ETRI researcher named Emmy Innovator Honoree for next-generation broadcast standard work

The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) announced Friday that principal researcher Park Sung-ik has been named an Emmy Innovator Honoree for contributions to developing core transmission technologies for the next-generation terrestrial broadcast standard ATSC 3.0 and advancing its international standardization.

The recognition follows the Advanced Television Systems Committee's receipt of the 2026 Technology and Engineering Emmy Award. At a ceremony held in Los Angeles on Oct. 14, ATSC was honored for its work developing the ATSC 3.0 next-generation broadcast standard. It was the fourth time ATSC has received an Emmy.

The Emmy Awards are considered the highest honor in American broadcasting and television. The Technology and Engineering Emmy, in particular, is presented for innovative technological and engineering achievements that advance the broadcasting and video industry.

ATSC 3.0 is a next-generation terrestrial broadcast standard supporting ultra-high-definition broadcasting, indoor and mobile reception, interactive services, and converged broadcast-communications services. It offers improved transmission efficiency and reception performance over conventional digital broadcasting.

ETRI has participated in developing core ATSC 3.0 technologies and advancing their international standardization since 2010.

Among its key contributions are layered division multiplexing (LDM), multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, and transmitter identification (TxID).

LDM enables multiple signals to be transmitted simultaneously over a single broadcast frequency, improving spectrum efficiency. MIMO uses multiple transmit and receive antennas to boost data capacity and reception performance. TxID helps identify broadcast transmitters and analyze signal quality to support more efficient broadcast network operations.

The combined LDM-MIMO technology, whose development and international standardization ETRI led, has also been adopted in Brazil's next-generation broadcast standard, DTV+ (TV 3.0). Brazil began DTV+ broadcasts this year, and the move is expected to drive expansion of the related broadcast equipment and receiver markets.

Park is a broadcast technology specialist who has been involved in core transmission technology development and international standardization since the early stages of ATSC 3.0. Park was named an IEEE Fellow in 2022 and received the ATSC Richer Medal in 2024 for contributions to the advancement and global adoption of ATSC 3.0.

"ATSC 3.0 is a technology developed through years of collaboration among researchers and experts around the world," Park said. "I am glad that ETRI's research contributed to this Emmy recognition, and I will continue working toward the advancement and global spread of next-generation broadcast technology."