Time Frequency Slicing coverage gain modeling for future broadcasting networks

This paper presents a model to characterize the potential coverage advantage of Time Frequency Slicing (TFS) in the new generation digital terrestrial TV networks. TFS is a novel digital TV transmission technique that exploits both time and frequency diversity by means of time-slicing and frequency hopping. TFS breaks with the traditional transmission of TV services in independent and single multiplexes by means of using the radiofrequency (RF) channels in the broadcasting band as a whole. This operation leads to an increased coverage advantage since the variations in the received signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) between different RF channels, due to the frequency-dependent characteristics of the transmission, can be smoothed. Some studies have revealed and analyzed the existence of this coverage gain that is of paramount importance when conducting network planning operations in order to know the real coverage of the service area. However, it has not ever been parameterized and, thus, not yet accurately added to the link budget calculations.