV Broadcast BandsModerator – Bill Meintel, Meintel, Sgrig-noli & Wallace – Washington, DC USA

Friday, September 29Distributed Transmission SystemsSession Chair – Mike Simon, Rohde &Schwarz

DTV Coverage Enhancement UsingOn-Channel and Translator Rebroad-cast TechnologiesSam Zborowski, Consultant – USA

Performance of an Echo Canceller forOn-Channel Repeaters in DVB-T/H Networks

Karim Nasr, Brunel University – UKVerification of Performance of Cou-pling Loop Interference Canceller forOn-Air Relay in an SFN - On-ChannelRepeater for ISDB-TKoichiro Imamura, NHK – Tokyo,Japan

Field Test Results of Digital On-chan-nel Repeaters in the DTV Transmission Network in KoreaYoung-Woo Suh, KBS - Korea

Field Testing a Distributed Transmis-sion SystemS. Merrill Weiss, Merrill Weiss GroupLLC – Metuchen, NJ USA

IEEE-BTS Awards Luncheon

Where Are the Digital Networks TakingUs?John Abel, Senior Vice President, USTelecom Association

Radio Broadcast EngineeringSession Chair – Robert Surette, ShivelyLabs

Revisiting Medium Wave Ground SystemsBenjamin Dawson, Hatfield & Dawson

Consulting Engineers – Seattle, WA USASubjective Evaluation of the ReceptionQuality Thresholds for the DigitalRadio Mondiale Broadcast StandardI. Fernandez, University of the BasqueCountry – Spain

Digital Multimedia Broadcasting(DMB)Pascal Marcoux, CommunicationsResearch Centre – Ottawa, Ontario,Canada

Ground Wave Field Measurements inthe Medium Wave Band in Rural Envi-ronmentF. F. Lima, University of Brasilia -Brasilia, Brazil

Simplified Calculation of Ground Loss-es in Low and Medium FrequencyAntenna Systems Valentino Trainotti, University ofBuenos Aries – Argentina

A Precision Low Cost GPS Based Syn-chronization Scheme for Improved AMReceptionSteve Smith, Harris MCD – USA


IEEE Broadcast Technology Society Representationand Tutorial Activities at IBC2006By Mike Bennett, BTS AdCom Member and IEEE BTS Representative on the IBC Board

IEEE BTS Information BoothThe IEEE BTS will be staffing an infor-mation booth at the 2006 InternationalBroadcasting Convention (IBC) duringa five-day exhibition from 8 through12 September 2006 at the RAI Exhibi-tion and Congress Centre in Amster-dam, Netherlands. The IEEE BTSbooth will be located in the partner-ship village at IBC Exhibitor StandNumber 8.750b which is located in thesame familiar location in the lobby ofthe exhibit hall 8. Attendees will seethe partnership village has a new lookthis year. You are invited to stop byand meet with the BTS representativesTom Gurley, President of the BTS,Mike Bennett, BTS AdCom Member

and IEEE BTS Representative on theIBC Board, Yiyan Wu, Editor-in-Chiefof the BTS Transactions on Broadcast-ing and Kathy Colabaugh, BTS Publi-cations Administrator. They will beglad to talk with you and help youwith any questions you may haveabout the IEEE and the BTS.

All 11 exhibit halls at the RAI Cen-tre are fully occupied with over 1000exhibitors. You can find substantialdetail about the entire convention onthe IBC web page, www.ibc.org, thatis a new, updated web page. The IBCweb page also provides informationabout how to access the online IBCTV, a web TV service which will pro-vide selected interviews and panel

discussions on up-to-date subjectssuch as broadcast to mobile, IPTV andobviously High Definition which isabout to be big business in Europe.

IEEE BTS TutorialIn addition, the IEEE BTS will be host-ing a tutorial session during the IBCconference. The details are:Session Title: Tutorial on Video Dis-play TechnologySession Chairman: David Bancroft, Thomson Digital Media SolutionsDate: 7 September 2006Time: 10:00 AM to 1:00 PMLocation:Room L, Amsterdam RAIExhibition and Congress CentreSynopsis: Video display technology


has undergone a sea of change overthe last decade, as LCD, plasma, andDLP devices have all but supplantedthe venerable CRT in consumerapplications. Recent developmentshave improved such parameters asdynamic resolution, viewing angle,contrast, and color gamut – long-held advantages of the CRT – chal-lenging its continued dominanceeven for critical professional viewing.However, challenges remain inachieving standardization of colorgamut, contrast range and other

parameters across these new replace-ment technologies for content cre-ators to continue to achieveconsistent quality control.

This tutorial will be presented bythe IEEE Broadcast Technology Soci-ety, a co-sponsor of the newIEEE/OSA Journal of Display Technol-ogy. It will draw upon the technicalexpertise of leading researchers anddevelopers worldwide to explainthese recent developments in the con-text of both consumer and profession-al applications. It will also offer a

peek at emerging technology still inthe laboratory.

IBC2006The IBC Conference Sessions run from7 through 11 September 2006. Thefive day conference will provide multi-ple sessions, workshops, panels andmaster classes. The IBC exhibitionhalls will be open five days startingFriday 8 September and finishing Tues-day 12 September 2006. For detailedinformation about IBC2006, pleasevisit its website at www.ibc.org.


IEEE BTS Representative AttendsThe First ITU-T IPTV Focus Group Meetingby Hong Liu, Communications Research Centre, Canada

IEEE BTS RepresentationHong Liu represented the IEEE BTS atthe first meeting of the ITU-T IPTVFocus Group (FG IPTV). Below isHong Liu’s abridged trip report pre-pared for the BTS Newsletter.

