Broadcasting over IP is rapidly becoming the paradigm by which broadcasters are planning future broadcast network infrastructures. Within the diverse range of broadcast IP devices coming onto the market, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is currently the signaling protocol that is used by most of the world’s Telcos and broadcast codec manufacturers. It is also the most likely to provide connectivity between IP devices for the foreseeable future.
DAB was adopted in many countries as early as 15 years ago, most notably in the United Kingdom where it has enjoyed great success. Most consumers liked the ease of use and the extra value added enhancements offered by DAB. Other than that, digital-only services made the decision to buy a DAB digital radio even easier.
In Australia, we decided to adopt DAB+, which is a similar technical framework for digital radio, that is the Eureka-147 transmission standard with one major difference to DAB in terms of the audio encoding algorithm.
DAB uses the MPEG1-LayerII algorithm which was cutting edge when DAB was first introduced. Over the years, many other psychoacoustic algorithms have cropped up over the years and arguably the best one is HE-AAC. DAB+ uses HE-AAC (versions 1 and 2). This allows for very efficient use of the spectrum, something that is very precious and is becoming increasingly rare. With DAB+ very high quality audio is achievable at impossibly low bitrates.
The following points form a technical summary of DAB+ along with comparisons with DAB, where relevant.
Conditional Access is the precise definition of the two words put together; access is based upon certain conditions. When applied to digital broadcasting, a consumer gets just what they want, no more and no less.
This model works well for subscription pay services including pay TV.
So, how can this conditional access work for terrestrial HD Radio? How does such a system fit into a radio station environment and into radio station operations?
Does terrestrial HD Radio have advantages over other transmission media? What programming works with conditional access?
This introductory paper examines, in understandable professional terms, the possible implementations of conditional access within HD Digital Radio.
Conditional access equipment fits into the station, mates to other equipment that may already be within the station, operates within the station’s work flow, and creates new operations that the station must perform.
This paper’s explanations will allow all to comprehend the impact of this new and emerging radio broadcast capability. It suggests some business possibilities that may make conditional access implementation profitable.
Although radio is the last electronic mass medium to be making the conversion to digital transmission, the conversion is well underway with HD Radio1 signals on-the-air in virtually every major market in the United States.
The Eureka-147 DAB system provides a reliable digital broadcast service in excess of 1.2 Mbits/s. It is also suitable for mobile besides portable and fixed radio receptions. Its robust, high spectrum- and power-efficient technology makes it an ideal system for both audio and data transmissions. This paper discusses some of the interesting case studies on the new services and applications by leveraging on the strength of DAB - bringing it beyond its traditional role in audio broadcasting.
Digital HD Radio is being used for many unique new applications in the world - including non-traditional broadcast uses. This presentation will highlight some of the new business models which may help stations "bridge the reciever void" and make digital radio pay before the receivers are in wide distribution.
In October, 2002 the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) authorized In-Band, On-Channel (IBOC) digital transmissions for all AM and FM Broadcast stations.
The advent of HD Radio is a challenge for radio
programmers and production teams. Not only does HD
open the way for program associated data such as main
program service and station information services, it
creates a new channel for distributing advanced
application services which include multimedia
functionalities. Scheduling play-lists and broadcasting
programs for such an enhanced radio network require
that production teams implement new types of digital
content production workflows. This paper details these
production challenges and offers possible solutions
based on case studies of radio broadcasters that have
been faced with similar issues for other digital radio
broadcasting platforms.
Mon, 29 Jan 2007 - Dalet Digital Media Systems, USA; Critical Distance BV, The Netherlands
Acrobat PDF (304kb)
The contents of this paper will include a discussion on HD Radio and how it differs from each of these technologies, in particular relating to their fundamental elements; the audio codec, frequency of operation, modulation and error correction methods, implementation and operation costs, market opportunity, costs and availability of radio receivers.
Digital FM Radio is going on the air worldwide – throughout the Americas as well as in Europe and Asia. Since radio is a mobile media, what are the results in terms of mobile listening? How does HD Radio perform in heavy multi-path areas, and in weak signal areas? What are the ramifications of adjacent channel interference and in conditions of serious over-modulation as is sometimes practiced in Asia?
MediaCorp Radio Singapore launched its digital radio service in 1999. Dubbed as SmartRadio, it is the first commercial digital radio service in Asia. Over the past 6 years, SmartRadio offers both audio as well as data services that include PAD and NPAD. This paper discusses some of the many challenges in the development of content and what could likely be the killer application for digital radio.
The emergence of new multimedia platforms, like iPod, PDA, web-blog, SMS, Internet etc. has changed the habit of information reception. Audiences become producers; they are taking an active role in personalizing their schedule, content and even receiving devices. They are exposed to more sources of information. In face of this digital challenge, what can digital radio services offer to save the guard? What can be best done with this new technology?
The evolution of the Eureka 147-Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) standard for delivery of audio data
to its application for digital mobile video delivery, such as with the Terrestrial Digital Multimedia
Broadcasting (T-DMB) standard, heralds a new age of flexibility in broadcast-related technologies. The
increasing pervasiveness of digital broadcasting will be seen in not only changing the face of traditional
audio and video broadcasting, but also in an increase in breadth of scope for future applications that
deliver a wide spectrum of data for diverse fields beyond entertainment. In this paper, the authors
survey existing, as well as suggest novel applications of digital broadcast technologies that may emerge
outside of the traditional area of audio and video broadcast applications and discuss the technologyenablers
that may be required to realise such applications.
Lagging behind the audio and telecommunication industries since the digital revolution in the early 80s, digital radio looks set to succeed the role of analogue radio. Since the dawn of the 21st century, we have witnessed the launch of several digital radio standards such as the Eureka-147 DAB, HD Radio, ISDB-T, DRM, WorldSpace, XM Radio and Sirius Radio. The digital radio revolution has finally arrived but are the receivers in this revolution? This paper reports the latest receiver development of the various digital radio standards.
New business opportunities enabled by digital transmissions indicate the need for highly integrated business and technology management skills to supplement the radio broadcasters’ core public service skills.
This paper describes a simple signalling system designed for use with AM broadcasts on frequencies below 30MHz. The motivation for such a system is not to do with a belated attempt to play catch up with FM, for which the RDS system has been in use for nearly 20 years, but in the realisation that tuning a digital radio is a very different matter to the “analogue experience” of finding radio stations. This listener-centred approach to radio design is in essence the reason that AMSS was developed: to facilitate the search, identification and tuning of AM broadcasts on the next generation of digital radio receivers.
If radio is to maintain and improve its market share in a highly competitive and cluttered
media sector, then 5.1 Multi Channel Audio needs to be embraced. Fundamental to this process will be contribution from live events (concert halls and sports stadiums) and the preservation of this content. This document outlays various solutions for broadcasters that
are currently researching the use of 5.1 Multi Channel Audio.
Transporting broadcast quality audio over IP is the new “must have” technology for radio and TV networks. However, IP as a transport mechanism has a number of inherent characteristics that could potentially pose problems for codec manufacturers and broadcasters alike.
