Analysis of the electric field strength location variability in the UHF band for mobile and portable multimedia broadband services in SFN networks

This paper describes the location variability of the received field strength derived from the statistical analysis of data obtained during a set of tests carried out in the cities of Bilbao and Madrid. The systems and services referred in this study are those ones operating in UHF band, specifically in TV Bands IV and V (470 860 MHz). Their evaluation has been based on the empirical references of standards originated inside the DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting) Consortium. Nevertheless, the obtained results can be extrapolated to the deployment of other standards operating in similar frequencies with a comparable bandwidth such us MediaFlo, ATSC M/H and so on. The main conclusion of this work is that the current values recommended by ITU-R and ETSI are pessimistic for SFN and MFN scenarios, different reception environments and digital terrain database granularities sizes below 100 meters ("small areas" according to the planning procedures). In that case, the standard deviation of the received field strength values is always lower than 3 dB.