Internet Protocol TelevisionFocus Group (FG IPTV)MeetingThe FG IPTV first meeting was hostedby the ITU-T organization in Geneva,Switzerland from July 10 to 14, 2006.The ITU Telecommunication Standard-ization Sector (ITU-T is one of thethree sectors of the InternationalTelecommunication Union (ITU) Theother two ITU Sectors are the RadioCommunication Sector (ITU-R) andthe Telecommunication DevelopmentSector (ITU-D).

The FG IPTV meeting attractedover 150 delegates from ITU mem-bers and non-members. Most ofattendees represented the world’sleading telecom equipment manufac-turers and other organizations work-ing in IPTV related fields. More than100 meeting documents and contribu-tions were submitted, with the major-ity reviewed during the meeting. Thetwo indicators of worldwide partici-pation and the large number of meet-

ing papers support the requirementthat IPTV standardization is timelyand necessary.

Working GroupsDuring the first meeting day, the dele-gates approved a draft agenda, workplan and formation of six workinggroups (WG) which are:WG1 for Architecture and

Requirements, WG2 for QoS and Performance

Aspects, WG3 for Service Security and Contents

Protection Aspects, WG4 for IPTV Network Control, WG5 for End Systems and Interoper-

ability aspects and WG6 for Middleware, Application and

Content Platforms. The delegates approved appoint-

ment of a leadership team, includingthe Chairman, Vice-Chairmen andworking group leaders. Mr. GhassemKoleyni from Nortel (Ottawa, Canada)was elected Chairman.

Since IPTV standardization startedfrom scratch at this meeting, the work-ing groups utilized approximately 2/3of their time proposing and definingtheir mandates, terms of references,work items and producing workingdocuments. Many outstanding issues

had no general agreement, whichresulted in them being compiled intoliving lists for further considerationduring the next meeting. The workinggroups studied liaison documentswhich provided useful information fordeveloping an IPTV standard. Insuffi-cient time was available during thismeeting to study the IPTV technicalissues. Additional inputs were request-ed prior to the next meeting so thatfurther study of IPTV technical issuescan be addressed then.

Plenary MeetingDuring the plenary meeting, the mem-bers approved all working documentsprepared by the working groups. Alloutgoing liaison statements were alsoapproved. A meeting output docu-ment was drafted which identified therequirements for IPTV standardization.

WG1 MeetingMr. Liu primarily participated in theWG1 and WG2 meetings. The WG1meeting focused its discussions onthree subgroups consisting of (1)Requirements, (2) Architecture and (3)Service//Scenarios. The subgroupswork proceeded slowly especiallywith the study of the IPTV architec-ture. No consensus was reached for


the proposed IPTV framework archi-tecture and service architecture by thead hoc subgroup meeting. The pro-posed functional model and functionalsets of IPTV need further considera-tion. The WG1 participants decided torequest contributions for high-levelarchitecture diagrams which describedIPTV network and service architec-tures with associated rationale andtechnical justification.

The WG1 meeting generated obser-vations, dialogs and debates concerning:1. Defining IPTV. Consensus was

reached on a definition of Inter-net Protocol Television (IPTV) as:“IPTV is multimedia services ofdelivering television/audio/text/graphics/data over IP based net-works managed to provide therequired level of Quality of Service(QoS)/Quality of Experience(QoE)1, security, interactivity andreliability.”

2. Studying the relationship of IPTVand the Next Generation Network(NGN)

3. Studying the IP Multimedia Subsys-tem (IMS)-based IPTV architecture

4. Proposing and identifying require-ments for:a. Architecture and serviceb. QoS and performance aspectsc. Service security and content

protection aspects d. Network and control aspects e. End systems and interoper-

ability aspects f. Middleware and application

platforms.5. Identifying and classifying the

IPTV services6. Identifying the roles/players/drivers7. Identifying a number of well-

know of business/commercialmodels

WG2 MeetingThe meeting initiated work onaspects of Quality of Experience

(QoE) requirements, traffic manage-ment, application-layer reliabilitysolutions and performance monitor-ing. All the proposals were discussedduring the meeting.

The WG2 meeting generatedobservations, dialogs and debatesconcerning:1. MPEG-2 codec versus the

AVC/H.264 codec 2. Using MPEG-2 transport streams or

video streams3. An encapsulated MPEG-2 transport

stream using the RTP protocol fortransmission of video over IP

ConclusionThe first IPTV Focus Group meetingwas successful and fruitful. It rolledout progress for IPTV standardization.However, this effort has a long way togo. Many issues and principal hurdlesremain to be resolved for the develop-ment of an IPTV standard. A widelyrecognized and accepted view is thatIPTV will become a reality in the com-ing decades. IPTV will fundamentallychange how we will learn to commu-nicate and use entertainment contentservices. This fact was reflected inthe first IPTV Focus Group meetingsince it attracted the attention and par-ticipation by many leading IPTV com-panies worldwide.

As a result of this first meeting,we learned that the evolving IPTVservices will offer advantages to endusers over traditional broadcast-TVservices, since IPTV will provide fullpersonalization and interactivity.IPTV also promises integration ofcontent and communication services,as well as converged services acrossmobile terminals and home devices.IPTV service providers will benefitby having the ability to launch andupgrade service offerings quicklyand easily.

