ABU Digital Radio Development Report
An Update on the Latest Digital Radio Development Worldwide
for March 2011
Eureka-147 DAB/T-DMB
Reported on 3 Feb 11: In the UK, one quarter of listening is now to digital platforms, up 20%
year on year (from 20.9% to 25%), according to the latest Q4 2010 RAJAR figures released
on 3 Feb 11. Digital listening hours are up 26.9% year on year from 206 million in Q4 2009
to 262 million in Q4 2010. Nearly 45% of all listeners, or 20.9 million adults, now listen to
digital radio each week, a year on year increase of 22.1% (an increase of 3.8 million adults
from Q4 2009, and an increase of 450,000 adults quarter on quarter). 35.8% of adults now
have a digital radio at home, up from 35.4% quarter on quarter and from 33.4% in Q4 2009,
an increase of 7% year on year.
The share of all listening to DAB is now at 15.8%, up from 15.3% quarter on quarter and
from 13.7% in Q4 2009, an increase of 15% in share year on year. DAB continues to be the
most popular digital platform accounting for 68% of digital listening hours.
Source: www.getdigitalradio.com
Reported on 4 Feb 11: Following the publication of a report from the Ministry of Culture on 4 Feb 11,
Norway will enact legislation to enable the migration of radio from FM to DAB across the country by
2017, when analogue FM broadcasting will cease.
Norway was one of the first countries to embrace digital radio using the Eureka 147 family of
standards, and coverage currently stands at 80%. This will rise to 99.8% by 2017 as broadcasters build
out transmitters.
The news from Norway supports a growing trend in Europe to move analogue radio services to digital
platforms. The UK already has a target switch-over date of 2015, while in France, a law passed in
2009 calls for all domestic radio receivers to be digitally enabled by 2013, with in-car radios equipped
by 2015. In Germany, a new law is currently being drafted which will set a date (expected to be
within the next four years) for all receivers to be digital. Germany is Europe’s biggest radio market
and recently announced a series of new national DAB+ radio stations to be launched in 2011, along
with regional digital radio services from both public and commercial broadcasters.
The report contains various criteria for switch-over, including coverage and listening targets, along
with a timetable for implementation once the criteria have been met.
Source: www.worlddab.org
Reported on 14 Feb 11: KeyStone Semiconductor Corp. (KeyStone) announced on 14 Feb 11 that
LINGO Limited’s iRis which embeds KeyStone’s second-generation single-chip
FM/DAB/DAB+/DMB-R receiver IC, KSW8650, is now on sale. iRis is LINGO’s patent-pending
iPhone4 battery pack, and it has met Apple’s stringent accessory test requirements including power
consumption and electromagnetic interference while delivering high receiving performance.
With LINGO’s ingenious app, DAB GO!, which can be downloaded from iTunes for free, one is able
to select radio channels and enjoy real-time analogue FM and digital DAB/DAB+ on LINGO's iRis.
In fact, KSW8650 is the only DAB/DAB+ single-chip that features colour slide show and electronic
program guide (EPG) to enable Apple iPhone4 displaying live broadcasting text/image while listening
to digital radio.
KSW8650 is the smallest FM/DAB/DAB+/DMB-R receiver IC and is fully implemented in standard
CMOS process. It has fully integrated the entire FM/DAB/DAB+/DMB-R receiver systems including
triple-band radio frequency (RF) receiver, channel demodulator, digital signal processor (DSP),
advanced AAC+ audio decoder, stereo DAC, battery detector, memory cell, etc. onto a single chip.
KSW8650 leaves no costly external components such as VCXO, SDRAM, flash memory, MCU, etc.
on the module which significantly reduces the form-factor while lowering the overall solution cost. It
can be programmed either in master-mode operations for traditional kitchen radios or in slave-mode
on host-based environments.
Housed in a compact 0.8 cm x 1.1 cm BGA package and measured as small as 2.0 cm x 2.0 cm for
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slave-mode FM/DAB/DAB+/DMB-R operations, KSW8650 module is the low-cost turn-key solution
to offer above features in a compact form factor for portable and mobile devices.
Source: www.prweb.com
Reported on 21 Feb 11: VDL Benelux (Liege, Belgium) a member of the VDL Group (Lyon, France)
will become the first independent network operator in Belgium to broadcast DAB digital radio when
they begin transmissions in April 2011.
VDL Benelux have been allocated channel 11B by the Minister for Culture and Communication for
the French-speaking community and will operate transmitters in Brussels, Liège and Charleroi. The
multiplex will include 6 DAB+ audio programs and 1 DMB mobile TV service.
VDL are providing a complete service provision, which includes contribution, multiplexing,
distribution, transmission and supervision. VDL encoders and multiplexers will be located at the
VDL Benelux facility in Liege. VDL’s integrated monitoring and supervision system will be
managed at Liège, with backup from VDL’s main technical centre near Lyon.
Ensemble distribution from the VDL multiplexer in Liège to the transmission sites in Brussels and
Charleroi will be provided by the managed IP network provider WIN, who will also provide the
contribution IP links from each radio station.
