UPM and RTVE renew the chair to maintain their alliance and develop technological projects in the audiovisual sector

The rector of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), Guillermo Cisneros, and the general secretary of the Board of Directors of RTVE, Alfonso Morales, have signed this Wednesday the renewal of the specific cooperation agreement between both entities until 2026. An agreement which has been in force for more than two decades.

Cisneros stressed the importance of this type of agreement because “the UPM has always worked to enable technology transfer with companies and entities from different sectors related to engineering”.

The RTVE Chair was created in 2015, but long before that, since 2004, the ETSI de Telecomunicación (headquarters of the Chair) has been collaborating in different research projects for the development of telecommunications linked to the distribution of audiovisual content. In 2006 the first experimental broadcasts of UHD in DTT or the first high definition test broadcasts in DTT that included interactive services were carried out (Campus HD, 2006).

The Chair has carried out projects in the field of UHD (Ultra High Definition), UHD broadcasting tests, and those carried out in DTT or signal enhancement tests with a greater sense of immersion in UHD (including HDR, WCG, HFR or new generation audio).

In addition to producing specific content in UHD, its behavior has been studied in the different elements that make up the end-to-end value chain for live broadcasts, from capture to reception. For this purpose, DTT, satellite (DVB-S2) and hybrid television have been used as distribution platforms.

The director of the RTVE-UPM Chair, José Manuel Menéndez, professor at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Telecomunicación (ETSIT), recalled that the renovation is the result of the work carried out over the last nine years. “It highlights the results obtained in multiple broadcast pilots in which we have tested different signal transport technologies in production and to end users, and we have also demonstrated the feasibility of working with UHD [ultra high definition] signal despite its complexity,” he said. He also highlighted the role of the chair’s advisory committee, composed of Cellnex, Dolby, SAPEC and the Televés corporation, “without whom it would not have been possible to carry out these technological advances”.