ATSC 3.0 Delivers ‘Significantly Improved’ Mobile Reception, FCC’s OET Is Told

Cleveland field tests done in June found that ATSC 3.0 delivers “significantly improved mobile reception capability” over the existing ATSC 1.0 DTV standard, LG, Zenith and GatesAir told the FCC in a Wednesday ex parte notice in docket 16-142. The test results are “pertinent” to the petition for rulemaking asking the FCC to authorize voluntary use of ATSC 3.0's physical layer (see 1604130065), and were submitted at the request of Martin Doczkat, chief of the Technical Analysis Branch in the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology, the filing said. That “highly reliable in-vehicle mobile reception was achieved” in the tests using tens of thousands of ATSC 3.0 “data points” bodes well for the “current and future” automotive industry, including autonomous cars, LG, Zenith and GatesAir told the commission. The tests originating from “experimental facilities” owned by WJW Cleveland generated “clean” reception to a mobile van more than 80 percent of the time in ATSC 3.0's “most rugged mode,” the companies said. Reception, as "anticipated," was “poor” when testing ATSC 3.0 in a moving vehicle in the less robust “stationary” mode, they said. They also said “because challenging routes were chosen, results should not be considered as statistical over the entire service area.” Their goal in the field tests was to “challenge the system,” they said.