The emergence of IPTV as a viabledistribution alternative to cable gives

broadcasters an opportunity to devel-op new revenue streams. IPTVenriched services such as interactiveTV, Video/TV on Demand, advertis-ing, etc., provides broadcasters withopportunities and a platform forredesigning content and developingnew services.

IEEE BTS RepresentationIEEE BTS active participation proved tobe very useful for us to become directlyinvolved with the rapid evolution ofIPTV. IEEE BTS participation enablesour Society to closely follow IPTV’sdynamically changing status and devel-opment direction. The IPTV FocusGroup meetings provide us, as repre-sentatives for the IEEE BTS and broad-cast engineers, an opportunity to offercontributions in IPTV relevant fields bysubmitting research proposals, definingnew functionalities and monitoring tech-nical trends etc. IPTV research fields ofinterest exist in which members of theIEEE BTS and broadcast professionalshave the qualifications and experienceto make useful contributions includingperformance evaluation on contentcodecs, a QoS mechanism, video trafficcharacterization and management, appli-cation layer reliability solution for IPTV,etc. The continuous participation byIEEE BTS representation will certainlybring opportunities for Society membersand all broadcast engineers to make sig-nificant contributions to IPTV develop-ment which can be shared worldwidethrough the ITU-T.

Next IPTV Focus GroupMeetingThe next IPTV Focus Group meetingwill take place in Busan, Korea, 16-20October, 2006.

For Additional InformationPlease contact Yiyan Wu [email protected] and Hong Liu [email protected]


1 QoE is the customer’s perception of how well a service satisfies user expectations. QoE is a rating of service performance from the user perspective.



The Advanced Television SystemsCommittee (ATSC) is working to final-ize a Recommended Practice (RP) ondigital television (DTV) transportstream verification. An ATSC RP is adocument that states specifications orcriteria within advanced television sys-tems that are not strictly necessary foreffective implementation and interop-erability, but that are thought to beadvisable and may improve the effi-ciency of implementation or reducethe probability of implementationerrors. An ATSC Recommended Prac-tice may also specify a preferredmethodology for implementation andoperation, and may recommend achoice from among alternatives.

Document PS-697, “Proposed ATSCRecommended Practice: TransportStream Verification,” outlines a com-mon methodology for describingtransport stream conformance criteriafor digital television. This documentexplicitly describes the elements andparameters of ATSC Standards A/53and A/65 that should be verified in atransport stream for it to be consid-ered a proper emission. This docu-ment does not cover RF, captioning,or elementary streams.

PS-697 has been approved by a let-ter ballot of the ATSC Technology andStandards Group and will go beforethe ATSC membership for finalapproval shortly. If all goes as expect-ed, PS-697 could be approved andfinalized before the end of the year.

About the DocumentWhile ATSC standards strictly definethe contents and characteristics of theDTV emission transport stream, theremay be a number of interactions andinterrelationships amongst variouscomponents. Successful tuning and dis-play of programs can be ensured if thetransport stream adheres to the appli-cable specifications. The analysis pointfor verification is illustrated in Figure 1.

The Proposed Recommended Prac-

tice identifies transport stream issuesby type, dividing errors into the gen-eral following categories:• PSI errors. An ATSC conformant

transport stream is also required tobe MPEG-2 conformant. Therefore,an ATSC transport stream mustinclude the two mandatory Pro-gram Specific Information (PSI)tables—the Program AssociationTable (PAT) and the Program MapTable (PMT).

• PSIP errors. The Program andSystem Information Protocol(PSIP) is the glue that holds theDTV signal together. The purposeof PSIP is to describe data at thesystem and event levels, and toenable an abstract of the collectionof programs (a virtual channel).

• Timing model and bufferingerrors. Timing is the key to theMPEG-2 encoding and decodingprocesses. MPEG-2 defines amodel for the system timing,

adherence to which allows inde-pendent design of encoders anddecoders that can interoperate. AnMPEG-2 decoder’s 27 MHz refer-ence clock needs to be synchro-nized with the equipment that iscreating the encoded stream.

• Consistency errors. Before areceiver can decode a transportstream, it must identify the rela-tionship between components inthe stream. Some componentscontain audio and video (elemen-tary streams), and other compo-nents contain informationdescribing the relationshipbetween them (metadata). Thereceiver uses metadata to identifyeach component, determine itsfunction, and select an appropriateset of components when the userselects a virtual channel for decod-ing. Conflicts and problems withinthe structure of metadata arecalled ‘consistency errors.’ Consis-

ATSC Developing Transport Stream VerificationDocumentBy Jerry Whitaker, VP Standards Development, ATSC

Figure 1 Reference analysis point in the DTV system.


tency errors can result in brokendecoding, missing system compo-nents (such as closed captioning),and/or missing program guideinformation.

• General errors. These errorscover a variety of types of prob-lems, typically transport-related.

Each error type is provided with adefined “error severity”, as detailedbelow:• Transport Stream Off-Air: The

station is effectively off-air as thetransport stream errors are severeenough that transport level logicalconstructs are damaged beyondutility. Receivers will not be ableto tune and decode anything with-in the broadcast. The complete orrepeated absence of sync byteswould be an example of this levelof error.

• Program Off-Air: A main service(virtual channel) is flawed to thepoint that that the service is effec-tively off-air for conformant/rea-sonable receiver designs. Thiscould involve program elementsbeing improperly constructed orincorrect/missing signaling about

elements. The absence of an entryin the Virtual Channel Table (VCT)for a service would be an exampleof this type of error.

