Objective video quality control of integrated digital receiver in the context of Electro Magnetic Compatibility tests

Keywords: video quality - electromagnetic tests - CISPR 20 - reduced reference approach - quality assessment method

General Description
This patented technology is video quality control of integrated digital receiver in the context of EMC (ElectroMagnetic Compatibility) tests.
The technology can be used to design an automatic system for video assessment of receivers and set-top-boxes exposed to immunity measurements.
This allows to perform video assessment to produce alarms in case of impairments, with the aim to make the task easier for the test operator.

EMC tests are performed to check electromagnetic compatibility for receivers and integrated digital television.
Tests are done in accordance with CISPR 20 international standard.

The generic test consists in stressing the equipment under test, by means of different electromagnetic waves, while the operator estimates the quality of the delivered signal.

The main innovative aspects are

- This technology is in accordance with the new revision of EN 55020 Recommendation about EMC tests for digital equipment.
- The innovative approach is to use a reduced reference scheme to assess video quality of equipment under test.
The reduced reference approach is more precise than no reference approach and very efficient when no reference signal is available.

The main advantage that can be considered are

- The objective quality assessment makes the tests more reproducible and saves operator’s time. Furthermore, the test is more precise because it isn’t dependant from operator skill and attention.
- The technology is well suited to EMC tests because it provides a comparative diagnostic based on the difference of quality with or without stress.
- The computation of reference features takes a few times and is recorded on a local hard disk. Then, the comparison can be recorded too and result data file can be generated for the test.
- The prototype device that implements the method is called EVA (Equipment for Video Assessment). It is mainly composed of a computer and a DSP board for an efficient processing of the impairment features.


Type of collaboration sought:
Licence agreement
Intellectual Property Rights:
Patent granted
Type of partner:
Test and measurement manufacturer

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