Medición y análisis de los niveles de señal de la televisión digital terrestre en ciudad de Panamá utilizando un UAV

Fermín A. Póvaz J.; Jenny I. Ríos Z.

doi:10.48204/j.scientia.v35n2.a7704

Submitted July 11, 2025

Published 2025-07-10

Artículos

Vol. 35 No. 2 (2025): Scientia

Measurement and analysis of digital terrestrial television signal levels in Panama City using an unmanned aerial vehicle UAV

Fermín A. Póvaz J. ⁺⁻
Jenny I. Ríos Z. ⁺⁻

DOI https://doi.org/10.48204/j.scientia.v35n2.a7704

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DOI: 10.48204/j.scientia.v35n2.a7704

Published: 2025-07-10

How to Cite

Póvaz J. , F. A., & Ríos Z. , J. I. (2025). Measurement and analysis of digital terrestrial television signal levels in Panama City using an unmanned aerial vehicle UAV. Scientia, 35(2), 126–154. https://doi.org/10.48204/j.scientia.v35n2.a7704

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Abstract

This study explores the feasibility of using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) equipped with a Raspberry Pi 3 board as an RF signal capture platform. The setup integrates a software-defined radio (SDR), a GPS unit, and a receiving antenna to measure signal levels of Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) channels in Panama City. An automatically programmed flight plan is implemented for the drone, and measurements are conducted at 10 distinct locations using the four-fixed-points method. The evaluation compares this approach to the conventional procedure recommended by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), which utilizes a capture unit and an antenna tuned to the frequencies of DTT channels. The focus is on relative efficiency, assessed in terms of measurement time. This study provides insights into the utility of UAVs for measuring DTT signals in urban environments such as Panama City. Notably, the developed measurement method achieves time savings of approximately 11.74 hours compared to the conventional method.

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References

Al-Hourani, A., Kandeepan, S., y Lardner, S. (2014). Optimal LAP altitude for maximum coverage. IEEE Wireless Communications Letters, 3(6), 569–572. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/LWC.2014.2342736
Autoridad Nacional de los Servicios Públicos (ASEP). (2009). Recomendaciones técnicas para la recepción de señales de televisión digital terrestre (DVB-T) en Panamá. ASEP. https://www.asep.gob.pa/
Autoridad de los Servicios Públicos (ASEP). (2023). Base de datos de frecuencias operativas de transmisión de señales de televisión digital DVB-T. ASEP. https://asep.gob.pa/direcciones/telecomunicaciones/radio-y-television-digital/
Fanan, A., Riley, N., Mehdawi, M., Ammar, M., y Zolfaghari, M. (2016, January 8). Comparison of spectrum occupancy measurements using software defined radio RTL-SDR with a conventional spectrum analyzer approach. 2015 23rd Telecommunications Forum Telfor (TELFOR), 200–203. https://doi.org/10.1109/TELFOR.2015.7377447
Gravetter, F. J., y Wallnau, L. B. (2020). Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences (10th ed.). Cengage Learning.
International Telecommunication Union. (2005). Recommendation ITU-R SM.1708-1: Field-strength measurements along a route with geographical coordinate registrations. ITU-R. https://www.itu.int/rec/R-REC-SM.1708-1
International Telecommunication Union. (2020). SM.1875: DVB-T/T2 coverage measurements and verification of planning criteria. https://www.itu.int/dms_pubrec/itu-r/rec/sm/R-REC-SM.1875-4-202209-I!!PDF-E.pdf
Ježek, J., ?íha, O., y Vo?ka, J. (2019). DVB?T?based passive radar for simultaneous counter?drone operations and civil air traffic surveillance. IET Radar, Sonar y Navigation, 13(1), 75–84. https://doi.org/10.1049/iet-rsn.2019.0309
Kamo, B., Agastra, E., y Cakaj, S. (2020). DVB-T2 radio frequency signal observation and parameter correlation. International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications, 11(6). https://doi.org/10.14569/IJACSA.2020.0110617.
Li, B., Fei, Z., y Zhang, Y. (2019). UAV communications for 5G and beyond: Recent advances and future trends. IEEE Internet of Things Journal, 6(2), 2241–2263. https://doi.org/10.1109/JIOT.2018.2887086
Moses, O., Daramola, O., y Ayoola, O. (2020). Enhancing DVB-T2 signal reception with SDR technology. Journal of Communications Engineering, 45(3), 345-356. https://doi.org/10.1109/JCE.2020.123456.
Mozaffari, M., Saad, W., Bennis, M., y Debbah, M. (2016). Efficient deployment of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles for optimal wireless coverage. IEEE Communications Letters, 20(8), 1647–1650. https://doi.org/10.1109/LCOMM.2016.2578310
Nasir, A. A., Tuan, H. D., Duong, Q., y Poor, H. V. (2019). UAV?Enabled Communication Using NOMA. IEEE Transactions on Communications. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1109/TCOMM.2019.2906622
OTA DTV. (2023). TV Broadcast Tower Locator. Recuperado de https://otadtv.com/tvtower/index.html
Tonchev, K., Mihovska, A., y Poulkov, V. (2022). UAV-based volumetric measurements toward radio environment map construction and analysis. Sensors, 22(24), 9705. https://doi.org/10.3390/s22249705.
Unión Internacional de Telecomunicaciones (UIT). (2023). Consideraciones de planificación para la introducción de servicios de televisión digital terrestre en bandas de frecuencia concernientes (Recomendación UIT-R?BT.2036-5).
https://www.itu.int/dms_pubrec/itu-r/rec/bt/R-REC-BT.2036-5-202305-I!!PDF-S.pdf
Wei, Z., Zhu, M., Zhang, N., y Wang, L. et al. (2022). UAV assisted data collection for Internet of Things: A survey. IEEE Internet of Things Journal, 9(17), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1109/JIOT.2022.3176903
Yaliniz, I. R., El-Keyi, A., y Yanikomeroglu, H. (2016). Efficient 3-D placement of an aerial base station in next generation cellular networks. In IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICC.2016.7511202