Source: www.vdl.fr
Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM)
Reported on 3 Feb 11: For the first time, the technical capability of the DRM+ digital radio system in
FM band II is tested in the UK. This four-month trial, organised by the DRM consortium and its
partners, takes place in the Edinburgh area of Scotland from February 2011.
The DRM+ transmission will operate into an existing antenna that is shared with two FM services via
a combiner. Those services cover more than 500,000 people in urban, suburban and rural terrain. This
will be a closed technical trial with no direct involvement from the public.
DRM provides many features to allow user-friendly, digital quality radio to be broadcast, including
use of station names rather than frequencies, consistent digital audio, additional text and visualisation,
an EPG, alternate service signalling, and automatic service following to DRM, DAB, FM and AM
services.
The purpose of the trial is to measure the coverage of DRM+ operating in various transmission modes
(lower capacity, higher ruggedness; higher capacity, lower ruggedness). There will also be a
comparison of the coverage of FM and DRM+ in terms of transmitter power. Other objectives include
being able to assess the impact of DRM+ on FM and vice-versa; demonstrate the performance of
DRM+ in a range of environments, for example, urban, suburban, rural, etc., and therefore provide an
analysis of performance against the challenges of these environments. The pattern of the antenna will
also be measured, in order to correlate performance in different directions with the expected
performance. This trial should also provide suitable measurement data to international regulatory
bodies, such as CEPT and ITU.
The trial transmissions will carry audio material consisting of both programme and test sequences. At
least two modes will be tested to allow planning parameters to be determined for different scenarios.
Source: www.drm.org
Reported on 14 Feb 11: DRM broadcasts are to start soon from Malaysia following the recent
installation of HF Transmitters in Malaysia. Continental Electronics has recently completed the
installation of three HF transmitters in Malaysia. Following a series of successful trial broadcasts in
March, plans to begin regular DRM broadcasts are now being finalised by the Minister. There has
also been an undertaking to purchase a large order of DRM receivers.
Source: www.drm.org
HD Radio (IBOC)
Reported on 15 Feb 11: Imagination Technologies has extended its market leading world digital radio
platform IP with support for the digital radio standard for the USA, iBiquity Digital Corporation’s HD
Radio technology.
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Imagination and iBiquity have reached an agreement for the two companies to work together to
implement HD Radio technology on Imagination’s Ensigma UCCP Series3 and beyond.
The low-power characteristics of Imagination’s technology enables highly-efficient mobile global
digital radio devices and will extend the market for HD Radio services dramatically by enabling
support for the technology on a broader range of mobile, embedded and automotive devices. The
addition of HD Radio to Imagination’s global digital and connected radio platform makes it the ideal
multi-standard solution for devices targeting Asia Pacific, Europe and the Americas.
The digital radio market continues to be an important focus for Imagination’s multi-standard receiver
and processor/DSP technologies. Imagination plays a leading role in providing key technologies for
this market and has seen its share of digital radio technology deployment across the European DAB
standard reaching 80%.
Imagination’s ENSIGMA UCC Series3 programmable radio processing units (RPU) support
worldwide TV and radio reception as well as important connectivity standards such as Wi-Fi - all
running on the same silicon engine in software. Over 20 standards are supported on the latest core,
UCCP330, which will also be capable of supporting HD Radio technology.
Source: www.ibiquity.com
Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting (ISDB)
Reported on 15 Feb 11: Newport Media announced customer sampling of its NMI5625 dual-mode
ISDB-T/analogue TV and NMI5325 single-mode ISDB-T television ICs during the Mobile World
Congress in Barcelona. Both ICs feature integrated H.264/AAC audio/video (A/V) decoding
operation and address the rapidly growing mobile digital TV (DTV) market in Latin America.
By integrating the audio/video decoding functionality into its ISDB-T system-on-chip (SOC)
products, Newport Media has dramatically simplified the task of adding digital television into
consumer electronic products including mass market cellular telephones. This simplification is
accomplished by removing the need for a third-party A/V decoder IC or dependency on expensive
cellular baseband processors. The result is dramatically lower bill of material costs and significantly
reduced time to market.
Building upon Newport Media’s industry leading 65nm ISDB-T tuner/demodulator SOCs, the
NMI5625 and NMI5325 products, feature an innovative A/V decoder architecture, perform the entire
radio frequency (RF) tuner, demodulator and A/V decode function for ISDB-T digital TV with less
than 80mW of power consumption. Since both of these new ICs are pin-for-pin-compatible with
Newport Media’s existing analogue TV IC product line, existing Newport Media customers can easily
upgrade their analogue TV products to ISDB-T or dual-mode ISDB-T/analogue TV by replacing the
analogue TV IC with either the NMI5325 or NMI5625 IC and making a minor software upgrade.
Source: www.digitaltvnews.net
Digital Satellite Radio
Reported on 8 Feb 11: Teleca announced on 8 Feb 11 the development of an Android platform
solution for use in SiriusXM’s next generation vehicle, portable and home products.
SiriusXM continues to develop innovative products that allow its subscribers to experience the best
audio entertainment available, and it is working with Teleca to develop a complete platform strategy
for delivering its unique and compelling programming to consumers.
Teleca demonstrated its comprehensive line of solutions at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona from
14 to 17 February.
Source: siriusxmnews.com
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