Leading Edge

MBMS

MBMS, the next hot topic?

By Cui Jinglong

Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) technology is set to be the next hot telecom technology for good reason. It solves the
dual problems of inadequate bandwidth and insufficient capacity that troubles traditional mobile telecom technology, and features a
clear and controllable industry chain. Cell Multimedia Broadcast (CMB) - the simplified MBMS solution - provides a new choice for
operators to preempt the multimedia broadcast market prior to the arrival of MBMS, and gives them the means to deal with the
potential threats posed by the BCMCS service.

S
ince 2004, 3G high-speed multimedia To guarantee the mobile TV service, the majority of
services have been booming worldwide. handset TV technologies represent an enhanced version
The development of mobile telecom and of the original terrestrial broadcasting technology. The
broadcast technologies encourages the new technology offers coverage equal to the area
market demand for mobile multimedia provided by terrestrial broadcasts, high bandwidth and
services, and the immensity of the global market is large large capacity. The advantages that seek to meet the
enough to shoulder and boost multiple, simultaneously requirements of highly mobile personal users include
available technologies. power saving and anti-Doppler frequency shift. The
Based on the current status of broadband multimedia difference between various terrestrial TV broadcast
services and technologies, this paper analyzes the technologies lies in the physical layers modulation
technological features of MBMS and briefly introduces technology.
the CMB, the simplified MBMS solution first practiced In line with the differences of propagation signal
by Huawei. features, satellite broadcast handset TV technologies can
be divided into two types: The Korean S-DMS that
Broadband mobile multimedia transmits the multimedia broadcast signal and the
service and bearer technology European S-DMB that
transmits the 3GPP
With the gradual popularization of large screen, high R6 standard
performance and low power-consumption terminals, the MBMS signal.
dream of employing personal portable terminals anytime S i nce t h e
and anywhere to enjoy multimedia services such as inception of
streaming becomes reality. As a representative of the GRPS/CDMA1X
broadband mobile multimedia service, radio bearer of 2.5G, mobile
technology is applicable to handset TVs and the telecom
equipment is attractive to the telecom industry. Terminal technology
suppliers, network equipment suppliers, mobile supports
operators, broadcast operators, service providers and mobile data services. In 3G
even governments have a stake in this. era, bandwidth promotes a
Although mobile operators currently more lucid expression of the
dominate the handset TV service with video medium. The emergence of
mainstream mobile telecom technology, broadcast and multicast will
other radio bearer technologies exist that can enable mobile telecom
provide mobile multimedia services. So far, ne tw o rks to trans m it
there are three types of typical handset TV multimedia services more
radio bearer technology: terrestrial effectively to handset TVs.
broadcast, satellite broadcast and mobile telecom. An ideal handset TV