• Component Missing: One of theprogram components that is sig-naled by PSIP or the Program MapTable (PMT) as present is eithernot present or cannot be foundand decoded. One example wouldbe a mismatch between the videoProgram ID (PID) signaled in theService Location Descriptor (SLD)and the actual PID used for thevideo elementary stream.

• Quality of Service: Parameters areout of specification by such a mar-gin that a significant fraction of thereceivers can be expected to pro-duce flawed outputs. In manycases, the broadcast is viewable,but may exhibit some form ofdegradation to the viewer. Anexample might be the MasterGuide Table (MGT) cycle timebeing somewhat larger than thespecification, which would causeslower than normal channel-change tuning.

• Technically Non-Conformant:Violates the letter of the standard,

but in practice will have little effecton the viewing experience. Errorsof this type should be corrected,but do not have the urgency ofhigher severity errors. An examplemight be a single instance of a 152ms MGT cycle time (with theremainder of the MGTs coming atless than 150 ms intervals).The distinctions between these error

classifications are important and drovework on the draft Proposed RP. Aftersome study it became clear that a lay-ered approach that indicated the severi-ty of the error would be beneficialwithin the confines of real-world televi-sion station operation. For example, ifthe threshold for an error was set atstrict adherence to the applicablerules—regardless of the ultimate impactat the consumer’s receiver—could leadto such a high false alarm rate that themonitoring equipment would, after atime, tend to be ignored.

As an example, error conditions forthe Program Association Table areclassified in Table 1.

Work on the Proposed Recom-mended Practice on Transport StreamVerification was led by Richard Cher-nock of Triveni Digital.


Table 1 PAT Error Conditions


AbstractA groundwave propagation predictionpackage, based on ray-modehybridization, tailored with a Matlab-based GUI, that can be used path lossvs. range and/or field strength vs.range predictions along multi-mixed-paths is reviewed1.

1. IntroductionGround wave propagation has been,and will continue to be, one of theimportant options for communicationover medium/long distances near theearth's surface. In addition to the clas-sical LF/MF/HF/VHF broadcast andcommunication systems, emerging HFand VHF radar technologies and/oradvanced digital traveler informationsystems enforce to understand com-plex propagation characteristics overthe Earth’s surface along differentlossy propagation paths and to devel-op better and applicable propagationprediction tools. Digital Radio Mondi-ale (DRM) is one of these new tech-nologies (visit, www.drm.org forfurther information).

Triggered by these requirements,early analytical groundwave propaga-tion prediction methods have beenreviewed and a user-friendly, Matlab-based propagation prediction virtualtool has been introduced [1]. Thepackage can be used in field strengthand path loss predictions of a trans-mitter-receiver pair located abovesmooth, spherical Earth's surfacealong multi-mixed propagation pathsespecially at MF and HF bands.Requirements of the field strength pre-diction for digital sound broadcastingsystems are covered by ITU-R Recom-mendation P-1321 [2] and BS-1615 [3],and points out the usage of Recom-mendation P-368-7 [4] for the ground-wave field strength prediction in theMW and HF bands. The details of theray-mode method and Millington

curve fitting approach to predict pathloss for multi-mixed path propagationscenarios can be found in [1-4], there-fore are not repeated here. Instead,the virtual tool is briefly described andvalidated against reference dataincluding available measurements.

Groundwaves have three compo-nents; the direct wave between thetransmitter and receiver and theground-reflect wave both of whichexist within line-of-sight (LOS), andthe surface wave which couples to theground and may reach ranges beyondthe LOS into the shadow regions. AtMF/HF frequencies, ground wavepropagation is dominated by the sur-face wave. As long as the transmitterand receiver are close to surface directand ground reflected waves canceleach other and only the surface wavecan propagate. The Earth’s surfaceelectrical parameters are important inreaching longer ranges. Sea surface isa good conductor, but ground is apoor conductor at these frequencies.A challenging problem is to predictsurface wave path loss variations overmixed paths, such as sea-land-seatransitions. A sharp decrease occurs in

signal strength along sea-land transi-tion and the signal recovers itselfbeyond the island, known as theMillington (recovery) effect [5].

2. A Matlab-based Mixed-path PropagationPrediction ToolThe groundwave propagation virtualtool (GPVT) Millington predicts fieldstrength and path loss vs. range alonga user specified multi-mixed smoothpaths [1]. The effects of multi-mixedpaths, path-lengths, electrical parame-ters of each propagation section, aswell as the frequency can be observedand extra path losses can be predict-ed. The front panel of the MillingtonPVT is shown in Fig. 1, and is dividedinto three sub regions. The left part ofthe GPVT is reserved for the user-sup-plied parameters. The operating fre-quency, range increment, transmitterheight and receiver height are sup-plied first. Then the number of propa-gation segments is supplied. Once thenumber of paths N is specified N-editable-textboxes become visible toenable the user to supply the seg-ment-lengths and electrical parameters


A Numerical Millington Propagation Package forMedium and Short Wave DRM Systems FieldStrength PredictionsLevent SevgiDogus University, Electronics and Communication Engineering Department,Zeamet Sok. No. 21, Acıbadem / Kadıköy, 34722 Istanbul - Turkey, [email protected]

1 The Millington GPVT can be downloaded from http://www3.dogus.edu.tr/lsevgi

Figure 1: The front-panel of the GPVT with path loss vs. range curves of various DRMfrequencies for a two-segment propagation scenario. The first segment is a 50-km “dry

land” (σ = 0.003S Im, εr = 15) and the other is a 150-km “sea” path (σ = 5.0S Im, εr = 70).


