TV white spaces exploitation for multimedia signal distribution

The new spectrum regulation policies for dynamic spectrum access, especially those concerning the use of the white spaces in the Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) bands, arise the need for fast and reliable signal identification and classification methods. In this paper we present a two-stage identification method for signals in the white spaces, using combined energy detection and feature detection. The band of interest is divided by means of the Discrete Wavelet Packet Transformation (DWPT) in sub-bands where the signal power is calculated. Modulation classifiers taking into account the statistical parameters of the signal in the wavelet domain are used as features for identifying the modulation schemes, in this case specifically for the DVB-T broadcast standard. Finally, a signal transmission architecture based on Motion JPEG XR has been implemented in order to explore and evaluate a practical application of indoor signal distribution over white-spaces. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.