Humber College is leading the way towards the development of Canada’s first Broadcast-Broadband Convergence B2C Lab to explore multisectoral data delivery applications enabled by the new Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) 3.0 television broadcast standard, set to replace the current ATSC 1.0 standard in North America. The B2C Lab is now lit up with ATSC 3.0 in phase one of the lab’s operations beginning in the new year.
The core mission of the B2C Lab is to advance ATSC 3.0 technology and 5G convergence research, development, testing and deployment—creating innovative broadcast television experiences and datacasting applications supporting a host of industries and new business models. Humber’s B2C Lab will be the first industry research lab in North America equipped with both an ATSC 3.0 broadcast system and 5G core network, including a radio frequency (RF) antenna test chamber supporting design and testing of a wide range of wireless devices and prototypes.
One of B2C Lab’s mandates is to foster collaboration among the Humber community by involving faculty, students, and industry partners on its innovative projects. A prominent example of its collaborative endeavour is a filming project to create visual and audio test sequences led by Professor Iljo Kotorencev, Faculty of Media & Creative Arts (FMCA). Along with Daniel Ferreira and Domenic Paron, these third-year students in Film and Television Production (FMTV) advanced diploma program at Humber are the first to be actively contributing to building research capacity for the new lab. As part of the project, the team has filmed several visual sequences that will be edited and adapted specifically for the B2C Lab’s use-case applications.
Professor Kotorencev explains that the video sequences represent both Humber College and Canada to B2C Lab’s partner research institutions globally. Accordingly, the project team has sought to capture Canada’s glorious landscape and topography in iconic Canadian landmarks such as Niagara Falls, Rouge National Park, and CN Tower.
“We filmed in emblematic Canadian locations because the video sequences represent both Humber College and Canada to international research partners and institutions.”– Iljo Kotorencev
The video sequences will be highlighted with Humber’s logo and form a valuable contribution to international ATSC 3.0 standards research.
The B2C Lab is actively participating with ATSC in a project known as Inter-Tower Communications Network. ITCN will enable both television and data delivery between broadcast towers leading to the development of a broadcast core network. This innovation will further enable the broadcast industry by introducing new point-to-multipoint services including broadcast internet delivery, datacasting tele-education, tele-agriculture, Internet of Things (IoT) deployment, connected car networking and more. With multiple transmitter-antenna tower system currently being designed and implemented across three locations between Humber’s North and Lakeshore Campuses, the B2C Lab will become a world test site for ITCN. As part of a global research team, the B2C Lab is working on the above innovations with University of Basque Country in Spain, the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) in South Korea, and the Communications Research Centre (CRC) in Ottawa.
Professor Kotorencev shares that he is thrilled in anticipation of the various ways the footage will be used for B2C Lab’s research and development and communication purposes. He also remarks that the video sequence project has been an excellent way for his students to gain hands-on experience with filming as they availed a valuable opportunity to apply in-class learnings in a real-world setting. In addition, the project team has demonstrated how Humber’s forward-thinking and collaborative mindset can create a multitude of opportunities to be involved with the B2C Lab’s projects and initiatives.
“The B2C Lab presents endless opportunities for creative and technical research and collaboration in a new era of television and internet delivery.” –Iljo Kotorencev
To learn more about the B2C Lab, please visit www.B2Convergence.ca
To learn more about research opportunities for faculty and students, please contact Orest Sushko, B²C Lab Director at orest.sushko@humber.ca
Reference
Kotorencev, I. (2021). Research Promo.mp4 [Video]. Humber College.