Convergence of cellular and broadcast networks from a multi-radio perspective

The demand of both the new telecom industry and digital broadcasters for co st-efficient provisioning of mobile multimedia services faces the reality o f scarce radio resources. Various digital mobile and broadcast radio techno logies have been developed and specifically been optimized. How ever, exist ing and emerging multimedia services exhibit challenging requirements in te rms of asymmetry, interactivity, real time, and mulicast communication. Thi s article describes an evolution of an IF-based infrastructure from today's networks toward a future multi-radio infrastructure, taking into account t he implications on thr end-user terminal. This multi-radio infrastructure e nables the cooperation of existing radio networks to combine their spectrum -efficient capabilities, whereby high-quality mobile multimedia services sh all be provided. Furthermore, the need for dynamic allocation of spectrum t o radio services is motivated. The basic functionality and architecture of a multi-radio system are outlined, with a special emphasis on cooperation b etween different radio systems. Also, an evolution path for the convergence of broadcast and new telecom is described, starting from today's systems a nd leading to a fully coordinated system.