(conductivity and relative permittivity)of each segment (µ=µ0 assumedeverywhere and the atmosphere ishomogeneous). For example, thenumber of paths in Fig. 1 is 2, so thereare 2 visible textboxes.

The mid-part of the front panel ofGPVT is reserved for the figures. Theupper figure shows the geometry ofthe scenario and changes wheneverthe number of paths is changed by theuser via the corresponding popupmenu. The lower figure displays plotsfor “Path Loss vs. Range” or “Field

Strength vs. Range” variations. The“Plot” button at top-left executes theprogram. Once executed the user-specified parameters are written lineby line to an input file named“MIL.INP”, then the Fortran programMIL.EXE is executed background andthe outputs are both displayed in thefigure and written to files “MLoss.DAT”and “Mfield.DAT”. Both files consist of2-columns of data in text format. Firstcolumns belong to the range values inkm and second columns correspondto Path Losses/Field Strengths in dB.

The check boxes right below areused to select whether to plot the“Path Loss vs. Range” or “FieldStrength vs. Range”. Operationalparameters may be changed by theuser and multi-curve plots may begenerated. The user may clear previ-ous plots by using the “Clear button”before the “Plot button”. The controlpush buttons are located at the bot-tom-left part of the panel. Pressing the“Info” button opens the MATLAB Helpwindow that includes explanations onhow to use the package. Typing “helpMillington” at the MATLAB commandline also displays the same explana-tions. The “Close” button terminatesthe program. The “Clear” button clearsthe graph.

The scenario given in Fig. 1 pres-ents path loss vs. range curves ofvarious DRM frequencies for a two-segment propagation path. The firstsegment is a 50-km “dry land”(σ = 0.003S/m, εr = 15) and the otheris a 150-km “sea” path(σ = 5.0S/m, εr = 70 ). As observed,land-sea impedance transi t ioneffects can not be distinguished at255 MHz and is hardly distinguish-able at 500 MHz.

Another test scenario is given inFig. 2. Here, a five-segment, 100-kmlong propagation path is used with thesegment lengths of d1=20km,d2=30km, d3=10km, d4=25km,d5=15km. The electrical parametersare as given in the figure caption. Thecurves belong to the predictions at255 kHz, 3 MHz, 15 MHz, and 30MHz. At 100-km path loss values atthese frequencies are read to be 59dB, 93 dB, 120 dB , and 140 dB ,respectively.

3. Validation Tests with theGPVT The GPVT introduced in [1] are validat-ed against ITU reference curves as wellas the measurement. The first test isagainst the reference curves presentedin ITU recommendations, reproducedvia the GRWAVE package (endorsed inITU-R P-368-7 by ITU which can bedownloaded from http://www.itu.int).The results are plotted in Fig. 3. A very


Figure 2: The Millington propagation prediction package and test results for a five-segment 100-km propagation path. The segment lengths are: d1=20km, d2=30km,

d3=10km, d4=25km, d5=15km. The electrical parameters are: (σ1 = 5.0S Im,εr1 = 70), (σ2 = 0.03S Im, εr2 = 15), (σ3 = 5.0S Im, εr3 = 70), (σ4 = 0.003S Im, εr4 = 4),

and (σ5 = 0.01S Im, εr5 = 10).

Figure 3: Comparisons of the GPVT and ITU’s GRWAVE packages as field strength vs.range curves for a single path at various frequencies (Solid: GPVT, Dashed: GRWAVE).


good agreement between MillingtonGPVT and GRWVE at various frequen-cies and broad range of Earth’s electri-cal parameters is clearly observed andthis completes the first validationprocess.

There are a few experimentationsrelated to the mixed-path propagationeffects and the data recorded are veryvaluable for testing propagation meth-ods and models. One was conductedby Millington himself back in late1940s [6]. The measurements belongto a 200 km-long propagation path,the first 80 km of which is land andthe rest is sea, with the electricalparameters of, σ = 10.0 mS/m, εr=5.0(land) and σ = 4.0 S/m, εr=80.0 (sea).The average transmit power was 1 kWand the frequency of the experimentwas 3.13 MHz. Fig. 4 shows the meas-urement data in [6] compared with theresults produced with the GPVT. Thesolid and dashed lines in the figurecorrespond to the land-sea and homo-geneous land paths, respectively.Millington proved the recovery effectalong mixed propagation paths in [6]and the agreement with the theoreticalcurves is almost excellent.

6. ConclusionsThe emerging digital technologies forradio sound broadcasting necessitatetables of reliable field strength vs.range especially at frequencies belowa few MHz. Although the only way isto conduct field strength measure-ments, it is essential to use some kindof computer propagation predictiontools and perform pre-predictions toreduce high measurement costs andlong measurement periods. TheMillington method used in ITU Rec-ommendations [4] is quite accurateand can be used for this purpose.Unfortunately, its application is quiteuseless if not automated, since, onemust do many readings from thecurves and the number of readings

drastically increases as the number ofsegments increases. The new GPVTdeveloped by the hybridization ofRay-Mode methods overcomes theseproblems and automates the calcula-tions. It can be used for any multi-mixed-path surface wave propagationscenario, and effects of multi-mixedpaths, electrical parameters of eachpropagation section, and the frequen-cy on to the range variation of pathloss can be simulated easily.

