Incorporating digital repeaters into the soft handover standard in digital video broadcasting for handhelds

Digital Video Broadcasting for Handhelds (DVB-H) is a standard for broadcasting IP data to portable devices. This paper proposes and analyses the Repeater-Aided Soft Handover (RA_handover) algorithm for a DVB-H receiver with Multiple Input–Multiple Output (MIMO) antennas and presents the benefits of implementing the RA_handover compared with a handover process without repeaters. Simulation models are developed to analyse the RA_handover approach. It is shown that the RA_handover could greatly improve the quality of service and consume much less front-end battery power than the handover method without repeaters. This paper also provides valuable outcomes for service providers and standard policymakers.