A Hierarchical Modulation for Upgrading Digital Broadcast Systems

TL;DR

This paper introduces a hierarchical modulation scheme to upgrade digital broadcast systems, enabling additional data transmission while maintaining backward compatibility with existing receivers.

Contribution

It proposes a novel hierarchical modulation method that allows system upgrades without disrupting current receivers and analyzes the tradeoffs involved.

Findings

Backward compatibility with existing receivers.

Tradeoff analysis between data rate and performance penalty.

Enhanced data capacity in upgraded systems.

Abstract

A hierarchical modulation scheme is proposed to upgrade an existing digital broadcast system, such as satellite TV, or satellite radio, by adding more data in its transmission. The hierarchical modulation consists of a basic constellation, which is the same as in the original system, and a secondary constellation, which carries the additional data for the upgraded system. The upgraded system with the hierarchical modulation is backward compatible in the sense that receivers that have been deployed in the original system can continue receiving data in the basic constellation. New receivers can be designed to receive data carried in the secondary constellation, as well as those in the basic constellation. Analysis will be performed to show the tradeoff between bit rate of the data in secondary constellation and the penalty to the performance of receiving the basic constellation.