47 NOV 2005 ISSUE 19


should be convenient, cheap and con-
sistently high quality. Crucial to meeting
these requirements are the terminal, network
rate, service interaction, capacity, and related
government policies. The price and
performance of terminals determines the
response from users. The terrestrial broadcast
and satellite broadcast adopt band and
modulation technologies that differ from
those found in mobile telecommunications.
To realize the handset TV function, radio
frequency and baseband modules for TV
signal reception must be added to the
original mobile phone. Comparatively,
mobile telecom technology has intrinsic
advantages in terms of terminals.
Function details
Network rate directly decides service
quality, and satellite and terrestrial
broadcasts benefit from high service
bandwidths. Mobile telecom technology has
developed from original 2.5G, which
supports multiple frame frequency, to 3G,
which nearly equals a TV with respect to
frame frequency support.
The interaction function facilitates the
management and billing of users, and
provides audio-visual entertainment such as
live voting and downloading. Given their
high coverage areas, satellite and terrestrial
TV technology must inversely cooperate
with mobile networks to stimulate
interaction. The high coverage area also risks
the creation of policy control when
integrating these technologies.
The network capacity indirectly
determines user cost and user charge. All
broadcast (multicast) technologies possess
obvious cost advantages when many users
s im u l tane ou s l y re ce ive broadba nd
multimedia. This is the main reason why
current handset televisions adopt uni-cast
technology so as to foster and develop users
habits instead of just profiting from the
service.
The differences between the three main
handset TV bearer technologies are
summarized in Table 1.
Obviously, with the arrival of 3G and
MBMS broadcast and with multicast
maturity, the relevant telecom technology
still offers the original advantages of service
flexibility, unified terminals and no policy
Table 1 Comparison of mobile phone bearer technologies
Mobile handset TV radio bearing
Terrestrial broadcast
Satellite broadcast
Mobile telecom Unicast
(Take 3G as the example) Multicast broadcast
risks. Additionally, great improvements and
even reforms in bandwidth and capacity can
be seen.
In the realm of handset TVs, the
appearance of MBMS brings a new chance
for mobile operators to dominate the
handset TV market and boost average
revenue per user (ARPU). MBMS is the best
choice in terms of handset TV radio bearer
technology for mobile operators.
MBMS, the new focus
MBMS is a multimedia broadcast
multicast function defined in 3GPP R6.
Drafting of the MBMS standard began in
2002 and was frozen in September 2005.
Actual network implementation is predicted
for 2007 and, prior to 2008, 3G networks
will promote the MBMS service.
MBMS changes the original WCDMA
network in the following ways: BM-SC
network elements (NE) are added; The
MBMS function of existing PS domain-
related NEs is upgraded to support MBMS-
specific interface functions, such as Gmb;
Specific channels (such as MICH, MTCH/
MCCH/MSCH) are added; MBMS
Service platform
All subscribers of the lub interface
share one channel and the
interface transmits only one datum
All subscribers of the Uu
interface share one public
channel and the interface
transmits only one datum
Figure 1 Network architecture of CMB
Huawei Technologies
Terminal Bandwidth Interactive Capacity Policy
+ +
+ +
+ 0 + +
+ 0 + + +
supports a specific physical layer process
(FACH channel selection combination,
switchover between PTM and PTP); MBMS
offers specific business processes, such as
subscription.
In relation to the terminal, MBMS still
conforms to the existing 3GPP standard.
Besides the improvements to terminal power
consumption, storage, multimedia pro-
cessing and monitor technologies, other
legacy technologies represent enhanced
versions of the original baseband processing
functions. So, the MBMS terminals bearing
the broadband multimedia service retain
functional compatibility with the existing
terminals.
In terms of bandwidth, MBMS can
download and transmit streaming at the
maximum rate of 256kbps. 128kbps is
enough to meet the reception requirements
of images with specifications of 15fps QCIF
176144 combined with 12.2kbps voice,
such as would be needed for sports programs.
With respect to interaction, MBMS
possesses no specially defined uplink
channels, but it can utilize existing uplink
control channels to perform business control
process such as subscription and adding
Multimedia program source:
MTV, movie preview,
advertisements
All subscribers of the lu interface
share one channel and the interface
transmits only one datum
NOV 2005 ISSUE 19 48
 Leading Edge
MBMS
services. It utilizes uplink traffic channels to
realize interactive services that cooperate
with the downlink broadcast/multicast.
When considering capacity, MBMS
provides the point-to-multipoint multi-
media transmission mechanism, and the
service mode referred to as Send Once,
Charge many times. Resource consumption
is therefore unrelated to the increase in the
number of subscribers. A solution comes
into play for utilizing the precious 3G
s pe ct r u m re s ou rce s , l u b inte r f ace
transmission resources, and poor mobile
network capacity. MBMSs capacity and cost
advantages increase correspondingly with the
number of subscribers. When the number
of multicast subscribers is few to none, the
network can either flexibly allocate specific
channels to given subscribers, or it can close
the multicast service channel. These mobile
network based resource management
technologies render the MBMS technology
extremely efficient in terms of capacity
management.
The maturity of MBMS technology will
undoubtedly strengthen broadband
streaming flow and downloading services.
This raises the following question: before the
arrival of MBMS, can operators control
subscribers habits through uni-cast
streaming only, and then restrict the
49 NOV 2005 ISSUE 19
subscriber numbers via charging strategies
that in turn control the occupation of rare
air interface and transmission resources? The
answer is no - the Huawei PreMBMS-CMB
provides the solution.
Huawei PreMBMS
-CMB solution
The CMB is an end-to-end cell
multimedia service solution innovated by
Huawei. It supports R6 MBMS features, but
does not change to existing R4/R99 NE
hardware to preserve the advantages offered
by the broadcast mode and to lower the
impact of existing NEs. Huawei wants to
s e e th e s im pl if ie d M BM S rapid l y
manufactured in order to fill the tech-
nological vacuum before the arrival of
MBMS. This will help mobile operators to
preempt the broadband mobile multimedia
market with more effective measures than
uni-cast streaming offers.
The network structure of CMB is shown
in the diagram Figure 1. For the existing
NEs, RNC and service platform software
should be upgraded. A slight modification
of terminal software can provide multimedia
broadcast/multicast services under the
existing network architecture.
The innovative end-to-end CMB
solution represents a practical, manageable
and future-oriented mobile broadband
solution. In addition to the perfect
functioning of authentication, encryption
and billing, it also allows for the smooth
evolution to future MBMS, which provides
advanced benefits for operators with respect
to the operation of broadband multimedia
services. Given this, long-term profit
margins can be maintained.
Conclusion
The increase of voice service penetration
and the decrease of ARPU are forcing mobile
operators to find new ultra value-added data
services that allow handset TVs to become
an attractive purchase proposition. As
MBMS solves the traditional telecom
technological problems of insufficient
bandwidth and capacity and gives a clear and
controllable industry chain, many mobile
operators have become very interested in
MBMS. As one of the few end-to-end
equipment suppliers in the industry, the
CMB solution provides operators the chance
to penetrate the multimedia broadcast
market before MBMS arrives, and therefore
address the potential threats caused by the
BCMSCS service.