References[1] L. Sevgi, "A Mixed-Path Ground-

wave Field Strength PredictionVirtual Tool for Digital RadioBroadcast Systems in Medium andShort Wave Bands", IEEE Anten-nas and Propagation Magazine,(scheduled for) Vol. 48, No.5, Oct2006

[2] ITU-R, Recommendations, P-1321,"Propagation Factors AffectingSystems Using Digital Modulation

Techniques at LF and MF", Inter-national TelecommunicationsUnion, Aug 1997

[3] ITU-R, Recommendations, BS-1615, "Planning Parameter forDigital Sound Broadcasting at Fre-quencies Below 30 MHz", Interna-tional Telecommunications Union,2003

[4] ITU-R, Recommendations, P-368-7, "Groundwave PropagationCurves for frequencies Between10 kHz and 30 MHz", Internation-al Telecommunications Union,Mar 1992

[5] G. Millington, "Groundwave Prop-agation over an InhomogeneousSmooth Earth", IEE Proceedings,96 Part III, p.53, Mar 1949

[6] G. Millington, G. A. Isted,“Groundwave Propagation overSmooth Earth: Part 2 – Experi-mental Evidence and PracticalImplications”, Proc. IRE, Vol.97,Part III, pp.209-221, 1950


Figure 4: The GPVT results against real measurement data conducted by Millingtonback in late 1940s [6]. The measurements belong to a 200 km-long propagation path,the first 80 km of which is land and the rest is sea, with the electrical parameters of,

σ = 10.0 mS/m, εr=5.0 (land) and σ = 4.0 S/m, εr=80.0 (sea). The average transmitpower was 1 kW and the frequency of the experiment was 3.13 MHz. The results of

the experiments read from [6] point by point (Solid: GPVT, +++: real data).


BTS Japan Chapter had five jointmeetings with the Institute of ImageInformation and Television Engineers(ITE) below during the first half of2006.

On January 19–20, 2006 at NHKFukuoka Station, Fukuoka, Japan.There were 19 technical presentationsincluding 10 presentations by youngstudents on general topics for broad-casting technology.

On February 10, 2006 at NHKHiroshima Station, Hiroshima, Japan.There were 10 technical presenta-tions on mobile and portable recep-tion for digital terrestrial televisionbroadcasting, 120 GHz millimeterwave transmission for multiple HDTVbaseband signals, 21 GHz transmis-sion indoor experiment for superHDTV, etc.

On February 24–25, 2006 at HotelTsubakien, Oshima, Tokyo, Japan.There were 14 technical presentationsincluding 10 presentations by youngstudents on general topics for broad-casting technology.

On June 23, at Kikai-Shinko-KaikanBldg, Tokyo, Japan. There were sixtechnical presentations on general top-ics for broadcasting technology.

On July 28–29, 2006 at HokkaidoUniversity, Sapporo, Japan. There were13 technical presentations on generaltopics for broadcasting technology andone special topic for emergency warn-ing broadcasting system.

The BTS Japan Chapter is planning

to have three joint meetings with theInstitute of Image Information andTelevision Engineers (ITE),

On October 3–4, 2006 in TohokuUniversity, Sendai, Japan.

On January 16–17, 2007 inKumamoto University, Kumamoto,Japan.

February, 2007 in NHK HiroshimaStation, Hiroshima, Japan.


IEEE BTS Japan Chapter Reportby Keiichi Kubota

Meeting at NHK Hiroshima Station, Hiroshima, Japan Feb., 2006.

Meeting at Hotel Tsubakien, Oshima, Tokyo, Japan Feb., 2006.

IEEE International Symposium on ConsumerElectronics in St. Petersburgby Dmitry A. Tkachenko, Chair IEEE BTS St. Petersburg Chapter

The Tenth IEEE International Sympo-sium on Consumer Electronics ISCE2006 was held in St. Petersburg (Rus-sia) on June 28 – July 1, 2006. Theorganizers of the symposium were theIEEE Russia Northwest (St. Petersburg)Broadcast Technology, ConsumerElectronics and Communications JointChapter and the St. Petersburg State

University of Film and Television incollaboration with the Motorola GSG-Russia St. Petersburg Office and Maga-zine 625. The majority of the work fororganizing the symposium wasaccomplished by the ISCE 2006 Orga-nizing Committee chaired by Prof.Konstantin Glasman. He was assistedby volunteers from the International

Program Committee and the Interna-tional Advisory Committee.

The IEEE International Symposiumon Consumer Electronics is one of twomajor annual events that are held withinthe framework of activities of the IEEEConsumer Electronics Society. The firstevent is the IEEE International Confer-ence on Consumer Electronics (ICCE),


which is held in the USA every year(during the last two years it was co-located with the Consumer Electron-ics Show that is held annually everyJanuary in Las Vegas). The secondregular event is ISCE, which is heldannually in different locationsaround the world outside of theUSA. The idea to hold the ISCE inSt. Petersburg arose in 2003 whenthe IEEE St. Petersburg Joint Chapterof Broadcast Technology and Com-munications Societies joined theIEEE Consumer Electronics Soci-ety. The proposal became realitydue to help of colleagues from theIEEE Consumer Electronics Societyand the enthusiastic work of localIEEE volunteers.

