Rosum Corporation, a developer of location technologies based on TV signal, announced today that it has successfully completed a DVB-H positioning trial in collaboration with National Grid Wireless, a provider of TV infrastructure in the United Kingdom.

The companies conducted the trial at National Grid Wireless' DVB-H trial network in Warwick, UK, and utilized DVB-H mobile TV broadcasts to locate precisely prototype receivers in a variety of environments, including multi-storey car parks where GPS-based solutions are unavailable. “[we] successfully demonstrated that the same signals used to deliver mobile TV content can be used to provide position-based services,” said Rosum.

Rosum's technology works with any type of TV signal, however, “DVB-H networks in particular, with their dense topologies, are well-suited for delivery of position-based services to mobile devices” said Rosum.

Jim Colby, director network operations and engineering at National Grid Wireless stated: "Our business is focused on the design, deployment and operation of large-scale transmission networks; consequently it made sense for us to support the trial. This is especially true because of the technology's fit with broadcast networks and in particular DVB-H based networks. Rosum's technology could provide an important value-add service, as well as an additional revenue stream, to the network rollout business model.”

National Grid Wireless is an independent provider of infrastructure to the wireless operators in the UK and also one of two UK providers of terrestrial infrastructure for the transmission of analogue and digital television and radio broadcasts in the UK.

Rosum sees the March 2008 endorsement of the DVB-H technology by the European Commission as a positive move for the market. According to IMS Research 446 million mobile TV handsets should be shipped globally by 2011.