VSF Releases Specification for RIST Satellite-Hybrid: Out-of-Band Method

The Video Services Forum (VSF) has further enhanced the Reliable Internet Streaming Transport (RIST) protocol by incorporating a new feature, RIST Satellite-Hybrid: Out-of-Band Method. This feature can be used to augment satellite distribution, using the Internet as a recovery mechanism for data that is corrupted or lost in the space segment, without modifying the transport stream before uplinking.

This feature, detailed in TR-06-4 Part 8, creates a mechanism to use the satellite (or any similar unidirectional one-way transmission method employing MPEG-2 Transport Streams, such as DVB-T) as the main distribution channel, with RIST as a backup to recover data that is lost or corrupted between the satellite and the receiver.

All recovery actions happen over the Internet, unlike TR-06-04 Part 7 Satellite-Hybrid: In-Band Method, which requires additional data to be inserted into the transmission before it is uplinked to the satellite. Lost data is retransmitted over the Internet using RIST, only to the locations that need it. As with Part 7, there is a provision to recover the full stream in case of a complete fade. The method is backward-compatible with existing legacy receivers.

Ciro Noronha Ph.D., President of the RIST Forum and CTO, Cobalt Digital commented: “Satellite is the ideal way to send content to many receivers at different locations. However typical GEO satellite distribution methods are unidirectional and higher frequencies such as the Ku/Ka-bands, are highly susceptible to rain fade. The RIST Satellite-Hybrid: Out-of-Band Method provides broadcasters with a method to recover lost data over the Internet using RIST without any data insertion or modification of the transport stream.”

To read the technical recommendation in full, visit the VSF website where all technical recommendations are free to download and use.