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Research and Development

The Technological Strategies Division worked on guaranteeing a single line of technological development in the Rai Group.

Starting with the contributions to the preparation of the Industrial Plan, the action is implemented by checking the consistency of the technological decisions made by the various structures with the overall strategies and through the functional coordination of the various internal technical operating structures to identify and exploit every useful synergy.
Technological Strategies also include the Management of the Centre for Research and Technological Innovation in Turin, which has the mission, also, to address Rai’s research towards operating projects and the implementation of new technologies in the production and dissemination system.

The digital transformation

The extensive change in the television market, with the expansion and differentiation of the distribution platforms, and the renewal of the technical equipment on the professional and consumer markets, is founded on all areas of digital technology.

The public service role, consolidated on the traditional platforms, has to extend to the more innovative platforms and to multimediality.

Rai Group’s technological choices to adapt the entire production process to the requirements of flexibility and effectiveness to feed an efficient multiplatform offering are addressed by a Digital Regulatory Plan.

The main activities focused on:

• standards for managing the metadata associated with the television product and for integration with the programming scheduling systems;
• use of IT networks and equipment, also for audio-video contribution services and IP-based solutions for national and international links.

Digital Terrestrial Television and DVB-T2

Over 88% of the Italian population has now switched permanently to DTT.

The figures confirm an increase in the time spent watching TV, also sustained by the multiplication of the offering of new channels.

At international level the ‘Report on Transaction from Analogue to Digital Broadcasting’, which is proposed as an international guide for the conversion of transmission networks, was consolidated.

The DVB-T2 system, second generation DTT, already operational in the United Kingdom since 2010 for HDTV services, allows the broadcasting of at least 4 HDTV programmes to users, using the capacity of a multiplex. The increase in available capacity, while requiring the use of new receivers, is of strategic importance in the increasingly smaller framework of resources in frequencies which will be available in the future following the various allocation operations (digital dividend) for television frequencies to other users.

With a view to assessing the performance of the DVB-T2 system, an experiment was launched in Valle d’Aosta, with the aim of checking out different network configurations (SFN) and reception modes (fixed, portable and mobile).

EPG-Tivù Sat: electronic programme guide

Italy’s free satellite platform, Tivù Sat, now has more than 1 million cards activated with an offering articulated on over 50 television channels and 30 radio stations.
To facilitate access, a new EPG (Electronic Programme Guide) has been introduced, allowing viewers to browse the weekly programming schedule, see the channels by categories and the list of programmes broadcast in prime time, in addition to the innovative function of the radio portal. The EPG, developed by the Research centre, has been fully integrated into the SD and HD receivers of the Tivù Sat platform.

Over-The-Top TV

A new revolution of the domestic TV terminal is in progress, in which the audio-visual contents from the channels broadcast can be matched to on-demand contents from the ‘open’ Internet, and this is known as Over-the-Top TV.
With the advent of the latest ‘hybrid’ receivers or of ConnectedTV (SmartTV), it is possible to transpose onto television certain services currently offered on the Internet portals and accessible via PC.
In particular, as regards the receivers of the Italian market, distinguished by the Gold DGVi stamp, certain MHP applications have been developed which bring the Rai Replay service (the last seven days of the Rai 1, Rai 2, Rai 3 and Rai 5 channels) to the television (they are already available on the Internet), and the TGR-on-demand service which allows access to the contents produced by the Testata Giornalistica Regionale.

RAI+ Realtà Aumentata Interattiva: a combination of services to enrich programming

The ‘RAI+ Realtà Aumentata interattiva’ project is a combination of services designed to making the viewing of Rai’s channels richer, more interactive and involving.

These services can be used on the new mobile terminals (smart-phones and tablets) during the broadcasting of a television programme, generating an ‘augmented reality’, in other words, the superimposition of additional information and interactivity. For instance, it is possible to take pictures of the television screen using a smartphone to participate in a quiz or a survey, or find out the dates on which the next episodes of a TV series will be broadcast.

With the ‘RAI+ Realtà Aumentata interattiva’ project, Rai has attained the Innovative Award assigned by Confindustria Sistemi Innovativi e Tecnologici, with acknowledged of the project as having a highly innovative capacity capable of designing new business models and intercepting new reference markets.

High Definition Television (HDTV) and 3DTV

HDTV services are becoming more and more widely available on the various platforms, mainly on satellite, and also on the terrestrial and cable networks.

For HDTV to become an involving experience for users, it is necessary for the associated audio experience to be just as exciting.