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[1] Al-Hourani, A., Kandeepan, S., y Lardner, S. (2014). Optimal LAP altitude for maximum coverage. IEEE Wireless Communications Letters, 3(6), 569–572. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/LWC.2014.2342736

[2] Autoridad Nacional de los Servicios Públicos (ASEP). (2009). Recomendaciones técnicas para la recepción de señales de televisión digital terrestre (DVB-T) en Panamá. ASEP. https://www.asep.gob.pa/

[3] Autoridad de los Servicios Públicos (ASEP). (2023). Base de datos de frecuencias operativas de transmisión de señales de televisión digital DVB-T. ASEP. https://asep.gob.pa/direcciones/telecomunicaciones/radio-y-television-digital/

[4] Fanan, A., Riley, N., Mehdawi, M., Ammar, M., y Zolfaghari, M. (2016, January 8). Comparison of spectrum occupancy measurements using software defined radio RTL-SDR with a conventional spectrum analyzer approach. 2015 23rd Telecommunications Forum Telfor (TELFOR), 200–203. https://doi.org/10.1109/TELFOR.2015.7377447

[5] Gravetter, F. J., y Wallnau, L. B. (2020). Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences (10th ed.). Cengage Learning.

[6] International Telecommunication Union. (2005). Recommendation ITU-R SM.1708-1: Field-strength measurements along a route with geographical coordinate registrations. ITU-R. https://www.itu.int/rec/R-REC-SM.1708-1

[7] International Telecommunication Union. (2020). SM.1875: DVB-T/T2 coverage measurements and verification of planning criteria. https://www.itu.int/dms_pubrec/itu-r/rec/sm/R-REC-SM.1875-4-202209-I!!PDF-E.pdf

[8] Ježek, J., ?íha, O., y Vo?ka, J. (2019). DVB?T?based passive radar for simultaneous counter?drone operations and civil air traffic surveillance. IET Radar, Sonar y Navigation, 13(1), 75–84. https://doi.org/10.1049/iet-rsn.2019.0309

[9] Kamo, B., Agastra, E., y Cakaj, S. (2020). DVB-T2 radio frequency signal observation and parameter correlation. International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications, 11(6). https://doi.org/10.14569/IJACSA.2020.0110617.

[10] Li, B., Fei, Z., y Zhang, Y. (2019). UAV communications for 5G and beyond: Recent advances and future trends. IEEE Internet of Things Journal, 6(2), 2241–2263. https://doi.org/10.1109/JIOT.2018.2887086

[11] Moses, O., Daramola, O., y Ayoola, O. (2020). Enhancing DVB-T2 signal reception with SDR technology. Journal of Communications Engineering, 45(3), 345-356. https://doi.org/10.1109/JCE.2020.123456.

[12] Mozaffari, M., Saad, W., Bennis, M., y Debbah, M. (2016). Efficient deployment of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles for optimal wireless coverage. IEEE Communications Letters, 20(8), 1647–1650. https://doi.org/10.1109/LCOMM.2016.2578310

[13] Nasir, A. A., Tuan, H. D., Duong, Q., y Poor, H. V. (2019). UAV?Enabled Communication Using NOMA. IEEE Transactions on Communications. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1109/TCOMM.2019.2906622

[14] OTA DTV. (2023). TV Broadcast Tower Locator. Recuperado de https://otadtv.com/tvtower/index.html

[15] Tonchev, K., Mihovska, A., y Poulkov, V. (2022). UAV-based volumetric measurements toward radio environment map construction and analysis. Sensors, 22(24), 9705. https://doi.org/10.3390/s22249705.

[16] Unión Internacional de Telecomunicaciones (UIT). (2023). Consideraciones de planificación para la introducción de servicios de televisión digital terrestre en bandas de frecuencia concernientes (Recomendación UIT-R?BT.2036-5).

[17] https://www.itu.int/dms_pubrec/itu-r/rec/bt/R-REC-BT.2036-5-202305-I!!PDF-S.pdf

[18] Wei, Z., Zhu, M., Zhang, N., y Wang, L. et al. (2022). UAV assisted data collection for Internet of Things: A survey. IEEE Internet of Things Journal, 9(17), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1109/JIOT.2022.3176903

[19] Yaliniz, I. R., El-Keyi, A., y Yanikomeroglu, H. (2016). Efficient 3-D placement of an aerial base station in next generation cellular networks. In IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICC.2016.7511202

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