"The present document provides a review of the upper-layer FEC techniques used within the DVB specifications and gives engineering rules for subsequent development. The present document is structured as follows: ? Clause 2 gives the list of informative references. ? Clause 3 lists abbreviations used in the present document. ? Clause 4 gives a general introduction to the upper layer FEC and their role within DVB set of specifications. ? Clause 5 describes the reference uses cases of upper layer FEC. ? Clause 6 lists all existing DVB upper layer FEC specifications currently in use. ? Clause 7 highlights the performance measures for upper layer FEC codes and provides an overview of the Reed-Solomon and Raptor codes in use within DVB. ? Clause 8 gives ""engineering rules"" for designing new upper layer FEC schemes. ? Clause 9 summarizes the present document and provides insights into possible future work on UL-FEC. ? Annex A provides detailed information on Reed-Solomon and Raptor performance and decoding algorithms. ? Annex B provides detailed examples of usage of UL-FEC codes within DVB. ? Annex C provides illustrative performance evaluation results for some UL-FEC codes. ? Annex D shows how the Layer-Aware FEC approach could be integrated into the DVB toolbox. ? Annex E provides bibliographical references."