CODED ORTHOGONAL FREQUENCY-DIVISION MULTIPLEX

Technological evolution and the ever-increasing demand for higher-quality services give broadcasters a strong incentive to completely digitize their broadcasting networks. This digitization, which is already well advanced in many program production areas and transmission links, now has to be extended to complete the last link in the broadcast chain; i.e., from broadcast transmitter to consumer receivers. It is therefore necessary to develop wholly new techniques for the broadcasting of digitally coded TV programmes. Thus an efficient baseband digital coding must be combined with a robust digital modulation and channel coding scheme that can meet the requirements of every mode of broadcast reception. This article presents the research work related to the coded orthogonal frequency division multiplex (COFDM) technology, which has now been completed in the field of digital radio (DAB) [1], and which is under progress in the field of digital terrestrial TV.