Project partners Kathrein and Rohde & Schwarz supplied its antennas and transmitters that contributed to the success of powering HPHT LTE broadcast
As project partners of the Bavarian research project, 5G Today, Kathrein and Rohde & Schwarz have been investigating large-scale TV broadcasters in the Further evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (FeMBMS), also known as LTE broadcast, mode over 5G networks.
On December 4, both companies marked two milestones of the 5G Today research project where a Rohde & Schwarz transmitter successfully went into operation at Bayerishcer Rundfunk’s (BR) Wendelstein transmitter station, and Kathrein completed an antenna for test operation at BR’s transmitter site in Ismaning near Munich, Germany.
The test transmission involves an R&S THU9evo transmitter with a transmission power of 5kW, and a Kathrein antenna. The Rohde & Schwarz transmission addresses broadcast applications for video and IP data in high-power high-tower (HPHT) topologies with bandwidths of 5MHz and 10MHz. The transmitter receives the reference and configuration data via 3GPP-conform protocols from an LTE Evolved Packet Core (EPC).
Furthermore, the research project uses the Rohde & Schwarz broadcast service and control centre (BSCC) that contains all the necessary EPC functions. The broadcast services are provided by BR, and transferred to the R&S BSCC via an R&S AVHE100 headend.
The transmitters in Ismaning and Wendelstein form a single frequency network (SFN), to enable mobile and portable reception in the greater Munich area as well as on the main traffic routes between Munich and Salzburg. Kathrein developed an antenna for the transmission of diversity signals for the transmitter station in Ismaning. A total of 12 UHF antenna fields were installed at a height of 200m. The project also included the installation of a 370m-long HF transmission cable.
Another Rohde & Schwarz transmitter with 7kW output power for 100kW ERP is to be connected to the antenna at the end of January next year. The test broadcasting network will then be prepared for the measurements.
