Candidate-Standard Period on ATSC 3.0's Physical Layer Expires April 4, Samsung Says
The candidate-standard period on the just-approved ATSC 3.0 physical transmission layer expires April 4, Samsung said Tuesday in a statement hailing the standard’s approval after a four-week ballot (see 1509290029). Until April 4, which is about two weeks before the opening of NAB Show in Las Vegas, the candidate standard will undergo “prototype testing,” after which it enters the phase to be considered as a “full” standard, Samsung said.
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Of the dozen or more building blocks just approved for the physical layer, two include the Samsung-developed “low-density parity-check” (LDPC) and “non-uniform constellation” (NUC) components, Samsung said. The LDPC is a “cutting-edge” forward error correction technology that “makes it possible to reduce the amount of redundancy bits, thus increasing the system’s spectral efficiency,” Samsung said. The NUC component is for “generating the modulated symbols and optimizing the transmission capacity for all reception conditions,” the company said. When combined, the LDPC and NUC components “will strengthen ATSC 3.0’s ability” to deliver Ultra HD and high-dynamic-range programming, “as well as other new broadcast services,” Samsung said. It also worked with Sinclair’s ONE Media to develop the physical layer’s “bootstrap” system, which in May became the first ATSC 3.0 ingredient elevated to candidate standard status (see 1505070022).
During the candidate-standard period, "people both inside and outside ATSC" can download the candidate standard document "and try it out, including testing prototypes built to" that candidate standard, John Godfrey, senior vice president-public policy at Samsung Electronics America, emailed us Wednesday. ATSC collects comments "and may or may not revise the document" during the candidate-standard period, which has "no fixed time period," Godfrey said. "It’s whatever the technical experts recommend and vote to approve along with the elevation of the document" to candidate standard, he said.
After the candidate-standard period expires, "I believe it automatically drops back down to a working draft status, unless another vote is taken by the technology group (TG3) to extend the CS period or the document is elevated by TG3 to a Proposed Standard," Godfrey said. "By full standard, we mean a document that TG3 has elevated to a Proposed Standard and then is immediately balloted and approved by the full ATSC membership, at which point it’s not Proposed anymore, it’s an ATSC Standard. To be completely accurate, ATSC doesn’t have to wait to the end of the CS period to elevate the document to Proposed Standard and then Standard; it could happen sooner if people felt ready."
The candidate-standard period on ATSC 3.0's physical layer is "targeted to end" April 4, ATSC President Mark Richer confirmed in a Wednesday email. But TG3 can elevate the candidate-standard document to proposed-standard status any time before April 4, Richer said. The candidate-standard period "may also be extended," he said.