Modulation error ratio (MER) for digital TV measurements

摘要

The MER has been shown to be a good choice as a figure of merit for the health of a QAM communications signal, as in a digital CATV system. It meets all the requirements identified earlier for such a measurement. By definition, it measures all signal impairments present at th.e receiver; it is both an earlier indicator and a more discerning measure of system problems than the BER for quantifying noise and interference problems; it is expressed as a single numeric value; it is intuitive and familiar to technicians experienced with analogue system measures; and measurement updates can occur relatively rapidly because of its simplicity. Finally, the MER has also been chosen by the DVB Measurements Group as a 'figure of merit' measurement for DVB-C systems.