Rohde & Schwarz today announced the successful installation of what it called the industry's first fully-compliant ATSC mobile DTV multiplexer and exciter for the new A/153 mobile DTV standard at Sinclair Broadcast Group's WNUV Baltimore.

One of the key products for this ATSC mobile DTV operation is the R&S SX800. This fully frequency-agile exciter is already used in the newest ATSC and NTSC medium power air-cooled and high power liquid-cooled Rohde & Schwarz transmitter systems. It is also available for use in transmitters from other manufacturers.

Introduced in 2006, it supports all worldwide TV broadcasting standards, including ATSC, MediaFLO, DVB-T/H and ISDB-Tb. Now it is also ATSC mobile DTV and Single Frequency Network (SFN) capable. Existing ATSC A/53 transmitters that use the R&S SX800 exciter can be updated to ATSC A/153.

The heart of the system is the new R&S AEM100 emission multiplexer, which includes the IP encapsulator, a signaling generator and the mobile DTV multiplexer. This single RU high product fully supports ATSC mobile DTV and SFN operation, and is integrated into existing installations, leaving the standard ATSC A/53 multiplexer in place.

The R&S AEM100 comes with the SFN function already integrated. This function, which can be optionally activated, makes it possible to supply the ATSC mobile DTV transport stream from the multiplexer to several transmitters. This allows simultaneous transmission on the same frequency in SFNs.

The complete ATSC mobile DTV functionality is configured controlled and monitored using a Web browser locally or remotely. All commands for automatic monitoring and for the instrument settings are available over an SNMP interface.

"The Rohde & Schwarz line of transmission products was a natural fit with our existing station infrastructure. The ability to do a simple 'flash upgrade' of our R&S SX800 exciters in our transmitters to the new ATSC mobile DTV standard was the clincher," said Mark Aitken, director of advanced technology for the Sinclair Broadcast Group. "We continue to explore the opportunities that mobile DTV provides for broadcasters and we're confident with the ability of Rohde & Schwarz to develop these products quickly and efficiently. Going ATSC mobile was made easy by Rohde & Schwarz."

The newly adopted ATSC mobile DTV standard A/153 enables the broadcast industry to offer real-time programming and services to mobile customers almost anywhere, and provides them with new potential revenue opportunities.