This year’s symposium was a greatsuccess! The ISCE 2006 programincluded 140 accepted papers thatwere selected by program committeefrom more than 200 submissions. Theauthors of the papers came to thesymposium from 22 countries locatedin Asia, Europe, America and Aus-tralia. Korean authors submitted 44accepted papers. Russia was secondwith 23 accepted papers and thirdwas Taiwan with 11 papers. Thesymposium included 14 sessionsthat were held in four paralleltracks. Papers presented at thesymposium represented thenewest research and developmentresults in the field of ConsumerElectronics. The ISCE session titlesreflected the many hot topics inthis field – Automotive and HomeElectronics, Home Networks, Mul-timedia, Video Compression,Mobile Application, TelevisionApplication, RF & Wireless, Digi-tal Rights Management, etc.

The symposium was precededby tutorial on mobile television.The technical part of the tutorialrelated to DVB-H and IP Datacast.This tutorial was delivered by Prof.Ulrich Reimers, head of the DVBTechnical Module. Part of the tutori-al related to content creation formobile and interactive TV was deliv-ered by experts from the St. Peters-burg State University of Film andTelevision. Two keynote speeches

were delivered during the sympo-sium opening ceremonies – by IEEEConsumer Electronics Society Presi-dent Hans Baumgartner and by Prof.Ulrich Reimers. They gave theirvision of the history and the futureof television.

During the symposium banquet, theEngineering Excellence Award waspresented to Prof. Mark Krivocheev, aprominent Russian scientist who has

made significant technical contribu-tions to the development of TV broad-casting in Russia and the world. He isthe author of more than 350 researchand technical publications in the fieldof TV broadcasting including 90patents. Prof. Krivocheev had servedas Chairman of Study Group on TVBroadcasting in the International

Telecommunication Union formore than 30 years. As Chief Sci-entist of the Russia Radio Researchand Development Institute, he ledmany large-scale R&D projects.Prof. Krivocheev was previouslyhonored as a recipient of the mostprestigious Russia State Award. Healso serves as Chair of the IEEERussia Broadcast TechnologyChapter located in Moscow.

A special award for outstand-ing achievements – The Engineer-ing Leadership Award waspresented to Vice-President of theIEEE Consumer Electronics Soci-ety Stefan Mozar who initiated thetradition of holding ISCE sympo-

siums ten years ago and led this tradi-tion to year’s symposium outstandingsuccess. Authors of the three bestISCE 2006 technical papers andauthors of the three best student tech-nical papers were also honored withcorresponding awards.

Volunteers and members of theIEEE Broadcast Technology Societyactively participated in the sympo-sium. A welcome reception was held

on June 28 that was co-sponsoredby the IEEE Broadcast TechnologySociety. BTS volunteers staffed theIEEE membership table togetherwith colleagues from the IEEEConsumer Electronics Society.

Participants of the ISCE 2006symposium enjoyed a cultural pro-gram that included a tour of thenight in St. Petersburg (which isespecially impressive during WhiteNights) and an excursion to theHermitage (the palace and art col-lection of Russian emperors, oneof the most famous museums inthe world). A number of photo-graphs from ISCE 2006 symposiumare available at the symposiumWeb site www.isce2006.ru.

Next year, the ISCE2007 sympo-sium will be held on June 20 – 23,2007 in Dallas, Texas (it will be thefirst ISCE in the USA), so it may be aconvenient option for many BTSmembers to participate in this sympo-sium. Information about next year’ssymposium is available atwww.isce2007.dallasces.org.


BTS volunteers together with IEEE ConsumerElectronics Society President at the IEEE membershiptable. From left to right - Dmitriy Efremov (student),

Dmitry Tkachenko (St.Petersburg Chapter Chair),Hans Baumgartner (President of IEEE CE Society),

Nickolay Kornet (Ph.D. student)

IEEE torte presented at the symposium banquet bySt.Petersburg State University of Film and Television.>From left to right - Konstantin Glasman (ISCE 2006Chair), Robin Bradbeer (ISCE 2005 Chair), AlexanderBelousov (Rector of St.Petersburg State University of

Film and Television) and Hans Baumgartner(President of IEEE CE Society).


Dr. Alexander Artamonov, Deputy Direc-tor of the MART Company and an activemember of St. Petersburg BTS Chapter(Russia), celebrated his 70th birthday onJuly 1, 2006. In 1962, he graduated fromthe Leningrad Institute of AerospaceInstrumentation and started working asan engineer at the Comintern Companythat was the country’s leading manufac-turer of radio transmitters. Since then, hehas published more than 100 researchand technical papers related to differenttypes of radio transmitters. He holds 18patents that were implemented in com-mercial products. In 1980, the Ministry ofCommunications Industry appointedAlexander Artamonov as Chief Engineerfor development of frequency synthesiz-ers and transmitter exciters. The equip-ment developed under his leadershipwas manufactured at numerous factoriesthroughout the country. In 1987, Alexan-der Artamonov obtained his Ph.D.degree in the field of Radio Communica-tions. In 1990, he was honored with theprestigious State Prize Award. The StatePrize awards are conferred every year bythe government of Russia to several indi-viduals or groups of individuals for out-standing achievements in the field ofscience and engineering. Since thenAlexander Artamonov has directed morethan 20 large-scale research and devel-opment electronics projects.