The research and experimentation activity in the audio surround recording field using holophonic and ambisonic microphones is focused on very high quality audio, suited to the various types of programmes.

Within the scope of the HD Forum Italia, Rai has taken on responsibility for the coordination of an ‘HD3D’ Task Force for the study, promotion and dissemination of stereoscopic technology in the Italian broadcasting sector; it has also taken on responsibility for the technical work team to create a multi volume work (HD Book Collection) aimed at the HD audio-visual industry.

Once again in 2011, initiatives were pursued for the production of short films using stereoscopic technology, with the aim of further developing the company’s know-how in relation to this technology and building up a library of 3D audio-visual products.

This approach witnessed the production of a film using stereoscopic technology on the 2011 Venice Carnival, which represents a journey into the architectural and artistic beauty of the city, surrounded by the unforgettable charm of its carnival.

The Technological Strategies Management with Rai’s Technological Innovation and Research Centre also produced a film using stereoscopic technology on the day dedicated to the Beatification and on the life of Pope John Paul II, entitled Un gigante…, which represents a story between past and present, in which for the first time the most significant 2D images of the life of Pope John Paul II entwine with those shot in Rome and Krakow using stereoscopic technology.

Technical quality

The wide variety of services offered by Rai to users on the various distribution platforms requires sophisticated instruments to verify and improve technical quality, monitored in detail both during production and broadcasting, always in relation to better customer services.

Rai considers the commitment to technical quality to be one of the primary duties of the Public Service, as established by the Service Contract.

With this in mind, work continued on the development of the ‘EVAluator’ system, which obtained certification of conformity to the system specifications envisaged for the monitoring of the broadcasting services supplied to the public.

A local, national and international network

European institutions, leading companies and Universities are the preferred partners of a network of initiatives, collaborations and projects of national and international breadth, through which Technological Strategies and the Centre for Research provide innovation within the Company.
Relationships have been developed with local (e.g.: Corecom, territorial governance bodies),national (e.g.: FUB, DGTVi, HDForum Italia, CEI) and international (e.g.: EBU, UIT, BBC, IRT, NHK) interlocutors and agreements made with the worlds of industry, standards boards and research (including those with Radio Vaticana, San Marino RTV, Solaris Mobile, Accenture, Lottomatica, Poste etc.), as well as with the academic world (Politecnico di Torino, Università La Sapienza di Roma).

The collaborative activities regarded all production and broadcasting aspects, with particular focus on the technological aspects that are better able to cope with the company’s commitment to quality, innovation and the fruition of the service with a view to increasing efficiency and attention to the end user.
The aspects focused on during 2011 were: mobile television (DVB-SH), Over- The-Top TV and WebTV, infomobility, digital radio (DAB/DMB, DRM: Digital Radio Mondiale), hybrid radio (RadioDNS) and services on ‘second screens’.

The strategic front of research

Rai’s Centre for Research, Innovation and Tecnology (CRIT) is responsible for the on-site experimentation of new platforms and supports the Rai Group’s engineering in the launch of new services, particularly for:
• experimentation of the DVB-T2 system, capable of disseminating up to 3-4 HDTV programmes for every television frequency (multiplex), thus improving the performance of first generation DVB-T. An experimental multiplex has been activated in Valle d’Aosta;
• Digital Radio and Hybrid Radio, with the consolidation of the platforms that disburse multimedia contents associated with radiophonic contents that can be made available not only on the DAB/DMB broadcasting platform, but also on new devices equipped with broadband connectivity (smartphone, Internet Radio etc.);
• archives, with the creation of an automated digitalisation system of Betacam cassettes and tests for a system for the digitalisation of 16 mm films;
• basic research, on subjects such as super-high definition television, like ‘4K’, second generation 3D-TV and the development of innovative and patented audio recording systems (holophonic and ambisonic), based on multi capsule microphones;
• services for the disabled, to simplify access to information services;
• DTT, satellite and broadband, participating within the sphere of DGTVi/HDForum Italia in the definition of the specifications of the various types of receivers and relative names (SD, HD, Broadband) and supplying support for the validation and update via ether of the receiver SW on the market.

The worldwide web and the orientation towards business

The CRIT holds prestigious roles within various international entities:
• the Presidency of the Technical Committee of the EBU (European Broadcasting Union);
• participation in the technical groups DVB-T2, C2, NGH, 3DTV;
• participation in the Guide Committee of DigiTAG (Association for the development of DTT).

As has happened for several years now, the CRIT achieved significant aims in the financing of research, maximising the presence in projects financed by the European Union and the Regions, focusing its activity on the development of patents and the exploitation of intellectual property.