Performance Evaluation of the MPE-iFEC Sliding RS Encoding for DVB-H Streaming Services David Goz´ alvez, David G´ omez-Barquero, Narc´ ıs Cardona Mobile Communications Group, iTEAM Research Institute Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain Email: {dagoser, dagobar, ncardona}@iteam.upv.es Abstract—This article studies the performance of the Sliding RS Encoding (SRSE) in the transmission of streaming services in DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting - Transmission System for Handheld Terminals) networks. The SRSE forms part of a set of specifications called MPE-iFEC which has been recently defined in the DVB-SH (Digital Video Broadcasting - Satellite Services to Handheld Devices) standard and is fully compatible with the link layer of DVB-H. MPE-iFEC is capable of encoding information related to different datagram bursts in a jointly manner in order to counteract the long signal blockages expected in satellite reception. This is what is usually referred to as Multi- Burst Encoding (MBE) and provides a protection that extends across several time sliced bursts. MBE can also improve the reception in terrestrial networks such as DVB-H, which relay in the use of MPE-FEC (Multi Protocol Encapsulation - Forward Error Correction) for link layer protection. The SRSE employs the same Reed Solomon (RS) algorithm used in MPE-FEC and a sliding encoding mechanism in order to perform MBE. This paper evaluates the improvements that the use of SRSE can achieve over the legacy MPE-FEC using vehicular urban field measurements in a DVB-H single frequency network. The effect of the different parameters that regulate the operation of the SRSE will be evaluated and the best configurations for its use in DVB-H will be highlighted. I. I NTRODUCTION Today is commonly accepted the necessity of broadcast networks in order to offer mobile TV services. These networks are capable of distributing high speed multimedia services around wide extensions without any limitation in the number of users that can receive the service. The European Mobile Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) standard is known as DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting - Handhelds), which is a technological evolution of the Digital Terrestrial Television (Digital Video Broadcasting - Terrestrial) standard, adapted to mobile reception [1]. DVB-H was originally designed to work in the UHF band between 470 and 862 MHz, and is capable of providing a capacity between 5 and 10 Mb/s in an 8 MHz channel. Although DVB-H maintains the physical layer of DVB-T, it adds new link layer elements, making possible a reutilization of the network infrastructure (trans- mitters, multiplexers etc.). Its main features are a transmission technique called time slicing where data is periodically sent in bursts, and an additional link layer error correction mechanism called MPE-FEC (Multi Protocol Encapsulation - Forward Error Correction) which provides a more robust transmission in the presence of mobility and impulse interference. The MPE-FEC protection incorporated into the DVB-H standard has been proved not to be very effective in urban and indoor scenarios. MPE-FEC can only correct partial burst losses and is not capable of repairing bursts where all the information is lost. In order to correct complete burst losses it is necessary to encode information from several consecutive bursts in a jointly manner. This technique is usually referred to as Multi Burst Encoding (MBE). MBE has been standardized in DVB-H for the provision of file delivery services by means of AL-FEC (Application Layer - Forward Error Correction) [2]. The use of AL-FEC to improve the reception of DVB-H streaming services has been previously studied in [3], where the idea of delivering streaming content as a succession of time-constrained files is developed. The new DVB-SH (Digital Video Broadcasting - Satellite Services to Handheld Devices) standard [4] defines a new link layer protection framework called MPE-iFEC. MPE-iFEC was designed to cope with the characteristic impairments of the satellite propagation channel. In satellite transmissions, the signal is usually blocked by buildings and trees, resulting in the presence of long error periods in the received information that can corrupt entire time sliced bursts. However, terrestrial systems as DVB-H can also suffer from shadowing, espe- cially if a low number of transmitters have been deployed. MPE-iFEC is fully compatible with the link layer of DVB-H and thus can be used in DVB-H networks to improve the reception of streaming services. At present, the Sliding Reed Solomon Encoding (SRSE) is the only MPE-iFEC mapping incorporated into the DVB-SH implementation guides [5]. The SRSE is a MPE-iFEC configuration that encodes together information from different bursts by means of a sliding encoding approach. As it employs the same Reed Solomon (255,191) encoding algorithm as MPE-FEC, the SRSE allows the reuse of several components of the MPE-FEC implemen- tation, which facilitates the incorporation of MPE-iFEC into the user terminals. DVB-H networks can be easily updated with MPE-iFEC protection, improving the user experience and extending the service area without the need of new network infrastructure. The paper is structured as it follows. The limitations of MPE-FEC to achieve good quality reception in the presence of long signal blockages and the necessity of MBE mechanisms are explained in chapter II. Chapter III is dedicated to the description of the SRSE along with all its parameters. In