During the middle of the last decade,Alexander Artamonov participated in

establishing the MART Company, whichis one of the successors for CominternCompany. MART is currently one of theleading manufacturers in Russia for TVand radio broadcast transmitters. Alexan-der is an enthusiastic supporter for theintroduction of digital TV and radiobroadcasting in Russia. He served as theChief Engineer for development of thefirst Russian digital TV transmitters. Thesedigital TV transmitters, manufactured in2001, continue operating in several pilotDTV areas located in Russia and othercountries. Alexander Artamonov activelyparticipated in the development work onRussian digital TV broadcasting regula-tions and technical standards. He is cur-rently working on developing DRM radiobroadcast transmitters. Alexander is alsoleading projects for the development of

advanced radiolocation stations.Alexander Artamonov joined the

IEEE and BTS in 1997. He has been anactive member and an organizer of theSt. Petersburg BTS Chapter since itsfounding in 1998. He organized manyBTS Chapter technical meetings held atthe MART Company. Alexander alsoinvited many outstanding Russian andforeign experts to speak at the BTSChapter events. Their participationmade it possible for the BTS Chapter tohost a series of high-quality meetingsdevoted to the development and intro-duction of new digital TV and radiobroadcast technologies. Alexander is amember of Popov Society (Society ofRussian Radio and Electronic Engineerssimilar to IEEE). He is also the organizerand the leader of an informal associa-tion of St. Petersburg industrial compa-nies, universities and research institutesknown as the St. Petersburg DigitalVideo Technology Group. This Groupcoordinates the activities of St. Peters-burg industry and academia for thedevelopment and introduction of digitalTV and radio broadcast technologies.

Members of the St. Petersburg BTSChapter congratulate Alexander on his70th birthday. We wish him many newoutstanding accomplishments in hisprofessional work and look forward tohis continuing active participation inthe activities of the St. Petersburg IEEEBTS Chapter.


IEEE St. Petersburg BTS Chapter ExtendsCongratulations to Alexander Artamonovby Dmitry A. Tkachenko, Chair IEEE BTS St. Petersburg Chapter

Congratulations to the BTS Member who wasrecently elevated to Senior Member Grade!

Ted OlawuyiIEEE Dallas Section

IEEE Senior Members are honoredmembers of the IEEE organization. Wehope you will consider joining the ranksof Senior Members. IEEE Bylaw I-105.3sets forth the criteria for elevation toSenior Member Grade, as follows:

“…a candidate shall be an engi-neer, scientist, educator, technicalexecutive or originator in IEEE-desig-

nated fields. The candidate shall havebeen in professional practice for atleast ten years and shall have shownsignificant performance over a periodof at least five of those years.”

When you become a Senior Mem-ber, you will receive a bronze andwood plaque, a letter to youremployer (upon request) $25

towards a new Society Membership,the recognition of your peers, andthe opportunity to become an exec-utive IEEE volunteer. If you wouldlike to become a Senior Member andneed some help, please contact yourIEEE Section Chair, or BTS SeniorAdministrator, April Monroe [email protected].

Dr. Alexander Artamonov


The purpose of this article is toremind all IEEE members of thechanges in the IEEE Fellow nomina-tion process that have taken placeover the past several years, mainly inthe effort to generate more Fellownominations from industry.

Changes were initiated in 2003 - tothe Fellow process – and to the appro-priate IEEE By-Laws - to assure equalopportunity for election to IEEE Fel-low grade of members with careersinvolving the application of technolo-gy. The changes actually took effectfor the Fellow class of 2005.

The IEEE Bylaws were amended toclarify the eligibility of Application engi-neers and Practitioners, and to establishthe realization of the significant value to

society standard for evaluating nomina-tions. Fellow candidates are now classi-fied as – Application Engineer /Practitioner, Research Engineer / Scien-tist, Technical Leader, or Educator.

Another important step in moderniz-ing the Fellow nomination process isthat the nomination forms and instruc-tions are available on the IEEE Web site– and that the nomination forms cannow be submitted electronically. See theIEEE Web site at (www.ieee.org/fellow).

Although electronic submittal ofFellow nominations is highly recom-mended, and is the preferred methodof submittal, the forms and instruc-tions are also available in hard copy(via E mail to “[email protected]”).Nomination forms are able to be sub-

mitted in either “hard copy”, or elec-tronically via the WEB. The Class of2007 Fellow nomination cycle endsMarch 1st, 2007.

All questions on the Fellow nomi-nation process - or general Fellowquestions should be referred to theIEEE Fellow staff – E mail –“[email protected]”.

IEEE Fellow grade membership isbestowed by the Board of Directorson IEEE Senior Members with anextraordinary record of accomplish-ment in any IEEE field of interest. Theaccomplishments honored shall havecontributed significantly to theadvancement of engineering, scienceand technology, bringing the realiza-tion of significant value to society.


REMINDER - re IEEE Fellow Nominating ProcessRevisions — with Application Engineer / Practitionercategory added


The IEEE Broadcast Technology Society

56th

ANNUAL BROADCAST SYMPOSIUM

Guy Bouchard, Canadian Broadcasting Corp, Chair

27-29 September 2006 Hotel Washington

Washington, DC USA

Preliminary Schedule

Wednesday, 27 September IPTV Tutorial

IPTV, Mobile TV, and Multimedia Technologies

Thursday, 28 September Digital TV Systems & Standards

Unlicensed Devices in the TV Broadcast Bands

Friday, 29 September Distributed Transmission Systems

Radio Broadcast Engineering

Full Registration includes: Wednesday Box Lunch

Wednesday Evening Welcome Reception Thursday BTS/AFCCE Luncheon

Friday BTS Awards Luncheon

PLAN TO ATTEND!

For the latest program information and registration, please visit:

www.ieee.org/btsymposium



IEEE Broadcast Technology Society Newsletter 20 Spring 2006

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.445 Hoes LaneP.O. Box 1331Piscataway, NJ 08855-1331


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