FLO forum pushes ahead with mobile TV standardization
John Walko
EE Times
(01/12/2006 10:43 AM EST)
eet.com
LONDON — The FLO Forum, the association established to push the Qualcomm conceived Forward- Link-Only technology for mobile TV, has submitted the FLO Air Interface Specification (AIS) to the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA)'s Subcommittee TR-47.1.
This committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of terrestrial mobile multimedia multicast standards and TR-47.1 is the subcommittee focused on FLO technology standardization.
"This is a significant milestone, and goes back to the strategy Qualcomm outlined a year ago regarding the global standardization effort we are following with this technology,” Kamil Grajski, president of the FLO Forum, told EETimes .
The Forum, which now boasts over 20 members including component suppliers Qualcomm Technologies and Newport Media, handset makers Samsung, LG Electronics, Sanyo and Sharp, infrastructure and test gear providers such as Harris and Rohde & Schwarz, and operators such as KT and the Korean group’s wireless subsidiary KTF, plus content suppliers, ratified the Forward Link-Only air interface specification late last year.
The Forum is preparing additional specifications, including Minimum Performance Specifications for FLO devices and FLO transmitters. These are expected to be ready for submission to the standards development organizations in early 2006, said Grajski.
He added the number of companies involved the forum, and thus groups committed to the standardization and adoption of the FLO technology, is likely to increase substantially over the coming months, but would not elaborate on which companies are poised to join.
A likely new member is Verizon, which recently signed a deal with MediaFLO, the Qualcomm subsidiary that is building the mobile television infrastructure, to distribute the service. |
